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Show -70them i nto leather and manufacturing that leather into boots and shoe,. this will btl more profita.ble than letting hundreds of thousands of hides i~O to waste as they have done. Others may go and make baskets, we do not care what thQY go at providod they produce that whioh will prove of general b enefit. Those who are able oan ereot woolen faotories, get a few spindles, raise sheep and manufaoture the 'Wool. Others may raise flax and manufacture that into linen oloth that we nw.y no t be under the necessi ty of sending abroad for it. If we go on in t..~is way, (follovrill,; co-operation) we shall turn th0S0 little traders into producers,which will help to enrich the entire people.""6 Cooperative merchandisinr; fo r Bri g;he..rn YOline, it is plain, was only e. stepping stone to something broader . He intended to ooncentrate marketing in the hands of the tatter-day Saints in order to oxclude the non-Mormonmerche.nts from the field. But thi 3 was only part of his plan. One of the main things to be aocomplished as the movement progressed was to force the small traders into other fields of produotion. Such a system as adopted was bound to do this. It would likewise force capital from meroantile to mantifaeturing pursuits. Brighrun Young even suggested that the women run the small cooperative .tores in the warda and in this wa.y release the men so that the y could become producers of material goods rather than just services. It is of interest to know how vi Iitors to the Terri tory desoribed the cooperative system ·of the Latter-day Saints. Here is an article that appeared in the Omaha Herald, on August 3, 1869* "The city is divided into twenty-two warda in each of which are tv:o inevitable institutions viz: The sohool h OUle, and the cooperative store. These latter are the offspring of the g reat oentral parent concern, ..Alieh is in the center of the town, and are s p read allover the Terri tory. Besides these l'Jard co-operati ves in the oenter of the town, are numerous others. It is wi th these that the Gentile merchants are ha'vine; so much trouble. sinee they are intendod , as is openly admi t'ted by the Mormons. to drive them out by d8pri vingl;hem ot Mormon patronage ~ 't he meaaure of oo-operati on was adopted as a measure of selr-defense a gainst the threat and boast that, with the oompletion of the Paoific Road, the outsi de would would step in and take possession, to the utter extermination of the religion and all the interests which had been established in the Vallo J by the llormons. Bri ~;ham Young t s efforts to aid the work di sapp.inted many who supposed that he 'WOuld do all in his power to obstl1lct it. and it occasioned general 8urprise that the Mormon leaders did not appear to fear the oonsequenoes so confidently expected from its eorr~letion. Re8ults thus far d.o not seem to have realized the expeotations of the T 46. Remarks '6 y Brigham Young, deUvered In the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, April 6, 1869. Quoted in full in the Deserot Weekly News , May 26, 1869. |
