The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1906-05-05
A BIG GRAFT.

| Accorulng TO the claim of the profit
gathercr of the Mormon church. the
tithes of last year were larger than
ever before in the history of the COM
munity In such case they must have
| approximated more than 50 $50. 00O. We
doubt that the statement Of the hle-
rarch is correct, In fact there Is reason
to believe that there was an absolute
shrlnkage in the 1.-THE payment of last
year. But In addition to the revenues
from this source 1t is probable that the
dividends upon investment of church
moneys produced an income ranging
from S5Oo,ooO to Sl,OoO,oOO for the calen-
dar year OF 1905. 1t would appear,
therefore, to be quite reasonable to as
sumo the total of general church
revenue to have been not less than
| s., SOC, 600
Mormons are asking themselves what
became of this vast sum. The various
outside stakes Of Zion did not receive
any appreciable portion of 1t, and there
was no large perceptible church ex-
penditure for edifces for general
church work In Salt Lake City.
There is murmuring, and Just cause
| for murmuring In the outside coun-
| ties. The mass OF the Mormon people
contribute practically all their surplus,
| being 10 per cent of their earnings, to
the general church fund; and nearly all
OF that money is exported from the To-
canty where 1t ls produced and trans
mitted to the chief hierarchs Office in
Salt Lake. The regions which most
need the means for their upbuilding are
thus deprived of Invigorating sus-
tenance,
But Salt Lake does not get the profit
for this community also pays enormous
tithes and apparently very little OF the
contribution is returned into channels
through which it may make It's way
back into general trade Presumably
the foreign investments carry away the
large surplus. and therefore the muir
mur of the remoter stakes OF Zion is
murmur which is uttered here and with
equal justification,
1t is not as If the vast mechanism OF
church movement in the Mormon COM
munty were sustained out of the gen.
eral income. If so 1t would be easy TO
see where even so large a sum as ST.
100000 could be expended every year
the cost OF missionary service. the care
OF the poor partial as IT Is, that must
be considerable expense), the build
ing and maintenance of church edi-
fices-all constitute an occasion for eX-
pendlture which might easily absorb
the whole estimated income. But all OF
these have their own special collec-
ton, Every ward is supposed to sus-
tain its own poor. every ward is sup
posed to build and maintain It's own
meeting house, amusement hall. etc:
every stake is supposed to erect It's own
tabernacle: every missionary is sup
posed to travel without purse or scrip
so far rs the church Is concerned (n
reality he goes at the cost of himself
and family
II will thus be seen that there is no
way perccptible to the general public.
in which to account for the 81 500 900
which are gathered by Smith every
year as general income 1or his
church, What is he doing with this
vast amount of money? Is he withdraw
ing IL from all financial channels and
boarding It in some secret place as the |
Indian Rajahs used to keep their |
wealth for instant use In case of en-
forced flight? Is he investing IL in 9TH
er countries so that he may have an |
income no matter what shall be the |
mutations of his own community?
There is no other semi-publEc fund in |
the United States whose magnitude |
and whose secret manipulation equal
this. And society is justified In con-
tinuing its insistent demand that the
prophet, seer, and revelatpr Of the
Mormon church shall account for the
funds which he receives and does not |
disburse His brutal silence intended |
To be contemptuous and utilized as a I
reply by his accompllces. is not sufTl-
cient. The laws Of State and Nation
both provide punishment for conf
dcnce games, and his, In its present
aspect is no better than any other
method OF grating.