The Idaho scimitar. [volume] (Boise, Idaho) 1907-1908, 1908-02-15
The Taxes of the Church.

dressed to the faithful that the Lord has concluded
to demand from those to whom he administers
through the Mormon church something more than
one-enth of the gross products of their toll For,
in addition to the tthing heretofore exacted, the
umnaries of the apostolic host have directed their
servants to pay into the church contributions for the
poor fund and for ward expenses
From now until further ORDERS it will be onetenth
and some more for the poor must eat the bread OF
charity and the bishops of the wards must be main
tanned
During the past of the Mormon establishment
which stretches a considerable period of time
the tthes have covered all the expenses of the es-
tabishment, including the maintenance of the poor
President Smith, in an enlightenng interview in
the Pittsburg Times of April g. 1907 speaking of the
1.-THE, said: "There many uses to which it is
put One is the of the poor
But from now on the 1.-THE is to be dropped intact
into the bag of the hierarchy and for the current eX
penses of the wards and for the maintenance of the
INDECENT the members of the church are to be ad-
ditionally taxed Objections are being made to the
additional levy and young Mormon of the third
ward of Salt Lake City is quoted as having ex-
pressed himself in these words:
"Why, do you see this slip? Here you mark down
how much tthing you will give; here, now much
for the worthy poor fund.-, and here for the ward
expense fund The incidental expense fund has
been forgotten but you bet it will come along next
Now, what have my father and the other members
of my family been paying tithng for 10 per cent OF
of all their earnings at that II 1t was not Tor these
other funds? 1t seems that the Mormons are now to
be burdened with the poor fund and expense tund
outside of the 10 per cent tth1ng fund.- the latter
of which suppose, is slipped into long pocket the
bottom of which has not yet been SEEM and which
goes to support set of grafters 1t has always
been the church first with me, but after reading TINS
letter No 1 comes first and [ doubt very much
if there will be anything left for the prophets,
There is considerable merit in this indignant pro-
test bv one of the victims of the SYSTEM for it is well
enough known that the tthes that come largely from
the working class amount to couple of million dol
lars a year and that they are handed over to the
head men of the establishment and that no account
ing is made by them
The official custodians of the fund all IN
good pecunary circumstances, some of them being
placed in the millionaire class. All are able to sup
port as many wives they can clandestney or
openly take unto themselves and the forty or nifty
children one of them may father are no burden
President Smith testified before the Senate nvest1-
eating committee that he was director IN twelve
corporations and the president OF ten OF then1'
Among the companies over which ne preSldes as
president are the Zion Cooperative Mercantile In
stitution with an admitted capital OF $1OOOooO, the
Utah Sugar Company, the Idaho Sugar Company
the Wagon and Machine Company, the Utah Light
and Power Company, two banking Companies and
the Salt Lake & Los Angeles Railroad Company:
He is also director in the Union Pacific Railroad
Company Mr. Smith is evidently man OF wealth.
for presidents and directors OF corporations nave 10
own large blocks of stock in the companies
The president of the church also testified that seven
of the twelve apostles directors in many OF the
industrial and financial corporations mentioned by
him.