The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1908-11-09

| =
termined must cease.
HOW KNIGHT NAILED SMoOT.
So told my father that I should strik'
out for myself. / went TO work for 81 {
day in the Provo cooperative store. sack
Ing grain and dried fruit and moving
barrels and boxes In the warehouse.
overheard my father gay to the manager
IT is new experience for Reed. but h,
will soon get tired OF t. And riigh
there | said 10 myself, I'm stick until
aeer. And did; nor had long to walt. =
Feed snnoot to James 3 Morrow al
Washington. March 2s. 1905.
I know some people With whom am
well acquainted-whon have known fol-
thought when they grew up they would
be superintendents OF big Institutions, J
have heard some people tell this until y
heard this yourself and Reed snoot tells
everybody about It. Now, the first money
knew him to make Understand l know
| op store SO that his workers could not
trade anywhere else and then once a
month he would go around and draw 10
| per cent from the store on account OF
| giving tho people those store orders.
do not know what he did with this 10
per cent. but II was the first money
/
| sure.
I have known him about as long as
ANYBODY has: bought the old Coop
store. and after ! bought II he wanted
me to give him 10 per cent for sending
customers Gus on to me and ! told him I would
said that RsFS he TO wdnd n2 Fa Ena 10 Of soe
store and give his orders. ! told him
| ! did not care: that was not going TO
he a party in that kind OF transaction
| ana take some poor mans wages.-Speech
| OF Hon. Jesse knight at Provo, November
| ., 1908
! During the course of the interview
which Reed Smoot gave to Mr.. Nor
row at Washington, and which was
printed in the Cleveland Plain Dealer,
the apostle made several such "mod-
est statements as that quoted by us,
intended to display his youthful bust
ness shrewdness, industry, and persever-
auce. He eudeavored to give out the
impression that ho had risen in the
world of business and finance solely
through '"hard licks' upon his own
account. and by means Of a persistent
effort to turn a penny here and there
honestly, of course. But Apostle Smoot
even spoiled his own pretty picture by
confessipg that about his first determi.
nation in business sense was to get
another mans position-he sel6shly
made up his mind TO work increasingly
to take the manager S place away from
him. This is probably the first rec
orded evidence of his sordidness and
reckless lack Of consideration for
others that has appeared. 1t is a good
index to his character as it has been
developed in later years.
But, rs "Uncle' Jesse Knight said
in his speech at Provo, there is no
other man in Utah who knows the
Smoot disposition as well as he; and
persons who arc acquainted with both
these men will not feel any hesitation
concerning the matter of whose word
is entitled to greatest reliance Ac,
ceptiug Mr.. knights testimony for it,
Reed Smoot early went into training
to fit himself for his present hierarch-
ical position. whose chief occupation
is robbery of the poor and deception
OF the Mormon tojler into belief that
he is the better off for the muIcting.
Smoot, however, was not alone in the
particular practice described by Mr..
knight--it was common habit among
the high priests. These men, as a
rule, were the owners or managers of
nearly all the mercantile and manufac-
turing institutions in Utah for many
years At first they paid their en-
ployees in tithing orders, which they
purchased at discount and paid out
at face value When an employee
needed cash for some special purpose
which could not be served with the
tithing scrip, he was obliged to sell
his paper pay at sixty or sixty-ivc
cents on the dollar in order TO get the
coin. And-shameful as it may seem
sometimes it was the employer who
purchased the discounted scrip, turn
ing right around and again paying IL |
out to the same employee on the very
next pay day at its face value. After |
some years Gentle business concerns |
increased in number here, and the su- |
pcriority Of the pay given to employees
by these institutions caused the |
wrongcd Mormons TO open their eyes |
and to begin 10 agitate for some iu1-
in the character of their
own compensation. This resulted in
the issuance Of store orders in part
and tithing scrip to fill out. The man.
uer Of procedure in the store order |
matter was for the employer TO write
his check for an amount ten per cent |
less than the face valuc of the store
orders required 70 ''pay off, +" and then
to issue them at full value. And even
at that the Mormon serfs imagined
themselves to be very well of in those
days.
II appears that this is the sort of
game conducted by Reed Smoot-
thrifty Reed-when he was establish.
ing the foundations of his fortune
Another means by which he grew in
,pcolIh U-ac 4o sal1 had Gnunr IN