The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1926-02-02
Heber j. Grant of Salt Lake City, Utah, Has
Only $500 But He Can Borrow Millions
RY VID LARSEN
Especial COrrexD4,ndcnO


gone broke four times, but he can't
borrow. literally. any sum he wants
meralv on his own promise ts pay.
lie has only $500 to his rame, but
ne has the power to invest millions
of dollars annually without account.
ing to anyone.
lie Is absolute monarch over the
religious affairs Of 800.OOO people.
lie rs strange combination Of
twentieth century business man and
old-time religious leader and mystic
seer.
This, in brief. is sketch OF one
Of the most remarkable men in Amer
tea Heber j. Grant, president q; the
Mormon church and supreme ruler
over it's 5000 missionaries and myriad
communicates.
Grant started life as poor boy.
shining shoes at five cents pair
to support himself and his mother.
Entered Business school
lie tells Of his first step upwards
as follows:
One day u hoy pointed out the book
keeper Of bank and said he made
$50 a month. | decided Id never
make that much shining shoes. and
made up my mind to become Il book
keeper"
So he enrolled in night school.
His penmanship was execrable. and
his fellow students jibed him about
it.
Some day I'll be professor of
penmanship in this very school," ne
retortcd. He made the boast good
four years later.
! Il used up enough paper to reach
around the world. guess. but
learned how to write," he says.
From the business school Grant
entered industry. He got a good
start with q small factory-but in
1880 it burned and he lost $4,000 of
his own and $4,000 he had borrowed.
He paid back the $4,000 in two years
time and organized a fire insurance
company. This went under in the
panic of 1893. and he was left with
100000 in debts IN his hands.
In 1907. while he was still naying
off the 100000, he lost $4,000 more
because he had Endorsed the notes
Of unfortunate irrigationists.
Made Church President
However, by 1918 he was on his
feet again. Always active in the af
fairs of the Mormon church, he had
been elevated to the presidency.
With him were two counsellors who
were supposed. theoretically. to help
him form decisions on matters of
policy-.but as matter of fact Grant
can and sometimes does act inde-
pendently of them.
The Mormon church is 4 prosperous
institution, and Grant is empower
ed to direct its dcstinies like an
absolutc monarch. As trustee he
holds all it's securities, and he can
invest them as he pleases, account
ing to no one. Among the concerns
of which &c is president and dircc-
tor. by virtue of his position. are
the following:
Zion Savings Bank and Trust. Co.;
Utah Idaho Beet Sugar Co.. Zion CO.
operative Mercantile Co.; Utah Home
Fire Insurance Co.; Beneficial Life
Insurance Co.; Utah State National
Bank. In addition. he is director
of the Union Pacific Railway, heads
his own private bond and insurance
house, and is cx-officio head Of every
Mormon institution on earth, in
cluding n daily newspaper and scores
Of church schools. The three thou
sand Mormon missionaries who are
ScaLLcfeu IN All pNrtS ol lHc WoIi"
move at his bidding. All the other
Mormon religious leaders are under
his direction.
Relieves in Perseverance
Grant places great value on the
virtue of perseverance. He Illus
trates it by telling Of his experience.
years ago. in trying to join choir.
The choir leader asked him to sing
a certain, hymn, and after hearing
him sent him away with the remark
that he would never make a singer.
Six months later Grant returned
and sang the hymn so we'll he was
admitted to the choir. He had sung
it privately 1000 times in the six
months.
Grant sums up his philosophy Of
achievement in the following remark:
"That which we persist in doing
becomes easy to do, not because the
nature Of the thing has changed but
because our power to do it has in
creased"
That has been his motto. And that,
perhaps, is, why he is Utah's best
known and most powerful citizen.