Salt Lake City, 1884 (3)

Divisions in Salt Lake society, Gentile organizations, cultural events now integrated, dances, polygamist lives, neighborly visits uncommon, violence rare but theft common, Sunday recreations, cultured Gentile class, future of Utah agriculture, limitations of water, complexities of public vs. private water rights, immigrants now sent to other territories, Brigham's opposition to mining, need for cash overcame, Walker brothers brought in investors, ZCMI improved economy, Brigham opposed competition, Godbeites, Walker brothers successful mercantile, rapid growth and inflation in city.

Saints Gentiles Seceders Hoodlums		In Salt Lake City there are four separate sections of society which react upon one another. First, the adherents of the Mormon Church—the Saints; second, those who never have been nor will be Mormons—the Gentiles; third, the seceders from the Mormon Church; and fourth, the renegades and irresponsible of all parties, for whom has been adopted the Californian word hoodlum.		Harper's, August 1884
Divided society		This classification makes queer bedfellows: the Jew finds himself a Gentile, and the Roman Catholic becomes a Protestant, making common cause with Calvinism against the hierarchy of the Tabernacle. The result, of course, is that each section keeps pretty well to itself, and is likely to despise the others.
Ladies literary society Anti-polygamy Society publishes The Standard		A few women of Salt Lake, years ago, formed a mutual-improvement club, having for its object a uniform course of reading. Now there are two flourishing ladies' literary societies, which are of far more significance here as centres of a healthy intellectual and social existence and progress than they would be in any other community. Most of their members are also members of the Anti-polygamy Society, which publishes a monthly journal, The Standard, under the editorship of Mrs. Jennie A. Froiseth.
McKenzie Reform Club Walker opera house		The McKenzie Reform Club, established under Gentile auspices for the suppression of intemperance, has prospered so that it has erected the handsome building known as the Walker Opera-house, which cost nearly $75,000. The corner-stone was laid with much ceremony early in August of 1881.
Mormon dances		Mormons are publicly very sociable, and remarkably peaceable. In their various ward meeting-houses—for each bishop's ward has an assembly-room—are held at frequent intervals during the colder half of the year assemblies where dancing is the main object, and where it is indulged without stint. Gentiles are occasionally invited. These dances (and all other Mormon festivities) are opened and closed by prayer.
Music Theater National acting companies		The Salt-Lakers are also diligent musicians. From the great organ in the Tabernacle down to a jew's-harp, everybody handles some sort of musical instrument, or sings, and the music shops of the city seem about as brisk as any places on the street. You will hear singing all the time, and in all localities. This has been encouraged by the Church, as has also been the dramatic taste of the people, who very early organized a company of actors, and long ago built the great theatre which is a prominent feature of the city. For a long time only "home talent" graced its boards, but since the railway gave easy access, every company of actors that crosses the continent stops here, and some great names have been among those who have played in this temple of histrionics. Among the local celebrities in the theatrical line were several members of the family of Brigham Young, and one of his daughters is yet "on the boards," in San Francisco.
Audiences now integrated		The annals of this theatre, perhaps, afford quite as good a gauge of the change which has taken place in Salt Lake City during the last twenty years as any other one thing in town. At first, as I have said, it was wholly supported by the local company of amateurs, and patronized in a most unconventional way by the simple Mormons in their sun-bonnets, who came with their whole families. The floor of the theatre in those days was reserved to the Saints; Jews, Gentiles, and other "dwellers in Babylon" sat in the first gallery. The audience now does not noticeably differ from that of any Eastern theatre, and the new opera-house is one of the handsomest in the Union.
Neighbors seldom visit		Concerning the sociability among Mormon families in a private way, an outsider can only know by report. It is said to be small. The interchanges of calls and the forms of neighborly etiquette prevailing in ordinary society are little practiced. Even in the case of the wealthy, social visiting is said to be infrequent.
Polygamists less than 10%		The private home routine of a polygamous family is a matter upon which so much curiosity is constantly expressed by my acquaintances that I venture to say here what little I know; but the reader must remember that less than ten per cent of the voting Mormon population of Utah are polygamists.
Polygamists are home-owners Records are secret		The polygamist, as a rule, has accumulated some property and owns a house [399] before he takes a second and successive wives, though sometimes he begins by marrying two or three at once. All of these marriages, however, except the first, are made secretly by the Church, and no record of them is accessible.
Hotel-like houses Or separate homes		In the city, at least, it is seldom that the different wives share the same quarters. In the country this is not so uncommon, but the natural unpleasantness follows in most cases. The general method is to have a large house, the main part of which, perhaps, is occupied by the first wife, and wings or additions by the successive candidates for marital honors. These large, straggling, hotel-like houses are common in Salt Lake City, and mark a difference between it and a town of small houses like Cheyenne and most other Western villages. In many cases, however, the husband sets up his wives in separate homes, either side by side or in different parts of the city. In any case each has her own kitchen, garden, etc.
Each wife has farm, garden Husband acts as agent Renders aid as needed First wife better off		I have in mind a wealthy dignitary of the Church whom you might easily have mistaken for the late Peter Cooper, and who is possessed of seven wives. Each of these women has some farming and garden ground of her own, and all are greatly devoted to rearing bees. With the help of their grown children they each raise a large amount of produce and honey annually. The husband acts as their agent. He hives their swarms of bees, and charges them for it; he renders special aid when called upon, and is paid for it; he sells their crops and honey when it is ready, and credits each wife with her due share. Most of them live in suites of apartments under the roof of his great house in town, but the first wife has a beautiful farm of her own a little out of the city, to which she and her children have retired, to end their days in peaceful independence.
Elderly husband's domestic life Visitation schedule		The way in which this old gentleman has always arranged his domestic life is reported to be thus: He had certain rooms in his house where he kept his bed, his wardrobe, his books, and saw any visitors who called upon him. Here be was a bachelor, and here he staid every other day and night. On alternate days and nights he was the guest of one or another of his wives in regular rotation, devoting the one day (in this case fortnightly) which was hers diligently to her society. Of course this routine was not invariable, but for the most part it was regularly followed.
Morals same as any established town Violence rare		In respect to the general morals of the community, it may be said that they are simply those of any old and well-regulated town East or West. If as a Western city it differs from an Eastern town of similar size, it is merely in classification, not degree. Anything like open violence is extremely rare; ladies walk the streets at night unmolested; and burglary is almost [400] unknown.
Theft common Gambling Local breweries Dozens of saloons		Thievery, however, is common enough, and a large police force is needed. Gambling is wholly "on the sly." In the matter of liquor-drinking, a great change has recently come about. For many years after the foundation of the city Brigham Young rigidly excluded all liquors, and even as late as a dozen years ago only two or three bars met the patronage of ten or fifteen thousand people. Whatever else they might be, the President evidently intended his people should not become drunkards. Now, however, local breweries turn out great quantities of lager-beer; every hotel and nearly every restaurant has its bar, while dozens of liquor saloons exist, some managed by Mormons.
Sundays more strict than other western towns But looser than used to be Lake resorts crowded Croquet, secular songs		Observance of Sunday used to be very rigid and sanctimonious, and even now it is far more strict than in most cities west of the Missouri; for in California, as in New Orleans, Sunday is mainly devoted to recreation, the theatres are opened, and pleasure excursions of all sorts are encouraged. Denver is dropping into this way somewhat also, while as for Santa Fe, Cheyenne, and Helena, they never had any principle at all so far as the Sabbath was concerned. With the growth of Salt Lake City this worldly influence is more and more apparent, and the trains to the bathing resorts are never so crowded as on Sundays. To be sure, it is the plebeian element which goes, for the most part; but the patricians stay at home more as a matter of taste than righteousness, for you will see them playing croquet in the orchard, and hear them singing decidedly secular songs around the household piano in the evening. Undoubtedly there are many conscientious to "keep the Sabbath holy"; but what I mean to say is that the City of the Saints is little better than its neighbors in this particular form of religious observance.
Not more moral		So far as my own observation went, the condition of Salt Lake City did not seem at all superior to other well-settled towns of its size either East or West as regards that special kind of immorality which Mormonism professes to eradicate.
Many crimes by drifters		Of the arrests made annually in Salt Lake City, by far the larger number belong to the non-Mormon minority. Many of the culprits, however, are not residents of the city, but are a part of the floating crowd of miserable and dissolute men that infest every Western city.
Gentile sector self-conscious Cultured		The Gentiles of the city probably enjoy themselves more than they would if they could run off to a great town in an hour, [401] and were not necessarily so self-centred as the isolation of the locality compels them to be. It is a society made up of the families of successful merchants and mining men, of clergymen and teachers, of the officers of the army stationed at Camp Douglas, and the representatives of the government in the judicial and other Territorial offices. This composition, it will be seen, presupposes considerable intelligence and culture, the effect of which is plainly to be seen in their homes.
Utah a gricultural		Utah has always been pre-eminently an agricultural district. Out of her 150,000 people probably 120,000 are now farming or stock-raising in some capacity or other. When you look down the valley from the city your eye takes in a wide view of fields and orchards and meadows, green with the most luxuriant growth, and marked off by rows of stately trees or patches of young woodland. All these farms are small holdings, and though cultivated by no means scientifically, have long produced pretty well up to their several capacities.
Supply of arable land Irrigation Public vs. private water rights		There must, then, be an increased area of plantation if there is to be a greater supply; but examination proves that it is probably impossible to bring under cultivation a hundred thousand acres more of land in the whole Territory. Leaving out the cactus plains of the south, the bleak plateaus east of the Wahsatch, the saline deserts on the western border, and the volcanic sands which run down from Idaho, nearly all the rest of the Territory where water is accessible has already been taken up. It must be remembered that all the agriculture of Utah is by artificial irrigation. Every mountain canon discharges a stream fed by the melting snows of the heights. This stream is dammed, its waters led along the " benches" beneath the foot-hills in great ditches, and thence distributed through slender conduits to each man's land. The sources of the water are held to be public property, and many questions of law are more and more becoming involved in the consideration of the rights and responsibilities of the public in relation to its water supply.
Irrigation limits Immigrants sent beyond Utah Agricultural exports increasing		The important fact in this connection is that the limit of otherwise arable land is not so soon to be reached as that of irrigation. The Mormon leaders recognize this, and are continually sending colonies of new-comers away into neighboring Territories to establish themselves. The present waste of water may be largely saved, and more economical methods of farming introduced, but Utah can hardly expect to do more than double her present agricultural population. This class, however, will be able to produce far more than would be needed for their own consumption. That is done now, and the export of all sorts of grain, fruit, and produce is large, and is constantly increasing.
Brigham opposed mining		To something more than agriculture, then, which in the opinion of the first settlers was their stronghold, must Utah and her metropolis look for future growth. The Mormon leaders, and particularly Brigham Young, always opposed any attempt at a development of the mineral resources of the Territory, though it is said that he informed himself as thoroughly as he could upon their character and value. He forbade all mining to his devotees, and would have closed the mountains to Gentile prospectors if he had been able. So far as a desire existed to avoid the evils of a placer-working excitement, drawing hither a horde of ruffianly gold-seekers, this course was commendable.
Led to cash shortage Barter system Gentiles brought some cash, but not enough		But as years went on it was seen by the shrewder heads among the Mormons themselves that this abstinence from mining was harmful. There was no cash in the Territory, and none to be got. If a surplus of grain was raised, or more of any sort of goods manufactured than could be used at home, there was no sale for it, since at that time the market was so, far away, and transportation was so deficient and expensive, that no profits could possibly be made. Business was almost wholly by barter, and payments for everything had to be by exchange. A man who took his family to the theatre wheeled his admission fee with him in the shape of a barrel or two of potatoes, and a young man would go to a dance with his girl on one arm, and a bunch of turnips on the other with which to buy his ticket. The Gentiles soon began to bring in coin, but the relief was gradual and inadequate.
Mining began about 1870 Walker brothers brought in capital Barter gradually disappeared		Finally, about fifteen years ago, it was publicly argued by some bold minds, in the face of the Church, and to their own discomfort, that the only things Utah had which she could send out against competition were gold and silver. When from preaching they began to practice, and such men as the Walker brothers encouraged outside capital to join them in developing silver ledges in the Wahsatch, then Salt Lake City began to rouse herself. Potatoes and carrots and adobes disappeared as currency, and coin and greenbacks enlivened trade, which conformed more and more to the ordinary methods of American commerce.
ZCMI needed to prevent price gouging		One perfectly legitimate means taken for monopoly of trade was the establishment, twenty-five years ago, of Zion's Cooperative Mercantile Institution. In the early days it was exceedingly difficult for country shop-keepers to maintain supplies, when everything had to be hauled by teams from, the Missouri River, and extortionate prices would be demanded for staples when, as frequently happened, some petty dealer would get a "corner" in them.
ZCMI system reduced and stabalized prices		The design of this establishment was to furnish goods of every sort known to merchants out of one central depot in Salt Lake City, under control of the Church, and partly owned by it. This was a joint-stock "co -operative" affair, however, and the capital was nearly a million dollars. The people were commanded from the pulpit to trade there, but they would have done so anyhow, for the "co-op," as it is called, was able to reduce and equalize prices very greatly.
ZCMI branches		Branches were established in Ogden, Logan, and Soda Springs, and a warehouse built in Provo. These and other additions were rapid.
Central ZCMI buildings 150 employees Stock now concentrated in a few hands Prosperous		The central sales-rooms in this city now occupy a four-story brick building three hundred and eighteen feet long by ninety-seven feet wide, where every species of merchandise is to be found. In other quarters are a drug-store, a shoe factory (supplied by its own tanneries, and running one hundred and twenty-five machines propelled by steam), and a manufactory for canvas "overall" clothing. Altogether about two hundred and fifty persons are employed, working at reasonable hours and reasonable pay. The stock, which originally was widely scattered in small lots, has been concentrated for the most part in the hands of a few astute men, who are credited with large [403] profits. There is an air of great prosperity about the institution, whose business is stated to reach five millions of dollars annually, derived almost wholly from Utah and Southern Idaho.
Competition came with railroad Church sought to crush competitors		Though this concern bad a practical monopoly at first, as soon as the railways came to Salt Lake individual merchants could sell goods about as cheap, and opposition arose. Then the power of the Church was brought directly to bear to crush competition.
Walkers sons of Mormon father Brigham demanded more than tithing from them Boycott of Walkers, patrons reported Now most powerful mercantile in Utah		For example, the four Walker brothers, sons of a Mormon father, were engaged in trade, and were getting rich, having surmounted obstacles fatal to lesser strength. Brigham Young, in the height of his pride and power, chose to insist that their tithe offerings were not large enough, and to demand a large amount of cash additional—$30,000, it is reported, at one fell swoop. Instead of a check he received a refusal. Instantly relays of Saints were established to stand in front of the Walkers' shop, and report for condemnation every Mormon who traded there. Nevertheless the Walker brothers survived, and are to-day probably the most powerful mercantile firm in Utah.
Brigham's approach led to schism		Brigham Young's attitude led to a schism in the Church, and a small but far-reaching rebellion among some of his most trusted followers.
Godbeites Utah Magazine Lobby for separation of sacred and secular Excommunicated Step toward current freedom and prosperity		The leaders of this movement were W. S. Godbe, H. W. Lawrence, and E. L. T. Harrison, and they had plenty of encouragement. Through the pages of the Utah Magazine they declared that Young was not a dictator over their temporal as well, as spiritual life, that commerce should be left to its own laws, that Utah's prosperity lay in the development of her mines, that the United States was above the Church in civil matters, and that the priesthood should confine itself to its proper function—that of spiritual guidance. They were expelled from the Church, which did all it could to ruin their business. All they asked was independence and religious liberty to worship God in the same forms that Brigham Young professed to enjoy and to enjoin; but that autocrat would brook no opposition to his infallibility. Nevertheless, the Godbe movement was of lasting strength, and through it Salt Lake City took an important step toward the freedom and prosperity of the present.
Practices changed after Brigham's death Modern manners cultivated Newspapers		The policy, or at any rate the action, of the Church has changed greatly since Young's death. Everybody now buys in the best market, modern manners in all the walks of life are cultivated, better schools are being established among both Mormons and Gentiles, and the best newspapers are patronized no matter what their creed.
Church ambitious Missions Political power in other territories		The Church is as ambitious as ever, and taking advantage of the general indifference to its movements, is steadily aggressive through all its missionary channels. If it has grown weaker among its earliest adherents and in its first stronghold, it is growing stronger through new accessions, and in other Territories is quietly laying the foundations of future political power.
Tourism high Hotels unusually good World travelers		Salt Lake City is one of the points in the United States that all tourists think should not be missed. It is one of the certain stopping points in the programme of the globe-trotter. Consequently the city is always full of strangers, and various excursion facilities have grown up and flourished almost wholly by patronage of sight-seers. Hotels are well supported, too, and consequently are unusually good. A few days after the arrival at San Francisco of each steamer from the other side of the Pacific there is a special flux of visitors. Then it is highly entertaining to sit in the long, Southern-like, acacia-shaded veranda of the Continental and watch the omnibuses unload their foreign travellers, with heaps of queer-looking luggage bearing marks affixed in Yokohama or Melbourne, and concealing a stratification of labels that would read right around the world.
Rail connections		This tourist business is of value to the city, and is becoming more noticeable than ever now that a second line of railway, the Denver and Rio Grande, has been opened between this city and the East. Heretofore the only railway communication had been by the Union Pacific at Ogden, the Utah Central connecting Salt Lake City with that town. The famous narrow-gauge railway of Colorado, however, pushed its line through the southern passes of the Rockies, and made a rival connection with the Central Pacific at Ogden. This diverted at once so large a body of travellers who were anxious to avail themselves of the opportunity to see the marvellous scenery of the interior Rocky Mountains that the old line was obliged to bestir itself.
Competition lowered fares, freight rates Coal exports Rapid growth in city 50% inflation in two or three years		The competition in the transportation of farm products, ores, and merchandise also caused a very considerable diminution in rates of freight, and has been a stimulus to all business in eastern Utah. Grain and potatoes, hitherto fed to the hogs or not harvested, found a quick market at advanced rates. The new road made accessible new coal mines also, and cheapened fuel and coke, while important concessions were made to those who wished to send their ores to Denver, Pueblo, or eastward, or to bring Colorado ores, for the advantage of the smelters, here. The building of the western end of the Denver and Rio Grande was done almost wholly by Mormons, and great sums of money have been expended here, so that cash has been abundant, trade and building brisk, and the increase of population in and about the city very rapid. The census of 1880 gave the city only a little over 20,000; she now has close upon 25,000. At the same time the rise of large towns in Montana, the opening of railway outlets in the north, and eastern demands have made unlooked-for drafts upon the cattle herds and the farms of the whole region. The result has followed in Salt Lake that the cost of living has advanced nearly fifty per cent in two or three years.
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