History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

350 MORMONISM AND POLYGAMY.
fulness requires the tenth of the surplus property of
members coining to Zion to be paid into the church as
a consecration, and after that one tenth of increase or
earnings annually. This is to be used for the poor, for
days from him, on the grounds that he may do as he pleases with twenty-seven
days, but he has no right to idle away three days belonging to the Lord.
Vedette, in San Jose Mercury, Mar. 14, 18G7. Says Richards: 'If they do not
pay their tithes, nothing is done to compel them to do it; they are only reminded
of the case, as with neglect to attend meeting, or of any other duty.'
Narr. } MS., G0-1. At the conference held at Salt Lake City on April
6, 1SS0, it was reported that the total tithing receipts for the year ending
Dec. 31, 1870, were $458,333; which amount it had cost $18,950.75—paid
the bishops—to collect. S. L. C. Tribune, April 7, 1880. This report includes
only the branches of the church in Utah. Coyner, in a letter to the Boston
Educational Journal, dated S. L. City, Nov. 20, 1878, states that the church
has an income of about $1,000,000 from tithing. Numerous complaints are
made from the church's pulpits against delinquents who have failed to pay.
In a book of travels, entitled My First Holiday, Boston, 18S1, Caroline H.
Dall wrongly asserts that the Scandinavian Mormons refuse to pay tithes. In
almost any number of the Descrct News the reader may find a notice calling
upon delinquents to pay their tithing. In the issue of May 14, 1833, the
bishop within whose jurisdiction a saw-mill is in operation is reminded that
lumber is wanted at the public yard; and in the number of July 20, 1854, the
first presidency calls on every bishop throughout the territory to furnish at
once lists s'.iowing who have paid and who still owe. In a speech by Brigham,
April 7, 1873, he said: 'When I reached here I could not pay one tenth, I
could not pay my surplus, I could not give myall, for I had nothing.' Dcserel
News, April 23, 1S73. Finally, at the jubilee conference, held in celebration
of the semi-centennial of the church's organization, one half of the delinquent
tithes throughout the whole church, the amount being about $75,900, was remitted.
The deserving poor of the church were further assisted on this occasion
by the gift of 6,000 head of milch-cows and sheep, and a loan of about
34,000 bushels of wheat until after harvest, without interest. Circulars from
the Twelve Apostles, S. L. City, Apr. 16, 1880.
If tithing dues are satisfied by manual labor, the workman is paid from
the public stores at rates which, though fixed from time to time, are probably
never so low as those paid in ready money elsewhere. Captain Burton
copies a price-current list for 1S60, too long for me to repeat here, but
which will be referred to again elsewhere, and remarks that wheat is quoted
at $1.50 per bushel, more than double its current value at the time in the
valley of the Mississippi. City of the Saints, 389. Mrs Waite states that
when the poor clamored, in 1862-3, because the tithing-office price of flour
was $6 per hundred, they were assured that though flour would undoubtedly
still advance in price, the cost to them would be no greater. But the following
winter, when, owing to the demand from the mining regions of Idaho
and elsewhere, flour rose rapidly in price, the tithing-office charged $12 per
hundred. This caused so great an excitement that Brigham deemed it necessary
to interfere, and the price was reduced to $6 again. It is complained
in the Deseret News of Jan. 10, 1852, that merchants are paying 33 per cent
more for butter than tithing-house rates, and that this action had drawn the
saints away from the tithing-house, and thus forced the laborers on the temple
to eat their bread without butter. This was in the midst of winter, when
such action might not be altogether unexpected; but we find six months
later another complaint, reporting that from March 29th to July 11th there
had only been received 5, 1152 pounds of butter, 2,534?,- of cheese, and 1,1 S2,,
dozens of eggs, and inquiring how fast the work would proceed at this rate of
supply. Id., July 24, 1852. The revelation establishing tithing was followed