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Cooperative Community in the North Brigham City Utah
Cooperative Community in the North Brigham City Utah
by Leonard J. Arrington
The first important Mormon community to organize itself for cooperative activity under a system later incorporated in the United Order of 1874 was Brigham City, Utah. The Brigham City cooperative is especially noteworthy because it attracted the attention of Edward Bellamy in 1886 while he was writing Looking Backward, and Bellamy spent several days in Brigham City observing the system and conversing with Apostle Lorenzo Snow, the community leader. Functioning over a period of more than 15 years, the cooperative city of Brigham exerted profound influence on the history of Utah and surrounding areas occupied by the Mormons. Several Latter-day Saint communities, notably Hyrum, Utah, and Paris, Idaho, adopted the Brigham City system. It was the essential structure of the Brigham City Order that Brigham Young followed in establishing the first United Order at St. George in 1874, and the St. George U. O., in turn, was the model for most of the organizations later that year. Finally, the promoter and leader of the Brigham City cooperative, Lorenzo Snow, later became president of the church he had served so long as an apostle, and was to exert a lasting influence on its policies.
Brigham City is situated on Box Elder Creek at the base of the Wasatch Mountains, some 60 miles north of Salt Lake City. With a population now in excess of 10,000, it is not only the principal fruit-producing center in northern Utah, but also one of the leading manufacturers of missiles in the nation. It is also the site of the Intermountain School for Navajo Indians. The town was founded in 1851, and consisted of some six families until 1854-55, when Lorenzo Snow moved to Brigham City with 50 additional families. Snow, as a member of the L.D.S. Council of Twelve Apostles, was called to settle there and preside over the Latter-daySaints in that region. The families to settle Brigham City were selected with special care to include a schoolteacher, mason, carpenters, blacksmiths, shoemakers, and other skilled craftsmen and tradesmen who would insure the economic success of the community. Some of these were recent emigrants from Europe, some of whom previously had had experience with cooperative movements. The group was specifically instructed by Brigham Young to grow and manufacture all that they consumed.
The construction of a fort, canal, gristmill, sawmill, and other primary tasks of colonization occupied the settlers until 1864 when a considerable influx of Scandinavian immigrants permitted (and made necessary) the establishment of small manufactures, retailing, and other crafts and trades. Lack of transportation facilities and good roads prevented the development of a specialized economy. Brigham City was not connected by railroad with Salt Lake City until 1871.
With a city of almost 1,600 inhabitants to provide for, Apostle Snow supervised the organization in 1864 of a cooperative general store. It was his intention to use this mercantile cooperative as the basis for the organization of the entire economic life of the community and the development of the industries needed to make the community self-sufficient. Snow explained the origin of the movement in a letter to Brigham Young, as follows:
This original association, it is to be noted, was nothing more than a joint-stock enterprise to which Snow and three others subscribed $3,000. It was an immediate success, however, and other stockholders were attracted by moral suasion, by the generous commodity dividend policy, and by reducing shares to $5.00 each. The profitability of the concern (by 1870 it was the only store in town) and the policy of giving no dividend in cash or imported merchandise made possible the accumulation of sufficient savings to establish home industries. This, of course, had been part of the original intention. Some stockholders, as one would expect, objected that this reinvestment would cut dividends. As Snow later related:
Eventually, the association was to sponsor the development of virtually every industry and craft in the city.
Utilizing the labor of the community available after the fall harvest of 1866, the group built, at a cost of $10,000, a two-story tannery building, 45 by 80 feet. Virtually all the labor and materials were furnished in return for capital stock, although one-fourth wages were paid out of the store in merchandise to "those who needed it." The construction of the tannery, the selection of the equipment, and the procuring of the workers and supplies were under the direction of a Mormon convert who had tanning experience in England, Cincinnati, and Salt Lake City. The leather produced under his direction was reputed to be "equal in quality to the best Eastern oaked tanned leather." The tannery enterprise came to produce $10,000 worth of goods annually, and was expanded in 1870 to include a boot and shoe shop and a saddle and harness shop. The boot and shoe shop was soon producing $700 worth of boots and shoes per week and employing 30 hands. By 1877 the boot and shoe shop had manufactured $132,000 worth of goods. With these enterprises all the leather needs of the community were met, and some leather products were sold for cash in the Salt Lake City, Ogden, and Logan markets. Dividends to the stockholders of these and other enterprises consisted of goods produced by the jointly owned cooperatives.
After incorporating these enterprises under the name "Brigham City Mercantile and Manufacturing Company" in 1870, with seven directors and 126 stockholders, the group then planned the construction of a woolen factory. Using, as with the tannery, the winter labor of the community, materials contributed in return for capital stock, and the profits of enterprises already established, a $35,000 woolen factory was constructed in 1870-71 and equipped with machinery purchased in the eastern states. The building was 44 by 88 feet, and two-stories high. The factory originally contained a spinning jack with 200 spindles, four broad looms, and three narrow looms, and other facilities for washing, drying, carding, dyeing, etc. The factory came to employ 32 hands and eventually did a $40,000 annual business in yarns, blankets, men's and women's wear, and similar products. This and the tannery were both powered by water.
Simultaneously, the association began to build up the sheep herd from 1,500 head to 5,000 head, by retaining the natural increase, and by banding together additional sheep contributed for capital stock by those joining the organization. In this way a "dependable supply of wool" for the factory was provided. The sheep were wintered on two farms near Bear River City, Utah. By 1879 the U. O. herd had grown to well above 10,000. Soon afterward, a horned-stock herd of a thousand animals was established which, together with the sheep, supplied an association meat market. A hog enterprise also served the same purpose.
By 1874 when the United Orders bearing much resemblance to the Brigham City co-op were organized in every Mormon settlement in the West, virtually the entire economic life of this community of 400 families was owned and directed by the cooperative association. Some 15 departments, later to be expanded to 40, produced the goods and services needed by the community, and each household obtained its food, clothing, furniture, and other necessities from these departments. Almost complete self-sufficiency had been attained, and some textile products, leather, furniture, and dairy products were "exported" to other northern Utah settlements. The paid-up capital of the Brigham City co-op in 1874, which amounted to $ 120,000, was owned by 372 shareholders.
Food enterprises, in 1874, included a model dairy at Collinston — "perhaps . . . the finest, best and most commodious of any dairy in this Territory" — consisting of 500 milk cows. Established in 1871, it was reputed to be the first "commercial" dairy in Utah. In addition to fluid milk, the dairy department produced nearly $8,000 worth of butter and cheese annually. Almost 40,000 pounds of cheese were produced for exportation alone in 1875. Some 100 hogs were raised in connection with the dairy to consume the waste products of the dairy and to supplement the supply of beef and mutton. A butcher department prepared the meat for "sale." Several molasses mills were operated, providing food for both man and milk cow. A number of farms, including a "dry farm" at Portage, Utah, were operated by the agricultural department for the production of food, feed, and other supplies. A horticultural department planted and cared for flowers, shrubs, vines, and orchards. Farm machinery and equipment, to the tune of $12,500 yearly, were manufactured or repaired by a special machine and repair shop. The group also maintained an "Indian Farm" upon which Indians in the vicinity were established and taught the art of agriculture.
Textile enterprises included, in addition to the woolen factory, a hat and cap factory or millinery shop, employing up to 25 girls and producing fur, wool, and straw hats, valued at $5,000 annually; tailor and "fancy work" shops, employing nine hands and turning out $14,000 annually; a silk department which planted several thousand mulberry trees, raised silkworms, and manufactured silk; a 125-acre cotton farm in southern Utah, 300 miles away, to which some 20 young men were called in 1873 and thereafter for a period of two years at a time, to raise cotton for use in the woolen factory. Besides making needed alterations and improvements on the farm, the group produced enough cotton the first year to obtain 70,000 yards of warp. The cotton farmers also maintained a farm on which to grow their own food and produced raisins, wine, and sugar cane for transporting north to Brigham City. President Snow also called a group of people to settle a valley 10 miles east of Brigham City, originally called Flaxville and now called Mantua, for the purpose of raising flax. Largely Danish, these colonists produced grain sacks and sewing thread.
Construction enterprises included a shingle, lath and picket mill; three sawmills, including a large steam sawmill located in Marsh Valley, Idaho; brick and adobe shops; a lime kiln; a blacksmith shop; a furniture or cabinet shop, which dressed white pine to make baby carriages and other furniture; a large two-story factory fitted with machinery for wood turning, planing and working mouldings; and architect, carpentry, mason, and painting departments. During the years 1874-75 these departments employed 46 hands and built 46 houses, plastered 163 rooms, and did work valued at $21,000. A public works department built roads, bridges, dams, canals, and public buildings. The latter included church, civic, and cooperative buildings.
By 1874 the cooperative mercantile establishment was doing $30,000 worth of business annually. It was the only store in the city. According to Apostle Snow,
So profitable had the Brigham City business become, that they contemplated opening a branch house in Logan for the sale of their productions. This would have come in competition with the Logan Branch of ZCMI, and with the Logan U. O. store, and perhaps that fact dissuaded officials from consummating this plan.
Other enterprises, in addition to the tannery already mentioned, included a tin shop, rope factory using hemp grown on the co-op farm, pottery shop, broom factory, cooperage, greenhouse and nursery, brush factory, and a wagon and carriage repair shop. An education department supervised the school and seminary. There was also a "tramp department" which utilized the labor of tramps who sought handouts by chopping wood and other odd jobs.
The cooperatively owned departments were to comprise the economic life of the community. Indeed, plans were developed to build the city expressly with this thought in mind. All the shops and factories of the departments were to be located on a 12-acre square around the center of the town. Street cars were to run from this square to various parts of the town and to the railroad station. This arrangement was never quite completed, however.
Each department or enterprise had clearly delineated responsibilities, and was operated by men and women of all ages under the supervision of an overseer or superintendent. Typically, the superintendent had learned his skill in Europe. A general superintendent (Lorenzo Snow) was in charge of the operations of all departments. The bookkeeping was described by Apostle Snow as follows:
Superintendents and workers alike were paid wages which appear to have been commensurate with those being paid elsewhere in the nation at the time. The secretary and bookkeeper of the association received $1,200 per year; a clerk, $900; the overseer of the dairy, $1,000; the overseer of the sheep herd and farm, $1,200; the woolen factory superintendent, $3.50 per day — equivalent of, say, $1,200 per year; carders, spinners, and weavers were said to have been getting equal pay with their counterparts in other Utah factories. The overseer of the tannery was paid $3.00 per day, and the overseer of the boot and shoe shop received an equal amount. The general superintendent, Lorenzo Snow, reported himself as working "for nothing." Being the largest stockholder, his dividends were presumably sufficient for his support. Undoubtedly, members of his five families worked in some of the departments. Snow added:
The management of the Brigham City cooperative was in the hands of a board of seven directors, a president, secretary, and general superintendent, all of whom were elected annually by the stockholders. Lorenzo Snow was the president and general superintendent throughout all of the life of the association. Ecclesiastical influence was strong throughout, and the motto in business transactions was said to be "as with the Priest, so with the people."
In June 1874 at the climax of the drive to organize United Orders throughout Utah, a delegation of members of the First Presidency and Quorum of Twelve Apostles of the church attended a stake conference in Brigham City and asked the people to reorganize under the United Order. The reorganization was made without any difficulty and the only notable change, besides altering the name to the "Brigham City United Order," was the creation of a "United Order Council," consisting of "sixty influential citizens" of the county, which functioned as a kind of congress for the determination of policy. As Brigham Young said, "Brother Snow has led the people along, and got them into the United Order without their knowing it."
There was no change in any of the fundamental institutions and regulations of the system after it was incorporated into the United Order. Each member was made a steward over all his possessions, including his home, farm, livestock, and shares of capital stock in the cooperative institution. A man saved simply by accumulating credits or certificates of indebtedness, which could then be used to make additions or improvements on his home or farm, or for any other purpose. One observer noted that:
Co-op officials attempted to provide suitable work for every person desiring employment, and by 1874, approximately 250 persons were furnished employment in the various departments. Wages were paid almost exclusively in the products of the departments. Experience demonstrated that the community was five-sixths self-sufficient, and for that reason employees were usually paid five-sixths in home products and one-sixth in imported merchandise. To facilitate this arrangement the employees were paid each Saturday in two types of scrip. One type was redeemable at the various industrial and agricultural departments, and was known as "Home D" (for home department) scrip. It would buy furniture, pottery, boots, hats, brushes, dairy products, meat, and other locally produced products. The other type of scrip was stamped with the word "Merchandise" in red letters, and was redeemable at the cooperative store or mercantile department, at which the purchaser might obtain imported goods. (These might be imported from no farther than Salt Lake City.) Both types of scrip bore a resemblance to currency, being two by three inches in size, and were in denominations ranging from five cents to $20.00. They were also the medium for exchange for admission to concerts, plays, and other community productions. More than $160,000 of this scrip was paid out in 1875 and the total production of all the departments in the same year was valued at $260,000. Thus, in that year some $100,000 can be said to have been reinvested in cooperative enterprises. (These figures would have to be multiplied by something like four times to obtain 1965 equivalents.) The operations of the various departments required $30,000 in cash in 1874, of which half was paid to employees in imported merchandise, and the other half devoted to the purchase of such imported materials as iron, horse shoes, nails, furniture, boot and shoe trimmings, paints, dyestuffs, warps, etc. Dividends to stockholders were also paid in the scrip, although stockholders were encouraged to reinvest their profits.
Because virtually the entire town worked for the cooperative, the opening and closing of the departments were uniformly regulated by the ringing of a bell in the courthouse tower. "At fifteen minutes to seven the department doors were opened and the ringing of the triangle told the workmen to begin the labor of the day."
All in all, the town must have been a hive of industry. One correspondent to the Deseret News stayed eight days in Brigham City observing the working of the United Order, and reported: "I did not see a loafer, or an idle man, boy, woman, or girl during my visit; industry, prosperity and contentment seemed to characterize the entire community." Publicity concerning the Brigham City Order even reached England, as Edward Tullidge wrote:
Most observers of the system thought the chief advantage which the so-called cooperative system gave to the city was in its promotion of "home industry." One correspondent wrote to the Salt Lake Herald in 1876, in regard to the Brigham City system that:
Other writers gave similar emphasis to the manner in which Brigham City industry could "bid defiance to the fluctuations of trade, or commercial depressions":
Nevertheless, Brigham Young's successor as president of the church, John Taylor, did not want to put the final stamp of approval on the Brigham City organization, just as a few years later, he did not want to give official sanction to the Orderville United Order. Said President Taylor:
The Brigham City Order seemed to be functioning beautifully in 1877; it was attracting widespread attention in Utah and elsewhere. Not only was it maintaining a high rate of investment, but the 500-odd employees were as well paid as elsewhere in Utah where the prospects of future development were not so bright.
It was apparent that further growth would bring incalculable management problems. The build-up of the cooperative through reinvestment, the multiplication of enterprises under central direction, and the assumption of responsibility for many decisions which are normally made by families and individual business units, magnified the problems of the spiritual-temporal leader, Lorenzo Snow. Decentralization became mandatory, and once the process began it was almost inevitable that a larger and larger share of community activity would be delegated to private enterprise. That church leaders were aware of this problem, and that the relegation of increasing responsibility to individual enterprise may have been purposeful, is indicated in a letter from Apostle Snow to Brigham Young shortly before the latter's death in 1877. Apostle Snow reveals the anxieties which plagued him as he witnessed the little voluntary cooperative store burgeoning into an immense community enterprise employing hundreds of people in diverse tasks, and "philosophizes" on the meaning of his creation. Hitherto unpublished, the letter is quoted in extenso because of the glimpse it gives of the behind-the-scenes reflections of a wise man.
It was during these months of introspection that a series of disasters befell the Order which sounded the death-knell of this leading Mormon cooperative. Once again, the factors occasioning difficulty are best described by the highly literate Apostle Snow, writing in 1879 to Franklin D. Richards, two years after the misfortunes began:
As intimated in Apostle Snow's letter, Brigham City leaders decided, in view of these misfortunes and difficulties, to permit private individuals to establish business houses, and thus to return to a system of semi-private property. This tendency was never reversed. Department after department was sold, usually to the superintendent, and the only remnant of the once proud cooperative combination in 1880 was the general store. All others had become individual enterprises. It is true that the federal government restored, in 1884, the $10,200 tax on scrip which had been collected by O. J. Hollister. This sum was used partly to pay accumulated outstanding debts, and partly to erect a cooperative store building. It was hoped that the cooperative store might be able eventually to accumulate the funds necessary to reestablish cooperation once more, but this hope proved futile. In 1885 Lorenzo Snow was indicted on a charge of unlawful cohabitation and served 11 months in the Utah Penitentiary before his conviction was set aside by the United States Supreme Court. Continued federal prosecution under the Edmunds and Edmunds-Tucker Acts further hampered the activities of community and ecclesiastical leaders. Finally, as the result of the depression of the 1890's, the cooperative store went bankrupt. On November 30, 1895, the local court appointed a receiver for the corporation with instructions to sell all properties and pay the creditors. The association charter expired early in 1896, and all the affairs were completely wound up by that time. The cooperative store building and grounds were taken over by the Deseret Savings Bank.
The experience of the Brigham City cooperative is perhaps best summarized by the last entry in the minute book, which attributes to Lorenzo Snow these words:
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