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Show " -- i - . 1 ssss sswssass He Declares Vhen It Fell ; Upon Church to . - Kane :: Scnatcr.OnlyOzcNanc Vas Mentioned f:r the Position. Race Whitney of Salt Lake City, a t nephew of Reed Smoot, and a former Salt ike man, has . ben In Chicago. Mr. Whitney's father ! O. F.Whlt-' F.Whlt-' ney, historian of the Mormon church, whose four days debate with Brigbam If. Roberts in support of woman's suf-' suf-' frage at the UtahConitltutlonal convention con-vention in 1895 brought him into especial espe-cial prominence. Mr. Whitney wrote the' following account ac-count of his uncle's ' cajeer for the i , Chicago American: 7 ; (BY EACE Wiil'JCNEY.) Reed Smoot's father, my grandfather, was A. O. Smoot, who accompanied ; Brigham Young Into Utah. The elder Smoot was a polygamist and had several sev-eral wives. r Reed Smoot early in life entered Into a business career, starting as office boy In the Provo woolen mills, the largest manufacturing institution of its kind ' in Utah, and worked his way to the top. When he was 22 years of age he was commissioned by 'the Mormon church to go to Norway and Sweden, where he made many converts. Upon his return he was made superintendent of the Provo woolen mills. Death of His Father. Smoot was SO years of age -when hi father died. The elder Smoot was at one time worth half a million dollars, but he gave largely to charity and public pub-lic institutions and when he died his estate was worth but $15,000. There were a large number of heirs, each of whom by a division of the estate would receive but a few hundred dollars. Reed Smoot called a meeting of the heirs and made this proposition: "If the heirs will leave the entire estate in my charge I will organize the Smoot Investment company and devote three years without with-out remuneration of any kind in an attempt at-tempt to make the estate give a livelihood liveli-hood to all of us." ' Company Is Strong Today. . Today the . Smoot Investment company com-pany is one of the strongest financial institutions in Utah, which fact is entirely en-tirely due to the business acumen of Reed Smoot. It has a capital stock of $400,000, pays 6 per cent semi-annual dividends and owns lumber mills, flour ' , mills and a great amount of real estate, i Smoot 4s still at the head of this com- I pany, but at no time has he drawn one ' penny of salary for his services. He is personally worth about $500,000 and is a liberal giver to charity. He " was married about eighteen years ago : to one of the daughters of B. R. El-dredge, El-dredge, one of the early settlers. He now has six children. His home, life has been Ideal, and at ho time has he f betrsyed any tendency toward polyg amy. Business Acumen Needed. Smoot was chosen an apostle of the Mormon church purely because of his business awmen. Few Easterners understand un-derstand the true relationship between the apostle and the church. The quorum quo-rum of twelve apostles is to the Mormon Mor-mon church what the City Council is to Chicago and the first presidency occupies oc-cupies the same relative position as "the Mayor of a city. This quorum merely conducts the business of the church. The quorum before Smoot's selection had all the religion it needed, but it , was in need of a business man. WHEN IT FELL. UPON THE CHURCH TO NAME THE SENATOR FOR UTAH, THERE WAS BUT ONE NAME MENTIONED. THAT OF SEED SMOOT. HE WAS THE NANIMOUS CHOICE. |