Show OLD TIME LAND MARK MARli OF PION PIONEER DAYS I BEING RAPIDLY RAZED ALD FOR NEW HOTEL SITE SIT One of ot the oldest and most prominent prominent nent font landmarks west of the Mississippi river is being torn tom down to make way for what promises to be one of tho the finest hotels in the entire west The Tho razing of the Mormon church tithing office building is but another evidence of the Invincible march of progress toward a greater Salt Lake City For nearl nearly sixty years tars the building has lias stood a monument to the faith of the people who settled this state and an no object of interest to every tourist who ho has visited the city While Whilo there are other buildings s in tho the state that are used for the same purpose there is none so old as the one that is now bein being being be be- in ing torn town down It is properly tho the parent parent pa pa- rent building 1 of all the others During its nearly sixty sixt years of cx- cx millions and millions of dollars worth of business has been ben transacted in this building For years practically all the business was done without the exchanging ing of a single dollar of cash Th There re was a system of currency which while not recognized by tho the government government govern govern- overn ment had a face value among the pioneers pioneers pio pio- the equal of any money bearin bearing the government stamp Over 75 per cent of the cost of the tho labor on the great Mormon formon temple tho the tabernacle the assembly hall hail the Salt Lake theater and other of the noted improvements made bv by the pioneers was paid through h this building It was here in in the early carly days daya day that the poor of the Mormon church went to receive food clothing and whatever they might need It was at this old building that for years the immigrants rants of the church were received upon their arrival from over the plains For Por years a part of the building was the home of ot the Deseret Deseret Deseret Des- Des eret News the oldest newspaper west of the Missouri river Has Haa Stood Test of Time Built in what t today day would b be considered considered con con- a crude way this old building has stood the test of time and as the workmen are tearing it down they declare that it mi might ht have haye stood for at t least years more with but few marks of decay except on the outside The Salt SaIt Laker who wants to take a alast alast alast last look at this old building will do dowell dowell well to take it within the next day or I two Already a lar large e part of the build build- ing is down and within a few days das the tho whole will be razed to the ground round and the work of excavation for the tho new hot hotel will commence Ninety per cent of the tho people of this state who have hare been ben here for over o forty years could tell ten sonic some little stor story about t the tho old tithing office At least 30 GO p per pr percent r I cent nt of the tho people of the state and andI many of those who arc aro now DOW livin living in ill I Idaho Wyoming Nevada and Arizona who came to Utah twenty thirty or forty years year a ago o could tell a story about bout the tho old oM t tithing thin office and tithing yard Long Lon before the Mormons came canto to this part of the west west nay nay almost from the foundation of the church the church the law of t tt t tithing thin has been a II part of tho the tea teach teach- h. h ings It has been charged that the system of tithing is the greatest reI religious religious re re- re- re graft raft in operation in the tho world today However true or untrue I this char charge e may be it is a fact that the majority of ot the tho Mormon people today pay a tithe of their income to I their church and do not question where re or how the funds arc are spent Whatever may bo be said for or a against the system tem tent there thero are arc thousands of members of ot the church that have been provided for in their old age by means of ot this system It was in 1852 1832 five years after the pioneers arrived in this tillS valley that the tho tithing office was built The foundation foundation foun foun- dation was of red sandstone hauled from the tho nearby mountains the walls in some places over two feet thick were of ot adobe the lumber was sawed near to the place it was used from front timber that had been brou brought ht from the nearby mountains From the first few years of its existence it was the largest larg larg- est cit and most important store in the state How Tithing Was Paid It was here that the members of the church brought their tithe tithe in in kind Fruits ve vegetables poultry meat and other things which the people peo pIe of ot the territory had to offer were turned into this building to be distributed distributed later lar largely ely to those who were employed in some ome of the many works then going oin on and to the needy of the I church From Prom the time it was built until a few days ago a II part of the building building build build- ing was used as the office of the presiding pre pie I siding bishop of the church through I whose hands all aB tithing accounts pass For a number of years vears the building together to ether with a largo large lar e two story one in the rear and the yards ards were use used to received immigrants from different parts of the world When they arrived arrived ar ar- ar rived in this city they were at once piloted to the tithing yard where they met their friends or remained until such time as the heads of the tho church could provide a place for them to tt go and settle For many years the large building building build build- in ing near the corner was connected with witha a II two story building on the cast b by a wooden bridge some fifteen or eIghteen eighteen eighteen teen feet above the ground The east building and the bridge were torn down several years ago The old ld stone wall waB which surrounds the building on the south and west sides was a part of the wall that was built in the SOs as a protection against the Indians The old wall extended east from the tithing office corner to what is now A street then north for two blocks then in a southwest direction to North Temple and Main street and then down to the corner The p part rt of the wall walI which is still standing is as asgood asgood asgood good good today as it was in the day it was I built |