Show E 1 EEM may mal E M axuk A iloh S by Pr president eident de delivered liverM in the new taberna salt lake lak 1 olty pity april af r REPORTED BY DAVID DANID W EVANS I 1 have it in my mind to say a few words upon co operation J 1 will quote a saying of one whose partial history is given to ua us in the new jestam testament ent the saying is this amy moy toy yoke is ig easy my burden is light the knowledge I 1 have g gained in my private experience proves to me that there is j not a man or woman co community or family but what if I 1 f they will hearken harken to the council counell that god gives them can do better in everything spiritual or temporal than they can if they take their own wa way Y tak Tab grup ingup the system of our co opera tive method of merchandising izing it gives to the people ease and and aud money they are sire not obliged to run a mile or two through the mud to buy a yard of ribbon they have it in their own ward ancL ank they can purchase it twenty or thirty per cent cheaper than they ever could before I 1 know it Is frequently said by our elders when any new system is introduced to the people put down your names hand over your money and if you are required to pay two dollars for that which is worth only one do it i and ask no questions I 1 have ne never ve r requested my brethren and sisters to act in any such way I 1 want their eyes opened and ings inga enlightened I 1 wish them to know and understand their business transactions and everything they do as perfectly a as a woman knows how to wash dishes sweep a room make abed a bed or bake a cake I 1 want it to be ju just st as familiar to the brethren as to make a pair of shoes to sow and gather their grain or any kotlier other portion of their ordinary labor I 1 do not ask any of you to go blindfolded into any matters or any system of business whatever instead of that I 1 prefer that you should know and understand all about it I 1 wish to te enlighten your minds a little with regard to the system of merchandising izing which has heretofore prevailed in this territory there is quite a number of the community who were acquainted with the first merchants who came here it is true that thad a few edw of our own brethren n brought a few goods but the first merchants who came here were living ston aton and kinkead they to my certain knowledge commenced by selling the goods they brought at from two to five hundred per percent cent above cost there were a few articles with the tho real value of which everybody was acquainted that they did not put quite so high but just as quick as they came to a piece of goods the value of which everybody did not understand the people might look out for the five hundred per cent they continued their operations here until they made hundreds of thousands of dollars I 1 do not think I 1 ever heard a person professing to be a latter day saint complain of bf those merchants others followed them they came here commenced their trade and made money in fact we poured it into their laps I 1 recollect once going into the store of livingston and kinkead and there being a press of people in the store I 1 passed behind one of the counters I 1 saw several brass kettles under it full of gold pieces sovereigns eagles half eagles etc one of the men shouted i bring another brass kettle they did so and set it down and aud the gold fold was thrown into it I 1 chink chink chink phink until in a short time it was filled I 1 saw this the whole drift of the people was to tb get rid of their money I 1 have heard more complaints the last few weeks about the operative cooperative co o movement than I 1 ever heard before about merchandising izing now 1 I will tell you the facts about this movement we started the co ca operative system here when we thought we would wait no longer we opened the wholesale operative cooperative co store and since that retail stores have been established although some of the latter were opened before the wholesale store was opened ihnow this that as soon as this movement was commenced the price of goods came down from twenty to thirty per cent I 1 recollect very well after our vote last october con ference ferenee that it was soon buzzed around why you can get calico down street tat tal at eighteen and seventeen cents a ya yard rd 11 and it came down to sixteen but bu lt when it came down to sixteen cents who had a chance to buy any ady why nobody unless it was just a few yards that were sold to them as a favor but when it came to the wholesale cooperative store the price was put at sixteen cent sand retail stores are selling itta it today to day at seventeen and a half balf or eighteen cents a yard I 1 will tell teil you that that I 1 expect will hurt the feelings of many of you among this people called saints when the devil las got the crowns sovereigns guineas and the twenty dollar pieces it has been all right but let the lord get a sixpence and there is an eternal grunt about it I 1 will relate a little circumstance in in relation to operation cooperation co at lehi five months after they had commenced their retail store on this operative cooperative co system there the rethey they struck a dividend to see what they had bad made and they found that every man who had paid in twenty five dollars the price of a share had a few cents over twenty eight dollars handed back or credited to him Is not this cruel la Is not this a shame it is ridiculous di to think that they are making money so fast did they sell their goods cheaper than the people of lehi could buy them before yes did they fetch the goods to them 0 yes and yet they made money A few weeks ago I 1 was in the wholesale store in this city and I 1 was asking a brother from american fork bow how operation cooperation co worked there and I 1 learned that three months after commencing every man who had put in five dollars or dollars had that aboa amoa amount nt handed back to him and still had his capital stock in the institution and still they had sold their goods cheaper than anybody else had ever sold them there the question may arise with some how can this be I 1 will tell you how it is our own merchants make a calculation of charging you just fifty per cent on their staple goods and from one hundred to five hundred on their fancy goods now these operative cooperative co stores sell their goods for twenty per cent less than they can be bought from the merchants and although they sell at a lower rate the reason adason is they recruit their stocks of goods every week if necessary essaiy while our merchants up till very recently did it only about once a year these little stores at american fork lehi provo an dother and dothen other wards and places around can drive their teams here in a day and replenish their stocks of goods and that enables them to turn over oven their money quickly and if they put on six or eight per cent instead of fifty by turning their money over every week in about twelve weeks they make a dollar double itself that comes the nearest keeping the cake and eating it of anything I 1 know I 1 have heard people say you can not do that but those who are investing their little means in these stores are actually doing it 11 I 1 know now that mandof many of our traders in this city are feeling very bad and sore over this they say you are taking the bread out of our mouths we do it for they have made themselves rich take any community three eighths of whom are living on the labor of the remaining five nive eighths and you will find the few are jiving areU ving on the many take the whole world and comparatively few of its inhabitants are producers if the members of this community wish to get rich and to enjoy the fruits of the earth they must be producers as well as consumers As to these little traders we are going to shut them off we feel a little sorry for them some of them have but just commenced their trading operations and they want to keep them up they nave made perhaps a few hundred bundred dollars and they would lik ilk like ilke e to 0 continue so as to make a few thousands and then they would want scores of thousand thousands 3 and then hundreds of thousands instead of trading we want them to go into some other branches of business do you say what business why some of them may go to raising broom corn to supply the territory with brooms instead of bringing them from the states others may go to raising sugar cane and thus supply the territory with a good sw sweet beet we nave have to send to the states for our sugar now we will get some them to gathering up hides and making them into leather and manufacturing that leather into boots and shoes this will be far more profitable than letting hundreds and thousands of hides go to waste as they have done others may go and make baskets we do not eare care what they g go at provided they produce that which will prove of general benefit those who are able can erect woollen factories get a few spindles raise sheep and manufacture the wool others may raise flax and manufacture that into linen cloth that we may not be under the necessity of sending abroad for it if we go on in this way we shall turn these little traders into producers which will help to enrich the entire people another thing I 1 will say with rez reg regard ara to our trading our female relief belief societies are doing immense good now but they can take hold and do all the trading for these wards just as well as to keep a big loafer to do it it Is always disgusting to me to see a biet bier fat lubberly fellow handing out call cali toes coes and measuring ribbon I 1 would rather see bee eo the ladies do it we the ladies can learn te keep books hooks as well as the men mon men we have same few fety already who are just as good accountants as wi any of our brethren aby not teach more to keep books and sell goods and aad let them do this business and let the men go to raising sheep wheat or cattle and aud do soffi something ething or other to beautify the earth and help to make it like ilke the garden of eden instead of spending their time in a lazy loafing manner now if you think this is a speculation brethren and sisters just enter enten into it for it is the best speculation that has been got up fora great while 1 I recollect the people used to say we werl were speculating when we were preaching the tho gospel they accused joe joe joa smith 41 as they called him of being a speculator and a money digger I 1 acknowledged then and I 1 acknowledge now that I 1 am engaged in the greatest speculation a man can be engaged in the best business to pursue that was ever introduced Introduce don on the face of the earth is to follow the path of eternal life why it gives us fathers mothers wives friends houses and lands jesus said they who f followed him would have to forsake these things I 1 reckon some of us have done it already and all who will live faithful may have the privilege of so doing many of this people have have sacrificed all they possessed on this earth over and over again for the truths trutha sake and if jesus gave us the truth in relation to this we shall be entitled to fathers mothers wives children gold and silver houses lands and possessions a hundred fold but we do not want the spirit of the world with all this what is the advant advantage ake abe of following the path of life it makes good neighbors and fills everybody with peace joy and contentment Is there contention in a family that follows in the path of eternal life not the least Is there quarreling among neighbors where this course is followed no any going to law one with another such a thing is unknown I 1 say praise to the latter day saints as far as these things are concerned what I 1 have in my mind with witia regard to this operative cooperative co business is this there are very few people who cannot get twenty five dollars to put into one of these operative cooperative co stores there are hundreds and thousands of women who by py prudence and industry can obtain this sum and we say to you put your capital into one of these stores what for to bring you interest for your money put you your r time and talents to usury we have the parable before us if we have one P two three or f nive five ive talents of what advantage will they be if we wrap them in a napkin and lay them away none at all put them out to usury these cooperative stores are instituted to give the poor a little advantage as well as the rich I 1 have said to my bt brethren ethren in starting these stores in different dif dit Terent places I 1 if you want help I 1 will find means to put in to give the ahinga start but I 1 have only found two places in the territory in which they were willing to sell me stock provo where they wanted a wholesale store and the wholesale store in this city go to this ward or the other and the answer is invariably we want more means we can get all we need they did not think they could before starting I 1 recollect the tenth ward in this city eity had bad but seven hundred dollars to start with in two or three weeks after they commenced I 1 asked some of the brethren how they were prospering and was told they had a thousand dollars worth of goods on the shelves and money in the drawer and owed nothing this is considered one of the poorest wards in the city but it is not so now take upon you this yoke it is a great deal easier than to pay so much more for goods as you have beebi doing I 1 say the soke soe yoe yoke is easy and the burden is light and we can bear it if we will work we can work ourselves into wealth health prosperity and power and this is required of us it is the duty of a saint of god to gain all the influence he can on this earth and to use every particle of that influence to do good if this is not his duty I 1 do not understand what the duty of man is I 1 thank you for your attention brethren and sisters god bless you amen |