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Show SUCCESSFUL MEN OF UTAH I Nephi L. Morris NS3PHI LOWELL. MORRIS native born and ibred, personifies personi-fies the highest type of Utah citizenship. He believes in Utah; he is true to her traditions, and he has devoted lus life work to the devel-1 devel-1 opment of her resources and the uplift of her people. He is essentially essenti-ally a man of many parts an organizer of industry, a student of j statecraft, a champion J of public morals, an advocate ad-vocate of the highest and best in our modern civilization; and he practices what h e preaches. By virtue of his high personal honor, his integrity, his Intense public-spirited-ness, and his devotion to duty as he finds things to do, he is respected re-spected and loved by all who know him. Mr. Morris was born in Salt Lake City in 1870. His father, Elias Morris, and his mother, Mary Lois Walker, both of British birth, were Utah pioneers in 1853. During his boyhood he attended the public schools of the day and in vacation time assisted assist-ed his father in his business enterprises. While still a boy he made bricks, tended masons, and used the r tBHBSSSSmBBmi vr T1K 'tT HmiHH "v )X BBBBBBHBBk," mIK i 4HHHBHflN m trowel as an apprentice brick layer. He also learned the miller's trade and was for several years associated in the operation of a flour mill. By the time he attained young manhood, he had not only mastered several trades, but had also pursued his studies at the Brigham Young Academy Aca-demy at Provo, the Salt Lake Stake Academy, and the University of Utah. In 1891, iMr. Morris was called on a mission with fifty other young men and for several months he travelled in northern Utah and southern Idaho, engaging in the church work which after-" after-" wards became known as tho Renaissance of Mutual Mu-tual Improvement work. On December 2nd, he departed for a three years' mission to Europe. The first year he labored in the city of Manchester. Manches-ter. Then, he moved to Liverpool and was called upon to preside over the London conference, which position he held for the remainder of the time spent abroad. Upon his return homo in 1895, he was associated asso-ciated with tho superintendency of the Y. 'M, M. I. A. of the Salt Lake stake which then embraced the entire county. The following year he was named a "member of the general board of the Y. fr M. iM. I. A. in -which capacity he labored for a number of years, travelling throughout tho various vari-ous stakes organizing the work, and contributing to tho Improvement Era, the official publication of the association. In 1898 he was called to the bishopric of the 'Fifteenth Ecclesiastical ward, over which his father before him had presided for many years. In 1904 he was elected to the presidency of the Salt Lake stake, one of the larg-est larg-est organizations of its kind in the Mormon church. As an exponent of the faith, Mr. Morris has few equal and his volunteer services have been as varied in number and character as his official of-ficial duties. In business affairs Mr. iMorris has always been a strong advocate for home industries, and has expended considerable of his time and means in their development. In 1898 his father died and the heavy responsibility of conducting tho affairs of the Elias iMorris & Sons Company was shifted to his shoulders. The concern was more of a liability lia-bility than an asset at the time, and he set 'to work to put it on a sound footing. He succeeded in his efforts. The company is now on a substantial substan-tial basis and is about to mark Its fiftieth milestone. mile-stone. Mr. 'Morris has perhaps devoted more attention to the development of tho concrete industry than any other person in the state, and has succeeded in building up a business of national reputation. The Utah Concrete Pipe company, of which he is tho founder, principal owner and directing genius, is recognized as one of the most substantial of the home industries and Is liberally patronized in this and other states. Just recently, through the personal enterprise of Mr. Morris, this company has extended its field into South America and has succeeded In placing a heavy order for Its products in that territory. These achievements, all due to tho tireless effuts of its manager, have placed tho company among the foremost of its kind in the United H States. B Besides his other H business enterprises, H Mr. Morris is heavily H interested in the Des- H cret Building Society. H He was one of the orl- jH ginal incorporators ana H has been its president H for the past ten years. H This association, found- H ed on the mutual plan, H has made a splendid H record and its assets H have grown to approxi- H matcly one million dol- H Notwithstanding the H oxtent of his sectarian H work and his business H enterprises, Mr. Moirls H devotes more time per- H haps to the serious H study of statecraft and the exposition of public H issues than any church- man or business cap- H tain in the state. He jH was a prominent Re- H publican member of the H second state legislature. H He has well defined H views on all matters af- H fecting the general wel- H fare of the state, and H stands out as the fear- tM less champion of the H cause of the common H people. No private citi- H zen in Utah stands M higher, wields a greater B influence in public af- B fairs, or commands as B largo a personal follow- B ing. B In 1912 as the Progressive candidate .for B governor, Mr. (Morris received the votes of up- B wards of twenty-Jive thousand citizens who disre- B garded party affiliations to endorse his candi- B dacy. He made an active campaign, but reiter- H ated again and again that his fight was lodged, B not against the Republican party as a party, but B against the system of bossism by which that party H was ruled and its policies controlled. With H marked consistency he demanded that the pri- B vate citizen, the rank and file of all parties, be B given representation in the party councils and H on the ticket. He led the fight also against the B piactice of farming out the state's funds to favor- H ed banks without recompense to the state. H Mr. (Morris lost tho fight for the governorship, H but today the state is receiving interest on the H deposit of its funds, and the great mass of tho H body politic have taken up his cry for represent H tatlvo rule in the state and for the overthrow of H the political bosses. H |