Probate Judge, Box Elder County, Utah.
All efforts proved futile; "the powers that be" are opposed to union and progress, and justice was not to be obtained by legal process. Those people were forced to borrow ten thousand two hundred dollars to meet an illegal, oppressive tax (which they paid under protest) which, in reality, was nothing but a swindle, concocted and enforced by heartless, unprincipled demagogues.
The note following is the honest expression of a broad and generous heart, and worthy of preservation as a memorial of brotherly love:
Salt Lake City, OCTOBER 21ST, 1879.
Elder Lorenzo Snow:
My Dear Brother.—I have always felt, since the burning of your factory, very sorry for your misfortune, and have often thought that it would only take a few dollars from each of the many friends of home industries to make you whole. The accompanying ten dollars does not begin to express the extent of my sorrow, but I trust you will accept it as a free-will offering from the not over abundant cash resources of
Your brother in the Gospel,
Joseph F. Smith.
Response:
Brigham City, October 23d, 1879.