"Senator Trumbull—Mr. Young, may I say to the President that you intend to observe the laws under the constitution?"
"Young-Well-yes—we intend to."
"Senator Trumbull—But may I say to him that you will do so?"
"Young—Yes, yes; so far as the laws are just, certainly."
** "Mr. Colfax politely refused to accept the proffered
courtesies of the city. Brigham was reported to have uttered abusive
language in the Tabernacle towards the Government and Congress, and to
have charged the President and Vice President with being drunkards.
One of the Aldermen who waited upon Mr. Colfax to tender to him the
hospitality of the city could only say that he did not hear Brigham say
so."—"Rocky Mountain Saints," p. 638.
CHAPTER XX. — GENTILE IRRUPTION AND MORMON SCHISM
The end of the complete seclusion of the Mormon settlement in Utah from the rest of the country—complete except so far as it was interrupted by the passage through the territory of the California emigration—dates from the establishment of Camp Floyd, and the breaking up of that camp and the disposal of its accumulation of supplies, which gave the first big impetus to mercantile traffic in Utah.* Young was ever jealous of the mercantile power, so openly jealous that, as Tullidge puts it, "to become a merchant was to antagonize the church and her policies, so that it was almost illegitimate for Mormon men of enterprising character to enter into mercantile pursuits." This policy naturally increased the business of non-Mormons who established themselves in the city, and their prosperity directed the attention of the church authorities to them, and the pulpit orators hurled anathemas at those who traded with them. Thus Young, in a discourse, on March 28, 1858, urging the people to use home-made material, said: "Let the calicoes lie on the shelves and rot. I would rather build buildings every day and burn them down at night, than have traders here communing with our enemies outside, and keeping up a hell all the time, and raising devils to keep it going. They brought their hell with them. We can have enough of our own without their help."** A system of espionage, by means of the city police, was kept on the stores of non-Mormons, until it required courage for a Mormon to make a purchase in one of these establishments. To trade with an apostate Mormon was, of course, a still greater offence.
* "The community had become utterly destitute of almost
everything necessary to their social comfort. The people were poorly
clad, and rarely ever saw anything on their tables but what was prepared
from flour, corn, beet-molasses, and the vegetables and fruits of their
gardens.... It was at Camp Floyd, indeed, where the principal Utah
merchants and business men of the second decade of our history may be
said to have laid the foundation of their fortunes, among whom were the
Walker Brothers."—Tullidge, "History of Salt Lake City," pp. 246-247.
** Journal of Discourses, Vol. VII, p. 45.