Church, State and Politics: The Diaries of John Henry Smith

Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1990. First Edition. 700pp. Octavo [23.5 cm] Gray cloth head and foot bands over red printed cloth. Title on the backstrip. Near fine. This edition was limited to 500 numbered copies. John Henry Smith (1849-1911) served as a Mormon apostle from 1880 to 1910, while simultaneously an officer in several prominent businesses, everything from U & I Sugar to the Co-op Wagon and Machinery Company, as well as Saltair Beach and the Salt Lake Theater Company. He helped found Utah's Republican party and was a delegate to the state constitutional convention. A pragmatist, he also equivocated on post-1890 polygamy in testimony before the U.S. Senate. His comments on the inner workings of the LDS hierarchy are especially candid. He documents the excommunication of Apostle Albert Carrington for adultery, the release of Apostle Moses Thatcher for political differences and morphine addiction, and the excommunication of Apostle John W. Taylor and suspension of Apostle Matthias Cowley for insubordination. He relates how church ownership of Zions Savings Bank led to interest-free loans and deferred payments for high-ranking church leaders. (Inventory #: 9969)