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Court Record of Joseph F. Smith's Testimony
In the Reed Smoot Case, Joseph F. Smith, the sixth President of
the Mormon Church, gave the following revealing and shocking testimony:
"Mr. Tayler. What is your business?
"Mr. Smith. My principle business is that of president of the
church.
"Mr. Tayler. In what other business are you engaged?
"Mr. Smith. I am engaged in numerous other businesses.
"Mr. Tayler. What?
"Mr. Smith. I am PRESIDENT of Zion's Cooperative Mercantile
Institution.
.....
"Mr. Tayler. Of what other corporations are you an officer?
"Mr. Smith. I am PRESIDENT of the State Bank of Utah, another
institution.
"Mr. Tayler. What else?
"Mr. Smith. Zions Savings Bank and Trust Company.
"Mr. Tayler. What else?
"Mr. Smith. I am PRESIDENT of the Utah Sugar Company.
"Mr. Tayler. What else?
"Mr. Smith. I am PRESIDENT of the Consolidated Wagon and Machine
Company.
"Mr. Tayler. What else?
"Mr. Smith. There are several other SMALL institutions with
which I am associated.
"Mr. Tayler. Are you associated with the Utah Light and Power
Company?
"Mr. Smith. I am.
"Mr. Tayler. In what capacity?
"Mr. Smith. I am a director and PRESIDENT...
"Mr. Tayler. A director and the president?
"Mr. Smith. Yes, sir.
"Mr. Tayler. Had you that in mind when you classified the others
as small concerns?
"Mr. Smith. No, Sir; I had not that in mind.
"Mr. Tayler. That is a large concern?
"Mr. Smith. That is a large concern.
"Mr. Tayler. Are you an officer of the Salt Lake and Los Angeles
Railroad Company?
"Mr. Smith. I am.
"Mr. Tayler. What?
"Mr. Smith. PRESIDENT and director.
.....
"Mr. Tayler. Of what else are you PRESIDENT?
"Mr. Smith. I am PRESIDENT of the Salt Air Beach Company.
.....
"Mr. Tayler. What else, if you can recall?
"Mr. Smith. I DO NOT RECALL JUST NOW.
.....
"Mr. Tayler. What relation do you sustain to the Idaho Sugar
Company?
"Mr. Smith. I am a director of that company and also the
PRESIDENT of it.
"Mr. Tayler. Of the Inland Crystal Salt Company?
"Mr. Smith. Also the SAME POSITION there.
"Mr. Tayler. The Salt Lake Dramatic Association?
"Mr. Smith. I am PRESIDENT of that and also a director.
"Mr. Tayler. Are you president of any other corporation there?
"Mr. Smith. I DO NOT KNOW. PERHAPS YOU CAN TELL ME. I DO NOT
REMEMBER ANY MORE JUST NOW.
"Mr. Tayler. It would seem that the number has grown so large
that it would be an undue tax upon your memory to charge you
with naming them all.
.....
"Mr. Tayler. What relation do you sustain to the Salt Lake
Knitting Company? Did I ask you ask you about it?
"Mr. Smith. No, sir; you did not.
"Mr. Tayler. The Salt Lake Knitting Company?
"Mr. Smith. I am PRESIDENT of it, and also a director.
.....
"Mr. Tayler. The Union Pacific Railway Company?
"Mr. Smith. I am a director.
.....
"Mr. Tayler. Are you an official of any mining companies?
"Mr. Smith. Yes, sir.
"Mr. Tayler. What?
"Mr. Smith. I am the vice-president of the Bullion, Beck and
Champion Mining Company.
.....
"Mr. Tayler. The Deseret News?
"Mr. Smith. No, sir.
"Mr. Tayler. You have no business relation with that?
"Mr. Smith. No, sir.
.....
"Mr. Tayler. Is the Deseret News the organ of the church?
"Mr. Smith. Well, I suppose it is in some sense the organ of the
church. It is not opposed to the church, at least.
.....
"Mr. Tayler. It has for years published, has it not, at the head
of its columns, that it is the organ of the church, or the
official organ of the church?
"Mr. Smith. Not that I know of.
.....
"Mr. Tayler. Do you know who own it?
"Mr. Smith. How is that?
"Mr. Tayler. Do you know who own it?
"Mr. Smith. I know who owns the building that it is in.
"Mr. Tayler. Who owns the building in which it is published?
"Mr. Smith. The church.
"Mr. Tayler. The church?
"Mr. Smith. Yes, sir.
"Mr. Tayler. Tell us what you know about the owners of that
newspaper.
"Mr. Smith. It has been for a number of years past owned by a
company--an incorporated company.
"Mr. Tayler. What is the name of the company?
"Mr. Smith. The Deseret News Publishing Company.
"Mr. Tayler. Do you know who its officers are?
"Mr. Smith. Now, it is not owned by that company.
"Mr. Tayler. Oh, it is not?
"Mr. Smith. No; it is not.
"Mr. Tayler. What do you know--
"Mr. Smith. But I say for years it was owned by a company of
that kind.
"Mr. Tayler. What do you know about its present ownership?
"Mr. Smith. I presume that the present ownership is in the
church.
"Mr. Tayler. You suppose the present owner is the church?
"Mr. Smith. Yes, sir; the church.
.....
"Mr. Tayler. I do not want to have any misconstruction put upon
your use of the word 'presume' because you do not know that it
is so owned?
"Mr. Smith. I really do not know so that I could tell you
positively.
"Mr. Tayler. Who would know?
"Mr. Smith. I presume I could find out.
"Mr. Tayler. Could you find out before you leave Washington?
"Mr. Smith. Perhaps so."
(Reed Smoot Case, Vol. 1, pp. 81, 82, 83, 86, 87 and 88)
Some time later Joseph F. Smith testified as follows:
"Mr. Tayler. In what form does your church have title to the
Deseret News property?
"Mr. Smith. It owns the deed.
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"Mr. Tayler. I am speaking now of the newspaper, not the
building.
"Mr. Smith. The press; yes. I would like to state that when I
was asked that question before, Mr. Tayler, I was not aware of
the fact that I have since learned from my counsel here that
during the trusteeship of Lorenzo Snow the Deseret News plant
was transferred from the Deseret News Company to Lorenzo Snow,
trustee, in trust....
.....
"Mr. Tayler. So that it is now in you as trustee in trust?
"Mr. Smith. Now I OWN IT AS TRUSTEE IN TRUST. Furthermore, I
will say that I have discovered since yesterday that there is
published on the second or third page of the Deseret News the
statement that it is the organ of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-Day Saints,..." (The Reed Smoot Case, Vol. 1, page 158)