116 Qualities That Count

money contracted, the normally cash-starved banks of the West col-

crisis in zion: lapsed. Of the national bank failures in 1893, only 3 institutions in
the Northeast suspended operations, while 38 in the South closed
Crisis in
heber j. Zion:
grant their doors. In the West, however, 115 banks went into receivership—
66 in the Pacific states and Western territories alone.₂
andJ. the
Heber Grantpanic of 1893
and the Panic of 1893 Even before the panic, Utah had experienced hard times. During
the territorial boom of 1889–90, the value of land and of business
By Ronald W. Walker
and residential property had skyrocketed to as much as ten times
Originally published in pre-1889 prices. Speculators reaped enormous paper profits, and
Arizona and the West 21 real-estate transactions in Salt Lake City alone reached an unprece-
dented $100,000 daily. To meet voracious demands for credit, nine
new banks opened in the city. Then, in December 1890, the collapse
of London’s Baring Brothers burst Utah’s speculative bubble, leaving
I n late June 1893, Heber J. Grant, a pencil-thin, bewhiskered young
man, waited nervously in the downtown office of New York busi-
nessman John Claflin. Thirty-six years old and conservatively dressed,
behind depressed prices, lowered profits, overextended credit, and
tight money. “The neighborhood seems to be infested with thieves,”
one diarist wrote in 1891, “as coal, wheat, lumber and many other
Grant was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The things have disappeared.”₃
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and president or director The Church’s economic fortunes suffered along with those of
of at least a dozen Salt Lake City–based businesses. A financial panic the territory. A drop in tithing revenue, from $878,394 in 1890 to
had struck the nation and the Mormon businessman was urgently $576,584 in 1893, charted the general economic decline. But Church
seeking a loan to save himself and his church from bankruptcy. leaders had to cope with more than diminishing revenue. The
Although similar dramas were being enacted in business and bank- Edmunds-Tucker Act of 1887 had financially crippled the Church.
ing houses across the United States during that summer, this episode The law stripped the organization of its legal standing and hindered
had special significance for the West. Grant’s loan efforts marked the Church management, especially its ability to secure loans. By dis-
entry of Mormondom and Utah into the nation’s financial main- franchising some Saints and placing election machinery in the
stream. During the panic, the Mormon community in Utah discov- hands of their opponents, the act enabled those outside the Latter-
ered that the premises of economic independence and isolation day Saint faith to gain political control and to transfer city, county,
upon which it had been founded fifty years earlier were now unten- and territorial funds from Mormon-owned banks to other banks,
able. By the time the crisis had run its course, Latter-day Saints further undermining the Church’s ability to obtain local loans.
would change their church’s public image as well as their own atti- Moreover, by demanding the surrender of all Church assets in excess
tude toward the outside financial world.₁ of $50,000, the law deprived the Latter-day Saints of property worth
The Panic of 1893 was among the most disastrous in American over $1,000,000, as well as revenue and possible loans derived from
history. Stocks tumbled throughout the summer, and an unprece- Church property.₄
dented 15,252 businesses went into receivership. By winter 1893 about Initially, Latter-day Saint officials attempted to defuse the
18 percent of the national work force was without jobs. Those who Edmunds-Tucker Act by selling or giving in trust Church property
remained employed found their wages slashed by almost 10 percent. to faithful members who would act as stewards for the religious
The financial storm struck the West with particular fury. As Eastern community. The combination of government officers, the courts,
and court-appointed receivers, however, proved too powerful for
115
 Grant and the Panic of 1893 117

Church leadership. By the early 1890s receivers controlled most of

the Church’s marketable property, including some $500,000 deposited
largely in Salt Lake’s non-Mormon banks. Meanwhile, lawyers’ fees,
lost revenues, and property manipulation due to the Edmunds-
Tucker Act plunged Zion $300,000 in debt. Denied legal standing
and the use of its own resources, the Church stood virtually defense-
less before the coming panic.₅
Although Church finances in the early 1890s demanded retrench-
ment, the venerable and otherworldly Church President Wilford
Woodruff, who from boyhood had avoided debt as a life-long rule of
conduct, added to the Church’s economic problems. For thirty-five
years he had quietly cherished the knowledge, given in visions of the
night, that he would complete the construction of the monumental
Salt Lake Temple. When the octogenarian Woodruff dedicated the
temple in April 1893, his administration alone had spent over
$1,000,000 on the $4,000,000 project. Woodruff’s social conscience,
moreover, led to other ambitious enterprises financed largely by Used by permission, Utah State Historical Society, all rights reserved.

borrowed capital. As Woodruff’s second counselor, Joseph F. Smith, Illus. 6-1. Templeton building where the old State Bank was located
explained: “We began to feel that there was a responsibility resting (bottom right corner).
upon us which required something to be done, in a small way at
least, in the direction of giving employment to our people.” As a
result, $1,000,000 was invested in public works projects such as the
Saltair Pavilion on the Great Salt Lake shoreline, the Saltair Railway
Company (later known as the Salt Lake and Los Angeles Railway),
and the Utah Sugar Company.₆
To meet the Church’s growing debt, leaders turned increasingly
to Heber J. Grant. During his short business career, Grant had pro-
moted insurance, soap, newspapers, machinery and implements,
horses and carriages, and even vinegar; now he was called upon to
promote loans. During autumn 1890, almost three years before the
panic hit, the dangerously overextended Salt Lake banks demanded
payment on outstanding loans, and Grant scrambled not only to meet
his own heavy financial obligations but also to rescue the two banks
that discharged the Church’s interests—Zion’s Savings Bank and Trust
and the State Bank of Utah (illus. 6-1 & 6-2). Grant had founded the
latter and was now its president. Used by permission, Utah State Historical Society, all rights reserved.

Desperately needing $100,000, Grant grasped “at a straw” and Illus. 6-2. Detail of the Templeton building
traveled east in late fall 1890. Omaha and Chicago bankers smiled at showing the State Bank’s sign above the window.
 Grant and the Panic of 1893 119 120 Qualities That Count

his audacious request for a low-interest loan, pointing out that to meet its obligations, is not considered good I will telegraph
short-term interest rates on the New York Stock Exchange had risen and secure you some additional endorsement. If you do not care
to one-half of 1 percent a day or 182 percent per year. In New York, to cash these notes take my advice and stop doing business with
people so far away from home as Utah.
however, Grant played several trump cards. He not only insisted
that bankers consider the State Bank’s past and future business but The National Park Bank extended the loan and became one of
also offered as security the highly regarded notes of the Zion’s Grant’s warmest New York contacts. Within two weeks after his
Cooperative Mercantile Institution (ZCMI), Utah’s multibranched arrival in the East, the Mormon businessman turned the key to a
department store (illus. 6-3). total of eight New York and Hartford banks, wired $240,000 to Salt
In the end, Grant’s grit and aplomb won over the New York Lake City, assisted in another $60,000 loan, and secured the promise
bankers. When J. H. Parker, vice president of the National Park of yet another $36,000. “I think I can say,” he wrote one of his
Bank, received him coolly, Grant addressed a personal message to daughters in early January 1891, “that the past seven days have been
the bank’s directors: as successful as any in my life.”₇
I am offering you four notes of $12,000 each of Zion’s Co-operative Grant’s spectacular success catapulted him into the center of
Mercantile Institution. These notes are guaranteed by thirteen Latter-day Saint finance. When Grant returned to Salt Lake in early
Directors and also by the State Bank of Utah, which has a capital January, President Woodruff asked him to raise money for the
of half a million dollars. . . . These endorsers are worth at least floundering Utah Sugar Company. Sugar financing led in turn to his
a couple of million dollars. If two million dollars of personal appointment as the Church’s chief loan agent. Grant realized that the
endorsement, together with the endorsement of a half a million Church’s short-term, constantly maturing debts created a precarious
dollar bank, with the note of an institution that has never failed
financial foundation, which the slightest tremor could reduce to
rubble. As a possible remedy, he hoped to attract Eastern or British
capital to Utah by greatly increasing ZCMI’s capitalization. The
money from new investors would eventually flow into Mormon
banks, which could then lend to the Church. When ZCMI’s directors,
fearful of losing control to new stockholders, refused to cooperate,
Church leaders in July 1891 suggested an alternate plan: they asked
Grant to proceed to London or Paris and secure a $500,000 long-
term, low-interest loan. Due to the serious illness of his wife Lucy
(illus. 6-4), however, Grant repeatedly postponed the long trip.₈
Formation of the investment firm of Cannon, Grant & Company
(CG & Co.) provided a stopgap remedy for Church financial prob-
lems. Leading Mormon businessmen had for some time discussed
such an enterprise; but to get them to agree, Grant complained, was
like “the pulling of a cat by the tail over a carpet.” Finally, in Decem-
ber 1891—only hours before he was to leave Salt Lake City on one
of his money-raising missions—Grant organized the firm. He and
George Q. Cannon, First Counselor in the First Presidency, became
Courtesy Church Archives, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
senior partners, with thirteen prominent Mormon financiers serv-
Illus. 6-3. Zion’s Cooperative Mercantile Institution (ZCMI) in downtown ing as associates in the venture.₉
Salt Lake City.
 122 Qualities That Count

CG & Co. sought to strengthen the credit of Church-related

businesses by endorsing their financial paper. With the partners’
pooled stock as collateral, the signature of CG & Co. could place a
gilt edge on even an unattractive Utah Sugar Company note. In order
to secure maximum leverage, each partner also agreed to assume, if
necessary, the entire surety of the firm. Both R. G. Dun and John
Bradstreet granted CG & Co. a $1,000,000 double-A rating. With this
endorsement, Grant secured $232,000 in loans from San Francisco
banks, and in May 1892 returned to New York to ask for an addi-
tional $260,000.₁₀
Like the legendary Hudson’s Bay and East India companies,
CG & Co. mixed private and public affairs. The partners wel-
comed the prospect of personal profit, and much of their business
reflected the spirit of the Age of Enterprise. However, as the threat of
the Edmunds-Tucker Act forced the Church to conduct its business
informally through intermediaries, the investment firm also became
a semiofficial agency. During its brief period of prosperity in the early
nineties, the company often held meetings in President Woodruff’s
office and under his supervision. It signed Church-related loans,
which Eastern financiers considered morally binding upon the Mor-
mon community. Its directorship interlocked with those of most
other Mormon businesses, and the firm maintained an especially
close relationship with the two Mormon banks. CG & Co. invested
heavily in ZCMI and the State Bank of Utah and advertised itself as
“Financial Agents, with State Bank of Utah.” The firm also used
money borrowed from Zion’s Savings Bank to purchase over half of
that bank’s stock.₁₁
However, when signs of an economic contraction appeared in
late December 1892, CG & Co.’s power proved illusory. The State
Bank not only carried a large amount of past-due paper, but it also
had borrowed large sums payable “on demand.” Consequently, its
Courtesy Church Archives, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
cash reserves were precarious. The bank’s cashier and Grant’s brother-
Illus. 6-4. Heber with his first wife, Lucy, and their children in 1887: in-law Heber M. Wells, who soon would be Utah’s first state gover-
(left to right) Lucy “Lutie” (Cannon), Florence (Smith), Anna (Midgley),
Edith (Young), and Susan Rachel “Ray” (Taylor). The handwriting nor, confessed “trepidation” that CG & Co. might not be able to
across the top reads, “H. J. Grant & family 10th wedding anniversary.” resolve the financial crisis (illus. 6-5).₁₂
Wells’s apprehensions were well founded. The Church owed at
least $500,000 in short-term, rapidly maturing notes and had not
the slightest prospect of paying. Moreover, the insatiable Utah Sugar
 Grant and the Panic of 1893 123 124 Qualities That Count

Company, on which the Church had the Panic’s destroying angel might spare Utah. Church leaders, mean-
staked its reputation, continued to while, continued their policy of enterprise to aid the region’s econ-
devour cash. The only relief available omy. On June 1 they decided to sponsor—but not underwrite—a
was to dip the bucket once again $75,000,000 railroad from Salt Lake to Los Angeles. To finance the
into the financial well. On April 25, project, and to secure long-term loans for the Church itself, officials
1893, Church leaders authorized the revived their plan to obtain British capital. To this end, George Q.
First Presidency and Heber J. Grant Cannon was given power of attorney over all remaining Church
to “raise means & handle stock of assets and was instructed to join Grant in New York. From there, the
the Sugar Co. . . . whether in the two men hoped to proceed to London.₁₆
States or in Europe.” CG & Co. part- But beneath the business-as-usual atmosphere in Utah, the 1893
ners found it “imperatively necessary crisis was building steam. During the first week in June, local
to look hurriedly to our business bankers reported a run on the banks. “Never while reason lasts or
lest we be submitted to disgrace and Courtesy Church Archives, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
immortality endures do I wish to have repeated the experience I
serious loss.”₁₃ have undergone the last two days,” a thoroughly agitated Heber M.
Illus. 6-5. Heber M. Wells,
By mid-May, Grant was aboard brother-in-law to Heber J. Wells informed Grant. “Our deposits melted down over $25,000 and
a Denver & Rio Grande train bound Grant. Wells became Utah’s first our available resources tonight have reached the minimum of 22%.
for New York. He carried $300,000 state governor. All day long I have sat and smiled and acted (thanks to my stage
in notes to be renewed, $200,000 of experience) as if nothing unusual was happening. . . . You can not
which bore the CG & Co. signature. A single defaulted note could realize what a plight we are in—it is simply terrible.”₁₇
destroy the Mormon credit rating and make it impossible to arrange Wells’s graphic prose revealed clearly the deteriorating condi-
further renewals and loans. Neither Grant nor his associates were tions at the State Bank. Within a year, the bank’s ratio of cash to
optimistic. “This is the most difficult mission bro. Heber has ever deposits dropped from 65 to 22 percent—and 22 percent was artifi-
undertaken,” Francis M. Lyman wrote on May 10, “now that finan- cially high. Several years earlier the State Bank and Zion’s Savings
cial affairs are tumbling in all directions.”₁₄ had agreed to share quarters and customers. The State Bank had
Two weeks later, Grant was exultant. Although finding the loan surrendered its savings accounts and Zion’s Savings had given up its
market much worse than during the previous crisis and money commercial business. Also as part of the agreement, Zion’s Savings
men “frightened half to death,” he nevertheless had renewed almost had deposited its cash reserves—over $125,000—with the State Bank.
$150,000 of the most pressing loans and had secured an additional A run on both banks would mean that the State Bank’s melting
$25,000. The devout Grant saw in this the divine hand. Before leav- reserves would have to supply each. Conceivably, several large with-
ing Salt Lake City, President Cannon had pronounced upon him an drawals from either bank could sink both. “Such a condition,” Grant
electrifying blessing that promised success. “I hope and pray that I confessed, “is enough to make a man wild with the blues.”₁₈
may never forget . . . the blessing promised me before I came away Grant had long recognized that Church finances were jerry-
from home,” Grant wrote in his journal. “Without the blessings of built, but he now knew how unsound the structure actually was.
the Lord. . . . I could not have succeeded with the market in the con- Everyone intimate with Church finances realized that a single defaulted
dition that it is in.”₁₅ note endorsed by CG & Co. could spell the end of Church credit. Now
Outwardly, the situation in Salt Lake Valley was also encouraging. it was suddenly apparent that the company’s shadow fell ominously
Bank clearances in May increased slightly over the previous year, over the two Mormon banks as well. Because of the interlocking
business failures were relatively low, and newspapers speculated that directorates, the collapse of CG & Co. would ruin the reputation of
 Grant and the Panic of 1893 125 126 Qualities That Count

the leading men connected with the banks—the partners were indi- banker, would request payment on his “demand” loans. On June 22,
vidually responsible for the firm’s debts—and precipitate a panic. McCornick insisted that CG & Co. pay $20,000. Two days later, in
Moreover, the Mormon banks had loaned CG & Co. at least $350,000. another transaction, he required and received $37,500 from the State
If the company went to the wall, the banks’ uncollectible loans would Bank. “Shakespeare says ‘MacBeth doth murder sleep,’” Wells mor-
surely force them to follow.₁₉ dantly wrote Grant. “If he had lived till this day he would have made
The dominoes could also fall in the opposite direction. Bank it a different scotchman . . . ‘McCornick doth murder sleep.’” Wells
failures would probably destroy CG & Co., which had invested won a few days’ postponement by informing McCornick that the
heavily in the State Bank and Zion’s Savings and had used bank secu- $20,000 was deposited in New York, and that Grant was using
rities as collateral in securing loans. Although the Mormon banks’ the money as leverage to renew the firm’s notes.₂₃
assets outweighed their liabilities, even a temporary suspension due Even before McCornick’s payment demands, the situation in
to lack of liquidity would send shivers up the spines of Wall Street Utah was critical. The run on Salt Lake City’s banks had accelerated,
capitalists, causing them to demand additional security for past and and the banks in turn had closed the windows of their loan cages and
future loans—security that CG & Co. could not provide. In short, tightened credit. Even Elder Abraham H. Cannon, a director of both
Latter-day Saint finances faced assaults from both directions and were the State Bank and CG & Co., found it impossible to obtain a loan.
vulnerable at each point. The only recourse was another loan.₂₀ Stringent banking, however, proved counter productive. By forcing
On June 7, 1893, Grant reappeared at the National Park Bank of business to a standstill, it caused deposits to decline even faster. By
New York. In just ten days the hard-pressed New York bankers would the end of June, the State Bank had lost $125,000. “To those who
begin issuing clearinghouse loan certificates, rather than money, to knew the facts,” Wells wrote, “apprehension and dread of direful
their depositors. Not surprisingly, E. K. Wright, the bank’s presi- consequences have been plainly discernible in every feature and
dent and chief stockholder, flatly refused a loan. Undaunted, Grant every look, like the faces of attendants in a sick room in the presence
expressed regret that the State Bank’s business would have to go of death, but as stated our outward demeanor has been full of buoy-
elsewhere and asked Wright’s permission to appeal to the bank’s vice ancy and cold bluff.”₂₄
president and cashier. “I feel to thank the Lord that I captured them The Salt Lake news almost overwhelmed Grant, who had already
completely,” he wrote Wells. “They put their heads together as to been driven to his physical limits. Expecting to be absent three weeks
how to capture Mr. Wright and while they were chatting together from Utah, he had now spent six weeks in the East, and he wondered
Mr. Wright stepped up and said, ‘Mr. Grant if those men are favor- whether his strength would allow him to continue his efforts. Each
able I shall say yes.’” Grant obtained $50,000.₂₁ Salt Lake letter and telegram had a bluer cast. The Mormon bank
For the moment, the new loan seemed an ample transfusion for vaults were emptying. Grant Brothers’ Livery Company, unable to
the Mormon banks. Relaxation might now be mixed with business, meet its notes, was threatened with bankruptcy. McCornick had
and, on June 8, Grant wired his plural wife Augusta to join President stayed CG & Co.’s execution four times but was growing ever more
Cannon’s London-bound entourage. But before the Cannon party impatient. Gladly, Grant thought, he would trade high finance for a
arrived at New York, Grant decided that he could not desert his post. bookkeeper’s ledger—anything would be better than having once
The panic was raging in full force, and Church notes in Hartford banks again “to get down on one’s knees” before the bankers. Besides, he
would soon mature. On June 17, Cannon’s party sailed without Grant.₂₂ had no idea where to kneel. The State Bank’s New York correspon-
Grant’s decision to remain in New York was providential. Four dent had already refused his demand for special consideration.
days after Cannon departed for England, the damoclean sword poised “I think that I would almost be wild tonight,” Grant wrote George Q.
over Church finances fell. For months Church leaders had feared Cannon in England, “did I not know that the Lord has helped me in
that W. S. “Mack” McCornick, Salt Lake City’s friendly non-Mormon the past and I have faith that he will do so in the future.”₂₅
 Grant and the Panic of 1893 127 128 Qualities That Count

As a last resort, Grant turned to John Claflin, president of H. B. privately feared catastrophe “to many of our institutions.” On
Claflin Company of New York, the “leading dry goods merchant in Saturday, July 1, Heber Wells gloomily noted that the Mormon
the United States.” In normal or even slightly difficult times, the banks had begun the day with $40,000 in their vaults and closed
merchant might have rushed to the Mormons’ aid. He had previ- with only $10,000 remaining. That same day two Provo banks col-
ously dealt with Grant and trusted him. Moreover, while others lapsed, while Salt Lake’s Bank of Commerce escaped failure only by
viewed the Mormons in far-off Utah as slightly bizarre if not down- securing aid from the bankers’ clearinghouse. “Before you receive
right disreputable, Claflin, interested in the exotic and the profitable, this,” Wells wrote Grant, “it is possible—nay probable you will hear
had invested in them. In 1889 he had loaned the Saints $40,000, fol- of our suspension.”₂₉
lowed two years later by another $100,000. His offer in 1892 of a Despite Wells’s dire prediction, the Mormon banks weathered
$200,000 standing or perpetual credit had been declined.₂₆ this wave of the storm. Beginning on Monday, July 3, Zion’s Savings
Grant did not come to Claflin empty-handed. He held as pos- Bank, along with Salt Lake City’s other savings institutions, required
sible collateral $100,000 in ZCMI notes—the best security Utah could a thirty-day notice of withdrawal for deposits of less than $100 and a
offer. These had come from Thomas Webber, ZCMI’s manager and sixty-day notice for larger sums. Although extraordinary, the action
an unpublicized CG & Co. director. Believing the times required that was legal. “At first there was a lull,” Wells remembered,
“we must help one another,” Webber, without consulting his direc- then the storm broke in all its fury. Depositors swarmed around
tors, had made the loan to the Church. Grant hoped these securities Zion’s side [of the bank]. . . . Some went out sullenly muttering
would fortify his main argument that the State Bank–CG & Co. that something was wrong, some said they expected it, some
directors were also the leading men in ZCMI, the company that stormed, demanded their money and said the bank must [be]
bought Claflin’s goods. Their ruin—or even disfavor—might destroy shaky; but the medicine worked.
H. B. Claflin Company’s Mormon business.₂₇ No one suspected that the problems of the city’s savings banks
While Grant waited in Claflin’s office through the long after- touched the State Bank, which was actually able to increase slightly
noon of June 27, the fate of both the Church and Grant’s businesses its reserves.₃₀
weighed on his shoulders. Finally, after 4:00 P.M., the merchant lis- Grant, meanwhile, was determined to secure money in the East.
tened to Grant’s impassioned appeal. In response, Claflin explained On Monday morning, he unsuccessfully appealed to his insurance
that the season demanded that ice flow in the veins of even the most friends; called at two banks; approached W. H. Coler, a New York
favorably disposed merchant, and that a loan was “utterly impos- financier who for several days had considered making a $100,000
sible.” Claflin softened his refusal by promising his good offices, and loan; and visited the New York Life offices, only to find them closed
the next morning he personally escorted Grant to several banking because of the approaching July 4 holiday. Finally, he again tried
firms. When the high-risk and high-profit Blake Brothers offered Blake Brothers, begging them “to find one of their customers who
to purchase a single $5,000 ZCMI note at an exorbitant 18 percent, would purchase the notes I had to offer at some price.” In a few
Grant grabbed the chance. Later, he extracted an additional $5,000 moments, he secured $20,000 at a whopping 24 percent discount.
from Claflin, who had just penned a strong letter declaring: “If the Grant immediately wired news of his success to Salt Lake City.
Z.C.M.I. is not good the merchants of the United States generally Mindful of McCornick’s unpaid $10,000, Heber Wells dolefully
might as well go out of business.”₂₈ twirled his mustache—“the only remnant of hair I have left”—as he
Events in Salt Lake City, meanwhile, seemed to climax. Grant’s opened the latest telegram from New York and saw the words
efforts in New York left McCornick only half appeased—he still “GLORY HALLELUJAH.” Two days later, Grant was still celebrating
demanded the $10,000 outstanding on his $20,000 loan to with friends over the popular nineteenth-century dessert, water ice,
CG & Co. On June 28, George M. Cannon, Zion’s Savings cashier, at Delmonico’s.₃₁
 Grant and the Panic of 1893 129 130 Qualities That Count

The crisis of July 3 had passed, and for several weeks Grant felt A kaleidoscope of personal, human acts reflected the hard times.
certain that the worst of his difficulties was behind him. Not only had A needy seamstress, fearing starvation for her children, appealed to
he resolved all the Church’s pressing obligations, but he had also the patriarchal Franklin D. Richards. “I encouraged her the best I
secured from several New York banks an additional $150,000. By the could,” Elder Richards remembered, “& she wiped away her tears &
end of July, however, Grant realized that his tour de force had only went with apparently increased bravery.” The Salt Lake County tax
postponed catastrophe. The panic still raged, and his new loans were of collector—also a bishop and a CG & Co. director—mismanaged
only two, three, or at best four months duration. Furthermore, Grant $32,000 in public funds and then asked protection from the General
recognized that additional renewals probably would be impossible. Authorities to avoid embarrassing the Church. Elder Francis Lyman
Like Zion’s Savings’ delayed deposit payments, the New York loans spent one August morning in his bed, immobilized by the awful
were short-fused time bombs set to explode at the end of August.₃₂ prospect of bankruptcy and regretting his debts to family and friends.
For a while, Mormon fortunes seemed to rest with George Q. George Q. Cannon, back from England, abandoned his multifamily
Cannon’s English mission. On July 3, the day on which Church communal kitchen, kept his boys from school to do the work of
finances were barely salvaged, Cannon had talked at Whitehall with released hired hands, and transferred his few unencumbered assets
the Earl of Roseberry, the British foreign secretary. Although twenty to his wives. By contrast, during the State Bank’s desperate days in
years had passed since their last meeting—apparently while Cannon July, young George F. Richards bolstered its reserves with $1,500—
was serving as Utah’s territorial delegate in Washington—the foreign the bulk of his savings.₃₅
secretary, soon to be prime minister, cordially received the Mormon The depression paralyzed the Church. By late June, cash dona-
emissary and wrote a letter of introduction to Baron Rothschild. tions had almost ceased. On July 1 the Church failed to meet its pay-
On July 7 a tersely worded telegram—“UNSUCCESSFUL”—dashed roll, forcing the General Authorities to draw their living allowances
Mormon hopes for a long-term loan. Cannon had met with in tithing commodities. In Salt Lake City, mission president J. Golden
Rothschild, his brothers, and other leading financiers, but the pre-
Kimball described himself as at “the end of the rope” and pleaded for
vailing American panic and the Europeans’ ignorance of Utah
“anything” to aid him in returning to his assignment in the Southern
affairs made a loan impossible.₃₃
states. Appropriations for Church education were halted, twenty
Utah, meanwhile, was slipping into a severe economic depres-
schools were closed, and the opening of the new Church University
sion. Banking contraction was only partly to blame. A late winter
in Salt Lake City was postponed indefinitely. Clerks struggled to pay
had heavily damaged local agriculture, particularly the important
even the low-priced fares of returning missionaries, and sometimes
cash-producing wool clip, making 1893 Utah’s worst sheep year to
failed. “Every day urgent demands for cash are made of us, which we
date. Moreover, the plummeting price of silver forced the closing of
many mines, further reducing the local money supply. By the end cannot meet,” wrote the First Presidency, “for the simple reason that
of June, Utah businessmen began laying off workers and reducing we have no money. . . . We never saw such a time of financial strin-
wages. Such prominent citizens as John Morgan, Abraham O. Smoot, gency as there is now.”₃₆
and Ben Rich went bankrupt, and real-estate speculator George A. Endeavoring to maintain the Church’s balance, leaders sent
Meears committed suicide for the lack of $1,000. “From every side letters to local congregations directing that tithing commodities or
arises the cry of hard times,” wrote one diarist. other property be cheaply sold and the cash sent to Church head-
quarters. Buyers were few, however, and local charity consumed
I have never witnessed a greater stagnation in business enter-
prises than has manifested itself during the last month. Money is most of the money raised. During a prosperous year, over 50 percent
not to be had, confidence seems to have disappeared, and credit is of all tithing flowed into Church offices; in 1893 the Church received
denied by nearly all tradesmen. Public works are stopped, and . . . only 19 percent. For several weeks the General Authorities considered
thousands of men are out of employment.₃₄ borrowing over $100,000 from 126 wealthy Saints, but they evidently
 Grant and the Panic of 1893 131 132 Qualities That Count

realized that the plan would cripple the Mormon banks. There seemed the bank by $10,000. When, on August 24, the Brigham Young Trust
to be no solution, only a gaping crevasse.₃₇ Company failed to pay $50,000 owed Wells Fargo, Heber Wells tried
On August 2 the leading Latter-day Saint money men met to to resolve the problem with a new loan from Mack McCornick.
take “stock.” The weary Grant had returned the previous day from “Yesterday we bearded the former lion in his den,” Wells related.
New York, and at an 8:00 A.M. CG & Co. meeting he reported on his “We told him everything; pleaded, entreated, cajoled, warned, threat-
labors. “We only live now on sufferance of those we owe such large ened, and afterwards damned him. He was callous, obdurate, unyield-
sums to,” Francis Lyman summarized after Grant’s narration. But ing.” Finally, with an eye on future Mormon business, McCornick
the investment firm had larger problems than note renewals in the yielded $10,000 as a temporary sop. Toward the end of August, the
Eastern market. It had endorsed the paper of Burton-Gardner Church notified Wells Fargo in San Francisco that it would probably
Company, and the latter’s recent bankruptcy seemed a mortal blow. default on its September 2 loan payment.₄₀
CG & Co. directors decided to transfer the Sugar Company’s heavy By August 24, Grant was back pounding the streets of New York
indebtedness elsewhere—perhaps, somehow, to the Church itself. in search of a large, long-term loan. This time, he realized, a pound of
A joint meeting of the directors of the two Mormon banks that after- flesh would be necessary to save Church finances. With margins
noon was equally grim. Cashier Wells revealed that without new of reserves to assets in New York banks at 20.5 percent in mid-
deposits the banks would close within several weeks. He dispiritedly August—their lowest point of the crisis and well below the 24 percent
wondered whether an earlier closing might not be the wisest course.₃₈ legal limit for national banks—nothing less than a huge bonus would
The Lord had given and now he seemed ready to take. Church entice bankers into risking a long-term loan. But even when he promised
leaders solemnly entered their new temple and prayed for relief. “All a 20 or 25 percent commission, Grant found no takers. “I am getting
the Lord requires of us,” President Woodruff exhorted, “is to do the blue by the hour,” he informed Wells. “I wish that there was some-
very best we can, and He will then take care of the remainder.” thing bright in the distance that I could look forward to.”₄₁
On August 12, President Woodruff made his last public attempt In Utah the final crisis was at hand. On Friday, September 1, the
to resolve the crisis. At a meeting attended by the First Presidency, Mormon banks held only $20,000, a scant 3 percent of deposits. By
seven Apostles, the Presiding Bishopric, and nineteen stake leaders, closing time $5,000 had been drained from the vaults, and Wells
Woodruff reviewed the emergency and urged an increase in dona- frantically wired Grant that the State Bank could not survive another
tions. When possible, the Church would borrow from the Saints two days. Earlier that same day Grant had finally wrangled a promise
at 10 percent. Two weeks later, sublimely calm amidst the Church’s for a $100,000 loan. But he had pressed too hard, and the frightened
crumbling finances, Woodruff appropriated $15,000 recently found banker had delayed payment until Wednesday, September 6. Now
in the Church’s accounts in England and Hawaii, and led the rest of Grant learned that the Mormon banks could not last that long. He
the First Presidency and the Tabernacle Choir on a long-planned had come so close!₄₂
public relations tour of the World’s Fair in Chicago. Before leaving Since arriving in New York, Grant had tried to follow President
Utah, President Woodruff nominated Grant and George Q. Cannon Woodruff’s counsel to neither worry nor complain about the finan-
somehow to resolve the crisis. Since Cannon was part of Woodruff’s cial crisis. But as events pounded down upon him, he again won-
party, the responsibility fell to Grant.₃₉ dered whether he might not break under the strain. He had
Again, Grant’s mission was critical. Within two weeks, Zion’s exhausted all possibilities for a loan; there seemed to be no stone left
Savings must begin paying the large withdrawals requested sixty to turn. Before him loomed the “perfect horror” of another Kirtland
days earlier. And at about the same time, the Church’s many loans Bank failure, which had rent Church finances and caused wide-
would start to mature. Meanwhile, Wells Fargo had unexpectedly spread apostasy fifty-six years earlier. Several times during the early
demanded that the Church reduce its $25,000 overdraft privilege at morning of September 2, he shed bitter tears as he “supplicated the
 Grant and the Panic of 1893 133

Lord with all the earnestness and power which I possessed.” After
3:00 A.M. he lapsed into a few hours of fitful sleep.₄₃
Events of the next day seemed drawn from a surrealistic drama.
Grant appeared to move in slow motion, almost in defiance of the
prevailing high stakes and emotions. Arising after 8:00 A.M., an
unusually late hour for the vigorous Grant, he knelt in morning
prayers and offered to forfeit his life in exchange for the preservation
of the banks. Experiencing a calming assurance, he bathed and break-
fasted deliberately and then, without a destination in mind, boarded
an elevated railway train. At the station nearest H. B. Claflin Com-
pany, he decided to stop and shake John Claflin’s hand. The mer-
chant was not in his office, but had left word that he wished to see
Grant. Grant proceeded on to the National Park Bank, but missed
the right station. Backtracking, he entered Blake Brothers, and there
found John Claflin with a proposition.
Claflin had watched closely over the past several weeks as New
York bank reserves finally stabilized and edged above the 24 percent
legal minimum. Recognizing that the worst of the national money
crisis was over, and aware of Grant’s willingness to pay an extrava-
gant bonus, the New York businessman sensed the time was ripe to
save the finances of his Mormon friends, secure for himself a hand-
some commission, and ensure for his company ZCMI’s lucrative trade.
His terms were terrifying: $500,000 for two years at 6 percent with a
$100,000 bonus going to Claflin—almost 33 percent of the loan would
be lost to interest or commission (illus. 6-6). A desperate Grant
refused to “split straws.” He asked only that the deal be halved: $250,000
for two years, same interest, with $50,000 given to Claflin. Within
hours the State Bank learned that it could draw upon its New York
correspondent for an initial installment of $50,000. The Mormon
banks were saved.₄₄
The attractiveness of Claflin’s loan varied with the beholder.
On the grounds of the Chicago World’s Fair, Grant explained his
actions to the First Presidency. “Prest. Woodruff did not appreci- Courtesy Church Archives, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

ate . . . getting only $200,000 and yet paying interest on $250,000,” Illus. 6-6. The note, signed by the First Presidency and Twelve Apostles,
from H. B. Claflin Company loaning the Church money during the
Grant remembered. In fact, the Church president found the loan’s economic depression of the 1890s.
terms “fearful.” Although Church leaders formally approved the
note, and many personally signed it, the more cautious believed that
Grant had gone too far. In their eyes the loan had ruined Grant’s
 Grant and the Panic of 1893 135 136 Qualities That Count

financial reputation. “They did not comprehend the exigencies of Beyond contributing to the distress of the nineties, the panic
the case,” Grant later argued, “but I would gladly have given twice as left a lasting imprint upon the Church. The Church in the nine-
much had it been necessary in order to save our banks.”₄₅ teenth century had styled itself a unique religious commonwealth
Grant scarcely overstated matters. Although the Church would apart from mainstream America. Grant’s own business career itself
require loan after loan during the troubled 1890s, the Claflin money had reflected Brigham Young’s preaching on Zion’s self-sufficiency
had allowed the banks to navigate their most dangerous passage. and independence. Yet Grant’s New York loans wrapped the cords of
The safety of the banks in turn had prevented the bankruptcy of American finance tightly around Utah’s Zion. Thereafter, Church
CG & Co., its individual partners, and—morally at least—the Church leaders would not only feel increasingly at ease with the ways of
itself. Such failures would have had far-reaching consequences of American capitalists, but they would be beholden—at least in the
their own. There is no possible way of estimating the eventual cata- short run—for their services. Within another decade these influences
strophe had the floodgates not held. would go so far that muckraking journalists would begin to cast the
The trauma of 1893—with its foundering banks, pinched finances, Church in the role of a Wall Street plutocrat. Along with other eco-
and heroic loans—was never related publicly. As each new wave of nomic forces working to nationalize America, the Panic of 1893
the crisis had threatened, the Salt Lake newspapers had reassuredly changed not only the economics of the Church but also indirectly its
pronounced the financial foundations of Zion as unshakable as the public image.
granite walls of the Wasatch Range. Officially the Saints were never There was a final, personal irony to the episode. The mighty
told otherwise. When President Cannon addressed their October H. B. Claflin interests became overextended and in 1914 fell into
conference, he stated only the obvious. “We have had, since we last receivership. John Claflin spent his last twenty years in retirement—
met,” he reported, “considerable trouble in financial matters. . . . prosperous enough to winter on the palmy Jekyll Island resort in
You have no doubt felt it individually, as we have felt it as a church. Georgia, but stripped of personal or financial influence. Heber J.
Probably at no time in our previous experience have we had to con- Grant, in contrast, became financially stable and the Church’s presi-
tend with pecuniary embarrassments as we have had of late.” Only dent. One of the hallmarks of his administration, even during the
a few in the audience understood that Cannon spoke of more than Great Depression of the 1930s, was fiscal stability. The harrowing
the Church’s unpaid bills. Nor did the Mormon public learn of the summer of 1893, with its lessons for careful finance, clearly had left
Claflin loan. Fearing a reputation as a Shylock, John Claflin had its mark. Indeed, for its participants, like old comrades-in-arms, the
demanded secrecy.₄₆ Panic of 1893 became a topic to cherish and celebrate. “Those were
This Mormon story had a sequel. Although Grant’s loans may the days,” Heber Wells mused to Grant almost thirty years after the
have saved Zion and its money men from bankruptcy, the panic was event, “when we fought and bled and nearly died together.”₄₈
ruinous. “A few years ago,” Grant admitted in 1898, “we thought less
of spending $100 than we do now of a $5 bill.” Although the pacified Notes
national government returned what was left from the Edmunds-
This article was originally published in Arizona and the West 21 (Autumn
Tucker confiscations, Utahns and the Church staggered through the 1979): 257–78.
misnamed “Gay Nineties.” When the entire Claflin note fell due in
1. Western historians have generally either ignored the Panic of 1893 or
1895, the Church was able only to make the first payment on the have treated it as a prelude to the Silver and Populist agitations. A close
loan’s principal. It eventually canceled its debt largely by transferring examination of the impact of the financial upheaval upon the specific
to H. B. Claflin Company some of the Church’s shares in the Saltair community of Salt Lake City suggests that the panic was indeed a major
Beach and the Salt Lake and Los Angeles Railway companies. Final turning point in the history of the nineteenth-century West.
payment on the Claflin note was not made until 1899.₄₇ 2. Charles Hoffmann, The Depression of the Nineties: An Economic
History (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing, 1970), 54–71, 97,
 Grant and the Panic of 1893 137 138 Qualities That Count

109; W. Jett Lauck, The Causes of the Panic of 1893 (Boston: Houghton- 8. Heber J. Grant to Brigham Young Jr., July 13, 1892, Grant Collection,
Mifflin, 1907), 107. 11:409; Heber J. Grant to Rachel Grant, January 28, 1893, Grant Collec-
3. Heber J. Grant to Joseph H. Richards, February 22, 1890, Heber J. tion, 12:131; Heber J. Grant, Press Copy Diary, July 9, 1891, Grant Col-
Grant Letterpress Copybook, 8:215–16, Heber J. Grant Collection, Church lection; and Cannon, Diary, July 2, 1891.
Archives, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City; 9. In addition to Cannon and Grant, the partners were: Joseph F.
Heber J. Grant to Alfred L. Giles, March 26, 1890, Grant Letterpress Copy- Smith, Second Counselor in the First Presidency and director of ZCMI,
book, 8:287; Heber J. Grant to Anthony W. Ivins, December 13, 1890, Grant Zion’s Savings Bank, and the State Bank of Utah; Abraham H. Cannon,
Letterpress Copybook, 9:172; Heber J. Grant to R. D. Foltz, November 28, member of the Quorum of the Twelve and manager of the printing firm of
1891, Grant Letterpress Copybook, 9:394; Abraham H. Cannon, Diary, George Q. Cannon & Sons; John H. Smith, member of the Quorum of the
February 28, March 6, 1890, and May 13, 1891, Church Archives; Hezekiah Twelve and businessman; Francis M. Lyman, member of the Quorum of
Eastman Hatch, Typescript autobiography, 37, Church Archives; Roland the Twelve and businessman; George M. Cannon, cashier of Zion’s Savings
Stucki, Commercial Banking in Utah, 1847–1966 (Salt Lake City: University and principal shareholder of the State Bank; Leonard G. Hardy, bishop and
of Utah Press, 1967), 27. county collector; Thomas R. Cutler, manager and director of the Utah
4. The precipitous drop in tithing revenue is in Cannon, Diary, Sugar Company; Thomas G. Webber, superintendent of ZCMI, president
October 5, 1894; and “Annual Reports of the Presiding Bishopric, 1901,” 26, of Zion’s Benefit Building Society, and director of Zion’s Savings, Utah
Papers of the Presiding Bishopric, Church Archives. These tithing sum-
Sugar Company, and Home Fire Insurance; Philo T. Farnsworth, mining
maries do not include donations from the Church’s missions and branches
speculator; William H. Rowe, assistant superintendent of ZCMI and direc-
or money paid into a special “Defense Fund,” informally collected by
tor of ZCMI and the State Bank; and Henry A. Woolley, Nephi W. Clayton,
Church leaders to facilitate statehood. Leonard J. Arrington, Great Basin
and Jesse W. Fox, all Utah businessmen. Webber and Farnsworth kept their
Kingdom: An Economic History of the Latter-day Saints, 1830–1900 (Lincoln:
University of Nebraska Press, 1966), 360–73, discusses the Edmunds- participation from public view and did not allow their names on CG & Co.
Tucker Act and its economic consequences. Historians have overlooked stationery. Investments of the partners are in Memorandum, April 18, 1892,
the importance of the transfer of government funds from non-Mormon CG & Co. Papers, Church Archives.
banks, but contemporaries understood its seriousness. “The losing of the 10. Heber J. Grant to Charles Deare, January 4, 1892, Grant Letterpress
funds of the City, County & Territory,” Grant informed George Q. Cannon Copybook, 10:682; Heber J. Grant to Heber M. Wells, January 29, 1892,
on January 26, 1892, “has done as much to place the Mormon party of the Grant Letterpress Copybook, 11:168; Heber J. Grant to J. F. Grant, May 15,
community in a financial corner as the fearful draw on our resources by 1892, Grant Letterpress Copybook, 13:122.
the government having stolen the Church property. . . .” Grant Letterpress 11. Cannon, Diary, May 3, 1892. Heber J. Grant to G. Q. Cannon, June 5,
Copybook, 12:94. 1892, Grant Letterpress Copybook, 11:371, indicated that CG & Co. probably
5. Arrington, Great Basin Kingdom, 400–401. controlled 80 percent of the stock of Zion’s Savings.
6. Deseret Evening News, March 27, 1889, 3; President Joseph F. Smith, 12. Heber M. Wells to Heber J. Grant, December 22, 1892, Grant Letter-
“True Economy,” Deseret Evening News, December 16, 1893, 1; Cannon, press Copybook, 13:649–50; Heber M. Wells to Heber J. Grant, February 14,
Diary, April 5, 1895; Arrington, Great Basin Kingdom, 386–93, 400–401, 1893, Grant Letterpress Copybook, 16:19.
provides details on Church expenditures of the period. Confirmation that 13. Franklin D. Richards, Diary, April 24, 25, 1893, Church Archives;
these projects were largely deficit financed is in Heber J. Grant, Typed Francis M. Lyman, Diary, May 3, 1893, Church Archives; Cannon, Diary,
Diary, August 5, 1893, Grant Collection, Church Archives; Heber J. Grant May 3, 1893.
to George M. Cannon, July 12, 1893, Grant Letterpress Copybook, 17:162. 14. Lyman, Diary, May 10, 1893.
7. Heber J. Grant to Spencer Clawson, December 20, 1890, Grant Letter- 15. Grant, Press Copy Diary, May 19, 23, 31, 1893.
press Copybook, 9:186; Heber J. Grant to John C. Cutler, December 17, 1890, 16. Salt Lake Tribune, June 1, 1893, 6; Lyman, Diary, June 1, 1893;
Grant Letterpress Copybook, 10:7; Heber J. Grant to E. K. Wright, January 7, Marriner W. Merrill, Diary, June 1, 1893, Church Archives. Lyman suggests
1891, Grant Letterpress Copybook, 10:204; Heber J. Grant to Ray [Rachel] that in addition to easing unemployment, Church officials saw the
Grant, January 7, 1891, Grant Letterpress Copybook, 10:210; Heber J. Grant, proposed railroad as a means of increasing Church influence and prestige as
Reminiscence, box 177, fd. 3, Miscellaneous Papers, Grant Collection. A well as a way of keeping “some of the important enterprises of the west in
reminiscence of Grant’s trip to the East is in Bryant S. Hinckley, Heber J. our hands.”
Grant: Highlights in the Life of a Great Leader (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 17. Heber M. Wells to Heber J. Grant, June 3, 1893, in Grant, Press Copy
1951), 54–60. Diary, 519. Grant frequently copied correspondence in his diary.
 Grant and the Panic of 1893 139 140 Qualities That Count

18. Heber J. Grant to Heber M. Wells, June 11, 1893, in Grant, Press Church’s use of the notes. Lyman, Diary, July 5, 1893, Church Archives.
Copy Diary, 538–39; Heber J. Grant to Alexander G. Hawes, September 22, Mormon business interconnections are in Heber J. Grant to James B.
1893, Grant Letterpress Copybook, 17:487; Cannon, Diary, December 8, Powell, June 28, 1893, Grant Letterpress Copybook, 17:72.
1891, January 15, 1892. 28. Heber J. Grant to G. Q. Cannon, July 5, 1893, Grant Letterpress
19. Heber J. Grant to Anthony W. Ivins, August 14, 1893, Grant Letter- Copybook, 17:100–108. Claflin’s ZCMI letter of recommendation is in John
press Copybook, 17:244–45. Eight of the thirteen CG & Co. partners were Claflin to Heber J. Grant, June 28, 1893, Grant Letterpress Copybook, 17:71.
State Bank directors: J. F. Smith, A. H. Cannon, H. J. Grant, H. A. Woolley, 29. Salt Lake Tribune, July 1, 1893, 6; Salt Lake Tribune, July 2, 1893, 3;
W. H. Rowe, Elias Morris, Nephi Clayton, and P. T. Farnsworth. The inter- Heber J. Grant to G. Q. Cannon, July 5, 1893, Grant Letterpress Copybook,
relationships were almost as tight with the Zion’s Savings board, with six of 17:100; Heber M. Wells to Heber J. Grant, July 1, 1893, in Grant, Press Copy
its thirteen directors being CG & Co. partners: G. Q. Cannon, J. F. Smith, Diary, 574; Cannon, Diary, June 28, 1893. The Walker Brothers’ Union
H. J. Grant, F. M. Lyman, G. M. Cannon, and L. G. Hardy. National Bank reportedly was also dangerously low in cash reserves.
20. Grant believed throughout the crisis that the fates of CG & Co. and 30. Heber M. Wells to Grant, July 3, 1893, in Grant, Press Copy Diary,
the two Mormon banks were inseparably connected. Heber J. Grant 574–75, Grant Collection; Cannon Diary, July 3, 1893. Some of the directors
to Heber M. Wells, June 27, 1893, Grant Letterpress Copybook, 18:63; of both banks had urgently desired to require notice of withdrawal on
Heber J. Grant to G. Q. Cannon, July 5, 1893, Grant Letterpress Copy- June 28, but Woodruff at the time “did not think it wisdom to do so” and
book, 18:102; Heber J. Grant to J. F. Smith, August 28, 1893, Grant Letter- the plan was shelved. Wilford Woodruff, Diary, June 28, 1893, Church
press Copybook, 18:317. Archives.
21. Heber J. Grant to Heber M. Wells, June 7, 15, 1893, in Grant, Press 31. Wells to Grant, July 3, 1893, 574; Grant to G. Q. Cannon, July 5, 1893,
Copy Diary, 542–43, 531, respectively; Heber J. Grant to Wilford Woodruff 17:107; Heber J. Grant to Heber M. Wells, July 5, 1893, Grant Letterpress
and J. F. Smith, June 19, 1893, Grant Letterpress Copybook, 17:18. Copybook, 17:110.
22. Grant, Press Copy Diary, June 8–17, 1893. 32. Heber J. Grant to J. F. Smith, July 18, 1893, Grant Letterpress Copy-
23. Heber M. Wells to Heber J. Grant, June 22, 1893, in Grant, Press book, 17:193.
Copy Diary, 520–21. 33. Cannon’s telegram is recorded in F. D. Richards, Diary, July 7, 1893,
24. Heber M. Wells to Heber J. Grant, June 28, 1893, excerpts in Grant, Church Archives. Additional information about his mission is in G. Q.
Press Copy Diary, 525; Cannon, Diary, June 17, 21, 23, 24, 28, 1893; John Cannon to Wilford Woodruff and J. F. Smith, July 3, 7, 1893, Wilford
Henry Smith, Diary, June 13, 26, 28, 29, 1893, Church Archives. On June 29, Woodruff Papers, Church Archives.
Smith wrote: “Money matters continue exceedingly close. Everybody is 34. “Wool Men Are Blue,” Deseret Evening News, June 17, 1893, 1; Salt
calling for money and seemingly none to be got.” Lake Tribune, June 27, 1893, 1; Salt Lake Tribune, June 28, 1893, 1; Salt Lake
25. Heber J. Grant to Wells, June 21, 1893, Grant Collection; Heber J. Tribune, June 29, 1893, 1; Salt Lake Tribune, July 9, 1893, 1, 11; Cannon,
Grant to G. Q. Cannon, June 23, 1893, Grant Letterpress Copybook, 17:41, Diary, October 4, 1893; Lyman, Diary, June 28, July 7, 1893; John Henry
53–54, Grant Collection, Church Archives. Smith, Diary, July 1, 1893; James E. Talmage, Diary, August 23, 1893, L. Tom
26. New York Times, June 26, 1914, 1; New York Times, June 12, 1938, 39; Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young Univer-
Edward D. Page, “Lessons of the Claflin Crash,” The Independent 79 sity, Provo, Utah.
(July 13, 1914): 76–78; Muriel E. Hidy, “John Claflin,” in Robert Livingston 35. F. D. Richards, Diary, August 31, 1893; Lyman, Diary, July 6, August 3,
Schuyler and Edward T. James, eds., Dictionary of American Biography, 1893; George F. Richards, Diary, July 25, 1893, Church Archives.
22 vols. (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1958), 22:104–5. Claflin’s 36. J. F. Smith to Heber J. Grant, June 30, 1893, extract in Grant, Press
Mormon contacts are in Heber J. Grant to Wilford Woodruff, G. Q. Copy Diary, 562; J. G. Kimball to Wilford Woodruff, July 19, 1893, Woodruff
Cannon, and J. F. Smith, January 5, 1891, Grant Letterpress Copybook, Papers; George Reynolds to George F. Browning, July 18, 1893, First Presi-
10:184; Heber J. Grant to Thomas G. Webber, May 24, 1892, Grant Letter- dency Letterpress Copybook; Wilford Woodruff, G. Q. Cannon, and J. F.
press Copybook, 13:221; Heber J. Grant to James B. Powell, June 28, 1893, Smith to W. T. Stewart, November 13, 1893, First Presidency Letterpress
Grant Letterpress Copybook, 17:72; John Claflin to Heber J. Grant, January 7, Copybook; Wilford Woodruff and J. F. Smith to Canute Petersen and
1891, Grant Letterpress Copybook, 10:977; Cannon, Diary, May 13, 1891. Counselors, June 29, 1893, First Presidency Letterpress Copybook, Church
27. Wells to Grant, June 22, 1893. When the ZCMI directors met on Archives; Talmage, Diary, August 11, 23, 1893.
July 5, Webber’s action proved “very grinding upon the brethren,” and 37. J. F. Smith to Heber J. Grant, June 30, 1893; William B. Preston, R. K.
some complained of its illegality. However, they eventually approved the Burton, and John R. Winder to L. W. Shurtliff, July 1, 1893, Presiding
 Grant and the Panic of 1893 141 142 Qualities That Count

Bishopric Letterpress Copybooks, Church Archives; Presiding Bishopric 1893, 1; Deseret Evening News, November 25, 1893, 9; Salt Lake Tribune, June 2,
Annual Reports, 1900, 30, Presiding Bishopric; John R. Winder to Wilford 1893, 6; Salt Lake Tribune, July 1, 1893, 1, 6; Salt Lake Tribune, July 4, 1893, 1;
Woodruff and Council, July 7, 1893, Woodruff Papers; Woodruff, Diary, Salt Lake Tribune, July 20, 1893, 1; Salt Lake Tribune, July 21, 1893, 1; Salt
July 20, 1893; Cannon, Diary, July 20, 27, 1893. Lake Tribune, July 27, 1893, 1; Salt Lake Herald, June 13, 1893, 8; Salt Lake
38. Cannon, Diary, August 2, 1893; Lyman, Diary, August 2, 1893; Herald, July 2, 1893, 4; Salt Lake Herald, July 4, 1893, 8; Salt Lake Herald,
Woodruff, Diary, August 2, 1893. July 20, 1893, 4; Salt Lake Herald, July 21, 1893, 4; Salt Lake Herald, August 4,
39. Matthew Noall to the First Presidency, August 29, 1893, Woodruff 1893, 4; Salt Lake Herald, August 6, 1893, 4; Salt Lake Herald, August 9, 1893, 4.
Papers; Anthon H. Lund to Wilford Woodruff and Counsel, November 2, 47. Heber J. Grant to Allie Ford, April 13, 1898, Grant Letterpress Copy-
1893, Woodruff Papers; Woodruff, Diary, August 9, 12, 1893; Cannon, book, 26:406–7; Memoranda on Claflin Note, Church Properties, Finan-
Diary, August 12, 1893; Lyman, Diary, August 12, 1893; Merrill, Diary, cial Department Papers, Church Archives.
August 12, 1893. Lyman believed the Chicago “undertaking quite unreason- 48. Heber M. Wells to Heber J. Grant, [March 1921], Grant Letterpress
able to entertain under present circumstances,” but Woodruff strongly Copybook, 57:671.
desired the trip. Lyman, Diary, August 12, 1893. In late August, the Church
took over and successfully marketed $225,000 of the Utah Sugar Company
indebtedness. Eastern bankers, believing that the government would soon
return the Edmunds-Tucker confiscations, came to prefer the Church’s
credit to that of CG & Co. Woodruff, Diary, August 23, 1893.
40. J. E. Dooley to Wilford Woodruff, August 2, 22, 1893, Woodruff
Papers; Grant, Press Copy Diary, August 27–31, 1893; Heber M. Wells to
Heber J. Grant, August 24, 1893, in Grant, Press Copy Diary, 617; Wilford
Woodruff, G. Q. Cannon, and J. F. Smith to Henry Wadsworth, August 24,
1893, First Presidency Letterpress Copybook.
41. Heber J. Grant to Heber M. Wells, August 25, 1893, Grant Letterpress
Copybook, 17:292; Lauck, Causes of the Panic of 1893, 101.
42. Heber J. Grant to Heber M. Wells, September 1, 1893, Grant Letter-
press Copybook, 17:325; Heber J. Grant to J. F. Smith, September 1, 1893,
Grant Letterpress Copybook, 17:332; Heber M. Wells to Heber J. Grant,
September [3?], 1893 (telegram), in Grant, Press Copy Diary, 620.
43. Heber J. Grant to J. F. Smith, September 1, 1893, Grant Letterpress
Copybook, 17:332; Grant, Press Copy Diary, August 27–31, 1893; Memo-
randum, January 8, 1916, in Grant, Press Copy Diary, 1893, preceding 402;
Grant, Typed Diary, October 3, 1893.
44. Memorandum, January 8, 1916; Grant, Typed Diary, October 3, 1893;
Cannon, Diary, February 14, 1895; Lauck, Causes of the Panic of 1893, 101.
45. Heber J. Grant to Heber M. Wells, September 4, 1893, extract in
Grant, Press Copy Diary, 623; Heber J. Grant to Hiram B. Clawson,
September 20, 1898, Grant Letterpress Copybook, 28:68; Heber J. Grant to
John Claflin, December 29, 1897, Grant Letterpress Copybook, 26:237–38;
Woodruff, Diary, September 4, 1893. During the crisis, Church leaders
actually had approved the paying of an extravagant bonus for a loan, but
many apparently forgot or wished to deny personal responsibility. Cannon,
Diary, August 2, 1893.
46. Deseret Evening News, July 3, 1893, 4; Deseret Evening News, July 8,
1893, 3; Deseret Evening News, July 11, 1893, 1; Deseret Evening News, July 19, 1893,
1, 3; Deseret Evening News, July 20, 1893, 4; Deseret Evening News, August 24,