Presidents Office
G.S.L. City, Sep. 17, 1859.
President A. Calkin,
42 Islington, Liverpool, England,
Dear Brother:--
Your favors of July 14 came safe to hand on the 6th. inst. Not advising you of draft 108, favor of Samuel Francis for $25.00/100, was an accidental oversight, you did right in paying it.
Upon reflection I deem it best, all circumstances considered, for your son to remain here, and trust you will readily be able to view the matter in the same light. I hear from him occasionally, through my children, and each time learn that he is steady and contented, qualities that will, at his years, benefit him much more at home than abroad.
It will be advantageous for you to receive money and give drafts payable here, for whether we have a business agent in the States, or not we can at any time make use of drafts upon your Office so long as we have any deal with or indebtedness in the States.
You are correct in your view of the matter proper to be admitted into the Journal of Discourses. You will probably be furnished with plenty of copy of the character you describe and understand it should be, that the tenor and tone of the Journal may be preserved to answer the design of its being printed, which will exclude the copy you have consulted me about, and which was forwarded without my knowledge. It is best to continue to adhere to the rule adopted and thus far followed, and print only for the First Presidency and the Twelve, unless otherwise directed by myself.
Br. W.H. Hooper, our Delegate to Congress, thinks he may require the services of a clerk to assist him while East, and I have given him permission to call upon you to forward one to him upon his request. Good penmanship and trustworthiness are the qualifications he desires in a clerk, as he will dictate what he wishes written. Should br. Hooper write to you as above mentioned, you are at liberty to send br. Thomas Willisma to his assistance if agreeable to yourself and br. Williams, or if not, any other one whom it would suit and who would be likely to answer br. Hooper's wishes. In case br Williams does not go as above suggested, he is at liberty to come with you upon your return, or next season if he wishes, provided the office books and papers can be turned over to the care of a trusty and competent successor.
Since last advices I have drawn drafts upon you in favor of the Hon. William H. Hooper, which he will take with him and use in payment of our Eastern indebtedness, as he learns your financial condition through advices from you. In addition to the drafts he now takes he is authorized if necessary, to draw directly upon you, so far as you may have funds, of which he will previously advise with you. The drafts now furnished to br. Hooper are in the neighborhood of the sum you last advised us was on hand, and are noted in the accompanying schedule of drafts, as is also a repetition of the drafts of whose reception you have not as yet notified us. I shall fill out other drafts from time to time, as your finances may warrant, until our indebtedness is paid, and probably to enable us to procure still more machinery in which we are yet quite deficient.
The property in the Church train arrived in excellent condition, as also that in br. Feramorz Little's. The hand cart company also arrived in good spirits and condition. Br. Neslins company arrived on the 15th inst., br. Stevenson's on the 16th, which leaves only a few small companies to arrive, all of whom will doubtless come in before rough weather. The immigration this year has required but little assistance from here.
Pres. Kimball is making arrangements to have an oil mill in operation this fall, and Pres. Wells has taken in hand the nail machines which came in the Church train movements favorable towards supplying our market with oil and nails at more reasonable rates than heretofore and keeping our cash at home. Br's Joseph and Phineas H. Young and others are putting up the lately arrived Chinese sugar can mills, and there is a fair prospect that good molasses will be tolerably plenty at moderate prices. I have also, in addition to my two sugar mills one of two and one of one horse power, just received by our train a double woollen cording and a cotton carding machine, and br. E.R. Young is on the way here with machinery for making cordage and hemp and linen cloth. We yet are much in want of a paper machine, and hope that some one having the means to invest will feel sufficiently interested in Utah's prosperity to purchase and bring machinery for the manufacture of paper, and article for which we annually expend thousands of dollars in cash.
There are no new movements at Camp Floyd, and many of those who would thwart the purposes of the Almighty are almost daily leaving for the east and west, which promises to leave our atmosphere in a clearer condition during the coming winter. Goods trains continue to arrive, but the traders still manage to keep their prices well up to the old figure and above, though some of them begin to manifest the fluttering and uneasy symptons that arise from slow sales, and money is becoming rather scarce.
As heretofore advised, it is still deemed wisdom for the Saints in Europe, and particularly those in the British Isles, to be making their way to the States as speedily as consistent, for when this side of the atlantic they will be able to find employment and work towards Utah as their way opens.
Cap. W.H. Hooper, our Delegate to Congress, the few missionaries sent out this fall, and some others going on business will leave this city on monday, the 20th inst., and will constitute a party large enough for comfort, speed, and safety. They expect to reach the frontiers in from 25 to 30 days.
So far as you have or may have means to spare for that purpose, you are hereby authorized to honor drafts drawn upon you by the Hon. W.H. Hooper, after those drawn by me are exhausted, until our indebtedness is liguidated.
This, the first week of his adjourned term, Judge Sinclair has demeaned himself with marked and hitherto unusual courtesey, and, as a very natural result, business in his court has progressed somewhat as it should, four persons having been sentenced to the Penitentiary, one, a negro, for manslaughter, and three for horse stealing. There is now a prospect for our county expenses being lessened, through the prisoners being put upon their trial.
Prospects continue favorable to the cause of truth, and affairs are moving along in a manner quite satisfactory to those who strive to discern and acknowledge the hand of the Lord in all things.
Your Brother in the Gospel,
Brigham Young