Gt Salt Lake City
April 17th 1866.
A. J. Bell, Esq., Council Bluffs, Iowa
Dear Sir:-
Your favor of the 14th ult. came to hand on the 7th instant, and on that date I telegraphed you as follows: "This year Thomas Taylor is our Agent. Last year acted on his own responsibility. I supposed he took money when he left here to settle at least part of the indebtedness. Will loan Mr Taylor Five Thousand and send draft to you for that amount with explanations by Mail."
Enclosed please find a draft on H. B. Clawson Esq., New York, for Five Thousand dollars ($5.000.00/00) I have not sent this draft earlier, because I have not been certain that Mr. Clawson would be able to cover the amount. Should he not be able to meet it at the exact day when due, I hope I hope that you will not let it go to protest, as he will have funds in hand, at most, in a few days to cover it.
You make allusion to a question of veracity between Mr Taylor and myself. I cannot think that there can be any question upon this point. I do not wish to enter into any argument upon this subject; but it is one upon which I feel very sensitive, as if not understood it might lead to future difficulty. As I stated in my letter I view Mr Taylor as an honest, reliable gentleman and what he did was doubtless done with the best of intentions; but suppose a designing man were to come to Council Bluffs, Nebraska City, or any other point on the river, and represent himself as my authorized Agent, would it be right for you or any other business man, to let him have Cattle, wagons, or goods on his mere ipse dixit, because I am known to be responsible and prompt to meet my engagements? Or would it not be more business like to first obtain a sight of his credentials (which he would have, if he were my agent) and satisfy yourself as to the correctness of his representations? You say that any legal gentleman would tell me that my agent transcending his authority would tell me that my has nothing to do in this case; or in other words, that I would have to be responsible <for> the engagements of my autherized agent. I will not dispute this statement; but, as I have before said, I appointed no agent last year. The gentlemen who acted were the agents of the emigrants themselves; and upon slight reflection you must perceive that it would never do for me to hold myself, or suffer others to hold me, responsible for the acts and transactions of men whom I do not autherize. To open a door of this kind, or to let an impression of this kind, or to let an impression of this kind go abroad, would be likely to soon involve me in serious difficulty. I have published in St Louis and other places to Merchants and others not to trust men as my Agents, or the Agents of the Church, unless they have certificates to that effect. Because a man says that he is a Mormon or Latter-day Saint we do not wish him trusted on our credit; and I will be much gratified if you will give all your friends notice to this effect. We wish to take a course to preserve our credit with yourself and with all business men, and we can only do this by being strict in all our dealings.
I remain respectfully
Brigham Young