The Brigham Young Center

Great Salt Lake City,
September 25th, 1867.

Mr. William W. Ross
Windsor, Shelby Co. Ill's.

Sir:

Your letter of the 4th ult. has been received. We have no objections to any good citizens settling here. Our territory, like all others, is free to all; but we have had some come here whose presence has been offensive to all good citizens. The Latter-day Saints, or as they are commonly called, Mormons, believe in and practice industry; it is viewed by us as a cardinal virtue, and it is a very important feature in our religion. Gamblers, saloon keepers and loafers of every kind are objectionable to us; they are drones -- consumers but not producers. Our country is one that requires persevering labor on the part of its inhabitants to make a living. We have to irrigate all our gardens and fields. No tree, shrub, not even a flower or a cabbage, can be raised here without being watered by man. This makes the labor of the husbandmen very onerous. Wheat sells here, in trade, at $2 per bushel; flour at $6 per hundred. Corn we do not raise in any quantities; when offered for sale it sells at about the same price as wheat. Oats sell from $1 to $1.25, and barley from $1.37 1/2 to $1.75 per bushel. These articles sell for lower figures than the above for money. Fat cattle sell at about 8 cents. Fat hogs about 20 or 25 cents. Coffee about 30 cents; Sugar about 50 cents. Rice about 35 cents. Everything that we import is expensive; the
cost of transportation being high.

Respectfully
Brigham Young