A Mr. Williams, well known to the writer, became a Mormon in England. He was a man of considerable property, and while on his way crossing the Plains, was induced to invest $15,000 in an iron company formed for working the iron mines in Southern Utah. The money was paid over, and invested by the Elders, in goods, in St. Louis. The goods were duly transported across the Plains, and unloaded within the enclosure of Young, in Salt Lake City. Mr. Williams received, in St. Louis, a receipt for his money, stating that the same would entitle him, upon his arrival in Utah, to certificates of stock in the company. But he never was able to get any stock or other equivalent for his money, nor any statement of the affairs of the company. Indeed, the dignitaries of the church, after one or two conversations upon the subject, refused to converse with him further in relation to it. Soon after, the Legislature of Utah, composed in good part of the same men, repealed the Act incorporating the company, and thus the whole thing "vanished into thin air." In 1862, which was several years after the money had been paid, Mr. Williams took legal advice, and was told he could file a bill in chancery, against all persons implicated in the transaction, requiring them to answer under oath. He hesitated to do so, giving as a reason that he thought "the time had not yet come," and that such a course would imperil his life. This mode of getting money by the Elders from the wealthy saints, and the retaining the same, is not only excused, but openly justified and encouraged by Brigham. The following extract from one of his published sermons will show his views upon these questions, and the character of his morality and financial integrity:-- "I wish to impress another thing on your minds. An Elder who is willing to preach the gospel, borrows a hundred or a thousand from you, and you never breathe a word of complaint against him, until you come home to this valley; but after you have been here for a few days, you follow me round and fill my ears with complaints against this brother, and ask me what he has done with your money? I say 'I do not know.' Thus you are distressed, and in misery all the day long, to get it back again. If an Elder has borrowed from you, and you find he is going to apostatize, then you may tighten the screws upon him; but if he is willing to preach the gospel without purse or scrip, _it is none of your business what he does with the money he has borrowed from you. If you murmur against that Elder, it will prove your damnation._ . . . "No man need judge me. You know nothing about it, whether I am sent or not; furthermore, it is none of your business, only to listen with open ears to what is taught you, and serve God with an undivided heart."[147:A]