Under the Prophet in Utah

by Frank Jenne Cannon

Frank J. Cannon was the eldest son of an Apostle in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. When Cannon grew up he wrote a book called Under the Prophet in Utah in which he rejected Mormonism. This edition includes a table of contents.

Genres: History

234 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1911

About the author

Frank Jenne Cannon was the first United States Senator from Utah, who served from 1896 to 1899.

Reviews

[Mike Lund · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting, But Not An Easy Read

In part, an excellent history of U.S. and Utah politics from 1888 to 1910 (publishing date). It includes the Apostle Reed Smoot for Senate controversy. Not an easy read, but because the history of the United States is the influenced by each state’s politics and history, it’s worth reading

The author, Frank Cannon, played a role in negotiations for Utah’s statehood and was Utah’s 1st Senator. He believed strongly in the separation of Church and State and felt that by the early 1900’s the Mormon Church’s Leadership hierarchy led by LDS 1st President Joseph F Smith was too involved in the state’s finacial and political affairs and was attempting to interfere in national politics by controlling Utah’s Senators and Congressmen (LDS Political Manifesto of 1895). It’s written in 1st person and reflects his personal experiences and personal opinions. Published 1910, there is a lack of historical perspective, but it also preserves many happenings that would have otherwise been lost to history. Because of his familiarity with his topic, at times it’s confusing who he is talking about. Chapt 18 covers 1st President Joseph F Smith’s finacial holdings. Impressive and indicates his hold over the state’s economy.

[Evan Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some dumb takes on monetary policy aside, this man was spitting unfortunately.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much of the book is an inside view of the political machinations leading to, and immediately following, the admission of the state of Utah into the U.S. The author, Frank J. Cannon was directly involved in this transition as a representative of the LDS church (that is, of the territory) in Washington and one of the first senators of the state of Utah. Much of the book addresses how polygamy affected this process, including information on the numerous perjuries committed by the church leaders and their lackeys (church members) before congress and how the leaders of the church continued the illegal practice of polygamy after statehood in 1896, including many new plural marriages for many years (through the time of the publication of this book, 1911, at least).

After Utah became a state, the church leadership having promised to eliminate plural marriage, the church continued marrying young women into plural marriages to elderly men in secret. Cannon discusses the various methods used to coerce women into these marriages and the sad state they were left in, with children who were considered bastards and generally a lack of financial support from the "husband". Since the women could not openly declare their marriages, they were ostracized as promiscuous sinners. Some people went to Canada or Mexico so they could live in polygamy openly. This is how Romney's grandfather ended up in Mexico and how a break-off group of fundamentalist Mormons ended up in Canada. Canon discusses the sad position the women in plural marriages were put into. This was very interesting to me, having come from a family that was in the church at that time.

There is a lot of interesting information here about how Joseph F. Smith, nephew of Joseph Smith Jr., who founded the religion, arranged so that the mormon people and the "Gentiles" would be sending a good proportion of their income to him. In addition to required tithing of 10% from all church members (including the poor), he started assessing fees for every little thing. Apparently, the tithing didn't cover any church services--- not the building of churches, not expenses of churches, not expenses of missionaries, not even books for Sunday school. All this came from various fund raising activities. So where did all that tithing go? Well, there are no public records on that. There still aren't to this day. The LDS church is one of the few in the U.S whose finances are secret. Gosh, I wonder why? So, Smith, who considered himself God's king on earth (as all LDS "prophets" do to this day) became very wealthy. Surprised? He had himself made the president of several major corporations, although he had no previous experience in business, nor ever learned anything about it. He then used his position as president of the church to push out all competition, forming monopolies in sugar, salt, and many other goods.

The preceding information is from the author, who was opposed to Smith for much of his life, so one might think the information is not reliable. However, growing up in this religion I remember hearing about this multitude of methods of getting more money from the church members, beyond taking 10% of their income off the top. I never thought to wonder why the church needed to raise more money for missionaries, for churches, for teaching materials, etc. This is still done why? Where is all that tithing going? My impression is that the church continues to be run by some very greedy people. They don't even pay anyone. No money for bishops, no money for home teachers, etc.

One thing that is interesting about the book is that Cannon seems to think that these abuses started when Joseph F. Smith became president of the church. Apparently, when he was young he was too naive to see that things were already like this. In fact, it was worse in earlier times, since the presidents of the church had even more power before Utah was admitted to the U.S. as a state in 1896. Joseph Smith Jr., who founded the religion, had absolute power over all church members, set himself up as a king on Earth (independent of the U.S. government), ruled as a dictator, and felt comfortable annulling other church member's marriages so he could have sex with the women himself. (His extra "wives" were secret during his life. The doctrine regarding plural marriage was announced by Brigham Young after Joseph Smith died.) His megalomania is what led to his death in a gunfight, after he burned down a press that dared to publish something he didn't like.

So, the author is making the common error of thinking that the way things were in his youth, and before his birth, was better than during his time.

Incidentally, I remember very well my grandfather talking about how they continued paying tithing and contributing to other church funds while they were struggling to survive during the Great Depression. The greed of church leaders knows no bounds.

Overall, I found the book fascinating.

[John Marshall · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author, Frank J. Cannon, is castigated by some reviewers, mostly faithful Mormons. That's understandable given his criticism of the Mormon hierarchy of the late 19th and early 20th century. But he presented his case from his first-hand, contemporary, intimate perspective as one who was raised in the Mormon church, had dealings for and against members of the hierarchy. Cannon seems to have exposed the corruption within the church; the sort that is bound to over-develop within a totalitarian government, whether religious or secular.

If Cannon was correct, LDS President Lorenzo Snow's teaching that "As man is, God once was; as God is, man may become” paints a bleak portrait of either the LDS Presidents and Prophets or of God. Or maybe Snow was wrong.