BYU Studies Quarterly Volume 18 Issue 4 Article 7 10-1-1978 An Economic Analysis of the United Order L. Dwight Israelsen Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq Recommended Citation Israelsen, L. Dwight (1978) "An Economic Analysis of the United Order," BYU Studies Quarterly: Vol. 18 : Iss. 4 , Article 7. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq/vol18/iss4/7 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in BYU Studies Quarterly by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Israelsen: An Economic Analysis of the United Order an economic analysis of the united order L dwight israelsen the physical scientist working in his laboratory conducts carefully planned experiments under strictly controlled conditions the data thus generated can be measured with remarkable preci- sion the economist scientist on the other hand neither conducts controlled experiments nor finds economic data readily available or precisely measured the data problem is particularly acute in the study of economic history where records are usually incomplete inaccurate or nonexistent in light of these problems the discov- ery of an experiment in alternative economic systems conducted under semi controlled conditions and accompanied by a body of high quality data is certainly rare if not unique the mormon united order was such an experiment func- tioning briefly in the great basin during the last quarter of the nineteenth century the experiment stands as one of mankindsmankinds most ambitious attempts to establish a utopian socioeconomic sys- tem this paper deals with some economic aspects of that system following a brief historical review the theory of producer coopera- tives is employed to generate some hypotheses about the function- ing and eventual failure of the order statements by brigham young and other church leaders give us a second set of hypoth- esekeses some following directly from stated goals of the united or- der and others dealing with factors contributing to the failure of the system the two groups of hypotheses are compared and con- trtrasted and in the final section of the paper some preliminary re- sults of an empirical study are presented L dwight israelsen isis assistant professor of economics at brigham young university the funding for this project was provided by the department of economics bnghambrighambangham young uni- versity I1 am grateful to leonard J arrington church historian dean may senior historical asso- ciateclate and the staff of the church historical department for their support and help enckerick R erick- son assisted with the research richard kluckhohn did the computer work and donsdoris woodmanseewoodmansec typed the manuscript the 1874 united order also called the united order of enoch or second united order should not be confused with thecommunitanan communitarian system which functioned briefly in ohio in 1831 in jackson county missouri 183118331831 1833 and in modified form at far west missourmissounmissouriin 1838 this earlier experiment is referred to as the law of consecration and stewardship the order of enoch or first united order 536 Published by BYU ScholarsArchive, 1978 1 BYU Studies Quarterly, Vol. 18, Iss. 4 [1978], Art. 7 A LOOK BACK an explication of the complex strand of events which led to the establishment of the united order of enoch is beyond the scope of this paper 2 two causal threads however are so promi- nently woven through the length of the strand that they deserve mention here the first is the effort to achieve a oneness an ideal christian community in which selfishness and greed would be replaced with brotherly love and individualistic competitive capitalism with order and unity in february 185183118511831 less than a year after the organization of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints joseph smith announced the law of consecration and stewardship a blueprint for the ideal community 53 the commu- nitariannitarian system operated briefly in 1831 at thompson ohio and again during 1831 1833 in jackson county missouri A modified form of the law of consecration was instituted at far west mis- souri in 1838 these attempts to establish a utopian community were thwarted by legal problems lack of support from the church membership and mob violence which culminated in the death of joseph smith in 1844 and the expulsion of the cormonsmormons from the midwest in 1846 within a decade of their arrival in the great basin church members were once again asked to live the law of consecration the consecration movement of the 1850s under the direction of brigham young suffered a fate similar to that of the earlier movement problems with legality of land ownership the threat of a federal army marching on utah and unenthusiastic public re- sponse to consecration combined to halt the experiment before it had fairly begun 4 in the 1860s economic cooperation received new emphasis with the establishment of cooperative mercantile and manufac- turing enterprises not as radical an innovation as the stewardship system the cooperatives were generally successful sometimes spec the most comprehensive and thorough study of the history of the cooperative movement in hethe mormon church is leonard J arrington feramorz Y fox and dean L may building the city of god community and cooperation among the cormonsmormons salt lake city deseret book 1976 an- other excellent and thorough study is leonard J arrington great basin kingdom an economic hist- ory oftheodtheof tlethe latter day saints 183019001830 1900 cambridge mass harvard university press 1958 seeiseesec arrington fox and may building the city ofgodof godgov chapter 2 arringtonarrngtonarnngton great basin king- dom chapter 1 leonard J arrington early mormon commcommunitanamsmunitarianism the law of consecration and stewardship western humanities review 71 april 195334136919533411953 341369541341 569369 and hamilton gardner com- munismmanismmunism among the Morcormonsmormonsmons quarterly journal of economics 37 november 19221341922 154134 74 scx4sceasce arrington fox and may building the city of god chapter 4 and arrington great basin kingdom chapter 5 537 https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq/vol18/iss4/7 2 Israelsen: An Economic Analysis of the United Order tacularlytabularly so model cooperatives were established at brigham city in 1864 at spanish fork in 1867 and at lehi in 1868 zions co- operative mercantile institution incorporated in 1868 quickly emerged as the territorysterri torys most important wholesale store more than 150 retail cooperatives and cooperative manufacturing enter- prises were established during the late 1860s and early 1870s 5 the second main thread leading to the establishment of the united order is the idea of group economic self sufficiency al- though not explicitly stressed during the pre utah period the ap- pearancepearance if not the fact of self sufficiency was a natural outcome of the operation of the law of consecration and stewardship and probably fueled the fires of discrimination already sparked among non cormonsmormons by the apparent clannishness of the mormon com- munity in turn the general antagonism of their neighbors likely led cormonsmormons to seek a greater degree of group self sufficiency if economic self sufficiency was desirable prior to 1847 it was essential in the years following the arrival of the cormonsmormons in the great basin with practically no access to outside markets survi- val itself dictated a high degree of economic cooperation and di- rection the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869 though ending the economic isolation which had earlier threat- ened their existence was not viewed by mormon leaders as an un- mixed blessing the large numbers of gentiles flooding into the territory would bring with them all the attitudes and institutions of nineteenth century american capitalism the pursuit of profits concentration of wealth and competitive individualism which would inevitably follow the linkuplindupthreatened to seriously erode the bond of selflessness and brotherly love which held the mor- mon social fabric together the establishment of the united order then can be seen as an effort to maintain group self sufficiency and to preserve group identity in the face of increased pressures toward assimilation at the same time the order was widely viewed by church leaders and members as the means of realizing that oneness so long awaited the first united order was organized 9 february 1874 at st george utah the last known church authorized branch of the fortorwor a general discussion of the organiurionorganizationorganierionerlonUrion of cooperative and manufacturing enterprises secsce arrington fox and may building the city of god chapter 5 arrington great basin kingdom chapter 10 and hamilton gardner cooperation among the Morcormonsmormonsmons quarterly journal of eco- comicsnomics 31 may 19174611917 461 99 A list of coopervivecooperativecoopervive mercantile establishments can be found in ar- ringtonring ton fox and may building the city of god appendix 4 538 Published by BYU ScholarsArchive, 1978 3 BYU Studies Quarterly, Vol. 18, Iss. 4 [1978], Art. 7 united order was established 9 january 1893 at cave valley chi- huahua mexico in the intervening years more than 200 other branches of the order arearcknown to have been organized in mor- mon communities in utah idaho wyoming