COMPLETELY ORGANIZED LABOR. 73 



mountains. But it happens, in a country which is made up 

 of mountains and valleys, that almost all of the land is so sit- 

 uated, — the great portion of it is so situated, — that water can be 

 brought upon it. There are benches or old beaches running along 

 the mountains and sloping towards the valleys, and by digging 

 large canals on them, and then by tapping these with small canals, 

 you can bring the water down upon the valley for irrigation. This 

 is a thing that could not be done except under a system of organ- 

 ized labor ; and here we have another thing which is worthy of 

 consideration, — I don't believe in the Mormon system which does 

 even this, because I believe man should be independent, — but 

 here is cooperation ; and I believe in the principles of coopera- 

 tion. It is to be a great thing, and we have not begun to study 

 the subject enough. The cooperation here is under the direction 

 of a leader — just the same sort of cooperation that there is in an 

 army when it has a general at the head of it who commands 

 his subordinate officers, and his officers command the privates, 

 and every man has to go just where they say. That is mainly 

 the sort of cooperation there is among the Mormons. You 

 know that in such a way you get an efficient army, and in this 

 way they have secured great efficiency in working out this prob- 

 lem. Labor is organized throughout the whole extent of that 

 Salt Lake territory in such a way as it is not organized in any 

 other part of our land. You have Brigham Young, that old, 

 stalwart fellow, whose nod moves all Mormondom, and who is 

 nobody's fool ; with a big head and bigger neck, a jaw like a 

 lion, and whose will few can withstand. He has an eye also for 

 business. He is a shrewd business man ; a man of sound 

 judgment in all temporal matters. Of course, he makes mis- 

 takes, like all other men ; but, take it by and large, Brigham 

 Young's judgment is as good as that of any man that can be 

 found. And he has wrought out results in agriculture, in rail- 

 roads and in telegraphs, of such a nature that it may be said 

 there is no man in this country who has equalled him with the 

 same means. He sets in motion the whole of this machinery, 

 and then there are men under him, in subordinate places, set- 

 ting in motion the machinery in smaller circles, so that, in 

 every settlement, they have a bishop, and the bishop is not only 

 the spiritual leader of the people, but he looks after temporal 

 matters. He is the man to whom they all go for advice ; he 

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