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L E V I S. U D A L L . P R E S ID E N T i. l„w x r A .E . T H U R B E R . t <— _ f i t . 3 )uhui ^ tu k t a f ¿ it an &L Arizona N o v e m b e r 21, 1939 Hon. M a r r i n e r S. S c c l e s G o v e r n o r of F e d e r a l R e s e r v e B o a r d W a s h i n g t o n , D. C . D e a r Mr. Sccles: T he A r i z o n a R e p u b l i c of P h o e n i x r e c e n t l y c a r r i e d the a t t a c h e d e d i t o r i a l and it so w e l l exp r e s s e s m y own vie w s that I h o p e y o u w i l l not be offen d e d in m y f o r w a r d i n g the same to you. W e L . D.S. p e o p l e in A r i z o n a w e r e g r e a t l y p l e a s e d w i t h y o u r a p p o i n t m e n t b y P r e s i d e n t Roosevelt. Hone of u s at that time ever d r e a m e d that y o u w o u l d go so far to the left as y o u have in a d v i s i n g the P r e s i d e n t on his cr a z y l e n d - s p e n d p rogram, w h i c h it a p pears w i l l b a n k r u p t the country. A s the editorialindicates, w e k n o w that these p r i n c i p l e s are f o r e i g n to the t e a c h i n g s of the C h u r c h to w h i c h y o u be l o n g and are a b s o l u t e l y c o n t r a r y to the p r i n c i p l e s ta u g h t b y B r i g h a m Young, the g r e a t pioneer. I a m sure that the fortune w h i c h y o u i n h e r i t e d w a s n e v e r m a d e by t r y i n g to spend m o r e t h a n one made. It is p r o b a b l y e x p e c t i n g t o o m u c h of y o u to change y o u r f i n a n c i a l phil o s o p h y . H owever, I hav e ceased to be p r o u d of the fact that y o u are a m e m b e r of the M o r m o n Church, and I only hope that y o u w i l l see the e r r o r of your w a y before y o u lead the c o u n t r y into f u r t h e r d i f f i c u l t i e s . R e s p e c t f u l l y yours, LSU/ej Enc. 1 C LE R K This article is protected by copyright and has been removed. The citation for the original is: Arizona Republic, “The Repudiation of At Least Two Patriotic and Helpful Experts,” November 1939. December 11, 1939* Mr. Levi S. Udall, Stake President, bt. Johns Stake of /.ion, St. Johns, Arizona. Dear Mr. Udall: Your letter of November ¿1 enclosing an editorial from the Arizona Republic of Phoenix arrived here during my absence in the west. Ordinarily I would ignore the type of editorial you enclosed since it reflects such ignorance of the facts as to make hopeless any effort to challenge the conclusions. But since you have taken the trouble to write me of your own endorsement of the editorial respecting its allusions to the economic teachings of the leaders of the Church, I thought I would take the trouble to reply. You refer to the President’s program as a "crazy lend-spend program", language similar to that used by Senator Byrd of Virginia, who has referred to the administration's economic and financial measures as "fiscal insanity". For that reason I think my best reply is to enclose copies of a letter which I sent Senator.Byrd under date of December 23, 1938, and also a radio address of Jan uary ¿3i 1939» in answer to a preceding one of the Senator's. n»ith further reference to the teacnings of the Church, I have no quarrel, in fact I heartily endorse the principles of thrift and economy as re lated to the individual or to the family. It is sheer ignorance, however, to assume that what is good medicine for the individual is infallibly good medicine for the community or the nation. I might also add that the early leaders of the Church, including Joseph Smith and Bingham Young, could never have attained their leadership if they had been content to listen to the smug ideas and established traditions of the vast majority of the people of tneir time, while I have no desire to engage in any preachment, it seems to me the Mormon people should be the last ones to follow precepts simply because they are voiced by the majority of their fellow beings. I am well aware of the pronouncements of the present Church leaders respecting the Government's attempts, inadequate as they may be, to ameliorate the problem of unemployed millions of our people and unemployed billions of our savings, irnd to put it mildly and to return the expression used in your letter, I have long since ceased to be proud of the Church leaders for their economic and financial utterances. Should you take the time to read the enclosures and to think about the problems discussed therein, I feel confident that you will not be so satisfied to apply the economics of a frontier economy to the complicated industrial and finan cial structure of our country today as well as of the world at large. LC/fgr Yours sincerely, M. S. Eccles, Chairman.
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