THE KIRKLAND BANK FAILURE |
MORMON ANSWER
False.
In 1836, Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon wanted to open a bank in Kirkland, Ohio, where the Mormons were gathering and building a Temple. They called their bank the "Kirkland Safety Society". At that time (1830s) the federal government did not print money, but only coins. In the 1830s, currency (paper money) was used like we use checks or credit cards today. Banks and "joint-stock companies" (i.e. credit unions) produced and printed all of the currency in the United States. At that time, there was no "Federal Reserve" (which is also a private bank which prints all U.S. currency today). Even today, the U.S. government only issues coins. All currency is printed by a private bank, which is called the "Federal Reserve".
After the Kirkland Safety Society printing plates arrived, Joseph and Sidney petitioned the Ohio State Legislature for a bank charter. This request was refused. At that time, bank charters were given to almost anyone who applied, provided they would bribe enough legistlators.
Undaunted, Joseph and Sidney decided to form a "joint-stock company" (credit union) which did not require a bank charter. But, they already had printing plates which said "Kirkland Safety Society Bank" on them. And they could not afford to have more prining plates made.
What to do?
They instructed that rubber stamps be created, and that each bill from the printing plates would be stamped to read thusly:
So, with the red rubber stamp in hand, bills were printed up and stamped, including a $3 bill, which was not uncommon at the time, and perfectly legal tender for all those who were members of the joint-stock company.
But, the joint-stock company FAILED! In only about 5 months time, the Kirkland Safety Society Anti-Banking Company failed; as did hundreds of banks and joint-stock companies, in the "Panic of 1837"; a wave of bank failures that streched across the United States.
The Kirland Bank Prophecy
Anti-Mormons claim that Joseph Smith prophesied that the KSSABC would succeed and become the largest financial institution in the world. They base this upon the testimony of Warren Parrish, who was the treasurer of the KSSABC, and at one time a scribe of Joseph Smith. Just after the KSSABC failed, he left the Church, and eventually became a Baptist preacher. He wrote an anti-Mormon book in which he said:
"I have listened to him [i.e. Smith] with feelings of no ordinary kind, when he declared that the AUDIBLE VOICE OF GOD, INSTRUCTED HIM TO ESTABLISH A BANKING-ANTI BANKING INSTITUTION, who like Aaron's rod SHALL SWALLOW UP ALL OTHER BANKS (the Bank of Monroe excepted,) and grow and flourish and spread from the rivers to the ends of the earth, and survive when all others should be laid in ruins." (Painesville Republican, February 22, 1838, as quoted in Conflict at Kirtland, page 297)Wilford Woodruff was also at the meeting, and he remembers no prophecy. But he does remember Joseph Smith telling them he had heard a "audible voice" regarding the KSSABC. Woodruff writes:
"I also herd [sic] President Joseph Smith, jr., declare in the presence of F. Williams, D. Whitmer, S. Smith, W. Parrish, and others in the Deposit office that HE HAD RECEIVED THAT MORNING THE WORD OF THE LORD UPON THE SUBJECT OF THE KIRTLAND SAFETY SOCIETY. He was alone in a room by himself and he had not only [heard] the voice of the Spirit upon the Subject but even an AUDIBLE VOICE. He did not tell us at that time what the Lord said upon the subject but remarked that if we would give heed to the commandments the Lord had given this morning all would be well." ("Wilford Woodruff's Journal," January 6, 1837, as quoted in Conflict at Kirtland, page 296)What were the "commandments of the Lord" in relation to the KSSABC? Joseph Smith had the following published in the Church periodical, The Morning and Evening Star:
??????????????The "audible voice" made no prophecy other than to see all would be well "if" the officers of the KSSABC followed the commandments of the Lord.
At the time, the Church in Kirkland had a newspaper, the Morning and Evening Star. There is no mention of this prophecy in the Star. There is no mention of this prophecy in the diary of Joseph Smith, which is written in his own hand. There is no mention of this prophecy by anyone other than Warren Parrish, and only after he left the Church.
Can Warren Parrish's testimony be trusted?
Many think he testimony, given after he left the Church, cannot be trusted. Why?
Joseph Smith claimed at about the time of the KSSABC failure that Warren Parrish, who was teller (and thus had access to the coins).
In the Journal of Discourses, Vol.11, p.11 - p.12, President George Albert Smith, said the following:
Warren Parrish believed that Joseph Smith had become a "fallen prophet", so he would steal great amounts of coined money out of the vault in Kirland and use the money to buy up property, horses, etc. When it came time that people tried to turn in their KSSABC currency for coin, there was little coin left and the joint-stock company collapsed.Some time after the finishing of the Temple, the brethren under the direction of the Prophet had established a bank in Kirtland, the paper to be redeemed by specie, and secured by real estate. The directors of that bank were members of the Church, and they were determined to sustain the credit of that money. The question has some times been asked, how much has that bank failed for; it did not fail for a single dollar, and yet when it failed there was perhaps a hundred thousand dollars of the bank paper out in circulation. Warren Parrish was the teller of the bank, and a number of other men who apostatized were officers. They took out of its vault, unknown to the President or cashier, a hundred thousand dollars, and sent their agents around among the [dissenters] to purchase their farms, wagons, cattle, horses and every thing they could get hold of. The Brethren would gather up this money and put it into the bank, and those traitors would steal it and send it out to buy again, and they continued to do so until the plot was discovered and payment stopped. It was the cursed apostates--their stealing and robberies, and their infernal villainies that prevented that bank being conducted as the Prophet designed. If they had followed the counsel of Joseph, there is not a doubt but that it would have been the leading bank in Ohio, probably of the nation. It was founded upon safe principles, and would have been a safe and lasting institution.
Some estimate that Warren Parrish stole from $26,000 to $100,000; MASSIVE sums of money in that day.
After the KSSABC failed we know this much:
1. Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon were broke! Joseph Smith was so broke that he had to borrow $300 from Brigham Young, who in turn borrowed the money from another man.
2. Warren Parrish and those who followed him had nothing but money and land and property and posessions after the KSSABC failure.
Do the math.
Warren Parrish tried to set up a rival Church, called "The Church of Christ" and even convinced several Mormon apostles to join him, but within a year the plan failed, and Parrish sold his properties in Kirkland and left, later becoming a Baptist minister.
Many claim, not just Joseph Smith, that Warren Parrish stole the money. But why?
Wilford Woodruff, and Apostle who knew both Joseph Smith and Warren Parrish very well, wrote:
Sometimes banks or deposit offices (like Brink's) are robbed by employees. When they are caught (and they usually are) they are asked why they robbed the place of their employment. The answer almost always given was that they were wronged by the institution, being stepped over for promotion. These people were dedicated employees for years, and expected certain promotions, and when others were promoted in their place, they decided to "get even" with the instituion that had wronged them.The cause thereof he explained as follows: "It might be stated here that Warren Parrish fell through disappointed ambition. He aspired to the Quorum of the Twelve, or to be a leading spirit of the Church. He was what is termed a smart man, and through his smartness, which was distorted by ambition, envy, and bitterness, he turned against Joseph and the Church, having fallen into darkness and given himself up to the power of Satan. (??????????)
Anti-Mormons will say this is all "smoke and mirrors" and that Warren Parrish was the honest one, stole nothing, and that his testimony can be believed and the testimony of all others who lived at that time and saw what happened are lies.
Mormons will say that those who testified about Warren Parrish, which included Joseph Smith and many others, is true, and that Parrish, angered for not being chosen an Apostle, decides to declare Joseph Smith "fallen" but before he can do that he needs funds to start his own new Church ("The Church of Christ"), so he steals the funds, and when the KSSABC fails, he tells others that Joseph Smith was a "fallen prophet". But his plans do not succeed. He is found out, and excommunicated. He then preaches against Joseph Smith to anyone who will listen.
Warren's behavior is "standard operating procedure" for apostates of his kind.
Darrick Evenson