THE OGDEN STANDARD EXAMINER OGDEN, UTAH. THURSDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 1, 1955 SIGNED BY J. SMITH, S. RIGDON Rare LDS Bank Notes Recall Ill Fated Kirtland Society RARE CURRENCY Carol Nord displays two banknotes issued by the LDS Church bank in Kirtland, Ohio, in 1837. The bills, a 5 and 10, were given to the Bank of Utah for its rare coin and currency collection by one of its officers living in Idaho. Two banknotes printed and issued by a bank ..established by the LDS Church in Kirtland, Ohio, in late 1836 have been given to the Bank of Utah for its rare coin and currency collection. The notes, one 5 and one 10 bill, were given by D. F. Richards, of Idaho Falls, Idaho, a bank officer. In a letter forwarding the bill to the local bank, Mr. Richards did not say how he came into possession of the rare pieces of early American currency. The bills were issued Feb. 7, 1837 and signed by J. Smith, cashier, and S. Rigdon, president. They are payable to Mr. G. Perkins or bearer. The bills differ radically from the notes printed by the numerous banks that sprung up throughout the country during that period. PICTURE OF BOY In the center of the 5 bill is a picture of a boy sitting on a log with an ax at his side and a dog at his feet. On either end of the front of the bill stands a boy with a spade on his shoulder. The picture on the 10 bill is of a boy lying in the shade of a shock of grain with a scythe at his feet and an old fashioned hay rake in the background. The bank was organized by Joseph Smith and his councilors at the end of the best year, economically and domestically, the Church had enjoyed in its early years. It represented another of the attempts by the LDS prophet and leader to provide all the necessities of life for his followers within the structure of the church. In November 1836, articles of agreement were drawn up and Elder Orson Hyde sent to the state capitol at Columbus to get legislative authorization for the bank. It was to be called the Kirtland Safety Society. The authorization was denied by the state legislature but the Church leaders went ahead with the venture under a Stock Industrial Co. (falling the bank the Kirtland Anti Banking Society. ENDED DISASTROUSLY The venture ended disastrously. While 1836 had been a good year for the LDS people, 1837 dawned over the Ohio and Missouri settlements with signs of tremendous reversals. In April 1837, shortly after Martin Van Buren became U. S. president, a financial crisis developed. It was the result of a reckless spirit of speculation that engulfed the entire nation fed the previous two years by excessive banking and expansion of paper currency. Many banks, which had their birth in state granted charters, issued paper currency in disregard of their own and nations need. Many of them failed. In New York alone, the banking failures resulted in more than 100,000,000 in losses within a few months. This spirit of speculation had taken root in the membership of the LDS Church. This, coupled with the rejection of the notes by eastern creditors and the efforts of non Mormons in Ohio to close the back, led to its quick demise. In March, 1837, Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon had been convicted by an Ohio county court of violating the state banking laws. They were accused of operating a bank without a charter. They contended they were not operating a bank and appealed the verdict. The appeal was never heard, however, because their people had started their exodus to Navoo before it came up. Creditors in New York, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland refused to accept the banks currency because of the lack of the charter. This placed many church members in a precarious position. The banks money was the only means many of them had of meeting their obligations. As a background to these setbacks, the speculations in land and other property in which some of the LDS had been indulging failed along with the rest of the country. As the Kirtland Safety Society started sinking below the waters of failure, some church leaders made frantic but futile efforts to save it. But the venture that started out with such promise in 1836, failed completely before its first anniversary. Its currency became worthless. A few people, persistent in the faith of the ultimate victory of the project, held onto their bills. At least two of the bills crossed the plains with the struggling pioneers, became lost in the growth of the pioneers land of inheritance only to regain their identity recently and return to rest in the vehicle of their birth a bank. (Editors Note Historical data in story was taken from Midleys Joseph Smith the Prophet; History of the Church, by Joseph Smith, and Comprehensive History of the Church, compiled by B. H. Roberts.)