A Short and Timely Lesson about Reed Smoot

Reed Smoot (right) in 1929

If you've never heard of Reed Smoot before, y'all are about to see his name quite a bit.

He was an apostle.

He also formed a crucial piece of legislation with tariffs that pushed the U.S. economy deeper into the Great Depression.

This isn't the Church History you'll hear mentioned at church, but that's all the more reason you need to understand some lessons from it.

Being an apostle will not stop anyone from making terrible decisions. Reed Smoot was an apostle when he tanked the U.S. economy as a senator from Utah.

An apostle is qualified uniquely to testify of Jesus Christ. This doesn't make him qualified to divine insight into much else, especially not as it relates to money. In fact, following apostles over the cliff in how they use their money is a mistake that many Church members have made throughout history. Do not ever assume that a person's position in the Church means you can accept their financial advice uncritically.

No one ever thinks it's going to be the person they trust to crash the economy and lose all of their money, until it happens to them.

Kirtland Safety Society? Anyone?

 

Tariffs are one of the last sign posts you pass on your way to economic devastation that no one argues about calling a Depression.

The fact that the last time the United States made this mistake with tariffs was at the behest of a sitting apostle is one I don't think our people have sufficiently internalized as fact.