FW

The United Order under Brigham Young

The united order was done to help the saints pool their money by investing it. It was a co-operative order, everyone worked together. The saints would put their money in something like a sugar mill for example and then go to work on it. The other work that they were doing before for a living like farming was done by someone else. The labor that was done was decided by the priesthood leadership. They would assign someone to go work on your farm while you go work on your investment. This would help the saints become more self-sufficient which is what Brigham wanted. Instead of buying all of their goods from merchants Brigham wanted them to make their own lumber, wool, iron, led, and many other things. Brigham left it up to the communities to work on this. Orderville Utah was an example of the extreme end of this. Families were assigned to barracks, the whole community gathered together each morning and prayed and ate breakfast together. They did everything together; they were like a big family. Although this seemed pretty strange it was effective, Orderville lasted the longest. Most of the orders die after Brigham dies but Orderville lasted.