[J. Reuben Clark]
The ZCMI men came here with a very large rug for the Office of the First Presidency, to be laid immediately. ... Herrick told me that there were two more coming, one for the big directors room and one for the Quorum of the Twelve upstairs. I inquired who had ordered them and he did not know. ... Meanwhile there had come to me some suggestion that Sister [Emily] Stewart [daughter of George Albert Smith] had ordered them and I said that there was some report that Sister Stewart had been ordering them. He said that he had not given Emily any authority to order rugs.
... After the Council on the Distribution of the Tithes had ended, I called Harold again and he gave me the following statements: That Mrs. Stewart had come over there and talked with their man about ordering these rugs. ... I told President [George Albert] Smith that the price of this rug was $12,000; that another rug had been spoken of, which was not here, which would be $12,000; there was a small rug for the second floor entrance hall which was $2,675.00 and that there was still another large one here at $7,000. I told President Smith that in my judgment we had no right to spend the tithing of the people for these expensive rugs and furnishing of these officers. He commented that the oriental rugs lasted a long time and told of his family experience in that connection. I said, yes, oriental rugs got old in time and people wanted to change and I suggested that if they wanted a new covering for that floor we should get a good carpet for the room and put it down. ...
[Source: The Diaries of J. Reuben Clark, 1933-1961, Abridged, Digital Edition, Salt Lake City, Utah 2015]
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