A favorite charge against the Prophet by enemies of the latter-day work has been that he was not honest in business. Naturally, he and the Church were in business. . . . In the normal course of business, money was occasionally borrowed by Church members or by the Church itself to meet immediate needs, . . . Such dealings were of the usual, acceptable kind, wherever men do business with one another. Joseph Smith, as the President of the Church, became of course, involved in all Church ventures, for which his signature was required. He also made purchases on his own account. . . . One hundred years of diligent search by anti-Mormon writers have brought to light so few business clashes among Joseph Smith and the people of his day, as to be embarrassing to those who charge the Prophet with financial irregularity. No reliable evidence of dishonesty has yet been uncovered. There is no evidence that he at anytime attempted to escape his financial obligations. Instead, the evidence is that he sought to meet every honest obligation. For example, after leaving Kirtland where his life was in jeopardy, he made a list of his creditors and the amount he owed each. That was the method of an honest man. There was no subterfuge. (F. M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History, p. 201.) Sooner or later, his honest debts were paid.