Editor’s Table: Greeting to the World; What About the Home?; Answers to Questions

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<iigression from this popular reception given by the president and his hostess, and to which all are invited, without distinction of class or color.

A Comparison. While the thoughts of people are turning in retrospect to the great material advancement of the Nineteenth century, one is

naturally led to ask in wonder what single power in the material world will contribute most to the advancement of the Twentieth century. Without doubt, steam has been the greatest agency in the general financial and material transformation of the world. It

has done much to destroy, if not annihilate, The easy space. means of transportation, as well as the improved methods, have made it the foremost servant of man. Will steam hold this distinguished place in the Twentieth century, or must it yield to a higher power? If so, what shall that power be? There can be no doubt that electricity is making an invasion into the domain over which steam held almost exclusive sway. Electricity is in its

infancy, but has some great problems to solve, and the question naturally arises, may we reasonably expect their solution? Cost lies at the foundation of some of the most important questions which electricity raises at the present time. It is known, for instance, that the energy required to produce the light of one of the incandescent electric lamps used in our homes, is largely wasted. Only one-twentieth part of the energy is given to light, while the other nineteen-twentieths are wasted in the form of heat. Where it is necessary to transform the energy of coal into the electric current, nine-tenths of the energy is wasted. This great waste is the problem waiting for solution. If it is accomplished, it means that our homes may be lighted at a merely nominal expense. There is another question that the curious are asking about electricity, and that is whether any electrical process can ever be devised to compel the ocean to give up the fabulous quantities of gold which the sea waters hold in solution. At present it costs more to get the gold from the ocean than the gold is worth when it is extracted. Should some discovery in electricity so cheapen

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the process of extracting the gold from the water as to make the method a paying one, the money question, so far as gold goes at least, is settled. The change, however, which would perhaps be of the farthestreaching consequence would be that of transportation. Will our railroad trains be driven, at the close of the next two decades, by steam power, as they are driven now, or will electricity supplant steam? Instead of having long trains at long intervals, will we have short trains, or even single cars, at short intervals? Will electricity become a marketable product? Will it be sold in our stores for domestic purposes? These are the questions which not only the curious but the thoughtful are asking respecting that marvelous power of electricity, of whose elements even, we are ignorant. Then there is wireless telegraphy. What can it be made to accomplish? If the use of electricity, as scientists tell us, is

merely in its infancy, the transformations in the material world during the next century may produce such changes that we shall hardly recognize the planet which we inherit and inhabit. Utah has enough energy in her mountain streams to furnish all the heat, light and power necessary for domestic and manufacturing purposes of all the state. Economic means of utilizing this energy is all that is needed. A simple invention perhaps may do it all for us. We may have that invention within a year; we may have to wait ten. We await with anxious impatience every announcement that comes from the electrical laboratories of the world.

EDITOR'S TABLE.

GREETING TO THE WORLD.

Among the many notable events which were witnessed on the day of the ushering in of the new year, none were more pleasing than the new century services held by the Latter-day Saints in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City. In the historic building were gathered from four to five thousand people. On the stand were many prominent officials of The Church. The decorations, music, and exercises were inspiring. The greeting to the world prepared by President Lorenzo Snow, and read by his son Le Roi C. Snow, was an important document, full of wise counsel to the rulers of the earth, and pregnant with wonderful testimony relating to the work of God in the last days. We feel that every reader of the Era will thank us for presenting it in form for handy preservation, and therefore take great pleasure in giving it place in these

pages:

GREETING TO THE WORLD, BY PRESIDENT LORENZO SNOW.

A new century dawns upon the world today. The hundred years just completed were the most momentous in the history of man upon this planet. It would be impossible in a hundred days to make even a brief summary of the notable events, the marvelous developments, the grand achievements and the beneficial inventions and discoveries, which mark the progress of the ten decades

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now left behind in the ceaseless march of humanity. The very mention of the nineteenth century suggests advancement, improvement, liberty and light. Happy are we to have lived amidst its wonders and shared in the riches of its treasures of intelligence. The lessons of the past century should have prepared us for the duties and glories of the opening era. It ought to be the age of peace, of greater progress, of the universal adoption of the golden rule. The barbarism of the past should be buried. War with its horrors should be but a memory.The aim of nations should be fraternity and mutual greatness. The welfare of humanity should be studied instead of the enrichment of a race or the extension of an empire. Awake, ye monarchs of the earth and rulers among nations, and gaze upon the scene on which the early rays of the rising Millennial day gild the morn of the twentieth century! The power is in your hands to pave the way for the coming King of Kings, whose dominion will be over all the earth. Disband your armies; turn your weapons of strife into implements of industry; take the yoke from the necks of the people; arbitrate your disputes; meet in royal congress, and plan for union instead of conquest, for the banishment of poverty, for the uplifting of the masses, and for the health, wealth, enlightenment and happiness of all tribes and peoples and nations. Then shall the twenti-

eth century be to you the glory of your lives and the lustre of your crowns, and posterity shall sing your praises, while the Eternal One shall place you on high among the mighty. Ye toiling millions who, in the sweat of your faces, earn your daily bread, look up and greet the power from above which shall lift you from bondage The day of your redemption draweth nigh. !

Cease to waste your wages in that which helps to keep you in want. Regard not wealth as your enemy and your employers as your oppressors. Seek for the union of capital and labor. Be provident when in prosperity. Do not become a prey to designing men who seek to stir up strife for their own selfish ends. Strive for your rights by lawful means, and desist from violence and destruction. Anarchism and lawlessness are your deadly foes. Dissipation and vice are chains that bind you to slavery. Freedom is coming for you, its light approaches as the century dawns. Men and women of wealth, use your riches to give employment

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to the laborer! Take the idle from the crowded centers of population and place them on the untilled areas that await the hand of industry. Unlock your vaults, unloose your purses, and embark in enterprises that will give work to the unemployed, and relieve the wretchedness that leads to the vice and crime which curse your great cities, and that poison the moral atmosphere around you. Make others happy, and you will be happy yourselves. As a servant of God, I bear witness to the revelation of his will in the nineteenth century. It came by his own voice from the

heavens, by the personal manifestation of his Son and by the ministration of holy angels. He commands all people everywhere to repent, to turn from their evi! ways and unrighteous desires, to be baptized for the remission of their sins, that they may receive the Holy Ghost and come into communion with him. He has commenced the'work of redemption spoken of by all the holy prophets, sages and seers of all the ages and all the races of mankind. He will assurely accomplish his work, and the twentieth century will mark its advancement towards the great consummation. Every unf oldment of the nineteenth century in science, in art, in mechanism, in music, in literature, in poetic fancy, in philosophical thought, was prompted by his Spirit which before long will be poured out upon all flesh that will receive it. He is the Father of •

us all and he desires to save and exalt us all. In the eighty-seventh year of my age on earth, I feel full of

earnest desire for the benefit of humanity. I wish all a happy New Year. I hope and look for grand events to occur in the twentieth century. At its auspicious dawn, I lift my hands and invoke the blessing of heaven upon the inhabitants of the earth. May the sunshine from above smile upon you. May the treasures of the ground and the fruits of the soil be brought forth freely

for your good. May the light of truth chase darkness from your righteousness increase and iniquity diminish as the souls. May years of the century roll on. May justice triumph and corruption honor prevail, be stamped out. And may virtue and chastity and be cleansed from until evil shall be overcome and the earth shall

wickedness. Let these sentiments, as the voice of the "Mormons" in the mountains of Utah, go forth to the whole world, and let all are for the blessing people know that our wish and our mission

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and salvation of the entire human race. May the twentieth century prove the happiest as it will be the grandest of all the ages of time, and may God be glorified in the victory that is coming over sin and sorrow and misery and death. Peace be unto you all

WHAT ABOUT THE HOME?

A sister in one of the southern settlements of Utah, writes the editors of the Era touching a subject of great interest to our readers. She declares that she is always praying and working for the enlightenment of the young men of Israel, and so we give room to her letter in full. While her mild criticism is not altogether correct, for theEra has paid some attention to home affairs, the publication of her letter may result in added interest

on subjects pertaining to this significant theme, which is another reason for making it public. Let the friends of the Era bear in mind that contributions on the subject suggested will always prove acceptable, for the mission of our magazine is to aid in the betterment and perfection of the youth of Zion, socially as well as religiously. It is also to

inspire them with the importance of possessing noble characters as children, parents, citizens and members of The Church, as wpII as to prepare them to be valiant and acceptable messengers to the nations of the true gospel of Jesus Christ, possessed and taught by the Latter-day Saints. Here is the letter: Dear Friends: — have been looking over the prospectus of I

the Era for the coming year, and in it I see the promise of many good things: viz., preparing young men for missionary work, etc.; but I find nothing on home-building, home government, home interest of any kind. What is the matter? Are our young men so well qualified

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for this great mission that nothing need be said about this great responsibility of marriage; of calling spirits into this world; of governing and controlling, training and providing for them? Is

this of no importance? Is it not of importance that a young man know his place as head of a family; the responsibilities and restrictions that the position imposes upon him? Is it not his place as head to know the rights and privileges of his wife, as his helpmeet, and the rights of his children? — or have they none? To my mind, too many young men are never led to think of the sacred government of home! To be the heads of families, to many, only implies that they have the right to do as they please the rest of the family have no rights. The influence of woman in the home has been the theme for ages. What about man's influence in the home? Have they no influence for good or bad? Such a thing cannot be. If, then, their

influence is either for good or bad, is it not time that the workers train them in improvement take hold of these young men and that their influence may be for good in the home they shall possess in Zion? If there is any mission on this earth greater than a

man's responsibility in his home, I do not know of it! If there is done any position a man is ever likely to hold for which so little is to prepare him, I do not know it! I tell you a woman's mission in

the home should not be compared to it. If a woman's influence in has neglected his the home has been more for good than his, he mission. an ignor- Think how a woman's hands are hampered, if she has best desires— her life's mission to help— to ant husband! All her every hand, because he does not make better— are thwarted at

recognize her right place in his family. How many lives—lives of because they did worthy people— have been spoiled and blighted toward each other in the government of not know their true relation their families. i,. 4. i.i. leadmg object the The Young Woman's Journal has for its worthy helps in home-mak- preparation of our young women to be men to be worthy leaders ing Let the Era prepare the young in its broadest sense, and its in the divine art of home-building, the highest praise from an mission will be a great one. worthy of