--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Tanner, J. M. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 4 number: 7 published: 1901-05 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'J. M. Tanner, "Some Leading Events in the Current Story of the World," *Improvement Era* 4, no. 7 (May 1901): 535–544.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0407unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera0407unse start_page: 535 end_page: 544 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1901-05) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0407unse publication_year: 1901 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1901, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Some Leading Events in the Current Story of the World SOME LEADING EVENTS IN THE CURRENT STORY OF THE WORLD. BY DR. J. M. TANNER. The Death of Ex-President Harrison. The death of ex-President Benjamin Harrison removes one of the foremost men who have been presidents in the United States. Mr. Harrison, who was born in North Bend, Ohio, August 20, 1833, was in direct line of an eminent ancestrv which dated back to the Revolutionary days. His great-grandfather was a signer of the Dec- laration of Independence, and his grandfather one of the presidents of the United States. Although Mr. Harrison had filled a long and eminent career before his election as president of the United States, he wa3 not popularly known throughout the country, and his nomina- tion was somewhat a surprise. He had served with distinction in the Civil war, been a member of Congress, and United States Senator, and was regarded as the leader of the Indiana bar. Mr. Harrison, however, served but one term, although nominated for a second. He defeated President Cleveland, and was in turn defeated by Mr. Cleveland. Mr. Harrison, however, was not at home in the public element of our country; and, although the federal office- holders in the United States were largely concerned in his nomina- tion, his lack of universal popularity, together with the indiffer- ence and opposition of certain leaders of his party, cost him the election when he ran for the second term. It is safe to say that the vast majority of the people of the United States had no knowledge of Mr. Harrison before his nom- ination. It was thought that his good fortune was the result of a compromise, and people quite generally entertained some mis- 536 IMPROVEMENT ERA. givings of his ability to fill the high and exalted station to which he had been elected. Puck, the leading comic cartoon- journal of the United States, was fond of representing him in his grandfath- er's hat,which was made to cover loosely both his head and face. As his Secretary of State, President Harrison chose Mr. James G. Blaine, a man generally thought to be the foremost of party leaders. known, however, that harmony between It soon became the President and the Secretary of State was not of the most satisfactory character, and that the President had a way of look- ing upon national and international questions that was quite his own. When, however, the President made his westward tour of the United States and delivered addresses to assembled citizens en route, it was discovered, much to the astonishment of thou- sands, that President Harrison was one of the most intellectual and forceful speakers this country had ever known. His addresses were all laden with the richest thought, and appropriate to all the various occasions under which he addressed his fellow-citizens. From that time on, no one could consistently doubt that the car- toonists were altogether wrong; and that, instead of his grand- father's hat being too large, it was decidedly too small for the grandson. After President Harrison's return to private life, he did not feel it incumbent upon him to become secluded from the rest of his fellow- citizens. He took up his profession where he left it off and he is in this respect, perhaps, the highest ideal of the theory upon which the free institutions in our country are based, espe- cially as they are represented in the election of the President. Mr. Harrison had always thought it becoming in him to discuss the leading topics of the times, and his discussions, printed in the North American Review, are entitled to the greatest consideration, as coming from one in a position to understand the diplomatic relations of our country in all their details. It is generally believed, however, that his opposition to what are popularly termed "imper- ialistic tendencies" does not line up perfectly with his policy in the advocacy of the annexation of Hawaii. It has been quite generally believed that Mr. Harrison, in his relations with men generally, was cold and unsympathetic. How- ever that may be, he was never a demagogue. While President CURRENT STORY OF THE WORLD. 537 of the United States, he was sometimes, by members of his own party, designated as the '4ce- wagon". In his associations, at our national capital, he belonged to what is popularly styled there "the Supreme Court circle." His mind always ran strongly in the direction of the law. He never lost a moment's interest in the great, chosen and beloved profession of his life. While the events of his administration were not sufficiently important to test the greatness of the man, there is no doubt that he possessed intel- lectual qualities that compare favorably with the foremost of American statesmen. William M* Evarts. This New England statesman, born in 1818, who recently died, calls to mind many of the most stirring events in the history of our federal government. His biographers tell us that he was a precocious child, although he did not rank first among the grad- uates of his class at Yale. There graduated with him Morrison T. Waite, a former chief justice of the United States, and Edward Pierrepont, a minister to England. These three classmen, who occupied a position below the three first- men of their class, never- theless became eminent, while their successful college competitors were never fortunate enough to receive the same distinguished consideration shown this remarkable trio. William M. Evarts was counsel for Andrew Johnson, in the celebrated impeachment trial, in 1868, and it is safe to say that Johnson's escape from an adverse decision by the Senate of the United States was due to the able efforts of his great attorney. Johnson, although guilty of conduct whose wisdom does not com- mend itself, was not guilty of "high crimes" for which presidents may be impeached. Political antagonism ran high, and there can be no doubt that much of the judicial character of this great trial was infused into the Senate by the efforts of Mr. Evarts. As a man of great national reputation, Mr. Evarts was selected to represent the United States in the noted Geneva trial of the Alabama claims. His great influence was here again shown j in the interest of peace, and in his ability to modify the war- like I tendencies which grew out of that celebrated arbitration. His lability was again recognized in the Hayes' contest, in which Mr. 538 IMPROVEMENT ERA. Evarts stoutly contended that Congress could not go beyond the returns, in the election of a president of the United States. As a reward for his services, President Hayes made him Secretary of State. became a United States Senator; and, In 1885, Mr. Evarts became a member of the after serving his term in that office, he great New York law firm known as Evarts, Choate and Beaman. In the death of Mr. Evarts, a great land mark in the growth and development of our constitutional history has been removed. It is not the record of an ex-president's death, but the death of a distinguished citizen, whose eminence entitles him to more con- sideration than quite a number who have filled the executive chair of oar nation. Russia and Manchuria* While the great powers have been solemnly at work laying away the dead bodies of the Chinese revolution, it is charged that Russia has been quietly and secretly at work removing one of the jewels of the corpse. Manchuria is one of China's richest prov- inces —a province, by the way, in which the United States is carry- ing on, perhaps, seven- eights of its foreign trade with China. It looked, at one time, as if England and Russia might appeal to the sword. Russia seized the railroad sidiDg at Tien Tsin, which the English claim, and from which the Russian soldiers were driven. Great excitement, at the time, prevailed, and the approach of war was very generally declared. Russia, however, has consented to withdraw all of her troops, except enough to preserve her property in Manchuria, and retain the order that has recently been estab- lished through the united action of the great powers. Of course, Russia will occupy Manchuria temporarily, just as England occu- pied Egypt; and France, Algiers. Russia can better afford to wait till England goes away, when she will be at liberty to press quietly, yet irresistibly, her claims upon Manchuria as a Russian province. The Tiniest Republic of AIL In February, of this year, England wished to establish an ex- tradition treaty with San Marino, the oldest government in the CURRENT STORY OF THE WORLD. 539 world. The negotiations following resulted in the first diplomatic relations that had ever existed between England and this wonder- ful state, and after considerable diplomacy, the treaty document was drawn and signed by the queen for England, and the two captains-regent, or dual-presidents for this smallest and oldest independent republic in the world. San Marino is described by a writer in a recent number of Cassell'sas being "the smallest and oldest state in the world, where there are no taxes, where foreign politics are not trouble- some, and there is no national debt." Situated in the heart of Italy, it has been peculiarly exposed to the desolating wars of the middle ages, and while the peninsula has been convulsed by political revolutions, and other states, absorbed by more powerful neighbors, have now become part of unified Italy, this tiny sovereign power has alone preserved its au- tonomy. It has been in existence fifteen centuries, and for a thousand years the government has been much the same as it is today. Founded in the fourth century by Saint Marinus, a poor mason who went to live as a hermit upon Mount Titanus, on the eastern spur of the Apannines, a Christian community quickly sprang up in that inaccessible fastness, and it has continued through all the ages an absolutely independent state perched eight thousand feet above the surrounding plains, a natural, impregnable fortress whereon its founder had inscribed the word "Libertas," which is its motto still today. The republic is governed by a council of sixty, twenty nobles twenty burgesses, and twenty rural land owners, elected for life. Too numerous to exercise the imperium, the council is obliged to delegate this power, and therefore elects two captains, termed captains-regent. These hold office for only six months, nor can they be re-elected before the expiration of three years. During the time of their regency the captains are relieved of every other charge, have full personal immunity, and, attired in their four- teenth-century costumes of black silk and velvet, take precedence on every occasion. The people have a share in the government, the government lying in their very midst. The Sanmarinesi must of necessity take an interest in their state, for every hearth fur- nishes its contribution. 540 IMPROVEMENT ERA. The state's independence was confirmed by the Pope in 1631, and several times since. The capital city of the same name has 1600 inhabitants, and the whole republic had 5,700 inhabitants in 1850; 7,816 in 1874, and has now about ten thousand. The area of the whole state is thirty-two square miles. The city was for- merly reached by a mule track, but some twenty-five years ago, a good carriage road was finished thereto. It is a quaint place, with narrow streets, gloomy houses of undressed stone, and having five churches, a law court, a theatre, a museum, and a library. Most people, if asked which is the smallest republic in Europe, would invariably reply, Switzerland, but the correct answer to such a question would be San Marino. Cuba. The last Congress, at its closing hours, by joint resolution, tied a string to free Cuba by asking the Cuban Constitutional Con- vention to recognize the United States in certain foreign questions relating to Cuba's future international diplomacy. Like co-opera- tions in England, Cuba has been asked to become a republic, lim- ited. The attitude of the United States toward Cuba is a subject on which there exists a great variety of opinions, based, however, for the most .part upon political differences. It may be safely said that the leading Republicans regret that Congress, when war was declared against Spain, by resolution, tied its hands in assum- ing that Cuba, without any reference whatever to the interest of the United States, was to receive, in case the Americans were vic- torious, its fullest liberty in dealing with her national affairs, both at home and abroad. Word comes from Havana, April 12, that the Cuban Constitutional Convention places itself upon record, on that day, against the Piattamendment by a vote of 18 to 10. That means that the amendment which the United States would place upon the Cuban Constitution has been rejected. The rumor comes that a Constitutional Committee will be appointed to wait upon the President of the United States in protest against the claims of this country upon her sister Republic, Cuba. Of course, the President will listen — just listen, that is all, and the committee will have nothing to hope for from the newly-elected Congress. CURRENT STORY OF THE WORLD. 541 The United States is in Cuba, and in control there; military officers control the situation, and the Cubans fully recognize that a strug- gle at arms against this country would be wholly futile. The Billion Dollar Steel Company. The most gigantic of all modern business combinations is the great steel company recently organized in New York. One company commanding a billion dollars capital is an organization so immense that it is impossible to say at this time what capital may not venture upon next. It is recognized as important largely from an economic point of view. The foreign trade with the United States in iron and her productions has grown largely within the last five years, and the great iron manufacturers of this country have little to fear from foreign competition in the United States. The necessity of a tariff as a protection to that industry has, in a large measure, ceased. It goes without saying that such a colossal consolidation of capital is potent both for good and evil. Its promoters disavow any intention of raising prices, and, indeed, they claim that such an organization is in the direct inter- est of the consumers. Undoubtedly the expense of manufacture may be decreased, and, what seems of more importance to this country generally, it is possible, by means of such an organization, to avert the occurrence of financial panics. The output of the mills can be regulated with reference to the amount needed to supply the demand, and the dangers of over-production may be minimized. European nations have already sounded the financial alarm against the iron industry, in the United States; an industry which is not only felt in Europe, but in the markets of the orient where the Europeans have been wont to carry their wares. Charles M. Schwab is the president of this enormous consoli- dation, and statements of his fabulous salary have been given out. By one paper it was said that his salary was to be $800,000 per year. That amount might have been rounded out by a clear mil- is giving away lion. It is hardly likely, however, that the company its secrets, and the president's salary is evidently one of them. Schwab is a man who has worked his way to the front, and is at of the once a unique and instructive character, and as an example 542 IMPROVEMENT ERA. possibilities in America of individual industry, pluck and persever- ance, his career reads like a fairy tale. Carnegie's Gift. Mr. Andrew Carnegie, the great iron magnate, has been re- cently teaching the millionaires of this country a lesson on how to dispose of their fortunes. He donated five million two hundred thousand dollars for sixty- five branch libraries, in the city of New York. This will be the greatest city library system in the world, and New York, hereafter, will be compelled to set the lead which Washington and Boston have taken in the matter of public libraries. At the same time, five million dollars was given to Pittsburg; four million dollars of that, as a fund for the old and disabled em- ployees of the Carnegie Iron Works. This makes twelve million given to Pittsburg alone, and it is stated that the total gifts of Mr. Carnegie have now reached thirty millions. There can be no doubt that Mr. Carnegie's example will have a very great influence upon the action of other millionaires, in the distribution of their wealth. It ought to have some local importance. While in the "Mormon" Church there are few wealthy men, who approach the title of millionaires, there are yet a considerable number who might be helpful to the educational institutions of The Church by the establishment of libraries, buildings, laboratories, and other equipments, helpful to the educational institutions of The Church and to the youth of her people. It is to be hoped that the day is not far distant when men in our own state, who are possessed of considerable means, will feel the necessity of aiding our Church educational institutions by generous appropriations, that are now greatly needed for our libraries, laboratories and other equipments for modern educational work. When once the wisdom as well as the value of such contributions come to be more generally felt, every man who possibly can, will doubtless feel prompted to contribute to these institutions which are so closely associated with the home and its mission. These small contributions of the many could be made to accomplish the same excellent results as the large contributions of the few. Agfuinaldo Captured. Aguinaldo, the famous leader in the Philippine insurrection, CURRENT STORY OF THE WORLD. 548 recently fell into a trap laid by men of his own country and that heroic volunteer of Kansas, Captain Funston. Aguinaldo had sent certain trusted leaders from his place of seclusion to southern Luzon to have certain Philippine insurrectionists in that part of the island join him in his retreat. His trusted comrades betrayed him into the hands of the Americans, who, under the pretense that they had been captured by the Filipinos, made their way into the Pro- vince of Isabella, where Aguinaldo was thought to be out of reach. The province in which the Filipino leader was apprehended is two hundred miles northeast of Manila, and about seventy-five miles north of Baler, where Captain Gilmore was captured in the early part of the war. The seventy-five miles had to be traversed from Baler through mountains, over almost impassable highways, and under considerable hardships. The plot was carried out success- fully, and the news that Aguinaldo was captured and brought to Manila, created something of a sensational delight throughout the United States. It is said that this Filipino leader has sworn alle- giance to this country, and is about to issue a manifesto urging his followers to lay down their arms and yield to the inevitable by accepting such generous treatment as the United States may feel disposed to bestow upon the people of these islands. Grave doubts have been expressed by many eminent and con- servative people of this country respecting the propriety and justice of the method adopted in the capture of the Filipino leader. As a rule, methods of warfare forbid, in contending with an enemy, the adoption of the enemy's uniform, as was done when Funston's officers, organized under the authority of the United States, put on the uniform of the natives. The objections are met by the forcible argument that Aguinaldo and his followers were not entitled to recognition as an independent contending power, but that they occupied the position of insurrectionists, whose subor- dination was wholly in the interest of life and order. It is claimed that the matter should be treated as a sort of police regulation for the detection of criminals. It is safe to say, however, that the present enthusiasm and sensation over Aguinaldo's capture will give way to discussion of the methods adopted in his apprehension. All, however, must feel that the probability of peace and quiet in the islands is a consummation devoutly to be wished for, and many 544 IMPROVEMENT ERA. will be satisfied that war in these islands is approaching its end, without worrying themselves over the old philosophy that the end justifies the means.