--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - J. M. Tanner collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 4 number: 12 published: 1901-10 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. 12 (October 1901): 922–930.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0412unse 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: improvementera0412unse start_page: 922 end_page: 930 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1901-10) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0412unse 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, GENERAL SUPERINTENDENT OF CHURCH SCHOOLS. Assassination of President McKinley. On Friday, September 6, the whole world was startled and horrifiedby the announcement that an anarchist named Leon Czolgosz had made an attempt upon the life of President McKinley. For some months, rumor had gained ground that there was a con- spiracy among the anarchists of this country against our Presi- dent, and this rumor was so strongly accredited that precautions were taken to protect his life by the aid of detectives. These precautions, however, were very adroitly evaded by a cunningly arranged device on the part of the assassin —no doubt aided by his confreres —by which the weapon used in the murderous assault was carefully concealed. At the time the assault was made, the President was holding a reception at the Temple of Music, in the Pan-American Exposi- tion at Buffalo. As is customary on such occasions, thousands were crowding about the person of the President, in order that they might shake hands with him. As Czolgosz approached our chief magistrate, it is said that he extended his left hand to the President, his right hand, and the revolver which it contained, being concealed by a handkerchief which covered them. The President was in the attitude of reaching out his hand to shake the left band of the man, to whom, it is said, he cast a sympa- CURRENT STORY OF THE WORLD. 923 thetic look as though he were greeting one in misfortune. At that moment, the right hand was extended, and two shots fired at close range into the body of the President. One of the bullets was turned aside by the breast-bone, and the other passed into the body, about four inches below the heart, and about the same dis- tance from the navel. This bullet took a range through the cavity of the stomach, and is supposed to have lodged somewhere in the muscles of the back. No sooner were these shots fired than detectives seized the assassin and threw him to the floor. It is quite likely that the instant action of these detectives served to prevent a third ball from entering the President's body. The revolver, it appears, was of a small size, doubtless so that the assassin might conceal it, and yet thought sufficient to carry out the dastardly act. Skilful surgeons were at hand, an operation was immediately performed, that the danger of blood-poisoning might be prevented. Some days elapsed during which the public was permitted, through the apparently favorable condition of the President, to indulge the strongest hopes of his recovery. Czolgosz, from reports, simply says that he is an anarchist; that he has done his duty; that the act was the result of a plot, and that he was not alone in the horrible affair. One of the most pronounced results, perhaps, in the universal feeling of the people of this country, is the intense opposition expressed toward anarchy and anarchists. It was a cruel shock to the kindly sentiment everywhere felt for President McKinley, and nowhere, it is safe to say, has the grief been stronger or more pronounced than in Utah. It is horrifying to think that such an awful doctrine as that inculcated and promulgated by anarchists could find, anywhere, and especially in this free country, lodgment in the human heart. The most charitable view that can possibly be taken is to regard such doctrine and such conduct as a species of insanity, but the method in such madness removes every sentiment of tolerance. To devise means of eradicating the dangerous and intolerable pro- paganda of anarchism, will, no doubt, occupy the minds of the most thoughtful and patriotic citizens engaged in the making and enforcing of laws, in both our national and state governments. after the In the early morning hours of the 13fcb, seven days 924 IMPROVEMENT ERA. fatal shot had been delivered, it was seen that the President's heart had been affected and was growing weak, and the hope that this and other nations had entertained for the President's recovery were to end in bitter disappointment. The great man grew grad- ually worse, and died on Saturday, 14th, at 2:15 a. m. BIOGRAPHICAL. William McKinley was born at Niles, Ohio, January 23, 1843. When he was nine years old, upon the insistence of his mother, the family removed to a small town called Poland, that her chil- dren might enjoy the opportunities of an education there, since it was the seat of learning for that part of the state. After gradu- ating from the seminary at Poland, her son William sought a higher education in Alleghany college, Pennsylvania. Lack of means prevented him from carrying on the pursuits of higher education, and in 1861, when he was but eighteen years of age, he enlisted in the Federal army, where he served his country in a distinguished manner until the close of the war. He advanced from station to station in army life by his meritorious conduct, until he was brevetted major by President Lincoln, in 1865, for gal- lantry. On his return to Poland, he entered upon the study of law, and after three years entered the profession in 1867, but removed from Poland to Canton, the business center of that sec- tion of country. He felt, as most ambitious lawyers feel struggliDg for clientage that the office of county attorney would be most helpful. His determination to try his hand in the fortune of politics was begun when, in 1869, he ran for county attorney in Stark county, Ohio. This was the beginning of his political career. After building up a respectable practice, he ran for Congress, where he served his state from 1876 to 1890. He was subse- quently (1891-1893) twice elected Governor of Ohio, and finally became President of the United States in 1897. He married Ida Saxton, in 1871, and they had two daughters both of whom died in early childhood. It is doubtful whether this country ever had a President more universally loved. His amiable ways made him personally attractive even to his strongest political opponents. His kindly disposition, his earnest and sincere manner of dealing with his fellow-man, entitled him to universal respect. The gloom CURRENT STORY OF THE WORLD. 925 that his assassination cast over the country attests the personal esteem in which he was held, as well as the sorrow which is felt because of the manner of his taking from the exalted position which he held. The bulletin issued by the physicians in charge of the autopsy informs the public that he died from the effects of gangrene, the first steps of mortification. It is believed by some that the bullets used were poisoned. Thursday the 19th was set apart and observed as a day of mourning. The whole nation bows its head in sorrow, and with deep emotion calls upon God to witness its grief. May the peo- ple be spared from a repetition of an offense so heinous and so destructive to the liberties of the people. The Steel Strike. The great steel strike, which had its beginning on the 15th of July this year, is developing some very interesting features in labor organizations, and illustrates the tendency of power towards tyranny. For many years, labor organizations have been carrying on periodical struggles with capital in the demand for recognition by capital in the increase of wages and the shortening of the hours. These contests have resulted in the formation of powerful organizations among the laborers, and have accomplished great good in miligating the hardships of the laboring man, and in promoting his material welfare. No one questions the advan- tages derived from these associations, and they are entitled to the fullest recognition for the great good they have accomplished. However, along with this good, certain conditions that portend evil have arisen, and it is not unlikely that there may be a con- siderable division in the ranks of the laboring man as to the rights of labor associations to dictate and prescribe forms that shall bind all laborers alike, especially skilled labor, no matter what may be the difference in capacity of the individual man. The great strike that is now on in the United States is a strike of skilled labor in its demands to fix the schedule of prices and hours of men who are not members of the union, but who are at work in what are commonly called non-union mills owned by the great steel trust. The case, as made out in the public prints of 926 IMPROVEMENT ERA. this country, seems to go against the labor union, whose grievance is the advantages which it is believed non-union men in non-union mills have over union men in union mills. This amalgamated association of skilled workers, it is said, would bring to a dead level, by the rules of the organization, every grade of artisan in the non-union mills. Superior artisans there enjoy superior advantages, and unskilled men are trenching, it is claimed, upon the ground of the tradesman. This contention has brought out some very interesting discoveries in relation to the conditions of labor organizations in England and in this country. In Great Britain, it is contended that labor unions are so powerful that they are destroying the individual genius and advanced skill by bring- ing every man who has a trade, in matters of recognition and compensation, to the dead level of every other man. Political economists contend that the labor unions of England among skilled workers removes all opportunity for individual advance- ment, by taking away individual reward and preference. On the other hand, in the United States, great liberty has been given to individual genius, and men enjoy the reward in compensation and rank according to their merit. Here in non-union mills, cer- tain men are permitted to advance beyond the given standard; here a man may still start with the dinner-pail and end with the mill — a highway to advancement along which fewer and fewer men in England today are permitted to travel. One of the unfor- tunate results of these powerful organizations is the prevention which they offer to the advancement of the unskilled laborer. It is a number of part of the rules of these bodies to restrict the apprentices, and prevent common laborers in the mills from learning the trade. The following rule is taken from article 17, section 19, of the amalgamated association that is now carrying on the strike against organized capital: — "Should any member of this association undertake to instruct an unskilled workman in any of the trades represented by this association, it shall be the duty of the mill committee to notify him that this association cannot tolerate such proceedings." These skilled laborers, recog- nizing the power which their association wields, are scarcely more charitable towards their more unfortunate brethren, the unskilled laborers, than capital has been towards labor organizations. The CURRENT STORY OF THE WORLD. 927 unskilled laborers now stand idly by, suffering the losses that must come from such a gigantic contest, and await the out- come without hope of any remuneration or advantage whatever. It is said that duriDg this strike there are something like seventy thousand idle men, not one third of whom belong to the amalga- mated association which ordered the strike. From these facts, it is clear that, sooner or later, there must be a struggle between unionism and non-unionism, and we shall have three great inter- ests marked and widely separated. We shall have capital, and or- ganizations of skilled, and unskilled laborers. The present strike has brought to light the fact that in non-union mills, where labor organizations do not control, the best machinery is placed, and these inventions which have substituted machinery for men enabled unskilled men to do the work, with the aid of the new machinery, that before was performed by skilled labor. This substitution of machinery for men is constantly shifting the con- ditions of the laboring man, who is constantly compelled to adapt himself to new habits and new occupations. This re-adaptation to changed conditions is extremely difficult for men who have reached the age of forty-five or fifty; and as a consequence, men of that class are faring worst. In most of the prolonged struggles, the strikers have gone down. In the present case, the great trust had given all that was asked in matters of compensa- tion, and the hours that should constitute a day's work. What the trust is contending for is its right to make individual con- tracts in non-union mills, with the concession that the strikers may organize union lodges in any and all of the non-union mills. One of the most unfortunate results of the present strike has been the violation of their contracts by men in the non-union mills. These men had just signed the schedule, and entered into agreements for the coming year; and, in a number of instances, these contracts have been violated by the direct interference of the amalgamated association. It is the violation of these con- tracts that has alienated so largely the sympathy of the people throughout the country from the strikers. Word comes as this article goes to press that the strikers have yielded. Whether they received any concessions is not known. There has perhaps never been a labor strike in which 928 IMPROVEMENT ERA. strikers received so little of public sympathy as those received who have been engaged in the present contest. Turkey's Troubles, Recently the French embassador at Constantinople, Mr. Con- stans, served notice upon the sultan of Turkey that France had decided to break off all diplomatic relations with the Ottoman empire and recall its embassador. This announcement had some- thing of the tone of war, and the world wondered what had happened. Such summary procedure had every indication of in- ternational complications of the most serious kind. Newspapers wrote of French ambition to possess Constantinople, and people generally wondered what could have happened so suddenly to bring on such a war-like attitude. The trouble was mostly over quays built on either side of the Golden Horn for the purpose of facili- tating travel between the two parts of Constantinople, namely, Pera and Stamboul. The sultan had granted to a French com- pany certain franchises by which ferries and street railroads could be run. After something like seven million dollars had been ex- pended, and the company began to enjoy the fruits of its franchise, the sultan informed the company that he had concluded to take the concessions back, and pay for them. The company asked for their investment, ten million dollars, whereupon the sultan nomi- nated a commission to negotiate the purchase. That was the be- ginning of a Turkish policy of procrastination, best expressed in the words of the song, "It may be for years, and it may be for- ever," —more The French urged an early adjust- likely forever. ment. And the sultan made promises. These promises were not kept, and France no doubt concluded that she would adopt the American policy of vigorous diplomatic pressure and menace. The sultan begged for time, and promised to negotiate a loan at once for eight million dollars, but his credit is so bad that he could not raise the amount, and rather than permit the rupture between his country and France, finally concluded to grant the French com- pany the right to resume the operation of the quays. So, har- mony once more reigns between France and Turkey. It was not Constantinople that the French were after, but CURRENT STORY OF THE WORLD. 929 quays on the Golden Horn. Along with the demand for the pay for these quays, France was urging the payment of about nine million dollars expended by her citizens for the construction of railroads in the Turkish empire. Oriental countries like Turkey make good picking for specu- lators; especially when the latter have their mother country to enforce their demands. The poor Turk has been shamefully rob- bed in the past. Big wages, salaries, interest and other profits are placed beyond all reason. Of recent years, foreign experts, chiefly German, have protected the Turkish government by detect- ing the secrets of the speculative games, and revealing them to the sultan. The Turk is never a skilful and judicious man of affairs. The New Japan. Perhaps in no country in the world has there been made the same relative improvement and general advancement in commerce and civilization as in Japan. The transformation within the last generation has been of the most marvelous character. Some sta- tistics have recently been published which are perhaps the best in- dication of the manner in which that country is taking its place among the leading nations of the earth. The recent census shows the population to be forty-four million. This is an increase, dur- ing the decade, of something like fifteen per cent, while the per- centage of increase in the population of the United States was hardly twenty-one per cent. Fifteen per cent may be considered high, in view of the fact that the population of Japan is not in- creased by immigration. What seems to be of more interest than the increase in population, in that country, is the increase in its productive growth. Statistics, covering the fourteen years from 1884 to 1898, show an increase in manufacturing companies from four hundred in 1884, to two thousand in 1898. In 1884, the amount invested in the manufacturing companies of that country amounted to five million yen (a yen is equal to eighty cents of our money); in 1898, the capital invested amounted to two hundred and twenty-two million yen. During the same time, there was an increase in commercial companies from six hundred and fifty to over four thousand, and the capital of these companies was in- 930 IMPROVEMENT ERA. creased from about nine million to three 'hundred million yen. Along with the enormous increase in manufacturing, there has come an equally pronounced change in transportation. In 1884, there were two hundred transportation companies in the empire, and in 1898, they numbered more than five hundred and thirty; and the capital of these companies increased from seven million to two hundred million yen. Perhaps the most notable changes, though less apparent, are those that have taken place in the gen- eral education of the people. The Japanese seem to have de- veloped a wonderful ambition for education, and this ambition has run throughout all ranks. It is said that in the universities of Japan today, children and sons of the common people outnumber the aristocracy and the rich. This intellectual regeneration is emphasized by the important fact that the newspapers and maga- zines have increased something like eight fold. The country is drifting more and more toward the idea of democratic equality, and the franchise is becoming more general. At present, there is something like one million voters, but there is a growing dispo- sition to increase this number by reducing the amount required in the property qualification. Christian missions have been established on the islands, and strenuous efforts have been made by both Protestant and Catholic, there being both Greek and Roman Catholics in the field. The in- troduction also of the true Gospel of Jesus Christ by Apostle Heber J. Grant and associates, who arrived in the country August 29, is a familiar fact to our readers. The number of Christians is estimated at one hundred and twenty thousand, forty thousand being Protestants and the balance Greek and Roman Catholics. It is said that some of the principal newspapers are controlled by converted Christians, and that three per cent of the army officers profess a belief in Christ.With the improvement in the schools, the general dissemination of knowledge by means of the press, and the rapid growth and material civilization of the country, Japan stands today the first nation of the world in the rapidity of the process by which it has been evolved from a semi-civilized condition to its present comparatively high standard.