--- 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: 5 number: 7 published: 1902-05 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* 5, no. 7 (May 1902): 545–548.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0507unse 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: improvementera0507unse start_page: 545 end_page: 548 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1902-05) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0507unse publication_year: 1902 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 1902, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Some Leading Events in the Current Story of the World WHAT ADDRESS WILL IT BE? BY ELDER J. H. WARD. A group of telegraph messenger boys, dressed in their neat uniforms, were standing, one morning lately, in the corridor of the telegraph office, ready for service, and engaged in conversa- tion in an undertone, with each other, as they were not permitted to speak loudly or act boisterously in the building.Just then the telegraph manager stepped into the corridor and called in a firm voice, "Number eight, this way!" The boy whose cap bore that num- ber obeyed the summons cheerfully, and with a rerpectful bow took the telegraphic dispatch in hand, as the manager said, "Peter Lick, you will have need to use your eyes and best judgment to find the residence of the man to whom this telegram is sent." The busi- ness of a messenger boy is not always pleasant; and this time the message was to be delivered in one of the least pleasing parts of the city. Even when the required street was reached, it was no easy task to find the residences of some of the inhabitants. Poor Peter, he was obliged to wander through dark alleys into underground cellars and up rickety stairways, still enquiring, but without success, for the name of the person to whom the dispatch was sent. At length, he rapped at the door of an old dwelling in the rear of a business house, and a feeble voice answered from within, "Who is there?" The boy replied, "I have a telegraphic dispatch for John Ridman; can you tell me where he lives?" The door was opened by a feeble old woman, and she called a young woman in a neighboring room. After talking together a few moments, they replied, "There was a man named John Ridman who lived just across the alley; he died about a year ago." So the boy wrote on 544 IMPROVEMENT ERA. the envelope, "Person addressed died about a year ago; left no address." Peter Lick quickly returned to the telegraph office, and handed the manager the envelope on which these words had been written. The manager's kind and expressive eyes met those of the boy, as he replied, "So the man has died, and has left no means by which we may find his address." These words were plain and simple enough, but the penetrating glance of his eyes set the boy thinking as he had never thought before on the sub- ject. The next day the manager again spoke to him and said: "Peter, when we die, do you think we shall be able to leave any token behind us as to what our future address will be?" The boy at first did not understand him. "What!" thought Peter, "Is the next state of existence so nearly like this that we will have different addresses? Will there be different streets in the heavenly city? and different numbers on the dwellings? Will some parts of the city be more beautiful than others? Will some dwellings be only mediocre while others will be grand and beauti- ful? Will the dwellings there correspond to the character of the inmates?" These thoughts passed many times through the mind of Peter during the week. On the next Sunday, while in the Sunday school, he read a portion of the Gospel according to St. John. He came at length to these words, which St. John records as spoken by the Savior, "In my Father's house are many man- sions; I go to prepare a place for you." On the next Monday, when Peter met the manager, he said to him, "Mr. I think I , understand your question now." SOME LEADING EVENTS IN THE CURRENT STORY OF THE WORLD. BY DR. J, M. TANNER, SUPERINTENDENT OF CHURCH SCHOOLS. Cecil Rhodes. The recent death of Cecil Rhodes in South Africa removes one of the most picturesque figures of the British Empire.Rhodes was the son of an English clergyman, and was forty-nine years old, at his death. When a boy, at Oxford, he broke down in health and went to South Africa whose genial climate restored him to a certain measure of robust- ness. ' His ambition to obtain an education carried him back again dur- ing the warmer months to Oxford; and, little by little, he completed his work which entitled him to a degree from that celebrated university. Rhodes was quick to perceive the great future possibilities of his new home, and he soon began his enterprises at Kimberley, where, in those wonderful diamond mines, he was able to amass a large fortune. He was a man of comprehensive view and statesmanlike qualities, and soon became an important factor in the political life of South Africa. Early in life, he conceived the idea that Africa, or at any rate its most valuable sections, should become a part of the vast British Empire. Just north of the country in which the Boers lived, there was a vast strip of land, an empire in itself, known as Mashonaland and Matabeleland. In order to secure control of that vast country, he obtained from England a charter for what is known as the British South African Company, and here he began his great scheme of colonization. Between his empire on the north, which came to be known as Rhodesia, and Cape Colony on the south, there were two independent republics; one, the Orange Free State, and the other, the Transvaal, both under the control of the Dutch Boers. He conceived and encouraged the idea that the whole country, from the Cape in the south to Rhodesia in the north, should be united into one great province. The occupation by the Boers of the two small republics offered difficulties in the way of his great schemes to colonize and devel- op South Africa. However, he began. a policy of reconciliation with the Boers of South Africa, and in time became Prime Minister of Cape Colony, 546 IMPROVEMENT ERA. a position which he could occupy through Boer favor only. As long as the Dutch of these two republics were isolated, their position was not so ob- jectionable, but after the opening of the great Johannesburg or Rand mines, the Dutch government was a constant hindrance and annoyance, and sometimes an exasperation to men of Mr. Rhodes' ambition and com- mercial activity. His efforts to crowd the Dutch, and his insistence upon certain concessions upon their part, made him very unpopular with the two republics. He had placed Dr. Jameson in charge of the police forces of Rhodesia, where Dr. Jameson had under his command something like five hundred men. It was in 1896 when Jameson was in charge of the con- stabulary, organized chiefly through the instrumentality of Mr. Rhodes, that the idea was conceived of upsetting the Transvaal government, and plans were laid to make a raid on the Transvaal and uniting with the citizens of Johannesburg to overthrow the Dutch republic. The under- taking resulted in a rash failure, and instead of upsetting the Transvaal government, Jameson, in the words of Mr. Rhodes himself, upset the latter's apple-cart. This was an international offense which the Eng- glish government condoned as best it possibly could, because Mr. Jame- son and Mr. Rhodes were both playing their game as they understood it, in favor of Great Britain. From 1896 on, difficulties between the Eng- lish and the Boers increased; and, finally, in 1899, resulted in the war which has raged for nearly three years. In the midst of armed contest, Mr. Rhodes was apparently pushed to one side by the' home government which may or may not have been jealous of his influence in South Africa. For the last two or three years, Mr. Rhodes has been compelled to fore- go the execution of some of his great plans, in consequence of the war. Among the most notable of his great propositions is the Cape to Cairo railroad, which it was Mr. Rhodes' determined purpose to bring about. It will be interesting to note the diversity of views that are sure to ex- ist in the commentaries. upon the life and character of Cecil Rhodes. That in some respects he was an unscrupulous man,writers,perhaps, must gen- erally admit. At the same time he was a man of progressive spirit, of great enterprise, and of broad views. He had certain great elements of a statesman in him; and, had he lived, there were those who believed that some day he would be the Prime Minister of England. One of his ideals was embodied in his efforts to promote something of a world-em- pire, and thereby unite the great Anglo-Saxon race, found in England, America, South Africa and Australia. He believed that England was the most glorious nation in the world, and was the great leader of modern thought. His ideas about the amalgamation of the Anglo-Saxon races are embodied in his will, some parts of which have been made public.