Secretaries of General Board Y. M. M. I. A.

EDITOR'S TABLE. 313 bishop unless he is a high priest in the Melchizedek priesthood. (Doc. & Cov. section 106: 69, 71.) The office of elder is an appen- dage to the high priesthood in the same way that teachers and deacons are appendages to the Aaronic priesthood (Doc. & Cov. section 34: 30;) and as all other authorities or offices in the Church are appendages to the Melchizedek priesthood (Doc. & Cov. section 107: 5); or as the Aaronic priesthood as a whole is an appendage to the Melchizedek priesthood. (Doc. & Cov. section 107: 14.) SECRETARIES OF GENERAL BOARD Y. M. M. I. A. The Improvement Era begins the publication of portraits and sketches of the General Secretaries of the Y. M. M. I. A. in this number, by presenting a good likeness of Dr. Milton H. Hardy, to whom the cause of mutual improvement is greatly indebted for many good ideas, and many years of careful and conscientious labor. When the organizations were first effected, in 1875, there wag no thought of a general board. The persons chosen to organize the associations worked separately, and by consent Dr. Hardy acted as their secretary. It soon became apparent, however, that a general body was necessary to most effectively accomplish the best results; and, as a step towards the organization of a General Board, Dr. Hardy, who was among the organizers of our associations, was chosen Territorial Secretary. This was done at a conference held in Salt Lake City, on April 8, 1876. When the board (or central committee then called) was finally organized, on the eighth of December, 1876, Dr. Hardy was chosen as first assistant or counselor to Superintendent or President Junius F. Wells, with Rodney C. Badger as second assistant, Mathoni W. Pratt, treasurer; and John Nicholson, secretary, with Richard W. Young and George F. Gibbs, assistant secretaries. While Dr. Hardy can not, therefore, be called the first General Secretary of the Board, he deserves place in this series as first general or terri- torial Secretary of the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Associa- tions. Dr. Hardy has continued to work vigorously in the cause,