--- 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: 6 number: 11 published: 1903-09 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* 6, no. 11 (September 1903): 851–856.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0611unse 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: improvementera0611unse start_page: 851 end_page: 856 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1903-09) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0611unse publication_year: 1903 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 1903, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Some Leading Events in the Current Story of the World TALKS TO YOUNG MEN. 849 faith. His life, indeed, taught that by patience and self-control, the truly heroic character is perfected. For power never is good, unless he is good who possesses it. Therefore, if power be good, it is the good of the man, not of the pow- er. Hence it is that no man by his authority comes to virtue and to merit; but by his virtues, and by his merit, he comes to authority and power.—Alfred the Great. Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it. —Proverbs. Jesus was as gentle as he was parent. It is not difficult to be gentle if you are weak, powerless, without command of help, or if you have no backing but your own puny efforts, no money, no influence. But where all these and more are in your posses- sion, and you can yet be gentle, you possess character. Jesus possessed all power, yet he was the personification of gentleness, and in the midst of his triumphant enemies could yet rebuke his impatient followers with, "Know ye not that I my could ask Father, and he could straightway give me ten legions of angels to fight my battles?" Do you see the value of this example? Power in check, held back! Think of it 'when you would injure the weak, rob the poor, muzzle the workman, or stem the tide of any com- panion's success. For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if ye Jorgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive yours. —Matt. 6: 14, 15. Jesus was forgiving. If you wish to know the full meaning of that, picture him on the cross ; which was about the only time that he ever remembered that men persecuted him, and then it was to lift up his voice to exclaim: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." He was never angry with one who had wronged him, nor spoke a reproachful word to those who mis- understood his motives. He was master of intellect, and power, and passion. And so we might continue through the catalogue of all the virtues that go to make up a noble character, reverence, self- — 850 IMPROVEMENT ERA. discipline, duty, courage, integrity, generosity, fortitude, intellec- tual and moral strength, self-control, honesty, truthfulness, cheer- fulness, benevolence, kindness, courtesy, politeness, self-restraint, and a thousand others, —and yet in Christ we should find them all. Therefore in his life, which it is our duty to emulate, we have an example of true character. His spirit is the foundation of char- acter; this we must seek to obtain. "Character esteems duty above reputation, and the approval of conscience more than the praise of the world." But the best character cannot be formed without strong effort on the part of each individual. The idea that we are what we are and cannot change, is false. We can improve; we can make ourselves better by severe self-discipline, by work, by watchful care. Smiles declares that "character is formed by a variety of minute circum- stances, more or less under the regulation of the individual," and the expression is true. The spirit of Christ is obtained by under- going the discipline which he underwent, as far as it is possible for man to do this. All things point to the fact that we can largely build our own characters. That it is one of the most important things that can occupy our minds, is equally a fact. Character, once formed, good or bad, is the house we dwell in — one day the Master will approach us individually, and present us with the house of our building, saying, "Take it, it is yours forever." Hence the importance of building honestly and well; the structure is your own forever. A MORAL WRONG. "He who checks a child with terror, Stops its play and stills its song, Not alone commits an error, But a grievous moral wrong." SOME LEADING EVENTS IN THE CURRENT STORY OF THE WORLD. BY DR. J. M. TANNER, SUPERINTENDENT OF CHURCH SCHOOLS. The Election of a New Pope. In the Roman Catholic church the election of a new Pope is a solemn, ceremonious, and stately procedure. Nine days are allowed to elapse for the observance of the obsequies of the dead Pope and for the assembling of the Cardinals who may live some distanceaway from Rome. The election is effected by what is called the Sacred College which consists of seventy Cardinals of three different orders; the Cardinal bishop, the Cardinal priest, and the Cardinal deacon. These Cardinals meet in conclave and prepare to cast their votes for a new Pope. In whatever city the Pope dies, there the conclave must hold its session. In the large hall of the Vatican, the official residence of the Pope, the room is so divided by partitions as to furnish apart- ments to each Cardinal. The bishop Cardinals each get three rooms; the other two orders, two rooms each. The rooms that are occupied by the Cardinals created by the last Pope are draped in purple, the rooms of all the other Cardinals are draped in green.Here in these rooms prepared for the conclave the Cardinals remain in seclusion until they have elected a new Pope. On the first day of the conclave the rooms however are open and personal friends, ambassadors, and delegates from foreign states have the privilege of visiting the Cardinals in their private apartments. After the first day no one is permitted to be 852 IMPROVEMENT ERA. with the Cardinals except the official attendants, and scrupulous care is observed to see that no intruders are present whose influence might affect in any way the vote of the Sacred College. Besides two attendants that each Cardinal is allowed to have, there are others that act as the common attendants of all; these consist of two barbers, eight or ten messengers and porters, a carpenter, a mason, a sacrist, a monk or prior to hear confessions, and a physician. There is but one entrance to this voting place and a careful surveillance is kept over all that is brought into the room especially over the food to see that it contains no communications from the outside to the Cardinals. If within three days a new Pope has not been elected, the food supply is five days more elapse without his restricted; if election the rule formerly was that the Cardinals should have their diet confined to bread, wine, and water, but that rigorous requirement has been modified by later ordinances. At 6 o'clock in the morning the attendants knock at the door of each of the Cardinals and warn the inmates to proceed to the Chapel where at 7 o'clock the mass of the Holy Ghost is celebrated. Psalms and the litany of the saints are recited and the first vote is cast, whereupon they retire to breakfast. If no Pope has been selected the College assemble again at 2 o'clock and proceed to ballot. There are three ways in which a Pope may be elected; (1) by quasi-inspiration or acclamation, (2) by compromise, and (3) by scrutiny. Saint Fabian was the first Pope elected by acclamation. According to a legend of the church a dove appeared in the conclave and alighted upon the head of Saint Fabian. This dove was taken to be the Holy Ghost sent by God to indicate the divine choice. Thereupon the Saint was chosen by acclamation. An election by compromise is where all the Cardinals agree to leave the selection of a Pope to a select committee. The third and usual method, by scrutiny, is the secret ballot. In order that the election may be valid it is necessary that the successful candidate receive at least the vote of two-thirds of those present, and no Cardinal is permitted to vote for him- self nor can any one of them refuse to vote. If the ballots have not effected the election of a Pope, they are burned and the CURRENT STORY OF THE WORLD. 853 smoke ascending from the chimney notifies the public without, that no selection has been made. The eldest member of the College is the first to cast his ballot which he takes between his index finger and his thumb and holds aloft as he proceeds to the altar. Here he kneels, offers a short prayer, rises and takes an oath, then drops his ballot in the box. On every ballot the Cardinal writes his own name, a corner of the ballot is turned over the name and the corner is sealed down; and the seal of the Cardinals is not broken until a Pope has been elected and then it is broken to demonstrate that he did not vote for himself. Scrupulous care is taken in the counting of the votes so as to make errors absolutely impossible. When the Pope is finally elected, the Cardinals all say with one voice: "Let the will of the Holy Ghost be done." The new pontiff is then proclaimed and preparations are made for his crowning. Pope Leo XIII was chosen on the third ballot by forty-four votes out of sixty-two Cardinals present.The longest session of this conclave was that of 1799 when Pope Pius VII was elected after six months seclusion. The Great Wheat Fields of Kansas. The wheat harvest in Kansas this year passes all former record. From the production of twenty-eight million bushels in 1890, the increas3 this year will reach one hundred million bushels. A considerable area of country in that state is subject to droughts, and last year the output went down to forty-five million bushels, just half of what it was in 1901. It was something new in Kansas this year to witness hundreds of college boys who betook themselves to the harvest fields of that state. The innovation is not only somewhat novel but it is also encouraging. There is something in the soil and the sunlight that gives vitality to manhood as they give life to the vegetable world. The college boy will have laid up a valuable stock of physical energy during the summer on which he may draw during the winter months in his college studies. The great threshers are now running in full blast each turning out something like a thousand bushels of wheat a day cleaned and ready for the mill. The great stacks of wheat 854 IMPROVEMENT ERA. covered with tents will make the traveler wonder whether there is not a circus on in almost every town of Kansas. Had its Effects. After the President of the United States had decided to send through the channels of the United States government a petition of entreaty to the Czar of Russia for the amelioration of the unhappy condition of the Jews in that country and for a preven- tion of the repetition of the massacres at Kishineff, the attitude of Russia in the became a source of interest to the matter whole civilized The petition itself was not sent, but world. inquiry was made through the American ambassador at St. Peters- burg whether such a petition would be received by the Russian government and thus indirectly the text of the petition came to the notice of the Czar although he had, of course, ample opportunity to know its contents through the medium of the press. The petition has been effectual both in this country and in Russia. In the United States it was signed by all classes irrespective of religion or politics aud its discussion has shown a healthy protest in the United States against religious bigotry and religious persecution. It will, no doubt, afford an instructive lesson to many religious people in this country whose religious zeal has of late been taking on the attitude of persecution through religious prejudice. That the sentiment in this country concerning religious persecution in Russia will cause thousands of thinking people to believe that the efforts to create agitation against Senator Smoot is not wholly without religious intolerance and therefore distasteful, cannot be doubted. How often one hears it said concerning Senator Smoot, "These religionists are really going too far!" We have been made aware of the fact that in Russia the government and the thinking people of that country are really more sensitive about foreign sentiment toward them than the world had heretofore imagined. The Russians rather resent the idea that there is anything inferior and barbarous in their civilization. Russia must have also felt that the Kishineff troubles