--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Thomas Hull collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 7 number: 1 published: 1903-11 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Thomas Hull, "Events of the Month", *Improvement Era* 7, no. 1 (November 1903): 71–80.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0701unse 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: improvementera0701unse start_page: 71 end_page: 80 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1903-11) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0701unse 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. --- # Events of the Month EVENTS OF THE MONTH. Local. — September, 1903. — New Light In Utah. About two years ago while Stephen T. Lockwood, of Buffalo, was in the West, he met two miners of Utah, who had found peculiar ore deposits in the La Sal district, in Grand County. An assayer reported not a trace of precious metals in the ore, but much uranium, and Mr. Lockwood knowing the commercial value of this ore urged the importance of the discovery. The result was that claims were staked upon the whole deposit. It was afterwards learned that the Utah uranium would yield the rare metal radium, about which so much is now said. A company has been formed in Buffalo to extract radium from this new Utah mineral, and Mr. Lockwood thinks that in the not distant future radium will be made as a commercial article for light- producing purposes. When properly concentrated and tubed, radium is converted into a perpetual light, requiring no cost for operation, main- tenance, renewal or repair. The Utah product is said to be much easier to work than the flinty pitchblende from which Professor and Madame Curie made their remarkable discovery of radium. Called Hence. —Josiah Philips died in Springville, Sep. 3, 1903. He crossed the plains with the hand-cart company of 1856. —John Crawford, pioneer, born in Scotland, Sep. 23, 1829, died in Manti, Sep. 5. He made the adobes for the old Salt Lake Tabernacle. —Mrs. Annie Hanson, age seventy-eight, a resident of West Jordan, who crossed the plains by ox- team in 1866, from her native country, Norway, died on the 5th. Peter — Thygersen, born in Denmark, and who took part in the Danish-German — war of 1849, died in Levan, on the 6th, age seventy-five years. Dr. Wm. T. Dalby, born Virginia, April 18, 1859, a distinguished citizen and phy- sician of Salt Lake, died on the 7th. —Thomas F. Rouche, born in North Carolina, February 9, 1833, baptized Sep. 22, 1854, came to Utah in 1855, and a legislator, selectman and leading business man, died at his home in Kaysville, Davis Co., Sep. 12. — C. Sum Nichols, a well-known newspaper 72 IMPROVEMENT ERA. man and veteran of the Civil war, born Quincy, 111., March 11, 1843, died in Salt Lake on the 15th. —On the 16th Louisa Newell, born in Illi- nois, seventy-four years age, and a pioneer of 1852 died in Provo. —Ann Howarth Mayho, age eighty-eight, who received the gospel in Lanca- shire, England, and crossed the plains with the last hand-cart company, died in Heber, Wasatch Co., on the 22nd. —Malisa Coray Kimball, born Canada, 1828,, joined the Church in 1838, and reached Utah in 1848 by way of California with the "Mormon" Battalion, died in Salt Lake Sep. 21. —Elizabeth Venion died in Rockport, Summit Co., on the 24th, age seventy-seven years. She was an early settler on the upper Weber. James Johnston, for nineteen years first counselor to former Bishop Griggs of Sugar Ward, died Sep. 25. He was born in Orkney Islands, 1836, and came to Utah in 1853. — Christopher Ingebretsen, president of the Scandinavian meetings in Ogden, born in Norway fifty-nine years ago, died on the 27th. — On October 5, in Richfield, the remains of An- drew Johnston Moore, born Iowa, March 16, 1849, a prominent citizen — and once a deputy sheriff, were consigned to the grave. Elijah E. Elli- son, age forty-six, a leading business man and second counselor to Bishop Layton, of West Layton, Davis Co., died on the 8th. —Bishop Lars P. Madsen of North Ephraim, born Ephraim, Utah, Dec. 14, 1858, a prominent citizen and Church worker, was killed by accident in Cotton- wood canyon, Oct. 10. On the same day, in Ephraim, Bendicta C. Han- son, a pioneer of 1857, died. She was born in Sweden, March 8, 1839, — and was for eight years president of the Relief Society. In Salt Lake City, on Oct. 14, Ann Thomas, mother of Coalmine Inspector Gomer Thomas, died. She was born in Wales, July 3, 1824. —Joseph E. Beck, formerly in charge of the Indian farm, and for over fifty years a tiller of the soil near Spanish Fork, died on the 13th, aged ninety-three years, four months and fifteen days. New Railway Depots for Salt Lake. —^The Oregon Short Line began a definite move on the 8th for a new depot by asking the City Council for a franchise which was later granted by the council (28th). Work will be begun soon. The buildings and grounds will cost about a million dollars. The company has acquired considerable land, and con- demnation proceedings will be entered to acquire more, making a total cost for land about a half million dollars. The petition for a franchise asks that certain streets be closed, and that the right for laying tracks and grading be granted. A few blocks south of the new proposed Short Line depot, the Rio Grande Railway company contemplate erecting an improvement of a similar magnitude and to that end have asked for a franchise and certain privileges from the city, which were granted by EVENTS OF THE MONTH. 73 the council, Oct. 5. Both improvements will be some years ahead of the city's needs, but business has doubled on the railroads since 1897, and there is no reason why it should not so largely increase in the next decade as to meet any advancement which the new buildings might indicate in the growth of the city. In connection with the Rio Grande building, there will be a fifty thousand dollar railroad Y. M. C. A. house erected for the benefit of employees. Schools and Text Books. —The public schools generally opened with very large enrollments on the 14th. In Salt Lake the enrollment was eleven thousand, five hundred and thirty-four, an increase over last year's opening day of two hundred and thirty-four children, the propor- tion in other places being similar. One of the features of the opening this year was the introduction of the free text book system provided for by the last Legislative assembly. The innovation was generally met with favorable comments, though some districts were unprepared. The books were distributed by the thausands under the regulations; in the Ogden schools alone, eight thousand text books were delivered the first day. Typhoid Fever. —This disease is prevalent about the state, many deaths and cases having been reported. During September there were one hundred and twenty-eight cases in Salt Lake City alone. From the September report it appears that the death rate in Salt Lake was 10.40 per 1000 of the population, or 65; while the birth rate was 145 or 23.20 per 1000. Gatherings Galore. —During the month, Utah has had its quota of national gatherings, and visits from associations and individuals from the various states of the Union. Besides the stream of visitors to the Bureau of Information, where frequently each day records visits from nearly all the states and many foreign nations, twenty-five leading "Washington newspaper correspondents visited Salt Lake, Provo and other points and attended the Irrigation Congress at Ogden. Then there was an import- tant gathering, commencing on the 11th, of the International Associa- tion of Ticket Agents; and on the 14th, the biennial convention of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers opened in Salt Lake. There were two hundred and thirty-five electricians present, representing every branch of the profession, and every city of any considerable size. But the greatest was, of course, the Irrigation Congress (born in Salt Lake City in 1891), held in Ogden (15-18)— at which practically all the states west of the Mississippi were represented by nearly four hundred delegates. The sessions were held in the Ogden Tabernacle, Senator W. 74 IMPROVEMENT ERA. A. Clark, president. The guest of honor was Secretary of Agriculture James Wilson. The local arrangements, and program was all that could be asked in comfort, practicability and usefulness, and the irrigation cause in the arid region never appeared before the national public to greater advantage. Prizes at Irrigation Congress. —Four cups were offered as prizes at the Irrigation Congress: The Havemeyer cup for the best sugar beet exhibit; the Pabst Brewing Co. cup for the best exhibit brewing barley; Senator Clark cup for the best general collection of fresh fruits; and the Anheuser Busch Brewing Association cup, for the best exhibit of hops. Without doubt the fruit exhibit at Ogden was the grandest ever seen in the State. Utah and Idaho were the only two competitors for the fruit cup, Montana, Colorado and Oregon not having entered for the grand prize. Idaho was awarded the trophy for the most perfect fruit. The Utah fruit was all that could be asked, except that it fell short on one — point the codling moth had marred it, there were unmistakable signs of worm depredations. The points considered were completeness of collec- tion as to classes and varieties, perfection of specimens, correct nomen- clature, and freedom from the evidence of the codling moth worm. The decision should teach Utah fruitgrowers to use the spray more. But Utah won the five hundred dollar loving cup offered by Havemeyer for sugar beets, over Idaho, Colorado, California and Kansas. It went to A. Rhodes, of Garland; Utah, who got ninety-three points; Utah Sugar Co., of the same place, ninety-two points; and Austin Bros., Rexburg, Idaho, eighty-eight points. The size, shape, percentage of purity and saccharine matter, were points considered. The Anheuser-Busch cup for hops was awarded to McNeff Bros., North Yakima, Washington; the Pabst cup for barley, to the Manhattan Malting Co., Manhattan, Montana. By a vote of two hundred and five out of three hundred and sixty, it was decided on the 18th that the next meeting will be held in El Paso, Texas. To the Executive Committee, led by Hon. F. J. Kiesel and ably assisted by Assistant Secretary W. T. Beardsley, must be credited much of the grand success of the Congress in Ogden. An Opinion of the Ministers. —Not long ago the Ministerial Asso- ciation in Salt Lake, which it was not before known was in politics, in- troduced a resolution announcing that its members would not support any but non-"Mormons" for public office. This is what the Inter-Mountain and Colorado Catholie (26th) says of their, movement. It is enough. If the "Mormons," however, should, declare against other sects it would be considered even more unpardonable: EVENTS OF THE MONTH. 75 — The ministerial Association of Salt Lake an organization of puri- tanical spellbinders, who feed on sensation and provoke all the trouble they can in our municipal affairs, announce their intention to support a movement which aims at the selection of Gentiles alone for public office. What a hubbub these evangelists would raise should Catholic priests come out with a declaration against Protestants for public office. How quickly they would discover an alliance of church and state for the exaltation of Rome and the destruction of civil and religious liberty. The political party that gathers this brood of pulpit bangers into its councils deserves defeat through the votes of enlightened and tolerant citizens. Return op Apostle Heber J. Grant. —On the 27th, Apostle Heber J. Grant returned from his mission to Japan, having been honorably re- leased. Elder Horace S. Ensign has been appointed to preside over that mission in his place. There are now six missionaries in the field, and while the prospects for genuine converts are not promising, much good isbeing done in presenting the gospel to the natives, and many friends are made. So far only three baptisms have been made. There is a tendency among the natives to become converts for a consideration; he had noticed that some were willing to be baptized in exchange for a knowledge of the English language. The elders are doing and feeling well, and making good progress with the language. A New Stake op Zion. —On the recent trip north of President Joseph F. Smith and his company, the Alberta stake of Zion, Canada, was divided, and a new one, the Taylor stake, organized. The step was necessary be- cause of the growth of the people in those parts, the settlements being now a hundred miles or more apart. It had thus become a burden upon the officers of the undivided stake to attend to their duties and to visit all the people. Appeals have come from other stakes for divisions, and these will doubtless be made in the near future. The officers of the new stake, which was organized August 30, 1903, are: Heber S. Allen, president, Theodore Brandley, and J. William Knight, counselors. The new stake was named in honor of Apostle John W. Taylor, is the fifty-first stake of Zion, and comprises the eastern part of the old Alberta stake. In the latter, former first counselor E. J. Wood was set apart as president. With President Smith were President Anthon H. Lund, and Apostles John W. Taylor, Matthias F, Cowley, and Reed Smoot. October, 1903. The New Apostle. —George A. Smith who was chosen an apostle on the 6th, is the oldest son of Elder John Henry Smith and Sarah Farr, and 76 IMPROVEMENT ERA. was born in Salt Lake City, April 4, 1870. He is the stake superintendent of the Y. M. M. I. A. in which position he has made a great success. His education was obtained in the public Brigham Young schools, the Academy, and the State University. He has been engaged as clerk in Z. C. M. I. and the Co-op. W. & M. Co., and is at present Receiver of the U. S. Land office, to which position he was appointed January 31, 1898, and which he has filled to the entire satisfaction of the public. He filled a mission to the Southern States in 1892-4, where he manifested strict de- votion to duty, and was an earnest worker in the cause of truth. Polit- ically he is a staunch Republican, one of the best campaign speakers in the state, and a man who has canvassed every county in Utah. In his new position, he will be as earnest, devoted and zealous as man can be. His life is an open book, and in the responsible position of Apostle, he will serve the people with diligence and integrity. The State Fair.—At one o'clock on the first, the Utah State Fair, under the Deseret Agricultural and Manufacturing Society, opened infor- mally to the public for the twenty-sixth time. It closed on the evening of the 8th. Notwithstanding the storms which prevailed from the 3rd to the 6th, the attendance was good, and the directors came out two thousand five hundred dollars ahead of last year's receipts, and will have about two thousand dollars above the expenses which amounted to fifteen thousand dollars. Many thousands of people attended each day, but chil- dren's day, Tuesday, 6th, exceeded all expectations. The fair was pro- nounced the best ever held. The display of manufactures of all kinds excelled any previous attempt, while never before has there been such a splendid exhibition of first class blooded horses, and cattle. The mineral and fruit display was not as good as could be obtained in the state. Amusements were more numerous than heretofore; in fact they were made a special feature, and attracted many people who would not likely have appeared without them. A midway of amusements, baloon ascen- sions, and horse racing; were the main attractions in this line. A com- mendable feature was the mannual training exhibits of the Agricultural College and public schools. What was seen in these, had a cheering effect upon the more thoughtful visitors. Pleads for New Trial. —On the 3rd, Peter Mortensen, the con- victed murderer of James R. Hay, was permitted to plead his own case in a motion by his attorney for a new trial. In a long speech, he declared his innocence, and that he was not given a fair and impartial trial, and that public sentiment is responsible for his conviction. Judge Morse of the district court denied his motion for a new trial, and sentenced him to EVENTS OF THE MONTH. 77 be shot within the exterior walls of the State prison on Friday, November 20, 1903. Municipal Nominations. —The nominations for municipal officers throughout the State were made about the middle of October, leaving little time for orators before the November elections. In Salt Lake the primaries were held on the 12th and 15th and the conventions on the 15th and 16th. The Republicans nominated Frank Knox, and the Democrats, Richard P. Morris, for Mayor. The newspapers, and much street talk, charged great corruption in the primaries and the convention of the Re- publicans, but notwithstanding the heinousness of bribery, no man bribed or who knew of bribery, if such there were, has made formal charges, and there are no arrests. The public are left to wonder whether the talk is political or true. In Ogden the old Republican officers were re- nominated, and there is perhaps more satisfaction in political matters there than in any other place. One feature of municipal nominations this year is the placing of full Socialist tickets in the field in nearly every large Utah city. A new city, Huntsville, in Weber county, population twelve hundred, made its appearance on the 16th, when Mayor L. M. Nelson, and his Republican corps of city officers were inaugurated. Big Mine Fire. —On the 7th, a fire broke out in the underground workings of four of the leading mines of Eureka, Utah. Work was im- possible. On the 12th, the smoke was so bad in the Bullion-Beck that it, too, suspended operations. Every known method for smothering the fire is considered, and several tried, with little or no success. Over four hun- dred men are out of employment. The Centennial Eureka, Gemini and Eureka Hill are affected. On the 19th, the fire is still burning. President Smith a Director in the Union Pacific Ry. —The Union Pacific stockholders, at a meeting in Salt Lake on the 13th, elected Joseph F. Smith a member of the Board of Directors, in conformity with the plan of the road to have a Utah man in the directorate. Le Grand Young is general attorney for this State. At the meeting, one hundred and forty- seven million dollars in stock were represented. Domestic. —September, 1903. Postal Affairs.— On the 15th, Miss Huldah B. Todd, postmaster at Greenwood, Delaware, was summarily removed, and Jacob L. Houseman installed in her place as postmaster of this fourth class office. The change was made on request of Senator Allee, who represents the Addicks faction in Delaware politics, because she was "politically and personally 78 IMPROVEMENT ERA. obnoxious" to the Senator. The Civil Service Commission objected on the ground that fourth class offices are in the classified service, as far as re- movals are concerned, and the rules forbid removals "because of political The President has directed an exami- or religious opinion or affiliations." nation. Postmaster Pajme says Miss Todd was an offensive partizan, and allowed her office to be "headquarters of, and her family and herself to be the most active factors in, a political quarrel inside the Republican party." —The postal scandals continue to attract attention. On the 8th, the Federal Grand Jury returned seven indictments. Leopold J. Stern, the indicted Baltimore contractor, has been located in Canada and on the 10th the government began proceedings for his extradition. New York State Senator George E. Green was arrested about the 18th, charged with bribing George H. Beavers in connection with the purchase of time recording machines, of which the Department has now ten thousand on hand, manufactured by a company of which Senator Green is president. During the week ending October 15, there were seventeen additional in- dictments, among them being James N. Tyner, of Indiana. — Educating Filipinos. An interesting law has recently been enacted by the Philippine government, providing that one hundred native young men shall be sent to the States each year to be educated and fitted for positions in the insular civil service. One hundred will be chosen by com- petitive examination, and from these, twenty-five of the best qualified may be selected by the Governor who may also select the same number without competitive examination, but the whole number in the first year must not exceed one hundred. The government will pay five hundred dollars for the support of each student who must agree in writing to re- turn from the States after the completion of his education, and take an examination for appointment in the civil service. And so the conversion of the race to our ideals will go on. While in America, these young men are expected to reside with American families. The St. Louis exposition will be made an excuse for bringing from the islands twelve hundred natives to take charge of the ten thou- sand tons of freight that will be placed on exhibit. Incidentally these will also be trained in American ways. And then, the Civil Service Com- mission, on the 30th, received a call from the Philippine Government for one hundred and fifty male teachers, at salaries ranging from nine to twelve hundred per annum, to teach the young Filipino, in his native state. In the meantime, there are reactionary residents in the islands, for, on the 16th, natives attacked a constabulary post in Luzon, but were repulsed after a sharp fight. Other evidences crop out now and then showing opposition to American rule and methods. EVENTS OF THE MONTH. 79 Another Search for the North Pole. —Commander Robert E. Peary lias received a three years' leave of absence from the Navy Department, from April first, next, and will make another attempt to reach the North Pole. Both President Roosevelt and Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Chas. H. Darling, have assured him of their hearty sympathy. Peary expects to start next July, establish a base of supplies at Cape Sabine, winter quarters at Grant Land, and start with a sledge party over the polar pack in February, 1905, as soon as light returns, this party to be followed by a large main party. He expects to accomplish the distance to the pole and return in one hundred days, making an average of ten miles a day, get his ship out late in the season and return home. He will use individual sledges, drawn by dogs, and manned by Eskimos; his plan gives him the advantage of a fixed landbase one hundred miles nearer the pole than any other route, and a wider landbase on which to retreat. In his letter granting the leave of absence Secretary Darling says: The attainment of the pole should be your main object. Nothing short will suffice. The discovery of the pole is all that remains to com- plete the map of the world. That map should be completed in our gener- ation and by our countrymen. * * * * Our national pride is in- volved in the undertaking and this department expects that you will ac- complish your purpose and bring further distinction to a service of illus- trious traditions. October, 1903. Silver Advanced.— Owing to purchases by the United States for the Philippine accoupt, and the demand from India, silver advanced to 60%, on the thirteenth, the highest point established in years. — Heavy and Destructive Rainstorm. Between 3 a. m. on the eighth and 4 p. m. on the ninth, 10.4 inches of rain fell in New York City, and the north Atlantic coast generally suffered from the extraordinary down- pour. In New York thousands of cellars were flooded, and much injury done to parks and cemeteries. Paterson and Pasaic on the river of the latter name suffered a loss of two million dollars; thousands were driven from their homes, and many bridges and buildings were carried away by the river which rose three feet above its record for forty years. The Mowhawk, rose twenty-one feet above its normal level, closing the works which em- of the General Electric and American Locomotive companies ploy eighteen thousand persons. The streams began receding on Sunday eleventh. Foreign.— September, 1903. Pope Pius's Prayer. —The first official document of Pius X for the 80 IMPROVEMENT ERA. occasion of the Feast of the Nativity of the Virgin, issued on the eighth' is a prayer to the Virgin, and to those who will recite it once a day, the Pope accords an indulence for three hundred days. The prayer as trans- lated by The Independent from the Italian text, Virgine Santissima, reads: Most Holy Virgin, who pleased Our Lord and became his Mother, immaculate in body and soul, in faith and love; in this solemn Jubilee of the proclamation of the Dogma, which announced Thee to the universal world as conceived without sin, mayst thou benevolently regard those miserable ones who implore thy patronage! The malevolent Serpent, against which was hurled the first curse, continues, unfortunately, to combat and insinuate itself among the suffering children of Eve; mayst Thou, 0! our blessed Mother, our Queen and Advocate, who since the first instant of thy conception crushed the head of the enemy, gather the prayers which, united with Thee in only one heart, we implore thee to present at the throne of God, that we may never yield to the insinuations which assail us, so that we shall all arrive at the harbor of everlasting life, and in the midst of many dangers the Church and Christian society shall sing once more the hymn of liberation, victory and peace. Amen. October, 1903. Russia's Contempt for Promise. — Our state department has Rus- sia's written promise to evacuate Manchuria Oct. 8. The day has come and gone, and Russia has taken no step to comply with her promise. On the tenth Christian Russia sent ninety vessels of all sorts to the East to protect herself against the "indignation of Japan which continues in the old Pagan notion that international promises should be sacred." There is great indignation in this country at Russia's action.