--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Joseph F. Smith Jr. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 8 number: 10 published: 1905-08 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Joseph F. Smith Jr., "Events of the Month," *Improvement Era* 8, no. 10 (August 1905): 794–800.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0810unse 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: improvementera0810unse start_page: 794 end_page: 800 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1905-08) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0810unse publication_year: 1905 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 1905, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Events of the Month — EVENTS OF THE MONTH. BY JOSEPH F. SMITH, JR. Local. —June, 1905. Died. — Saturday, 10th, in Bryan, Idaho, John Bond, one of the early settlers of Utah, and a member of one of the hand cart companies. — In Taylorsville, Monday, 12th, Homer M. Brown, pioneer of Utah, and a Nauvoo veteran. He was born in Pomphret, N. Y., August 9, 1830, and was baptized June 6, 1839. — Wednesday, 14th, in Pocatello, George K. White, an active Church worker in the Pocatello stake. — In Salt Lake City, Thursday, 15th, George E. Blair, a prominent young business man. He was born 41 years ago in Weber county, and was the — son of Major Seth M. Blair, one of Utah's pioneers. In Ogden, Saturday, 17th, William Henry Clark, an old Civil war veteran and early settler of Weber county, born in Leicester, England, October 29, 1844, came to America when a boy, and served in the Union army during the war. The same day, in Eden, Weber co., James Ririe, a pioneer and early Church worker. He was born in Scotland 79 years ago, joined the Church, and came to Utah in 1853. — In Pocatello, Monday, 19th, Lawrence Robinson, of Ogden, who formerly was a member of the High Council of the Pocatello stake, aged 70 years. — In Grantsville, Monday 19th, Hiram E. Booth one of the pioneers of Tooele, born August 22, 1841. — In Farmington, Tuesday, 20th, James Udy, a pioneer of Davis county, aged 85 years. — In Payson, the same day, Mary A. Taylor, one of the oldest settlers, aged 88 years. — In Mendon, the same day, Mary Walker, a pioneer of Mendon, who came to Utah in 1851. She was born in Lincolnshire 92 years ago. — Tuesday, 27th, in Salt Lake City, Alfred Best, one of the oldest residents, born in Glostershire, June 19, 1829, and came to Utah in 1851. — In Brigham City, Friday, 30th, Eliza P. Fishburn, a Utah pioneer who crossed the plains in Captain Israel Evans' handcart company in 1857. She was born April 3, 1836 in Dorchester, England, and was reared in the Church. EVENTS OF THE MONTH. 795 Fire at Bingham — About 5 o'clock Wednesday morning, June 21st, a fire broke out at Bingham and destroyed in the neighborhood of $10,000 in property. Old Folks' Annual Excursion. —The annual excursion of the old folks of the State of Utah was held Thursday, 22nd, and was to Brigham City, Box Elder county. The special that carried the party from Salt Lake City was the largest train in one section that ever pulled out of the Oregon Short Line station. It left promptly at 8 o'clock in the morning,' and consisted of nineteen coaches and the commissary. In the party were 1150 persons. The aged all wore badges of ribbon, colored to indicate approximately their ages. The day was spent in appropriate exercises, in feasting and "talking over old times." The first excursion of the kind was successfully carried out under the direction of Bishop Edward Hunter, George Goddard, and Charles R. Savage, Friday, May 14, 1875. This excursion was to Clinton's hotel, at Lake Point, one of the chief lake resorts of that day. Since that time annual excursions in honor of the old folks, have been given to various parts of Utah. A standing committee looks after and arranges for these excursions, and all residents of the state, over 70 years of age, irrespective of nationality, color or religious faith, are the honored guests on such occasions. Mission House for Southern States Mission. — Monday, 26tb, a meeting of the missionaries who have labored in the Southern States was held in Barratt hall, and the subject of procuring a suitable building as mission headquarters was discussed. It was the unanimous feeling that the elders raise means to purchase a building at Chattanooga for the benefit of the Southern States mission. Elder Ben E. Rich, president of the mission, also held meetings for a similar purpose in Granite, Weber, and other northern stakes in Utah and Idaho. — Exchange op Water Rights. In the office of Mayor Morris, Salt Lake City, Tuesday, 27th, an agreement was reached between the city and the farmers of the county, by which the city agreed to exchange canal or lake water, for the water of Big Cottonwood creek. The canal companies received $33,000, and the water rights of Big Cottonwood creek passed into the control of Salt Lake City. July, 1905. Died. — In Springville, Saturday, 1st, Hannah J. Gremmell, a pioneer of 1847, born in Rochester, Ohio, October 19, 1824; joined the Church, and was a resident of Nauvoo, until the exodus. — Monday, 3rd, Isaac Clay- ton Dunford, who returned from a mission to Germany, March 13, suffering from lung trouble caused through exposure in the mission field. — He was born in Salt Lake City, April 16, 1883. In St. George, Tuesday, 4th, Mrs. Laura A. Andrus, wife of Bishop James Andrus, born in Monroe county, Miss., June 27, 1837, and came to Utah in the fall of 1847. For many years she was the president of the Relief Society of west St. George ward. —Sanday, 9th, in Mill Creek, George Hanson, a veteran of the pioneer hand cart company, and a resident of Salt Lake county since 1856; aged 74 years. — Death op Judge Thomas D. Dee. In Ogden on Sunday, 9th, Judge Thomas D. Dee died suddenly from pneumonia, caused through catching cold. Judge Dee was born in Llanelly, Carmarthenshire, Wales, Nov. 10, 1834, and came to Utah in 1854, with his parents. After locating in Ogden, he learned the carpenter's trade, at which he worked for a number of years. In 1889 he assisted in establishing the Eccles Lumber Company, of which he was secretary and treasurer. Since that time he has been engaged in many industrial enterprises, which have materially benefitted the state. Among these are the Utah Loan and Trust Co.; First National Bank of Ogden; the Ogden Savings Bank; the Ogden Canning Co.; the Ogden Rapid Transit Co.; the Dee-Sanford Shoe Co.; and the Ogden Furniture and Carpet Co. He was elected assessor and collector of Ogden City, in 1877, and was re-elected for several terms. He also served as justice of the peace, city councilor and as school trustee, and member of the City Board of Education since 1890, and as a member of the State Board of Equalization, which position he — had held since 1896 the year of Statehood. He was a man of excellent executive ability, enterprising, publicspirited, and during the days of the People's Party, during territorial rule, took an active part in political affairs. He was liberal and broadminded. In the sugar industry and canning works, he was among the pioneers who urged such reforms in the farming business as have changed entirely the income of the farmers, and made them vastly more prosperous. Judge Dee was for twenty-one years superintendent of the Mound Fort Sanday School of Weber stake. In 1886, he was ordained a high priest and was set apart as first counselor to Bishop James Taylor, of the Mound Fort ward, which position he held at the time of his death. Domestic —June, 1905. Chinese at West Point.— On the 15th, two Chinese youths were admitted to West Point Military academy, as cadets. These are the — EVENTS OF THE MONTH. 797 first of that nationality to be admitted in the history of the institution. Unpatriotic. — On the 28th, the Trades Council of Aberdeen, Washington, representing practically all the unions of the city of Aberdeen, emphatically refused to take part in the 4th of July parade, on the grounds that the militia was to march in line. The reason assigned was that "when there is trouble between employer and employees, the first action of the employer is to call out the militia, and out they come, and being sworn to obedience, bloodshed and wholesale murder result." A similar incident occurred in New Jersey, where the firemen of Montclair refused to march because of prejudice against nep;roes. Says Harper's Weekly: "What maggot got into the brains of the Montclair, New Jersey firemen, impelling them to refuse to march in a Fourth of July procession in which they supposed Booker Washingtora was to figure? Booker Washington, it seems, was orator of the day, and not a part of the procession, but what, anyhow, has a New Jersey town to do with negrophobia? Tut, tut, Montclair firemen ; you may get medals for heroism, but you never will for sense." In Utah, the Mayor of St. George, in the absence of the man who has charge of the flag, and owing to a hitch in the tackle of the flagpole, did not hoist the flag on the 4th until 4 o'clock. This shows how scandalously disloyal are all labor unions, all firemen, and especially all "Mormons," of these United States. Gifts for Education. — Following the lead of AndrewCarnegie,John D. Rockefeller, so itwas announced on the 80th, has given $10,000,000 to the General Board of Education— an organization founded by Mr. Rockefeller in 1902, and chartered by Congress in 1903, Robert C. Ogden — chairman and George Foster Peabody treasurer as an endowment for the purpose of promoting a comprehensive system of higher education in the United States. This fund is to give any aid needed to all colleges exclusive of the great universities and the new and doubtful attempts to Only the income of this endowment can be expended, establish colleges. which will amount to about $400,000 annually. When the Board of Education was organized Mr. Rockefeller gave it $1,000,000 which was to be used in the South, in common schools and for secondary education. Among other gifts of the kind, given in June, amounting in all to about $30,000,000, may be mentioned the erdowment of $2,400,000 to Harvard, and another of $2,000,000 to Yale, one half of which latter is from Mr. Rockefeller. There appears to have been no question as to the money's "taint," as in the case of a recent gift to a mission. In fact, at the Yale alumni dinner, New Haven, Senator Brandazee, in the course of a speech, said: "Bring on your tainted money! We will purify it with the Yale spirit, and consecrate it to the blessed mission of educating noble men to uphold the institutions of our glorious country." On the other hand President Roosevelt, in his splendid speech before the Harvard alumni, criticised the very rich men who "commit crimes of greed and craft on the largest scale by evading the law or by breaking it so cunningly that they cannot be discovered." Men "of vast fortune,'' he said, "should set an example by paying scrupulous heed not only to the letter, but to the spirit of the law3,and by acknowledging the moral obligations which cannot be expressed in law, but which stand back of and above all laws. It is far more important that they should conduct their business affairs decently than that they should spend the surplus of their fortunes in philanthropy." He also attacked the "influential and highly remunerated members of the bar who make it their special task to work out bold and ingenious schemes by which their very wealthy clients individual or corporate, can evade the laws which are designed to regulate the use of great wealth in the interest of the public." July, 1905. Tornado In Texas. —A severe tornado swept over Montague county, Texas, on the 5th, destroying many houses and a great deal of property > killing about thirty-five persons and injuring many more. Fourth of July Casualties. — According to the report of the Chicago Tribune, 39 persons were killed and 3,168 were injured on the Fourth, while celebrating. The figures for 1904 are: killed 52, wounded 3,049. — Senator John H. Mitchel Senator John H. Mitchel, of Oregon, was found guilty on the 4th, of accepting pay for practicing before the federal government at Washington while occupying his public position as U. S. Senator, which, according to federal statutes constitutes a -crime. Foreign. —June, 1905. China's Retaliation. — It appears from the recent developments that the Chinese people are awaking to the situation in which they have been placed by the government of the United States in the restrictions placed upon them by our anti-Chinese immigration laws, and have threatened to retaliate by commercially boycotting the United States. EVENTS OF THE MONTH. 799 An editorial in the New York Independent sums the matter up, though not to the liking of the West, as follows: "So the Chinese amount to something after all. They can boycott the United States and stop our exports to China, and close an open door, and they can do all this with not a bit of legal or diplomatic action that we can complain All that of. necessary — and is it is apparently easy — for the individual people to say that they is any will not buy American goods. They will buy of Japan or England, or Germany or even of Russia, but not a case of oil or a yard of calico from the United States. And while all moral considerations were of no eifect to repea^ a wretched law, or to abate the scandal of its stupid enforcement, just as soon as the merchants' profits are touched, business protests, and a long cabinet meeting is held, and orders are given to our consular authorities, in China, to show more care in issuing certificates to Chinese coming to this country,and the officers of the Department of Commerce and Labor are directed to exercise more courtesy and sense in their enforcement of the laws, which laws are intrinsically bad, and ought to be administered in a way to make them as nearly innocuous as possible. We are glad that at last our people are finding that our Chinese policy is unprofitable as well as contemptible.'' President Roosevelt has since requested that Chinese officials, merchants, students and travelers be accorded all the rights, privileges and immunities which are granted to citizens of the most favored nation, and that only laborers will be excluded; and if discourtesy is shown to any one of the exempt classes, the official responsible will be immediately dismissed from the service. — Deaths of Notable Persons. Archduke Joseph of Austria died on the 13th, at Vienna.He was born in Presburg, Hungary, March 2, 1833. — On the 14th it was reported that Tippo Tib, the noted Arab chief, who traveled through the dark continent in 1876, died in Zanzibar, a short time ago. July, 1903. Rebellion in Russia. —The strained relations between the government and the people of Russia, which have existed for many months, appear to be growing more grave each day. Lodz, Warsaw and other Polish cities are in open rebellion, while the spirit of discontent in other parts of Russia is manifest among the people. The demonstrations on the part of the people in Poland have met with severe and brutal measures. On June 21, Cossacks attacked parading workmen in the streets of Lodz, a city of some 400,000 inhabitants, killing and wounding many. On the 23rd, fighting between the soldiers and the people created a 800 - reign of terror. The trouble was initiated by the Socialists and the Jews, who were determined to avenge their comrades killed on the 21st. The city was a scene of bloodshed and anarchy. The factory hands gathered in the streets and were charged, time and time again, by the troops, replying with revolvers and whatever weapons they had at their command; while, on the house tops and at the windows of the buildings along the narrow streets, the rioters dashed vitriol on the heads of the dragoons and infantry fighting in the streets below. The fighting continued the following day, and it is estimated that 2,000 persons were On the 26th, the red flag of revolt was raised in killed and injured. Warsaw, Kovno, and other parts of Poland. On the 27th, the crew of the largest battleship of the Black sea fleet, the Kniaz Potemkine mutinied, killed all the officers who would not loin them, and threatened to bombard the town of Odessa, on the Northeast coast of the Black sea. The whole number of persons on the ship was 336, and the immediate cause of the mutiny was said to be dissatisf ation with the poor quality of the food furnished the men. The sailors appointed by lot one of their number to lay their grievance before the captain who supplied the food. The captain became angry, and killed the sailor, Omelchuk, whereupon the crew revolted, seized the ship and killed the captain, who pleaded piteously for his life. The body of Omelchuk was taken ashore, at Odessa, and placed in a prominent place with an inscription stating that he was a martyr to a just cause. The sailors informed the governor at Odessa that they would bombard the city, which is without fortiflcation, if the body was disturbed. The body remained there all that day, and the following day was buried in the military cemetery^ after a public funeral had been given, while the city officials were afraid to interfere. The mutineers captured a steamer with a cargo of coal, transferred the coal to their vessel, and passed out of the harbor at full speed, cleared for action, though the fleet of Admiral Kruger, composed of five battleships and torpedo boats, had just arrived from Sevastopol. Not a shot was fired, although the vessels were near enough so that faces could be distinguished. The Admiral was afraid to fire on the Kniaz Potemkine for fear that other ships in his fleet would revolt; he therefore signalled the rebel ship to join the squadron and proceed to Sevastopol, and was met with the retort, "We remain here." For some days the mutineers sailed the Black sea, and, according to latest reports, finally entered a Roumanian port about the 8th of July, where they scuttled the ship. Other mutinies also occurred, principally at Libnau, and in the navy yards at Kronstadt, the most important of the Russian navy yards, but the mutineers were placed under control.