---
title: Improvement Era
description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930.
authors:
  - Grace Ingles Frost
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: 'Grace Ingles Frost, "The Sunflower," *Improvement Era* 8, no. 10 (August 1905): 770.'
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: 770
end_page: 770
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.
---

# The Sunflower

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de Witte was named in his place, a change hailed with great delight by the peace party of Russia, and, of course, as greatly regretted by the party desiring the continuation of the war.         The
Japanese plenipotentiaries are Baron Jutaro Komura, now minister
of foreign affairs, and Kogaro Takahira, now Japanese minister to
the United States.     Baron Rosen is of Swedish descent, his ancestors having followed Gustavus Adolphus into Russia and settled
there.  He was Charge d' Affaires at Tokyo, later at Washington,
and minister to Japan from 1893 to the time of the outbreak of
the war. De Witte is well known as one of the leading Russian
officials  many years. Both the Russian members are highly
            for
esteemed by the Japanese. Baron Komura was educated in the
United States and was predecessor of Mr. Takahira, at Washington. He was minister to Russia until the outbreak of the war between China and Japan when he went to Tokio, and later to China.
Mr. Takahira was born       in   1854, educated at the Imperial College
at Tokio, sent to Washington as attache, in 1879, where he rose
to Charge d' Affaires.     He has since served in diplomatic and consular posts at Seoul, in Korea; Shanghai, inChina; also at The
Hague, at Rome and Vienna; and was one of the peace negotiators
of the treaty which closed the China-Japanese war.
                          THE SUNFLOWER.
                         (For the Improvement Era.)
                    "God is our sun: he makes our day,"
                  When the Sun arose one morning
                    And looked at the flowers on earth,
                  As they raised their heads to greet him,
                    He said, "I shall prove their worth."