Events and Comments

EVENTS AND COMMENTS. BY EDWARD H. ANDERSON. -Making Norway Neutral.—In 1855, Great Britain and France guaran- teed the neutralization and integrity of the Scandinavian peninsula; when the re cent separation of Norway from Sweden took place, this guarantee lapsed. It is now announced that Norway is taking initiative steps, supported strongly by great Britain, with Germany, France and Russia, looking to the guaranteeing of th« neutralization of the Kingdom of the Midnight sun. Senator Smoot's Case.— On Tuesday, December 11, Senator Burrows made the opening speech in the Senate of the United States against the retention of Senator Smoot, of Utah, in the Senate. His alleged impeachment of the Utah Senator, he admitted, was not based on the charge of polygamy, but entirely on the charge of his connection with the governing body of the Church, consisting of the Presidency and the Twelve Apostles, which he not very originally referred to as the "hierarchy." In his own behalf. Senator Smoot, it is reported, will speak, and for him also, perhaps, many of the ablest lawyers of the Senate. Smithfield Divided.—»jn Sunday, November 11, Smithfield was divided into two wards, the district north of the creek to be known as the first, and that south as the second. E. R. Miles was sustained as Bishop of the first, and Wm. L. Winn as bishop of the second ward. The former chose Samuel Nelson and George Y. Smith, as counselors; and the second, Alfred B. Chambers and Richard Roskelley. Elder Orson F. Whitney set the bishops apart, and Elder J. Golden Kimball presented thirteen names for ordinations as Seventies, eleven of whom were ordained during the meeting. School Election in Salt Lake City.—The contest to keep the public schools of Salt Lake City out of politics ended on election day, Wednesday, December 5, in a complete victory for the non-partisan ticket, with majorities ranging from one hundred to six hundred, all over the city. It was a complete and deserved defeat of the so-called "American" party, which sought by well- known anti-' 'Mormon" prejudice, to capture the schools for low-down political purposes. The ticket elected is composed of the following leading citizens: Byron Cummings, first precinct; M: J. Cheeseman, second; Wm. J. Newman, third; James T. Hammond, fourth; H. P. Henderson, fifth. Buying Votes.—It cost from two to three million dollars to pay th» •xpenses of the Democratic, Republican and Independence League state and oounty committees, of New York, in the late November election. This is learned from the reports required to be filed by campaign committees which spend mor«

238 IMPROVEMENT ERA. than $200 for election expenses, under the new law in New York. There were four counties in the state where the Democrats and Republicans agreed not to buy votes. It is reported significantly that in these counties the falling off in the vofe of both leading parties, as compared with the vote for governor in 1904, was materi- ally larger than in other counties where no such agreement existed. In other words, buying votes is a common practice in New York, the party leaders know it, and do it, and should be compelled to quit it. War on Opium. —The Chinese government, awake to the growing evil of the use of opium, has followed a recent edict against its use by stringent regula- tions for the suppression of its use in the empire. The regulations require that both the cultivation of the poppy and the use of opium shall cease within ten years. There must be no new ground broken for the cultivation of the plant, and the ground now in use for that purpose must be reduced one-tenth annually under penalty of confiscation. Those who are already addicted to the use of opium are required to get along with diminishing quantities each year, and all persons are forbidden to begin its use. It is also required that within ten years the opium trade must cease, and the importation of morphine is prohibited. There is said also to be a healthy public sentiment against the use of the drug, which finds ready expression in the public press of China. Canada and the Doukhobors.—Dispatches from St. Petersburg announce the presence there of the leader of the Doukhobors in Canada. He announces that it is his mission to gather up 10,000 Russians of his faith to work under con- tract in the railroad construction in Canada. The Doukhobors have done well in their new Canadian homes, although some of their religious ecstasies have not commended them as men of sound discretion. However, they are great workers. This Doukhobor leader states that he is authorized to offer free transportation to Canada, and return after two years. Canada is very greatly in need of laborers. The great wheat crops of that country, which are very small today in comparison wi^h what they must be in a few years, cannot well be gathered unless farm help can be had more easily and more cheaply than at present. The railroads there are making farm labor both scarce and expensive. Separation of Church and State in France.—On December 11, the legal bond which has united church and state in Prance for an uninterrupted per- iod of a thousand years was practically severed. The struggle began in 1880 with the banishment of the Jesuits. In November the taking of inventories of church property proceeded preliminary to the enforcement of the separation law. Officials were accompanied by military escorts and troops, and while there was less trouble than anticipated, at some places, especially in Brittany, the Catholic peasants attacked the soldiers with clubs and pitchforks. "Cultural associations" are authorized by the law to be formed to act as Boards of Trustees for church property; it was thought the Catholics would form "Diocesan associations" that would act in thi3 capacity, but orders have been issued by the archbishop forbid- ding any church official to accept appointment as an administrator of church prop- erty. So, all church funds and documents were handed over to the government

EVENTS AND COMMENTS. 239 commissioners on the 11th day of December, a most eventful day in French his- tory. There is naturally intense feeling, on both sides, but it is announced, on the one hand, that the government "cannot be driven into the trap of closing the churches;" and on the other, the Archbishop of Paris has strongly censured the advice of the intemperate to placard appeals to the clericals to make violent resistance to the officers. The Coal Land Frauds. —The extraordinary testimony recently given in Salt Lake City before Interstate Commissioner Clark concerning the acquisition of coal lands by the Harriman and Gould railroads in Utah, Wyoming and other places, and the alleged complicity of the General Land Office and certain Sena- tors in land frauds, resulted in the following indictments by the Federal Grand Jury, returned on Friday, December 7: For Conspiracy to Defraud Government, —The Utah Fuel Company, headquar- ters in Dooly Building, Salt Lake City; H. G. Williams, general manager of the Utah Fuel Company, Salt Lake City; Robert Forrester, geologist and mining ex- pert of Utah Fuel Company, and W. D. Foster, private secretary of Robert Forres- ter, Salt Lake City; Alexander H. Cowie, confidential man of D. & R. G. Railroad Company, and Utah Fuel Company, and of Wasatch Supply Company, Salt Lake City; Elroy N. Clark, attorney for Dtah Fuel Company. Denver Colo.; George A. Moore, civil engineer, Salt Lake agent for Utah Fuel Company - For Violating Interstate Commerce Law, —Union Pacific Railroad Company; Oregon Short Line Railroad Company; Union Pacific Coal Company; E. Bucking- ham, general superintendent 0. S. L. R. R. Company, Salt Lake City, James M. Moore, eeneral agent of the Union Pacific Coal Company, Salt Lake City. For Perjury Before Grand Jury.— Thomas A.. Moore, "dummy" of the Utah Fuel Company, Salt Laka City; Theodore A. Schulte, "dummy," Utah Fuel Com- pany, Salt Lake City. For Perjury Before Interstate Commerce Commission. —P.W. Spalding, attor- ney of Evanston, Wyo., and "dummy" of Union Pacific Coal Company. The Interstate Commerce Commission are in favor of withdrawing all public coal lands from entry, with a view of ultimately developing them under the control and direction of the Government, which, in>tead of selling the lands at from $1.50 to $20 per acre to the railroad monopolies, could obtain a revenue of perhaps $1,000 per acre for the 5,000,000 acres of bituminous lands still held by the gov- ernment. This land leased, or worked on a royalty basis, would be enough to pay all the current exp nses of the Government. This would also break the coal monopoly maintained by the great railways west of the Mississippi, which has caused high prices and useless coal famines throughout the West. Died. —In St. George, Monday, October 15, Elijah Thomas, born North Caro- lina, January 22, 1815, a member of the Mormon Battalion, came to Utah in 1848. He filled amission to South Africa in 1852. —In Castle Dale, Emery county, Sun- day, 21sc, Caroline A. Larson, wife of Stake President C. G. Larson, born Den- mark, 1842. —In Taylorsville, 24th, Susan Sneath Harker, born in England, June 20, 1821, a pioneer of 1847.—In Manti, Wednesday, 24th, James Cook, born England November 13, 1816, a wheelwright by trade, an Indian war veteran, and a resident of Manti since 1854. —In Goshen, same day, Susan Turple Cook, born Nova Scotia, March 17, lS18,came to Utah in 1853.—In Ephraim, Thursday, 25th, Dykes W, Sorenson, born Denmark, November 24, 1852, a leading citizen.— In Nephi, same date, Edward H. Williams, a pioneer of JjParowan, born England,

240 IMPH VEMENT ERA. November 27, 1823, and came to Utah in 1849.—In Warren, Weber county, same date, John Sill, a pioneer of Kaysville, aged 90 years. —In Thatcher, Arizona, the funeral of Olive Woolley Kimball, wife of President Andrew Kimball, was held, 28th. She was president of the Thatcher Relief Society. —In Salt Lake, Sun- day, 28th, Mary Ann Morton Pyer born England, May 3, 1854, came to Utah in 1896.- In Ogden, same day, Louis Chester Shurtliff, born Ogden, August 19, 1860. —In McCammon, Monday, 29th, Johanna Gutke, mother of Julia Brixen, of Salt Lake, a native of Sweden, in her 74th year. —In Scofield, Tuesday, 30th, Kath- eriue Burrows, born in Virginia, December 10, 1830, and came to Utah in 1852. In Lehi, Friday, November 2, James Munns, born England, June 14, 1820, joined the Church in 1849, and came to Utah in 1877. —In Parowan, Saturday, 3rd, Ro- bert E. Miller, a pioneer of Parowan, born Scotland, 1826, and came to Utah in 1849.—In Salt Lake City, Sundaj', Nov. 4, David R. Gill, Sr., born South Wales. June 1, 1838, came to Utah in 1878, having joined the Church March 17, 1865. —In Beaver, Wednesday, 7th, Daniel Tyler, born in New York, joined the Church January, 1833, was a member of the Mormon Battalion, and was ordained a Patriarch by Prest. Brigham Young, Dec. 10, 1873. He filled many missions, and held many Church offices. —In Oak City, 10th, Henry Roper, born England, Dec. 20, 1822, joined the Church in 1843, and came to Utah in 1859. He was an active Church worker.—In Vernal, 11th, Christina Peterson-Hullinger, born June 3, 1842, walked over the plains in 1864, a resident of Cottonwood until 1883.—In Salt Lake, Sylvester Smith Phippen, born New York, May 20, 1834, joined the Church in 1843, and came to Utah in the early 50's. —In Logan, Wed- nesday, 14th, Griffeth Charles, father of the first white child born in Logan, 78 years of age. —In Deseret, same day, Eliza L. Whicker, born England, June 19, 1840, came to Utah in 1874.—In Salt Lake City, Friday, 16th, Bishop James C. Watson, for 18 years bishop of the 6th ward, and for 54 years a familiar figure in Salt Lake where he arrived with his parents at the age of six.— In Salt Lake City, 17th, Anna M. Calder, widow of the late David 0. Calder, born Isle of Man, 1S37, a pioneer of 1847.—In St. Davids, Ariz., 17th, Patriarch George T.Wilson, age 80, one of the pioneers of Mesa. —In Salt Lake City, 18th, Olga Bernhardina Dahlquist, a gifted painter, daughter of Lorentius and Amanda Dahlquist, born Salt Lake July, 31. 1879.—In Provo, same day, Niels Boberg, a resident of Provo for 40 years, born Sweden, May 18, 1831. —In Springville, Monday, 19th, Peter Bell, born England, June 28, 1824, came to Dtah in 1852 with the first sugar machinery. He was a veteran of the Indian wars. —In Mendon, same date, Char- lotte Leavitt Baker, born Canada, December 5, 1818, joined the Church in 1838. —In Morgan, 22nd, Sarah J. Francis, born England, February 15, 1866. She was secretary of the Relief Society for years, aid a faituful Sunday-school worker. —In Manti, Saturday, 24th, Rebecca Wareham, a veteran of Nauvoo, and a faith ful Church worker. —In Tooele, George Albert Lyman, was buried on the 24th. He was born, Fillmore, Nov. 14, 1873. He filled a mission to Kentucky where he baptized 49 people—In Payson, Sunday 25th, Eliza Grigg, born North Carolina. Nov. 14, 1825. —In Ogden, Tuesday, 27th, William H. Pidcock, born England, January 18, 1832, and an early merchant and settler of Ogden.