Events and Comments

EVENTS AND COMMENTS. BY EDWARD H. ANDERSON. Gifts by Russel Sage's Widow.— The sum of $10,000,000 has been given by Mrs. Russel Sage of New York, for the endowment of what will be known a» the "Sage Foundation, " for the purpose of carrying on philanthropic work all over the United States. Seven men and women will administer the fund as a board of trustees, and tne income will be expended both in investigating the causes of bad social conditiDns, and in doing what may be possible to relieve them. Be- sides this gift she has given $250,000 to the International Committee of the Y. M. C. A. and $1,000,000 each to two educational institutions— The Emma Willard school, and the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Death of Hattie Wight.— The stake superintendency of the Y. M. M. I. A. of Box Elder stake — Ernest P. Horsley, Oluf Feterson, and James P. Olsen, to- gether with their associates on the stake Board, — adopted on March 17, 1907, a tribute of respect to Sister Hattie Wight who died on the 16th; and who for the past six years had acted as stake president of the Y. L. M. I. A. of the Box Elder stake. Sister Wight completed a life of devotion to the cause of truth, and the salvation of souls, and gave graciously and truly of her abundant love, counsel, and encouragement to the officers and members of the Mutual Improvement Asso- ciations, who admired her for her sublime character and her achievements in the mutual improvement cause, in morals, and in religion. She was born November 12, 1871. Railroads and State Laws. — Following the example of Congress, many of the state legislatures this season passed measures looking to the regulation of railroads. A bill of this kind was introduced into the Utah Legislature, but was promptly killed, the conservative attitude of the people of Utah prevailing against the more radical ideas of the times against railroads. Among the bills passed by other states, we find measures for reducing freight rates, for compelling railroads to supply cars for shippers, for closer supervision of corporation bond issues, and for fixing passenger fares. The following states have fixed fares at 2 cents per mile: Nebraska, Indiana, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Maryland, while in North Carolina the rate has been fixed at 2i cents a mile. Death of a Russian Religious Autocrat.— Perhaps the most hated and also the most powerful man in Russia for 25 years prior to 1905, was Constantine

5S6 IMPROVEMENT ERA. Petrovitch Pobedonostsef, Procurator General of the Russian Holy Synod, by virtue of which office he was the leader of the religious affairs in that Empire, and as such was vehemently opposed to religious tolerance and political reform. Up to the time of the publication of tho reform rescript of October 13, 1905, he was the principal power behind the throne of the present Czar, which, indeed, he had been during the reign of Alexander III also. Immediately after the publication of that rescript, he retired to private life and died on March 25, 1907, in his 80th year, hated by all the reform forces in Russia. He was held responsible for the severe anti- Jewish measures of 1886-7, and also for later persecutions of that people, as well as for the intolerance which was shown toward Lutherans, Roman Catholics, and the Doukhobors. For all of his faults, he is said to have been a sincere man, and some are tolerant enough to say that cruelties which he sanctioned may have been justified to his own conscience as necessary, in his estimation, to the political and religious welfare of his country. The Japanese Question. — This question appears to be settled temporarily, at least, by the action of President Roosevelt in calling a committee of officials from San Francisco to Washington, and; arranging with them that Japanese chil- dren should have full rights in the public schools, while Japanese emigration in return should be restricted. In conformity with this plan, or agr ement, the San Francisco Board of Education, March 13, rescinded the original resolution, segre- gating Japanese children in the public schools, and adopting a new order by which any alien children, with the exception of Chinese and Koreans may be admitted to the schools within certain age limits. The California legislature, however, pro- ceeded to enact anti-Japanese legislation,whereupon President Roosevelt suggested to the governor of California that if this were persisted in, it might block the negotiation of a new treaty with Japan, whereupon the legislature abandoned the contemplated legislation, at least for the present. On March 14, a number of Japanese children were admitted to the schools. The National government with- drew the suits which had been instituted to test the rights of the Japanese, and on the same day President Roosevelt, under authority of the recently enacted emi- gration law, issued an executive order directing that Japanese or Korean laborers, Canada, or Hawaii, and who skilled or unskilled, holding passports to Mexico, came therefrom, be not allowed to enter the continental territory of the United States. Thomas Bailey Aldrich.— On the 19th of March, 1907, Thomas Bailey Aldrich, poet, novelist, and editor, died, aged 70 years. He was among the youngest of the distinguished group of men of letters who made Boston and Cam- bridge jUustrious during the latter half of the last century. At the age of 20 years he wrote the Ballad of Baby Bell which is one of his best known poems. Many boys have received great pleasure from the Story of a Bad Boy which re- inains a classic among boys' books. He was editor of the Atlantic Monthly for nine years. Queen Sheba and Marjory Daw are among his best known stories. A poem of his entitled The Three Roses is widely quoted:

EVENTS AND COMMENTS. 557 Three roses, wan as moonlight, and weighed down, Eaci with its loveliness as with a crown, Drooped in a florist's window in a town. The first a lover bought. It lay at rest Like flower on flower that night on beauty's breast. The second rose, as virginal and fair, Shrank in the tangles of a harlot's hair. The third, a widow, with new grief made wild, Shut in the icy palm of her dead child. Dowie, Founder of Zion City, Dead.— John Alexander Dowie who in June, 1901, proclaimed himself Elijah III, and who was the founder, and until re- cently the head of the religious sect founded by him and known as the Christian Catholic Church in Zion, died on the 9th of March in his sixtieth year. As is well known, he had recently been deposed as leader of Zion City and its manu- facturing institutions. He was a remarkable character. Born in Edinburgh, he became first a Congregationalist minister, and then an Independent Evangelist in Australia. He came to the United States in 1890, and began to preach the efficacy of divine healing at Chicago. Many were attracted bv him; and, in 1896, he organized the Christian Catholic Church in Zion with himself as overseer. A col- lege, and a publication plant were among the establishments which he hospital, instituted, and in 1899, he purchased a site about forty miles North of Chicago with a view to building Zion City where his social and religious ideas might have full scope. It was here that a sort of state socialistic plan was adopted by his followers. The title to the land was vested in Dowie, and the members of the community, which within a year grew to 10,000 people, were pledged to absolute obedience to him. Industries were established, including a lace-making plant, brick yards, box factories, fruit-canning and preserving factories, and a manufac- tory for ofl5ce supplies and other things. In October of 1901 he undertook an evangelistic campaign in New York City which failed of its purpose. The money expended, and other extravagances of the leader, created a financial stringency in Zion City, which, after his tour of the world taken a year or two later, embar- rassed the church to such an eytent" that dissensions broke out, and he was deposed during the latter part of last year in favor of Voliva, the present leader, who is also having troubles of his own. The Seventh Legislature. —The Seventh State Legislature passed 83 Sen- ate bills and 81 House bills, making a total of 164 new laws added to the statute book. Perhaps the most successful legislation along any particular line was that for the betterment of our public schools. Heretofore, it has required a school popula- tion of three thousand to enable the schools of a county to consolidate under one board of trustees; now any county, regardless of school population, may consoli- date. Instead of each county superintendent prescribing the course of study for his county, under the new law, a commission is organized to provide a course for

558 IMPROVEMENT ERA. all the counties, consisting of the State Superintendent, the Principal of the State Normal school, the Principal of the State Normal Training school, and two County Superintendents chosen by the State Board of Education. County teachers' insti- tutes will now be conducted under the direction of the County Superintendent, State Superintendent, and Principal of the State Normal school. After sixty days of hard fighting, the State Superintendent's salary was raised from $1,800 to $2,400, and the office of deputy superintendert was abolished as a paid office. A bill was passed creating the Public School Teachers' Retirement Association, through which teachers may retire on half salary after thirty years' teaching. What is considered by the most eminent Juvenile Court judges and workers of the United States, the best Juvenile Court law ever written, is now in force in this state. The court is given dignity by being a state court, and the true spirit of Juvenile Court work has been emphasized, by making it a separate court and not a criminal court or branch of a criminal court. Corporations are now required to pay an annual state license. This will be a source of great revenue to the state. A memorial was sent to Washington, urging that a new department be added to the President's cabinet, to be known as the Department of Mines and Mining. Seven thousand five hundreddollars was appropriated for the purpose of driving artesian wells on dry farming land owned by the state. Other important measures related to the creation of new counties, pure food, the practice of medicine, public libraries, bounty on wild animals, qualifications for marriage, state board of sheep commissioners, regulating speed of automobiles, and increasing the powers of the board of equalization. Some of the important measures introduced but not passed were: the bill for a railroad commission, Galveston bills, consolidation of the University of Utah and the Agricultural College of Utah, depository acts, poll tax bill, Capitol sinking fund, Sunday closing of saloons, etc., and insurance supervision. George H. Taylor. — Bishop George Hamilton Taylor, of the Fourteenth ward, Salt Lake City, who died on April 14, at his home in Sugar House, was the fourth Bishop of <he Fourteenth ward, and the son of Samuel Taylor and Lydia Osborne. He was born in West BloomSeli, now Moatclair, Essex county, New Jersey, November 4, 1823. His ancestors came to America from Eagland, in 1639. From the time he was eleven years old he was practically a worker. He spent two years on a farm, and later clerked in Jersey City, and New York. When sixteen years of age he was apprenticed to learn calico engraving, at Haverstraw, N. Y. where he worked until he was twenty-nix years old. , It was here that a fellow workman, John Druce, preached the gospel to him, and later baptized him on the 22nd of September, 1849. Many of the workmen were also converted, and a branch was formed which aided materially in helping to sustain The Mormon, a periodical published by Apostle John Taylor, at that timj, in New York City. On the 31st of August, 1856, he married the late Elmina Shepherd, well known as general president of the Young Ladies' Mutual Improvement As- .sociations of the Church. With Eiward Scevenson, in the spring of 1859, they crossed the plains with their own ox team, arriving practically penniless in Salt

. . EVENTS AND COMMENTS. - 659 Lake City, on the 16th of September. He accepted work at a saw mill in Cot- tonwood canyon, laying there the foundation for his future business. He labored first as a carpenter, and later as a maker of doors and sashes . He was a founder of the firm of Latimer & Taylor, which was the beginning of the great building and lumber company of various titles, at different times, but lately known as the Taylor- Armstrong Co., of which he was president until the time of his death George H. Taylor blew the first steam whistle ever heard in this city, and planed the first board by machine in Utah Many middle-aged people remember him as Sunday school superintendent. On the 20;h of April, 1876, he was chosen ?econd counselor in the bishopric of the Fourteenth ward; and first counselor December 18, 1884, and bishop of the ward October 11, 1886. He filled a mission to England in 1879-80, presiding over the London conference . In both business and religious affairs Brother Taylor was a man of sterling worth, honest, energetic, progressive, sympathetic and full of faith. He filled the office of bishop with honor and distinction, and was indeed a father and a comforter to the poor of the ward. Funeral services over his remains wfre held in the Assembly Hall, Salt Lake City, April 16. Presidents Joseph F. Smith, Join R. Winder, Anthon H. Lund, Elders Heber J. Grant, Nephi L. Morris, and President Frank Y. Taylor of the Granite stake, and Bishop John M. Whitaker of the Sugar ward, paid deserved tributes to his memory. The Temple choir furnished the singing and music. Bishop Taylor had been a faithful worker in the temple for several years. He married Lois Foote, July 4, 1877; and Nellie Colebrook, October 9, 1885, and leaves a large family to mourn his departure. Executive Appointments for 1907, Confirmed.— E. A. Wedgwood, Inspector General; G.Member State Board of Correction; James B. Pfoutz, T. Hammond and Grant H. Smith, Members of Code Commission; 0. J. Salisbury, John Watson, J. J. Thomas, R. R. Tanner, Members of State Board of Equalization; J. G. McDonald, M. K. Parsons, Thomas H. Smith, John H. Seeley, Robert R. Irvine, Frank J. Hewlett, Fred J. Kiesel. Emma A. Empey, Members of Board of Directors of Utah State Fair Ass ciation; Perley A. Hill, Wm. M. Piggott, Dr. C. M. Benedict, Members State Board Examiners of Barbers; H. B. Cromar, State Fish and Game Commissioner; John Peterson, State Dairy and Food Commissioner; Herman Harms, State Chemist; F. W. Price. Com- missioner of Statistics (office afterward abolished by the Legislature) ; Arthur Parsons, Member and Chairman of State Board of Labor, Conciliation and Arbi- tration; E. M. Conroy, T. B. Evans, Members of Board of Trustees of State Industrial School; Samuel C. Park, Brigadier General (from June 22, 1905); C. R. Hollingsworth, Ashby Snow, S. H. Love, Members of Commission on Uniform Legislation; W. G. Dalryraple, Member State Board of Dental Examiners; W. R. Calderwood, Member of State Board of Health; Walter H. Dayton. B. F. Riter. John Culley, Members of State Board of Pharmacy; W. W. Riter, Waldemar Van Cott,Anthon H. Lund, Samuel Newhouse, Members of Board of Regents, Univer- sity Utah; W. S. McCornick, Mrs. A. W. McCune, W. W. Riter. John Q. of Adams, Members of Board of Trustees, Agricultural College (W. S. McCornick afterward declined to serve and W. W. Riter resigned); T. C. Callister, Henry

560 . IMPROVEMENT ERA. N. Hayes, Wm. H. Thain, Members of State Board of Land Commissioners; John Hafen, A. B. Wright, Virginia S. Stephen, Edwin Evans. G. Wesley Browning, M. M. Young, Members of Governing Board of the Utah Art Institute; L. N. Stohl, Member of Board of Trustees, Agricultural College; F. S. Bascom, Member of State Board ofHealth; C. A. Hickenlooper, J. Edward Taylor, J. D. Wadley, Thomas Judd, Members of the State Board of Horticulture; Leslie S, Hodgson, Member of Board of Utah Art Institute (appointment due to refusal of Senate to confirm appointment of S. T. Whitaker); D. C. Budge, A. S. Condon, Charles L. Olsen, A. C. Ewing, Elias S. Wright F. E. Straup, R. W. Fisher, A. P. Hibbs, Ralph T. Richards, Members of State Board of Medical Examiners (Dr. Wright afterward resigned, and Dr. Fred W. Taylor of Provo was appointed) ; C. E. Loose, Member of Board of Agricultural College (Mr. Loose afterward declined to serve.) APPOINTMENTS SINCE THE ADJOURNMENT OP THE LEGISLATURE. John Walsh, County Commissioner, Davis (on account of resignation of J. H- Larkins); E. A. Wedgwood, Adjutant General (on account of resignation of R. C. Naylor); H. M. H. Lund, Assistant Adjutant General; Wm. J. Lynch, W. D. Candland, Members cf Land Board (on account of refusal of Senate to confirm their appointments) ; H. S. Joseph, Trustee Industrial School (on account of re- fusal of Senate to confirm appointment); W. S. McCornick, Wesley K. Walton, Arthur L. Thomas, Fisher Harris, Commissioners for Jamestown Tercentennial Exposition; John E. Austin, L. R. Anderson, J. S. Ostler, Members of State Board of Sheep Commissioners (change of law by recent Legislature); J. W. N. White- cotton, A. S. Condon, Trustees Agricultural College (declination of C. E. Loose and resignation of W. W. Riter). New San Francisco and New Calamities. — On the 18th of April, San Francisco celebrated the first anniversary of the great earthquake and fire in that city. The day was generally observed as a holiday, and the progress in rebuild- ing the great city was widely observed and commented upon . Its recuperative power is wonderful when the difficulties of strikes, labor unions, grafting officials, and other obstacles thrown in its way, are considered. A new building has been completed, it is said, in about every hour for the past few months, and we may soon behold a new and more beautiful city, rising Phoenix-like from the ruins and ashes of the old San Francisco. As if to remind the world of the fearful catastrophe, there were earthquakes in divers places, about the time of the anniversary. In parts of Mexico, many plantations, and several small interior cities were laid waste, and many lives destroyed. On the 19th fire consumed Iloilo, the second largest city in the Philip- pines, and 20,000 people were rendered homeless. Earthquakes added horror to the situation. In the last days of March a typhoon swept over the Caroline group in the Pacific where many lives were lost, and many of the 57,000 population were made to suifer or lost their all. Add to this, the terrible and numerous railway accidents in our own country; the fearful famine in China, where thousands die daily; and the like calamity in some of the Russian provinces where millions are threatened, or are actually suffering, with starvation , and it would seem that the year 1907 is keeping well up with last year in great calamities.