Events and Comments

EVENTS AND COMMENTS. BY EDWARD H. ANDERSON. Affairs in Russia. — Little is said of conditions in Russia, but political crimes and violence continue unabated. The extent of the unrest prevailing may be judged from the fact that the most reliable information places the number of exiled persons for political offenses during the month of July at 274 ; and 54 Rus- sian officers and 95 privates were killed and 47 officers and 52 privates were wounded while engaged in maintaining order during that same month. Saint Gaudens Dead. — The great papers of the United States are unani- mous in pronouncing August St. Gaudens, who died in Cornish, New Hampshire, August 3, aged 59 years, the most distinguished sculptor in America. He was born of a French father and an Irish mother, in Dublin, and came to the United States in his infancy. Here he began his career as a cameo- cutter. In 1871 his first figure, "Hiawatha," was produced in Rome. His best known works in America are Abraham Lincoln, at Chicago; General Sherman and Peter Cooper, New York; and the striking equestrian and relief statue of Robert Gould Shaw, at Boston, Recently he completed a statue of Charles Stewart Parnell for the city of Dublin; and his latest work are new designs for United States coins. New Alpine Tunnel. — Work on a new Alpine tunnel is under way. This tunnel is to be built to pierce the massive Bernese Oberland, on the northern side of the Rhone Valley, in order to give access from the great Simplon Tunnel, to northern Europe, to avoid a detour westward by way of Martigney and Lausanne. To make it as short as possible, the tunnel is placed at an elevation of 4,000 feet, requiring splendid engineering skill on the approaches. The length of the tunnel will be about eight miles and a half; the work is expected to be completed in five years at a cost of $15,000,000. Elecric trains will be used to mount the steep slopes leading to the tunnel. From all of this it would seem that America is not alone in great engineering enterprises.

1004 IMPROVEMENl ERA. Cantilever Bridge at Quebec Collapsed, —Speaking of great engineering enterprises, brings to mind the fact that once in a while failure attends them. The southern half of the great cantilever bridge across the St. Lawrence river, just above Quebec, collapsed, because of too much weight, and carelessness in pil- ing on more iron, on the 29th of August, and 90 of the workmen were carried into the river with the wreckage, out of which number 79 perished. The bridge was begun in 1900 and was to have been finished in 1909 at a cost of $10,000,000. It was the southern end of the bridge, designed as the longest single-span canti- lever in the world, which gave way. It was nearly half a mile in length, and hung 150 feet above the river. The completed bridge was to have been 3,600 feet long. Anti-Oriental Riots. —The laboring men of Vancouver, B. C. , joined in a parade and anti-oriental demonstration on September 7, in which 10,000 men took part. The Chinese quarter was raided, 2,000 Chinese were driven from their homes and $5,000 worth of property was destroyed. Then the windows were smashed, the same night, in fifty Japanese stores. The next day 500 Japs, landing from a steamer, were attacked, and in the riots following Baron Ishie, Chief of the Bureau of Foreign Commerce, and the Japanese consul at Seattle, were mistreated. It appears that large numbers of Japanese are landing in Vancouver, sent thither by the Hawaiians who are interested in their exportation from the islands, and who supply them with the $25 necessary to land in British Columbia. The move- ment of Japanese to Hawaii is not restricted, and once there, thoy may take pas- sage elsewhere. Since January 1, about 2,000 of them have landed in Vancouver. Utah and the National Irrigation Congress. — At the National Irrigation Congress held at Sacramento, California, recently, at which the Ogden city taber- nacle choir, under Prof. Joseph Ballantyne, gained such recognition and praise, and won such great laurels, Utah won sixteen out of the twenty-one prizes offeredi which fact reflects great credit to the state, and is cause for hearty congratula- tions to our State Board of Horticulture, with Thomas Judd president. Utah won the prize for the best collective exhibit of irrigated products: also a trophy for the best exhibit of products of a single farm irrigated by pumping, and by electric power; a prize for the best exhibit of canned vegetables; for the best exhibit of canned fruits; for the best collective exhibit of canned tomatoes; for the best ex- hibit of brewing barley, and for the best single irrigated orchard. This latter prize was awarded to Thomas Judd, of LaVerkin, Utah, and consisted of a Durham bull. Many other prizes were awarded to Utah people. A number of the cups captured by Utan at the Congress were displayed during September at the Com- mercial Club, Salt Lake City. Monument to the Pilgrims. — On August 20, at Princetown, Mass., the cornerstone of a monument, which will be 250 feet high, and will commemorate the signing of the compact of the pilgrims in the cabin of the Mayflower, their first landing on American soil, and their six week's exploration of Cape Cod Bay,

EVENTS AND COMMENTS. 1005 was laid with impressive ceremonies. Speeches were made by President Roose- velt, Ambassador Bryce, Governor Guild and Senator Lodge. The President's speech, every word of which was instinct with purpose and truth, has been widely commented upon. He urged the necessity of national regulation of corporations, and promised that during the remaining eighteen months of his administration there should be no change of policy regarding the enforcement of laws against corporate abuses. Here is a splendid sentiment fromhis speech: "The man is but a poor father, who teaches his sons that ease and pleasure should be their chief object in life. So he is but a poor leader of the people, but a poor national adviser, who seeks to make the nation in any way subordinate effort to ease, who would teach the people not to prize as the greatest blessing the chance to do any work, no matter how hard, if it becomes their duty to do it." Mansfield and Grieg Dead. — Richard Mansfield, foremost in support of the dignity and renown of the stage, a distinguished American actor, who early cut away from the common methods and led out for himself with great success, died August 30, aged 50 years. His career is an example of how perseverance leads to success. His early life was marked by hardship and vicissitude; and after experiments in business, in art, and in journalism, he finally entered upon a stage career, which was eminently successful artistically and financi3,41y. Imagi- nation was the highest attribute of his acting, and next to that came his rich humor. Ibsen, the author of Peer Gynt, Mansfield who placed it upon the first English stage,andiiow Edvard Hagerup Greig, the composer, "the three wizards evoking Peer Gynt's spirit," are all dead. Edvard Greig died at Bergen, Norway Sep- tember 4, aged 64, pronounced the "last of ihe great composers who had made this age illustrious in the history of the most beautiful of all arts." His songs and orchestral compositions, especially the Peer Gynt suite, are widely popular. 'From ' every point of view, " says the Eiening Post, "that interests the music lover, Greig is one of the most interesting geniuses in the musical world of the present or past. His songs are a mine of melody." France and Morocco.— France and Spain, acting under authority granted them by the Algeciras Conference, have intervened in the troubles in Morocco, to restore order among the natives who are rioting. A mob recently killed eight Europeans, and a general massacre of foreigners was threatened. Early in August house), and later a the French warship Galilee was sent to Casablanca (the white within the city; French landing party of sailors was attacked by Moorish troops fought their way to the consulates in which the Europeans had sought but these refuge. The native part of the town was bombarded by the French warship and utterly ruined, while many of the tribesmen who had gathered on the outside were killed. the Europeans, The tribesmen afterward repeated their murderous attacks upon and they were repulsed with heavy loss. A large part of the city was burned and looted; but worse than all, shocking outrages were further perpetrated upon the Jewish and Christian populations. France and Spain are now jointly occupying

1006 IMPROVEMENT EM A. the sea-port towns and larger cities of Morocco to preserve peace and protect the lives and property of the Europeans who are engaged in trade and commerce. The latest prediction is that France will eventually annex Morocco, and that the Sultanate which, under the late Algeciras coavention, because of the interference of Germany, was to remain inviolate, will be overthrown, and that France in this way will steadily advance toward the fulfilment of her dream of an immense African empire. Certain it is that Spain is being asked to help, and is helping, and that Italy and Germany are watching the trouble with apparent indifference, and the assumption of a most pacific attitude. The trouble in Morocco is further complicated by an attempt of the Sultan's brother, Mulia Hafid, to establish him- self as Sultan. The troops of France and Spain have been reinforced, but will take no part, it is announced, in settling the controversy between the contending persons for the position of Sultan. Uintah Stake Tabernacle. — President Joseph F, Smith and party visited Vernal, Uintah county, for the purpose of dedicating the new stake tabernacle at Vernal, and to attend the 81st quarterly conference of the Uintah stake, on the 24th and 25th of August. The party returned to Salt Lake City on the 31st of August, having had a pleasant trip. When they entered the Uintah valley they were surprised by the Naples ward Sunday school children all of whom blockaded the road, sang songs, and presented flowers to the President, who in turn ad- dressed the little ones and shook hands with each one of them. President Smith was greatly charmed with the visit, and in the course of his remarks to the peo- ple expressed his delight with their homes and country. Both with their temporal prospects and with their spiritual progress he was pleased, and declares that he had not met a more healthy, intelligent, and beautiful people in all his travels than may be found in that part of Utah. During one of the meetings there were 1,500 people in attendance, yet it was almost impossible to say, in boking over the country, from whence they had come, so scattered were they over the broad acres of land surrounding Vernal. He advised the people in settling to form themselves into settlements, so that they may have the advantages of educa- tional and social facilities, in the training of their children. He thinks that ab least three or four times the population might be well provided for in that country, and cannot see any reason why people should go long distances from Utah to find homes when so much land lies idle at our very doors. President Smith dedicated the new tabernacle on Sunday, 25th. This large and commodious building was begun in April, 1900, the quarrying of the rock having been commenced in November, 1899. The walls were erected and roofed in the summer of 1901, and was completed in August of this year, in detail, and paid for by Saturday evening, 24th. The cost of the building is about $30,000, including the grounds, steam-heating, wires for electric lights, seating, decoration of the building, and the organ. The Old "Mormon" Trail.— In the Detroit Free Press recently ap- peared an article by John Hubert Grensel, connecting the work of Brigham Young

: . EVENTS AND COMMENTS. 100 and the Utah Pioneers, with the "Salt Lake Route." It is an interesting story from which the following excerpts are taken It is a far cry from Brigham Young to Senator William A. Clark, of Montana; but through an inexplicable caprice of history these two men, between them, played out the drama of the old "Mormon" trail. A lapse of fifty years takes place, though, between the first and the last act. Brigham Young's prophetic vision saw in the trail a pathwav to a fairer world; Clark, a steel highway, over Nevada's sun- blistered deserts, to the land of gold. In Brigham Young's dream it was the heavenly streets that were paved with the precious metal but Senator Clark is ; the man, of all others, who brought Nevada's gold within the reach of any one who may choose to go prospecting at Bullfrog, Transvaal, Wild Rose, Emigrant Springs, Greenwater, Johnnie, or other camps of the Amargosa or the Death Val- ley regions. You can go in a Pullman train right into the heart of the gold fields, traveling de luxe all the way; and again it is Clark that did it. It is all a story of modern transportation, and the men who brought it about are WMlliam A. Clark of Montana, whose millions backed the enterprise, and his brother, J. Ross Clark, who executed the difficult plans. These two men have opened a country that contains a zone of gold said to be the richest in the world. In the drama of Western railroad building there is no more romantic story The story of the "Mormon" trail begins fifty years ago with Brigham Young. Borrowing primitive irrigation methods from Egypt, he was making the beginning of a wonderful garden in the desert. Whatever you may think of Brigham Young's religious conceptions, on his practical side he was a man of commanding importance, had the wisdom of the world's greatest men. Brighand' Young was born to rule by the divine right of his own intelligence. Brigham Young was seeking a trail to the Pacific. He foresaw, years beyond his generation, the importance of a highway to the Pacific. He tried immense plans, himself; even attempting a route by way of the Colorado; but it was his project of a "Mormon" trail that lived in history. He told his people of a vision of a wonderful valley, by the southwest, over a wall of mountains. They made the hazardous journey with ox teams, at five miles a day. The route was explored as the "Monnons" went along. Generally it led southwest, toward the Pacific, over the desert, through the mountains. Fi- _ nally they came to a pass which they named Meadow Valley "Wash," and it is so called to this day. In this wild, desolate place, the walls towered it seemed to the very'skies. The wandering lasted four months. Indians hung on the flanks all the time, sending occasional showers of poisoned arrows. In the desert, men died for lack of water, but still Lyman and Rowe, the religious enthusiasts, sup- ported by Brigham Young's dream of an earthly paradise somewhere off yonder, toiled on and on. These "Mormons" were in truth passing through Nevada's desert El Dorado; a region sown with gold and silver almost at the grass roots; but the eyes of the pilgrims were turned toward the skies. Mysticism like that which sends the blind, the lame and the palsied to Lourdes, sustained Brigham Young's men. It was on this route, known later as the ''Mormon" trail, that forty-five years later "Shorty" Harris and Ernest Cross, found free gold in amazing richness, and brought the rush to the Nevada treasure vaults. In the fifty years that had passed since Brigham Young had planned his trail for 'Mormons" who came to the Pacific coast from Australia or around the Horn, ' the obscure path through the desert became the prize of railroad kings, who in turn battled for the private ownership of the old "Mormon" highway. In the late 60' s the dream was first dreamed of a railroad across this 1000- mile desert. The Union Pacific, flushed with first success, stepped in, built a few miles and gave up the plan. Next John W. Young, son of Brigham, undertook

1008 IMPR VEMENT ERA. the project. He constructed a narrow gauge road down the country, then stopped. The Union Pacific took hold once more. This time it was to be the Salt Lake and Western. As usual, it fell through. Eight years later, the Union Pacific tried it again, but Baring Bros.' failure brought everything to a standstill. One by one. Western monied men bankrupted themselves, and finally Jay Gould appeared on the scene. When he started to cross the desert with iron, Collis P. Hunting- ton of the Southern Pacific threatened dire vengeance. Gould withdrew. George Cannon then took hold and so did that other millionaire, A. W. McCune, and David Eccles, but disaster followed, and finally, after years of difficulties bringing finan- cial ruin to scores, the 'Mormon" trail railroad plan was abandoned and Utah and ' Nevada took back the right of way for taxes. The scene now shifts for the next few years to Washington, where a battle royal is going on between Huntington and southern Californians for a free ocean harbor, to be improved with millions from the national treasury. Huntington, who owned Santa Monica harbor, naturally wanted the government to spend the money there; the citizens favored San Pedro harbor. Huntington slipped in to buy the land at San Pedro, but could get only half; on the other side local interests had built a stub-end railroad, going from tidewater to Los Angeles, less than twenty miles. It is now that Senator Clark comes to the scene. Clark's genius for large affairs was destined to control the day. Quick as a flash, he decided to buy the little stub-end railroad, securing thus an "open gate" to the Pacific. It was done, almost over night. It was generally supposed that Clark was merely building a local road in southern California. The far-reaching importance of his plans was cleverly dis- guised. But when his men began grading on the old McCune right of way, on the "Mormon" trail, Western railroad kings held an immediate conference and decided that William A. Clark must not build that road. The plan was put to Clark in the courts for years on technicalities; and the first gun was soon fired. It was held that the old right of way had not reverted to Nevada, but still belonged to McCune' s successor, the Union Pacific. The great Harriman put thousands of men in the field to begin building a railroad along the "Mormon" trail. Clark did the same. The rival camps concen- trated at Meadow Valley "wash," the lone pass from Utah to Nevada. The man that held the pass would control the situation. This pass, in places, is only wide enough for a single track; to build without it, or with a competing line, is mad- ness; to go around it, impossible. It was the strategic kej^ The forces that met at Meadow Valley "wash" were in truth armed vassals of feudal lords, prepared, if need be, to fight to the death for their respective It was like some chapter from the history of the middle ages. The burden of the story is 'might is right." ' Some people think it has died out in our American republic. Men who reason that way do not see the inner meaning of events. Then Clark planned a sudden and unexpected march into the county tribu- tary to the Oregon Short Line. The warring clans met in hot council. A bargain was struck, and the long- cherished dream of a road along the "Mormon" trail, through the plains of Utah and the deserts of Nevada, became true. (end of vol 10.)