Events and Comments

EVENTS AND COMMENTS. BY EDWARD H. ANDERSON. Edmund Clarence Stedman. — The "banker-poet" died in New York, January 18, 1908. He was born in Hartford, Conn., Octobers, 1833, entered Yale in the class of 1853, where he excelled in Greek, and in English composition. A student prank brought his career as undergraduate to an abrupt termination; so he was compelled to leave school, and in 1856 he began contributing to various New York journals. During 1861-3 he was Washington correspondent of the New York World, and then held a post in the office of Attorney-General Bates. In 1869, he entered business on the stock exchange, because, as he is said to have expressed himself, "I needed to be independent in order to write and study." He was a member of the stock exchange until he retired from business in 1900. In 1869, having now become honored, he was restored to the roll of his class and awarded the master's degree. His first collection of poems was published in 1860. His Victorian Poets appeared in 1875, and has passed through many editions. The Poets of America appeared in 1885. Pan in Wall Street is considered one of his best poems, though his kinsman, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, thinks the little poem, Stanzas for Music, is the one that will live, and that only few of his others will survive the test of time, even as Holmes Last Leaf and the Chambered Nautilus, are about the only poems among his that will prove immortal. Stedman was a remarkable combination of a man of letters and a man of aifairs, whose career furnished a moral for business men who have no taste for intellectual recreation, no desire beyond the daily routine of their oflSces, and who waste their powers in the one toil of gathering and scattering dollars. A writer in the New York Sun says of Mr. Stedman: "His conversation was witty, with a dash of the business man's bluntness, but always genial and sympathetic , He was a hard worker, a brave man, and a loyal friend." George Crismon.— Only few of the pioneers of 1847 remain. Elder George Grismon, pathfinder and pioneer was one of them. He arrived in Salt Lake City in October, 1847, and died there Jan. 27, 1908. He was born in Scott county, Illinois, in 1833, so that he was only a young man when he came west. His father, Charles Crismon, joined the Church in 1836, and with his family moved to Caldwell county, Mo. , [in 1838. When the Saints were driven out of Missouri, the

396 IMPROVEMENT ERA. Crismon family returned to Illinois, and later, in 1841, built a house in Macedonia, Hancock county, about 20 miles from Nauvoo and eight from Carthage. Here they remained until 1845 when they gathered to Nauvoo, from which city they were expelled with the Saints in 1846, and proceeded to Winter Quarters. They spent the winter of 1846-7 in Niobara, Nebraska, and came over the plains the summer following. Remaining in Salt Lake until 1849, the family went to California engaging some in mining, and when, in 1857, the Church began to colonize San Bernardino Co. the Crismon family moved thither and erected there the first saw-mill ever built south of Monterey. Owing to the Johnston army troubles they returned to Utah, arriving in 1858. The family decided that if their people were to be annihilated, they would share the same fate, and so started by team for Utah over the deserts. President Joseph F. Smith, on returning from a mission to Hawaii, engaged to drive one of their teams , and, as he testified at Elder Crismon's funeral which was held in the 14th ward assembly Hall, February 1, it was while on this duty that he learned to know George Crismon as a true man— a man of honor and unsullied integrity, — true to his people and his friends, ever ready to respond to any arduous call of duty. In 1865 6 the Crismons built the Busier mills on State street. In 1878 George and his father removed to Arizona, and there helped to pioneer the country and settle the Saints. They built the Crismon mill at Phoenix. Elder George Crismon spent nearly all his days in pioneer work, in milling, railroad building, mining, and other industries. He helped build the Union Pacific, and the Oregon Short Line from Granger 75 miles west, and paid much attention to the development of mining property in the state. He was always a faithful member of the Church, was at one time counselor to the bishop of the 14th ward, and at his death a High Counselor in the Granite stake of Zion. He filled a mission to England in 1872-3. In the early days he belonged to the local militia and had an active career as Indian fighter. Two terms he served as collector of Salt Lake county, and in 1884-5-6 as a member of the Salt Lake City Council. He has a large family to revere and honor his name, and friends in all parts of the great West for the development of which he devoted his days. Huntsville and Prohibition. — The people of Huntsville, Weber county, should feel encouraged, and deserve congratulation, upon the decision of Judge J. A. Howell, rendered Jnnuary 16, in which he sustained the city ofiicers chosen by the citizens who favored the abolition of the liquor saloon in that city. The election was held November 5, last, and Hon. Nels Lofgren was elected mayor with a full ticket favoring prohibition. The election was contested by N. C. Mortensen, in the Second District Court, but it was found that the ticket fairly won. Now

EVENTS AND COMMENTS. 397 it is in order for the newly elected officers to carry out the principles upon which they were elected, by abolishing the saloons, and making their city a pioneer in a movement that it is to be hoped will shortly make itself a force for similar action in every city and town of Utah, and ultimately result in state prohibition. On January 25, the Baltimore and Ohio railroad announced that all employees engaged in running or directing trains must be total abstainers from intoxicants. This is only one out of many great corporations that have made fiis order. Why should not men who direct a city or a state be as temperate as those who direct a railroad? Their work is quite as important, when we count the influence of their example on the young men . Danish Painter and Poet Dead.— Since 1872, when his first collection of poems appeared, until the late 90s, Holger Henrik Herholdt Drachmann, has been the acknowledged Danish advocate of European radicalism. He was the embodiment in his nation of the restlessness so pronounced, both there and in the nations of Europe generally, during the latter part of the nineteenth century. It must be stated, however, that his sentiments underwent considerable modification, as he grew older. He was born October 9, 1846, at Copenhagen, and died at Hornbeck, near the city of his birth, January 14, 1908. He received his education in his native city; and between 1866 and 1870 studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts, achieving some success in the painting of marine views. Under the guidance of his contemporary, George Brandes, a DanishJewish literary critic, four years his senior, he abandoned painting, and devoted himself to literature, producing, besides his splendid lyric poems, a large number of popular novels. No one has ever succeeded in painting with so great poetic effect the life of the fishers and sailors of Denmark as Hulger Drachmann. He wove the Danish language into song and story as no other writer since Oehlenschlaeger. First Representatives from Manila. — Congress has provided by law for two delegates to represent the Philippine Islands in the House of Representatives of the United States Congress. These were to be elected one each by the new Philippine Legislature and the Philippine Commission, which latter consists of four Americans and three Filipinos. The commission chose recently Hon. Benito Legarda, and the assembly, Hon. Pabla Ocampo de Leon. Legarda is of Spanish descent, being born in Manila, 54 years ago. He is a graduate of the local university, Santo Tomas, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws, and one of the wealthiest and most influential in the whole country. He has traveled largely in Europe, speaks well several languages with an almost perfect command of English, has visited the United States four times and was a member of the Philippine Commission appointed to attend the St. Louis Exposition in 1904. His manner and conversation are said to be charming, and he is partial to our institutions, so that he will be a most acceptable delegate in Washington. He is a member of the

398 IMPROVEMENT ERA. Progresista, or Government party, and has declared for eventual independence for the Philippines, but only when the United States shall consider the Filipinos prepared for the great responsibility of self-government. Mr, Ocampo is a native of the islands, apure Filipino "in head and face," belonging to an old and well-to-do Filipino family. He was born and graduated in the same city and college as Mr. Legarda, is a prominent patriot, politician and writer, and is one of the leading, though most conservative, Nacionalistas , which party is founded upon the idea that "the Filipinos are a distinct nation, capable of self-government, and that the United States should grant them independence at an early date. ' ' The two delegates will work together in all things for the benefit of the islands, unless the subject of independence arises. Their chief aim will be to improve the economic conditions of the islands, for, owing to the cattle plague, which has killed 90 per cent of the work animals, the situation is worse than for 30 years. Their chief aim will be to show Congress the need of lowering or repealing the duty on sugar and tobacco. The Portuguese Tragedy. — The little kingdom of Portugal, lying immediately west of Spain, is so far removed from a position of consequence in European politics that its doings are not usually of world-wide importance. The assassination, however, of King Carlos and the Crown Prince, has created an unusual interest in the present political status of Portugal. The story of the assassination is simple. The causes leading up to it are not so easy to understand. From one of the earliest accounts to reach this country, it appears that King Carlos, his Queen Amelia, the Crown Prince Luiz Filippe, and Prince Manuel were visiting a fair at Villa Vicosa. They returned by boat and landed at the quay at

EVENTS AND COMMENTS. 399 Lisbon at about 5 o'clock in the afternoon, February 1. They were met at the landing by th3 dictator, Franco, and two other cabinet ministers. These, however, did not accompany the royal party to the palace. The king and his party took a landau. He and the queen faced the horses, while the crown prince and his brother Manuel sat opposite their parents. When the party reached a square in the city known as Praca do Commercio, two parties of men moved rapidly towards the royal vehicle. One party stepped in front of the horses which the driver brought to a stand. The party of men in the rear of the vehicle threw aside their Spanish cloaks, drew out their carbines, and began a fusillade at the king, who rose from his seat and faced his assailants. He was immediately shot dead. The queen threw herself in front of the crown prince whom she sought to protect, but he arose and pressed her in his seat, while he faced the assassins who opened fire upon him. The young prince Manuel escaped with a slight wound, and the queen escaped by the promptness of a police who shot down one of the regicides who was in the act of taking aim at the queen. The driver, as soon as the way before him was opened, drove to a near by arsenal where the king was found to be dead and where the crown prince died in about five minutes. The queen was prostrate with grief; and it is said she passed the entire night with one hand upon the face of her husband, and the other upon the face of her son. The circumstances leading up to this tragedy date back to May, 1907, when King Carlos dissolved the Portuguese Parliament and conferred dictatorial power upon his Prime Minister, Franco. The Parliament was divided into small groups of partisans whose conflicts with one another, and whose jealousies, were so great that the Parliament was unable to transact even the ordinary business involved in the daily affairs of government. From the reports which reached this country at the time the Portuguese Parliament was dissolved, it would appear that Portugal was the victim of the worst sort of graft. The politicians held high salaried sinecures. It is said that single individuals held as many as eleven salaried ofiices at the same time. One politician drew $12,500 a year as minister to China, and during the term of that office never left Portugal. It is said that he held ia number of other positions and drew salaries amounting in the aggregate to more than $30,000 a year. In another case it is said that Parliament donated certain sums of money to a nunnery which had ceased to exist; the moneys, however, appropriated for its support went into the pockets of politicians. The king repeatedly warned the leaders of Parliament, or the Cortes, as it is called in that country, that they must get together and transact the necessary, though temporary, business of the country. His warnings were not heeded. Finally he decided upon a bold stroke by which he issued a decree suspending the constitution, and appointed his Prime Minister Franco a dictator, 'with practically unlimited power. Franco was a strong man, and ruled with an iron hand. The army was loyal to the king; the riots, therefore, which followed in Lisbon and other leading cities were promptly subdued. Newspapers were suspended, meetings prohibited, political clubs disbanded, and a strict censorship over the press established.

400 IMPROVEMENT ERA. For a while the king refrained from attending public functions where he feared attempts would be made upon his life. Bombs were found in a theatre which it was expected he would attend. Matters, however, quieted down, and little by little the king and his minister moved about more freely without the attendance of armed guards, until February 1, when the whole kingdom was shocked by the sad news of the assassinations. It is supposed that the Republicans, who have among them a number of Socialists, caused the assassination of the king. There was no apparent disposition among the masses of the Portuguese towards a revolution, and the army was thoroughly loyal to the monarchy. Young Manuel was only eighteen when the tragedy occurred, having been born in Lisbon, November 15, 1889, but according to the constitution he is authorized to take up the reins of government at that age. The Prime Minister, Franco, according to despatches, has fled from the country. At any rate, a new ministry has been appointed. The incident in itself may have been classed along with other assassinations of monarchs, in recent years, but for the attitude of Socialist bodies in the parliaments, in some of the leading European countries. Naturally the heads of governments were prompt in telegraphing expressions of sympathy to the queen of the Portuguese people. When, however, similar action was undertaken in the legislative department in different governments, the Socialists became strong in the opposition to expressions of sympathy. In France, the Socialists noisily interrupted Mr. Pinchon in his efforts to express sympathy for Portugal. The Unified Socialists in France went so far as to introduce a measure expressing the Chamber's sympathy with their fellow Republicans in Portugal. The president of this Chamber refused to submit the motion. In Rome , the Republican Municipal Counselors became angry with the mayor who telegraphed condolence to Queen Amelia, and who had ordered the city flag at half mast. This intense opposition grew out of the refusal on the part of Carlos to visit Italy and Italy's king, upon the order of the Pope that he should not do so. In Berlin, when the president of the Reichstag addressed the house in expressions of indignation at the assassination of the king and the crown prince in Portugal, several members at once arose in token of sympathy with the president's remarks. The Social Democratic Deputies, however, did not stand, but left the house before the address was ended. In Hungary, the government submitted to . Parliament a motion of sympathy for the family of the late King Carlos. The Independent party at once opposed the motion, on the ground that Carlos had violated the constitution of Portugal. The motion was withdrawn. The strong stand of the leading Socialists in different countries of Europe against sympathetic expressions over the dej,th of the king must be taken as a measure of sympathy with the assassins whose work they refuse to condemn, even if they do not condone it. European Socialism is of that violent character that might make it easy to convert it into anarchy, if the psychological moment arrived. The growth of Socialism throughout Europe makes such an attitude dangerous to the internal stability of the present governments of continental Europe. — Dr. J. M. Tanner.