--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Anderson, Edward H. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 11 number: 7 published: 1908-05 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Edward H. Anderson, "Events and Comments," *Improvement Era* 11, no. 7 (May 1908): 564–568.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1107unse 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: improvementera1107unse start_page: 564 end_page: 568 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1908-05) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1107unse publication_year: 1908 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 1908, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Events and Comments EVENTS AND COMMENTS. BY EDWARD H. ANDERSON. Battleship "Idaho." — The Idaho, the greatest, as well as the newest bat- tleship of the United States navy, was placed in commission on March 27. It was built at Cramp's shipyard, Philadelphia. Utah alone stands without a name on the seas, and we are promised by the government that the next addition to the navy shall be named Utah. The Aldrich Bill. — This currency measure passed the Senate March 27, by a vote of 42 to 16. It provides for the issue of emergency currency to an amount not to exceed half a billion dollars. Banks to which this currency is issued are to deposit as security for it, state, county and municipal bonds, approved by the Secretary of the Treasury, and are to pay for this emergency circulation at the rate of one half of one per cent per month, during the first four months, three- fourths of one per cent per month thereafter as long as it is kept in circulation. It is said that in the House the bill will be vigorously opposed. Sentence of Lieutenant General Stoessel.— He, it will be remembered, commanded the Russian forces at Port Arthur, and" was tried recently by court martial for incapacity and cowardice in surrendering to the Japanese before all possibilities of defense were exhausted. The court sentenced him to death, but recommended the commutation of the sentence, and the Czar who approved both the sentence and the recommendation changed the sentence to ten years imprison- ment. General Stoessel is confined to a dark and damp prison, where his wife visits him daily, giving him some delicacy. His private fortune enables him to have the best of food, but it is difficult to understand how a man like Stoessel de- serves such harsh punishment from a government so very bad as that which pre- vails in Russia. Socialists and Bombs. — After permission had been denied by the police authorities, the Socialist Conference of the Unemployed attempted to hold a public meeting in Union Square, New York, March 28. While the police were clearing the square a bomb exploded in the hands of a man named Silverstein, a member of the Anarchist Federation of America, and seriously injured him and killed a by- EVENTS AND COMMENTS. 565 stander. The bomb was intended to be used against a platoon of fifty policemen. Strong expressions of regret over the whole incident are found in the Socialist and Labor press. The New York press is thoroughly awake to the danger lurking in the wide advocacy of anarchistic doctrine promulgated by the New York group of "reds." Emma Goldman, the Chicago anarchist, visited Salt Lake in the early part of April and spoke at three meetings, without incident. Temperance. — At the opening meeting of the late annual conference, Presi- dent Joseph F. Smith sounded the keynote touching the liquor question, by stating hat the presiding authorities of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 'are in harmony with the efforts towards temperance." ^He did not think the people were in favor of adopting radical means to gain this end, but that they would decide this question by reasonable and conservative measures. Local option will perhaps be the best means to begin with, and as the people learn the moral, the peace and financial value that will accrue to them by abolishing the saloons, they will soon unitedly be willing to take more radical measures, and banish liquor from their midst altogether. The Latter-day Saints have been taught for years, in the revelation on the Word of Wisdom, to be temperate, and it should be no difficult task to convince all the people that they are better in every way without liquor. It ought not to be a political question, in the sense that any one political party should make it an issue. Every party should elect men who are in favor of the strictest possible regulation of the liquor traffic, where the sentiment of the people is not yet ripe for more stringent measures, such as local option, or the complete aboli- tion of the saloon ,or even prohibition. About the same time that President Smith was expressing himself upon the subject of temperance, the following words were uttered by Governor Hanly in a speech which he made at the Republican state con- vention of Indiana. This is about the strongest language against the liquor traffic that has been seen in print since the famous arraignment made by Col. Robert Ingersoll to a jury who were trying a case, many years ago. Every young man should preserve it and read it over, now and then. It is a good reading for M. I. A. preliminary programs Personally I have seen so much of the evils of the traffic in the last four years, so much of its economic waste, so much of its physical ruin, so much of its mental blight, so much of its tears and heartache, that I have come to regard the business as one that must be held and controlled by strong and effective laws. I bear no malice toward those engaged in the business, but I hate the traffic. I hate its every phase. I hate it for its intolerance. I hate it for its arrogance. I hate it for its hypocrisy. I hate it for its cant and craft and false pretenses. I hate it for its commercialism. I hate it for its greed and avarice. I hate it for its sordid love of gain at any price. I hate it for its domination in politics. I hate it for its corrupting influence in civic affairs I hate it for its incessant effort . to debauch the suffrage of the country; for the cowards it makes of public men. I hate it for its utter disregard of law. I hate it for its ruthless trampling of the solemn compacts of state constitutions. I hate it for the load it straps to labor's back; for the palsied hands it gives to toil; for its wounds to genius for the tragedies of its might-have-beens. ; I hate it for the human wrecks it has caused. I hate it for the almhouses it peoples; for the pns- ons it fills; for the insanity it begets; for its countless graves in potter's fields. I 566 IMPROVEMENT ERA. hate it for the mental ruin it imposes upon its victims ; for its spiritual blight for ; its moral degeneration. I hate it for the crimes it has committed. I hate it for the homes it has destroyed. I hate it for the hearts it has broken. I hate it for the malice it has planted in the hearts of men — for its poison, for its bitter- — ness for the dead sea fruit with which it starves their souls. I hate it for the grief it causes womanhood, the scalding tears, the hopes deferred, the strangled aspirations, its burden of want and care. I hate it for its heartless cruelty to the aged, the infirm and the helpless, for the shadow it throws upon the lives of children, for its monstrous injustice to blameless little ones. I hate it as virtue hates vice, as truth hates error, as righteousness hates sin, as justice hates wrong, as liberty hates tyranny, as freedom hates oppression. I hate it as Abraham Lincoln hated slavery. And as he sometimes saw in prophetic vision the end of slavery and the coming of the time when the sun should shine and the rain should fall upon no slave in all the republic, so I some- times seem to see the end of this unholy traffic, the coming of the time when, if it does not wholly cease to be, it shall find no safe habitation anywhere beneath "Old Glory's" stainless stars. Utah-Idaho Sugar Co.— On April 10 this company held its annual stock- holders' meeting, electing the following directors: Joseph F. Smith, Thomas R. Cutler, John R. Winder, W. S. McCornick, John C. Cutler, Heber J. Grant, John Henry Smith, George Romney, and Charles W. Nibley. Out of the 1,110,000 shares 797,000 were represented. The total outlay for 1907 was over four million dollars, out of which $2,187,395.99 had been paid for 422,532 tons of beets, at an aggregate cost of $5.17 a ton. The total pro- duct of sugar for the year at the six factories of the company exceeded 108,300,- 500 pounds in the sack, which is 5,000,000 pounds more than was produced in 1906. A dividend of 7 per cent on the preferred stock was set aside. Sugar prices will go up this year, owing to the estimated shortage in the Cuban crops of over 400,000 tons. — Z. C. M. I. At noon on April 4, the 39th annual meeting of stockholders was held. From the president's report it appears that the sales for 1907 were $5,681,000, which is nearly $500,000 more than for the previous year. In the manufacturing departments there was great activity. Over 100,000 pairs of shoes, or 300 pairs per day, were made, and in the clothing factory 17,000 dozen garments were manufactured. A dividend of 12 per cent was de- clared, and enough set aside from the profits to insure a like dividend for 1909. Besides this, provisions were made for taxes, insurance, teams and improvements. The old officers and directors were elected as follows Joseph F Smith, president : . George Romney, vice-president; Thomas G. Webber, secretary; A. W. Carlson, treasurer. Directors: Heber J. Grant, John R. Winder, John R. Barnes, John Henry Smith, Francis M. Lyman, Anthon H. Lund, William H. Mclntyre,' Reed Smoot, T. G. Webber, L. S. Hills, A. W. Carlson. Sunday School Union. — By count, there were 756 persons 5, in attendance, and 53 stakes and 5 missions represented, at the conference of the Deseret Sunday School Union, held in the Salt Lake Tabernacle, on the evening of Sunday, April EVENTS AND COMMENTS. 567 5. President Joseph F. Smith presided, and a pleasant program was presented. The statistical report showed steady growth. There are 1, 105 schools in the Church, an increase of 42. The total number of children between 4 and 20 in the organized stakes is 119,156 out of which number 103,111 are enrolled. The offi- cers and teachers number 17,883, an increase of 327, and the total enrollment of officers and pupils is 153,525, an increase of 11,242. There are 2,853 chil- dren of Latter-day Saints over eight years of age unbaptized. The enrollment in the parent's classes is 13,663, an increase of 8,541. The new movement among Seventies released 1,336 from Sunday school work, while 638 Seventies are still retained. The percentage of attendance in the organized stakes was 59; in the mis- sions, 70; average 61, a gain of one per cent. President Smith urged the attend- ance of Sunday school officers and teachers at the priesthood and sacrament meetings. Our Ambassador to Berlin. —After the resignation of our ambassador to Berlin, Mr. Tower, the President appointed Dr. Hill, formerly president of the Rochester University. The appointment of Dr. Hill was a recognition of his emi- nent ability as an author on international questions, and was in pursuance of the newly inaugurated policy of advancing men in the diplomatic service of our coun- try wherever they have shown themselves qualified to serve as ministers in the more advanced and prominent countries of the world. The appointment of Dr. Hill meant his change from the Hague to Berlin. Mr. Tower had for some time made known his intention to quit his post at Berlin, and the informal statement that Mr. Hill would probably be appointed to take his place was received with satisfaction by the German Emperor. As soon, however, as the appointment was announced, word came from the German capital that Dr. Hill would be persona non grata to the German court. This announcement came presumably through the ambassador's office at Berlin, and the announcement created throughout the country a decidedly unfavorable sentiment toward the German Emperor. The Department of State might have withheld the information, and, if possible, adjusted the difficulty without giving to it any publicity. But the Department of State in this country, as well as in others, appreciated the value of public opinion in reach- ing its purpose with foreign countries. As soon as the temper of the American people became manifest, the German Emperor was gracious enough to say that Mr. Hill would be welcome in Berlin, and that every possi- ble objection that might have been raised would be removed. Natur- ally people began wonder just why the Kaiser should raise any question as to to Dr. Hill's fitness to represent the American people at his court. In the politi- cal world, men are quick to attach motives to every act; in fact, in all matters of diplomacy the art of figuring out motives is one of the highest diplomatic arts; and the reasons for objections to Dr. Hill's appointment were at once advanced; namely, that the German Emperor has a mania for rivaling Great Britain in nearly all questions of international importance. He is anxious to see promoted in his capital those grand social functions which Mr. Whitelaw Reid has been able to carry on at the Dorchester House, in London. Indeed, in Mr. Tower the Em- 568 IMPROVEMENT ERA. peror has found a rival to Mr. Reid, as these two foreign ministers are entertain- ing in the most magnificent manner. Dr. Hill, however, is a man of limited income which would not support the grand receptions which Mr. Tower and his wife have given to the diplomatic circle in Berlin. Mrs. Tower has been so elaborate in her functions and state recep" tions that she has elicited from the German Emperor a sobriquet "the Moltke of the German social season." Indeed, he has been very partial to the Towers, and only recently sent word in a jocular manner to President Roosevelt that he was angry with him for accepting Mr. Tower's resignation. This aristocratic display is not likely to find much welcome among the masses of the American people who still have some lingering pride in simple democracy. They have not forgotten the distinction with which George Bancroft and Mr. Bayard served the American peo- ple while they were ministers at the German court, and at the same time men of moderate income. It is quite likely that Dr. Hill will go to Berlin and satisfy the demands of the American people that wealth shall not constitute a standard by which our for- eign diplomacy is to be governed. However, Dr. Hill may wish to be relieved from his- high office just as soon as the psychological moment arrives — the moment when he can leave his post in Berlin without creating any friction between the two countries, or any embarrassment for the President of the United States. The French government at one time undertook to keep its ambassador to Berlin, Gontaut de Biron, in spite of the well known dislike that Bismarck had for him. The experiment, however, did not succeed, and the French government after considerable embarrassment and numerous diplomatic differences was virtu- ally compelled to withdraw him. No doubt, the Emperor will do all he can to re* spect the feelings of the American people in their wish to have Dr. Hill honored for his mental attainments, notwithstanding his modest income. This tendency toward the recognition of wealth is going on rapidly, and the fact that now and then a set-back is given tc it does not in any way demonstrate that it is not grow- ing rapidly. The social functions constitute more and more one of the chief pas- times, if not duties, of our foreign ministers. Europeans are frequently woat to say, "The Americans have the wealth to keep pace with the brilliant receptions given at the courts of the various European nations, why should they not do so?" To do so, means the appointment exclusively of men of wealth. Joseph M. Tanner. The Northern States Mission of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has just issued a collection of 241 uplifting and inspiring songs from all the song and music books of the Church heretofore published, including some copy- right songs suggested by the mission presidents of the United States. The songs are printed in handy pocket form under the title. The Songs of Zion, and were ar- ranged by President German E. Ellsworth for the home, all meetings, Sunday schools and gatherings of elders and Saints in the mission fields. The handsome little volume is] sent by mail to any one for 35 cents per copy, or $30 per hundred.