--- 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: 12 number: 10 published: 1909-08 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* 12, no. 10 (August 1909): 843–848.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera12010unse 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: improvementera12010unse start_page: 843 end_page: 848 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1909-08) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera12010unse publication_year: 1909 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 1909, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Events and Comments EVENTS AND COMMENTS. BY EDWARD H. ANDERSON. U. S. Marshal. — James H. Anderson, well-known Republican political leader, and former County commissioner of Salt Lake County and late deputy U. S. Internal Revenue Collector for this district, was named by President Wm. H. Taft as U. S. Marshal for Utah and his name sent to the Senate on the 13th of July. Mr. Anderson is a clean, honest, efficient and worthy man, and will do honor to the important position. Yellowstone Stake of Zion.— C. B. Walker, clerk, furnishes the Era with the following information concerning the organization of this stak<* : The Yellow- stone stake of Zion was organized January 10, 1909, with Daniel G. Miller, presi- dent; M. J. Kerr and James E. Fogg, counselors; and C. B. Walker, clerk. As superintendent of the Y. M. M. I. A., Jefferson C. Coffin, with Heber C. Sharp and John Hegsted, counselors; and W. A. Davis, secretary. There were present at the organization, apostles Geo. F. Richards and David 0. McKay. The stake is composed of twelve wards as follows: — Kilgore, Egin, Parker, St. Anthony, Wil- ford, Twin Groves, Chester, Ora, Ashton, Farnum, Marysville and Warm River. The stake general board Y. M. M. I. A. was also organized January 10, 1909. Cuban Bureau of Information. — The Secretary of Agriculture, Com- merce and Labor of the Republic of Cuba, has notified the Era that with the be- ginning of the present fiscal year the Republic of Cuba will establish a bureau of information. President Gomez appointed Leon J. Canova, an American news- paper man who has resided in Cuba for eleven years, and who possesses a wide acquaintance with the islands, as its director. Information concerning Cuba may be received free of charge by addressing Utility and Information Bureau Depart- ment of Agriculture, Commerce and Labor, Havana, Cuba. Any data concern- ing the island Republic, her resources, business opportunities, agricultural and industrial advantages, or any other information, will be gladly furnished. Land Opening.— On the 9th of August a distribution of lands by lot will begin, by which about 700,000 acres, in reservations in Montana, Idaho, and Washington will be opened up. Would-be-settlers were registered between July 15, and August 5, and many will turn their attention towards the obtaining of a piece of land from Uncle Sam, —something that cannot happen in a few years, since all the public lands of the United States are being rapidly disposed of. — The Alaska- Yukon-Pacific Exposition was successfully opened June 1, the machinery beiDg set in motion by the pressure of a button by President Wil- liam H. Taft. at Washington. If the first day's attendance, which was 89,000, is an indication of the patronage that the fair will command, this great exposi- tion, which is intended to direct attention to the resources of the Alaska and Yukon territories, and the development of the trade of the Pacific, will be a grand success. The United States postal department has issued a two-cent post- age stamp in commemoration of the opening of the exposition. It bears the por- trait of William Henry Seward who was secretary of State when the territory of Alaska was bought from Russia for seven million dollars. The Utah Building at the exposition was opened on the 19th of June, and is attracting much atten- tion. It is built of adobe, after the pattern of the Hobi Indian architecture, of Southern Utah. The mining and educational exhibits of Utah are the center of attraction. On July 5, Governor Hay and staff, with many of the state of Wash- ington officers, paid a formal visit to the building. Utah day will be observed August 25. The total attendance for June at the exposition was 667,971; Presi- dent J. P. Chilberg has announced that the net profits were $86,000. The Powers and Crete. — It will be remembered that the war of 1897 between Greece and Turkey, over the little island of Crete, resulted in the es- tablishment of a protectorate by Great Britain, France, Russia and England. This protectorate expired on the 27th of July, this year, and under the terms of the arrangement the troops of these powers should then be withdrawn from the islands. Europe is now confronted with a difficult question. If the old Sultan, Abdul Hamid had retained his position in Turkey, there is no doubt that the powers at the close of the arrangement would have sanctioned the union of Crete with Greece, which the latter country now demands, and for which it inaugurated a humiliating war in 1897, but Turkey has already lost with tame acquiescence, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina since the young Turks came into power. It now seems a terrible hardship to lose Crete, and fear is entertained that local trouble for the present rulers will arise, and hence they will not consent. It is reported that Germany and Austria have decided to leave the bettlement of the question to the four powers directly concerned, but at the same time they have given the young Turkish government assurances that they will not approve any plan relating to Crete not acceptable to Turkey. It was also officially announced, July 20, that on the withdrawal of the troops from Crete foreign guard-ships will be stationed in Cretan waters to protect the Turkish flag and maintain peace. New Publications. The Birth of Mormonism in Picture is the title of a new publication by the Deseret Sunday School Union. It contains sixty-four pages of scenes and incidents in early Church history from photographs taken by George E. Anderson, of Springville, Utah, and presented by him to the Deseret Sunday School Union. The text is written by Prof. John Henry Evans. The work pre- serves in attractive form photographs of places that will always be revered by the Latter-day Saints, and tells in a very concise and authentic text the wonderfu EVENTS AND COMMENTS. sir, story of the birth of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. For classes studying Church history and for missionaries abroad it is very convenient and use- ful. The Union announces that it is intended to publish similar books on later periods in the history of the Church, with a view to presenting in one series the history of the Church from the birth of the Prophet to the present time. In this firstnumber there are forty- one beautiful, really artistic, views, mostly page size, illustrating the early scenes in the Church in Vermont and New York. Th e "Articles of Faith," and the hymns "0 Say What Is Truth," "Come Follow Me," "School Thy Feelings," and "0 My Father," are also printed in this number. The Key to Succession in the Presidency of the Church and a Complete Ready Reference for the Missionary is the somewhat long title of a 231-page volume, nicely bound in limp leather, written by P. J. Sanders of Murray. The matter was collected by the author while in actual service in the mission field. The book has a carefully prepared index containing a key to the entire work. There is also a collection of over 200 citations used in a debate between the author and J. F. Curtis of the Reorganized Church, held in August, 1908, on "Succession in the Presidency;" with a large number of quotations carefully selected from rare Church publications. Aerial Flights. — Recently immense progress has been made in aerial navi- gation. On the 30th and 31st of May Count Zeppelin who appears to stand at the head of aviation covered about 850 miles in thirty-seven hours in his new air- ship, from Friedrichafen to Bitterfeld and ret urn, in Germany. The Wright broth- ers, who recently returned to America, have been honored in many ways by receptions and medallions in this country, because of the progress they have attained in the way of traveling in the air. President Taft gave them official recognition, and the Aero Club of America presented them with medals. The armies of nearly all the civilized nations are turning their attention to the advan- tages as well as the dangers of aerial conflicts, and many schemes are being ad- vanced to protect cities, battleships, and armies from the dangers that might come to them from ships that float in the air. Major George 0. Squier of the signal corps says: In the case of the Wright Brothers it is desired to associate the signal corps of the army publicly and officially with the present universal recognition of their work in the science and art of aviation. These results have been due to the persistence, daring and intelligence of these American gentlemen to whom the whole world is now paying homage. It will be recorded that the elas&i: series of public demonstrations first made by Orville Wright at the Government testing grounds at Fort Myer, Virginia, in September, 1908, and by Wilbur Wright at Le Mans, France, made a profound impression throughout the world, and kindled especially the patriotic spirit of the American people. Lucern Crops Threatened.— E G. Titus, Entomologist of the Utah Ex- a bulletin dated July calling attention to the periment Station, has issued 1, serious menace to the lucern crops by the leaf weevil, a dangerous alfalfa . 846 IMPRO VEMENT ERA . insect. It is a European importation which has caused great damage to the alfalfa crops in Europe. So far as known, Salt Lake County, Utah, is the only place in the United States where the insect has gained a foothold. The first damage was reported in the spring of 1904, on a farm on the east side of Salt Lake City. Since then the insect has spread rapidly, covering now a large, extensive, new territory, in Salt Lake county. Some 30,000 acres have been overrun by the pest. It is of the utmo3t importance that the weevil should be destroyed. The remedy suggested is early cutting of the crops, disking the ground, and cleaning the edges and ditch banks. The bulletin concludes in these words: The insect spreads rapidly in the weevil or adult stage, but causes the most injury when in the younger stages by feeding on the leaves buds and flowers. Eggs are laid on alfalfa in April and May, the larvae or worms becoming full grown in the latter part of June and throughout July, spinning a lace-like cocoon from which later issues the small brown, hard- shelled weevil. This weevil hiber- nates through the winter in any sheltered place, ditch banks, stacks, alfalfa plants, weeds, etc. The first crop should be cut as early as possible. Ths ground disced and cross-disced as soon as the hay is off, and then gone over with a leveller in the same way. These operations will kill a large percentage of the young worms. Then force the second crop as rapidly as possible and repeat the discing and levelling. Clean up all ditch banks, fence rows, old stack grounds and rubbish early in the fall by burning. Ship no hay out of infested region Irrigation Projects. — The National Irrigation Congress, Spokane, Aug. 9, has prepared the following interesting data: "Twenty- five irrigation projects completed and upon which the government is now at work will, when fully developed, add 3,198,000 acres of land to the crop- producing area of the United States, while 13 others held in abeyance until the completion of the former, will reclaim 3,270,000 acres, making a total of 6,468.000 acres reclaimed at a cost $159,621,000. "The largest of the projects in Washington are in the Yakima valley,as fol- lows: Sunnyside, 90,000 acres, cost $1,600,000; Tieton, 30,000, cost $1,500,000; Wapato, 120,000, cost $1,500,000. The Okanogan will water 8,000 acres at a cost of $500,000. Other projects contemplated will add 400,000 acres to the state's crop- producing area. Government projects in Idaho are the Minedoka, 160,000 acres costing $4,000,000, and the Payetta-Boise 200,000 acres, completed at a cost of $3,000- 000. The latter covers the largest single tract under irrigation on the conti- nent at the present time. Oregon has Umatilla, 18,000 acres, costing $1,100,- 000, and the Klamath, extending into California, 120,000 acres, costing $3,600,000. "The projects in Montana are the Huntley, 33,000 acres, costing $900,000, the Sun river, 16,000 acres, cost $500,000 and the Milk river, including the Saint Mary, 30,000 acres, costing $1,200,000. The Lower Yellowstone project, 66,000 acres, in Montana and North Dakota, will cost $2,700,000. The Black- EVENTS AND COMMENTS. 847 feet will water 37,000 acres in Montana, where will also be built the Flathead, 130,000 acres, and Fort Peck, 75,000 acres. "Salt river project in Arizona will water 200,000 acres, while the Yuma in California and Arizona will care for 100,000. Other projects are the Uncom- pahgre, Colorado, 150,000 acres; Garden City, Kansas, 8,000; North Platte, Wyoming and Nebraska, 110,000; Truck ee-Carson, Nevada, 200,000; Hondo, Carlsbad and Rio Grande, New Mexico, 45,000; Buford-Trenton, North Dakota, 40,000; Belle Fourche, South Dakota. 100,000; Shoshone, Wyoming, 100.000, and Strawberry valley, Utah, 35,000. ''Several millions of acres of lands will also be covered in Montana, Wash- ington, Colorado, Arizona, Idaho, Texas, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Wyoming and Oregon as soon as the funds are available. "More than 10,000,000 acres of lands are under private plants in various states where plans are now under way to put 5,000,000 acres under the ditch during the next three years. If these projects are carried out the Horse Heaven country in Washington, will contain a single tract of 600,000 acres, watered at a cost of $15,000 000. The Canadian Pacific project in the Bow River valley, east of Calgary, Alberta, upon which work started in 1904, will cover 3,000,000 acres at a cost of $5,000,000, making it the largest single tract on the continent. History of Irrigation.— Through August Wolf of Spokane, Washington, the Era has received the following: "Supplying moisture to semi-arid and desert lands by artificial means, one of the problems of world-wide importance to be discussed by experts at the 17th ses- sion at the National Irrigation Congress in Spokane, August 9-14, was practiced Solo- by the Arabians, Egyptians, Assyrians and Chinese long before the advent of mon, and it has since formed a part of the agriculture of the councries bordering on the Mediterranean sea. The ancient art had its origin in America in prehis- toric times, by the Pueblo Indians, who inhabited portions of what are now New Mexico and Arizona, and their decendants were still cultivating the lands when the first Spanish colonists came from the south several centuries ago. under "A census today would show fully 250,000 farms in the United States Colorado leads in the ditches, watering more than 15,000,000 acres of lands. while number of acres irrigated, California has the largest number of irrigators, Washington has the greatest percentage in the number of irrigators. The science is also practiced in Canada, England, France, Italy, Japan, the Argentine, South America, Algeria, Australia, Switzerland, Belgium, Bohemia, India, Spain and Scotland. It is estimated that nearly 75,000,000 acres are under irrigation throughout the world. with "History records that the valley of Mareb, in Arabia, was supplied dam 120 height and two miles in water drawn from a reservoir made by a feet in restrained the swift length. This wall was constructed of hewn stones and it years. Mention is current of an important stream for more than two thousand also made of the canal of the Pharaohs, connecting the Red sea with Pelusium. the Nile centuries Flood waters of the river were used to irrigate the valley of . 848 IMPR VEMEN T ERA before, and the plains of Babylon were literally criss-crossed with canals, some of them hundreds of miles in length. The Romans also operated vast systems, while the Chinese supplied moisture to their rice lands by artificial means before the Christian era. " 'Mormons,' settling on the shores of Great Salt Lake, in Utah, were the first of the Eaglish speaking people to make a systematic application of the principles of irrigation in the west. They turned the waters of the Wasatch mountain streams upon their holdings, the present site of Salt Lake City, master- ing the art after years of effort. Priests of the early missions also made use of water on the lands in southern California, where today may be seen the ruins of pretentious works built by the Indians. Placer gold miners in California utilized the water from their ditches for irrigation purposes 'The result obtained in Utah and California induced settlers in other states and territories to try the plan, and small tracts of land were put under the ditches in Idaho, Washington and Oregon. The Indians in the Clearwater coun- try, in Idaho, were the first in this part of the country to use artifically supplied moisture in the cultivation of crops. Rev. Henry H. Spaulding, who came to the northwest with Dr. Marcus Whitman, mentioned this fact in his early letters to relatives in New England. "Less than 20,000 acres were under irrigation in the United Slates in 1870, but during the next decade the acreage was increased to 1,000,000. The federal census shows 3,631,481 acres on 54,136 farms under the ditch in 1889, the area doubling the following decade, due largely to the extension of the existing canals. A special census in 1902, showed 126,008 farms with a total of 9,034,526 acres under irrigation. Congress adopted the national irrigation act that year, which saw the beginning of the construction of work under the control of the Secretary of the Interior, the fund being derived from the disposal of re- claimed lands. The law provides that the cost of the work is to be apportioned to the land and refunded to the government in ten yearly installments without interest." Miscellaneous Items. — The vacillating policy of the Shah of Persia has brought disaster and chaos upon that country and upon the Shah himself. He has been deposed and a new Shah declared the occupant of the throne. The object of the revolutionists in dethroning the Shah was apparently to prevent Per- sia from falling into the hands of the Russians. Messina and Reggio were panic-stricken on account of another severe earth- quake shock which took place in that district on the first of July. The shock overthrew many of the walls which were left standing after the catastrophe of last December. The tariff bill was passed in the Senate on the 8th of July by a vote of 45 to 34. At this writing it is in the hands of the conference committee, and Presi- dent Taft has indicated that the revision must be downward instead of upward as it now appears to be, if he is not to veto the bill.