Passing Events

Passing Events.

R. S. Lovett was elected president of the Union Pacific Railroad on October 21, to succeed the late E. H. Harriman.

That Commander Robert E. Peary reached the North Pole, April 6, 1909, was unanimously decided by the National Geographical Society, Washington, after examination of the evidence presented by the explorer. Whether any one [Cook] reached the pole prior to that time was referred to the Committee on Research to report upon. The University of Copen- hagen declined to let the Committee be present at the official examina- tion of Dr. Cook's papers.

Fisher S. Harris died in Salt Lake City, Monday, November 8. Mr. Harris was a remarkable character in the history of Salt Lake City and the West. He was born in Norfolk, Va., September 19, 1865, and came to Salt Lake City when twenty-one years of age. He first acted as clerk in the old Continental hotel. His ability, bright talents, and gen- ius were ever exercised for the building up of Salt Lake City in every commendable way. He organized the Commercial Club, and was promi- nent in Democratic politics.

Hirobumi Ito, president of the Privy Council of Japan, and former gov- ernor-general of Korea, was assassinated by a Korean, at Harbin, October 26. While the Korean assassin sought to avenge his country by this act, it is the general opinion that he did his country a very doubtful service, for Prince Ito, who thus paid with his life for Japan's Korean policy,

was counted a real friend to Korea. Professor Ladd, of Yale, a close friend of Prince Ito, says: "Korea has lost its wisest, most devoted and powerful friend." His death should be a warning to Japan to stay the hand of the oppressor.

General Oliver Otis Howard died on October 26, 1909. He was War, and a man of whom the last of the Union commanders of the Civil

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Sherman wrote to Grant, saying, "I find him a polished and Christian gentleman, exhibiting the highest and most chivalrous traits of character." He was born in 1830, graduated from the U. S. Military Academy in 1854, commanded a brigade at Bull Run, was at Antietam, Gettysburg, Lookout Mountain, and Missionary Ridge, marched with Sherman to the sea, made major-general in 1886, and retired in 1894. He visited the Joseph Smith monument last summer, and then uttered a sentiment on faith, printed in the November Era, well worthy of record. He was esteemed much like the late Edward Everett Hale. He was 79 years of age.

Halley's Comet, so named from Edmund Halley, the great English astronomer, who died in 1742, has again made its appearance, and the honor of first seeing it fell to the men at the observatory at Heidelberg, Germany. The comet is coming nearer the earth at the rate of many thousand miles a minute, but will not be visible to the naked eye until next April or May. The planet according to the predictions of Halley, returns at regular intervals, about every 75 years, having first, as far as records go, appeared in 1456, then in 1531, then in 1607, and again in 1682, 1759, and 1835, and now again in 1909. It was named after Halley, because after extended observations and calculations, he declared, in 1682, that it was the same comet that had appeared at these various prior dates. His prediction has now had three verifications. The appearance of this heavenly spectacle is an impressive reminder of the incomprehensible vastnessof space, and the wonderful laws which control the universe of God.

The "North Dakota," which recently left the yards of the build- ers at Quincy, Mass., for a builders' trial, is the largest battleship yet built for the United States Navy. It is a little shorter than the British Dreadnought, but faster and more powerfully armed. It is built differ-

ently from any other vessel of the American fleet, and is the most up-to- date ship in the world. Two more ships like her are being built, the Utah and the Florida. Each of her big guns throws a shot weighing 750 pounds, so that at one broad-side the North Dakota can throw 7,500 pounds of steel into its opponents, and two of these shots can be thrown from each gun in a minute. She is of 21,000 horse-power, has twin screws, and can go twenty-one nautical miles an hour, and carries 2,340 tons of coal. She has two skeleton masts, so constructed that after 60 per cent of the tubes and cables have been cut away, the masts will still hold together. When in commission, the North Dakota will carry 840 men. Her cost, withoutjarmor, is $4,000,000.

PASSING EVENTS. 191

City Elections in Utah were held on the 2nd of November. Salt Lake City re-elected John S. Bransford, "American" candidate, by a vote of 13,773, which is a plurality of 7,557 votes, and a majority of 1,055. The total vote in Salt Lake City was 26,609. In the third ward only were Fusion members elected. In Ogden city, William Glassman, Republican, and a complete Repub- lican ticket was elected. Mr. Classman obtained 153 votes over the Democratic candidate, former Mayor A. L. Brewer. Brigham City elected Thomas H. Blackburn, Republican, mayor. Logan went Republican in every department, Mayor Anderson receiving 64 majority. The people also decided for prohibition three to one. In Provo the Independent, anti-prohibition, party won, electing all the general city officers. Lehi changed from Republican to Democratic, and voted for Prohi- bition, with Ed. Southwick, mayor, who received 99 majority. Huntsville, a town in Weber county, decided against continuation as an incorporated city by a vote of 139 to 133. The winning tickets throughout the state were generally mixed.

Professor Francisco Ferrer, a Spanish educator, and formerly director of the "Modern Schools" at Barcelona, Spain, was by court- martial condemned, and was executed October 13, charged with having incited the rioting of last summer. He was also under suspicion of com- plicity in the attempted assassination of King Alfonso, on the day of the king's marriage, but had been acquitted on this charge. After his court-martial, protests from Spain and many European countries were made against his execution, on the ground that the trial had been unfair, and that his condemnation had been brought about by the clerical influence of monks and ministers. An appeal to King Alfonso in Spain was made by the despairing daughter of the professor. Violent demonstrations against the government in Paris, Berlin, and in Rome and other Italian cities, followed the execution. The last words of Francisco Ferrer were: "Aim straight. Long live the modern schools." Mr. Reinach, the eminent historian, is quoted in the Literary Digest as saying:

Ferrer has heen the victim of the monks, who having been rein- forced by their colleagues expelled from France, are all-powerful in Spain. We did not think that Spain would have dared to defy the con- science of mankind by this act. The king should have intervened.

The Modern Schools, which Prof. Ferrer, who was lately executed, established throughout parts of Spain, are breeding-spots of anarchy,

192 IMPROVEMENT ERA.

according to the prosecuting attorney for the supreme court of Barcelona. That is one justification which the Spanish government gives for its

course in refusing to stay the execution of the schoolmaster, Ferrer. What are these "modern lay schools?" A correspondent of the London Times gives the following extract from a text book of a Barcelona lay school, which, if it proves anything, proves very truly that these schools, which the government doubtless hopes will die with Ferrer, are extreme and dangerous protests against existing educational and social conditions in Spain:

Society today is divided into the privileged and the disinherited. The former usurp everything, while the latter die of hunger. That capital should appropriate the fruit of the workman's labor is an injustice sup- ported by the law. Religious education inculcates falsehood and teaches foolishness. The soldiers uniform conceals crimes against humanity and the misery of his own existence, To maintain order is to maintain injustice against the working man. ... All religions are based on ignorance and imposture, and aim at exploitation and oppression. The gospels relate the life of the so-called Jesus Christ, and it is truly a misfortune that such ideas exist for the deceiving of the people.

To prevent the further teaching of such abominable and vicious prin- ciples, the Spanish clergy and government should wake up from their mediaeval methods and be aroused to the needs of their people by granting them reasonable privileges, greater liberty, better schools, and more opportunities for modern education and progress. If the people must

obtain these on their own account, it is likely that continued extreme and unwarranted measures will be resorted to on their part.

Elections were held in over a dozen states, November 2, but only in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Virginia were governors and full state tickets elected. The Republicans carried the first two and the Democrats the third. New York elected Justice Gaynor, a Tammany candidate for Mayor, but the board which controls the expenditure of the city funds was lost to Tammany. San Francisco elected a Union Labor candidate for mayor, and defeated Francis J, Heney for district attorney. He has been very prominent in anti-graft prosecutions. In Boston a very interesting reform city charter was adopted, providing for nomina- tion by petition, without party designation, instead of by convention.