Passing Events

Passing Events. A visit to the Capson House is editorially mentioned in Skaii- dinaviens Stjerne of September 15. The visit was made on the 22nd of August by President Andrew Jenson, of the Scandinavian mission, and Albert Capson, president of the Skane conference, Malmo, with Elder A. Funk and others. The old house is located on the great farm Skona- back, and it was in this house that the late Elder Andrew W. Winberg, on the 24th of April, 1853, organized the first branch of the Churi-h in Sweden. At that time the house was occupied by the grandfather of Albert Capson, and is known to this day as the Capson House. They also visited the old property in Lund, where Carl Capson resided in June, 1853, and in whose barn the first conference of southern Sweden was held, on the night of June 25, 1853, with Elder Lundblad as president. The conference lasted during the night and was held in secret owing to the opposition of priests, police and mobs. There were about a hundred members present, besides Elder P. 0. Hansen, the translator of the Book of Mormon into Danish, and the late Patriarch 0. N. Liljenquist, then of Copenhagen. Several photographs of the buildings and environments were taken by Elder Funk and have appeared, with an account of the trip, in Bikuben and Utah Posten, the Scandinavian Church papers of Utah. President Jenson mentions the growth of the Church since that day, and contrasts the peace now enjoyed by the elders and Saints in their worship, with the early days when bodily punishment, the prison- house and fines awaited those who were active in the promulgation of the revealed gospel of Jesus Christ. For the change, the Saints have occasion to thank the Lord, who, during the intervening years, has so wonderfully calmed the storms and made their pathway brighter. Lucy Walker Kimball, born April 30, 1826, in Peacham, Cale- donia, county, Vermont, died in Salt Lake City, October 1, 1910. She was at one time the wife of Joseph Smith, the prophet, to whom she was sealed by William Clayton, May 1, 1843. In 1845, she became the wife of President Heber C. Kimball, with whom she had nine children. She passed through many of the hardships of the early days, and proved faithful to the end.

FAS SING EVENTS. 93 "The Los Angeles Times" building and plant were destroyed by an explosion on the morning of October 1. The Times, established in 1881, is one of the leading newspapers of the southwest.owned and edited by General Harrison Gray Otis, who has successfully conducted the paper without Union printers, and so gained the ill-will of the Union laborers. The management are convinced that sympathizers with Union labor planned the explosion. Several lives were lost, and perhaps half a mil- lion dollars. Large rewards are offered for the criminals, but so far they have not been apprehended. The Oneida Stake Presidency was reorganized at the quarterly conference held in Preston, September 24-5, 1910. An honorable release was extended to President George C. Parkinson and his counselors, Joseph S. Geddes and C. D. Goaslind; and Josephs. Geddes was sustained as president of the Oneida stake of Zion, with James Johnson and Taylor Nelson as counselors. Elders Charles D. Goaslind and James Callan were added to the high council. President Francis M. Lyman, Heber J. Grant and Charles W. Penrose,of the Council of Twelve, were present. President Parkinson has honorably and creditably conducted the affairs of Oneida stake for twenty-six years, and passes out of the active service in this capacity with the good will of the presiding brethren, and his many other friends. Portugal has had a revolutionary change of government with com- paratively little bloodshed. A republic was declared in Lisbon and other cities on October 6. King Manuel was forced to seek refuge on a foreign warship. The Republican movement, wnich in February, 1908 found vent in the assassination of King Carlos and Crown Prince Louis Phillipe, was at the basis of the revolution, and the revolutionists suc- ceeded in winning over both the army and the navy, rendering the young king helpless. The provisional republican government has ordered the expulsion of the Jesuits, and many of the nuns and monks have had their property confiscated. All members of other religious orders refusing to become secularized must also leave the country; but those who consent, may remain in Portugal and return to their families. The provisional government has notified foreign nations that it will recognize all con- tracts, alliances and financial obligations entered into by the monarchy. The success of the revolution fanned the fire of discontent in Spain, and the government fears a recurrence of the troubles of a year ago, when Francisco Ferrer, the schoolmaster, was executed. The tramway between Tooele and the Highland Boy mine, Bingham, was recently put into operation, after eleven months devoted

94 IMPROVEMENT ERA. to construction. It is one of the great industrial enterprises of the west. It is four miles long, with seventy-nine towers, varying in height from ten to ninety feet. There are nine intermediate stations, besides the terminals. There are 212 buckets on the line, with a capacity of eight cubic feet, moving at a speed of about 600 feet per minute, and deliver- ing ore at the smelter at the rate of about 100 tons per hour. They are operated part of the distance by motor and part by gravity. The high- est point is about 8,200 feet above sea level and 1,500 above the mine. The cost of transporting ore is approximately ten cents per ton, by tramway, while the cost by rail is nearly fifty cents. The Bureau of Information, located on the tabernacle square, has recently completed, as an addition to the building, a handsome 30x30 foot waiting room. It is well-furnished, and adds materially to the com- fort and convenience of visitors. The old, octagonal, swivel writing desk of President Brigham Young adorns the center of the new room, and accommodates four writers at once. A bust of the president, by Mahonri Young, adorns the top of the unique old piece of furniture. The room accommodates about two hundred people, and here the visiting parties to be taken over the grounds will be made up. Besides a writing room, a waiting room, a conservatory and dressing rooms, there are com- fortable resting rooms for visitors. The basement is used for the stor- ing of literature, which is annually distributed by the ton, mostly free. Over three hundred thousand people visited the Bureau last year, who were entertained and shown over the grounds by Benjamin Goddard and his aids: ^.nd at least the same number will visit this year. People from all parts of the world are visitors, and one day last summer there were people from Canada, Mexico and twenty-nine of the United States. J. O. Belknap, of South Royalton, Vermont, died on the night of October 6, 1910. He has been postmaster and leading merchant of the village for many years, and was the recognized leader of the town in all worthy enterprises. He was the first to render help and encouragement to Elder Junius F. Wells in the purchase of land for the monument to the memory of the Prophet Joseph Smith. He did much to allay criticism and to create toleration for the Latter-day Saints, and to encourage the erection of the monument, when friends were few, and many believed the undertaking impracticable or impossible. He led in offering the public hall for the use of President Smith and party at the time of the dedica- tion. He was a good, honorable man, with a heart in favor of the work of the Lord, and his memory should be long honored and cherished by the Latter-day Saints.