Passing Events

Passing Events Elder Christian Jensen, Jr., was called to preside over the Samoan Mission to succeed President D. C. McBride. He left for Samoa, November 23, 1911, to fill this call. This is his second mission, as he served as a traveling elder and school teacher in Samoa fifteen years ago. Elder Jensen was born in Ephraim, Sanpete county, Utah, November 17, 1868. In 1879, with his parents, he moved to Redmond, Sevier county, where he received a limited education. He attended the Brigham Young University one year, and on the 25th of April, 1894, was married to Miss Alice Rogers. Three days after his marriage he left for his first mission to Samoa, his wife returning to Redmond, where she taught school while he labored in the mission field. He relates that on his first mission he was forced ' jHMHHMH SflHHHH to learn economy the which has served him as a guide in his finann. jr. * ~*^si In i
cial affairs ever since. ' • 5 | rf i His first mission experiences were most 5 i happy, however, the Ef'''ll last nine months of his time being spent with the mission president ig in visiting conferences. After returning home, Christian Jensen, Jr., and family. July 4, 1897, he entered the mercantile business in the fall, and for six years was manager of the Redmond Mercantile Company. The business paid splendid dividends, and the firm bought out and operated two of the best salt mines in central Utah, from which they shipped many car loads of rock salt to the adjoining states. During this time he purchased a splendid farm. In 1903 he sold out his business interests and farm and, with his brothers, Charles and Lehi, moved to Magrath, Canada,

PASSING EVENTS 571 where they organized a mercantile concern under the name of Jensen Brothers Company, Limited. They also organized the Jensen Ranching Company, Limited, which owns and operates seven thousand acres of rich farming and meadow lands. For the year 1911 their crop amounted to 70,000 bushels of grain with several hundred tons of hay. Land which they purchased in 1903 for $6 per acre has since increased to $40 and $50 per acre. During the six years that Elder Jensen resided in Redmond, he was president of the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association and superintendent of the Sunday school, and when the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association started at Magrath, he was chosen first counsellor to the president, and later the president of that organization, which position he held until called to fill his present mission. He has also served as one of the seven presidents of Seventies of that district. He has also acted as mayor of Magrath for two terms, being nominated by acclamation to fill the second term. Elder Jensen and wife have four children who, for lack of suitable schools in Samoa, will remain in Magrath during his mission. The picture of a sun stone, or the head of a pilaster, from the Nauvoo Temple, taken February 26, 1912, at the present resting place of the stone, on the academy grounds, Twelfth and Main streets, Quincy, Illinois, is here given. The elders back of the stone, from left to right, are: Alexander Jensen, Charles T. Johnson, Henry N. Sorensen, Storm McDonald, Arthur Burke, Jas. F. Kinghorn, Frank M. Wilson. It is now seventy-three years ago since Quincy was a refuge for the Saints. The "Era" is indebted to President German E. Ellsworth for the portrait and Sun Stone from the Nauvoo Temple. information. Elder Robert Marshall, president of the Karachi Branch of the Church, India, died on the 25th of January, 1912, at the age of 85. Elder Marshall first heard the gospel from Elders Truman Leonard and A. Milton Musser when they visited Sind, in 1856-57. He was then at Hydrabad, Sind, at which place Elder Leonard stayed in his house for some time. Elder Marshall did not then accept the gospel, but he preserved a number of books which were presented to him by the After the outbreak of the American Civil War, elders. in fulfilment of prophecy, he received a strong testimony of the

572 IMPROVEMENT ERA gospel, and began advocating its principles. When he felt old age creeping upon him, he became anxious for baptism, and opened communication with the European Mission. A missionary happened to be in India at the time (1903), viz., Elder John H. Cooper. He came over to Karachi and baptized not only Elder Marshall, but twelve others, the fruits principally of Brother Marshall's efforts, and of the seed sown by Elders Leonard and Musser fifty years previously. These members were formed into the Karachi Branch, and Elder Marshall was appointed president. He had then lost his sight, but all his other faculties were well preserved. More than a year ago, he fell from his cot, and since that time he has been bedridden. He has now peacefully passed away to reap in another sphere the results of his faithfulness and of a well-spent life. The Karachi Branch also lost another faithful member by death, viz., Sister Sarah Ann Simpson, who died at Kotei, Sind, on 21st July, 1911. This information is given the "Era" by Elder Henry J. Lilley, for many years a leader in the Branch, and a faithful member of the Church.

The City Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is said to be the greatest public building in the world. Tts length, north and south, is 486% feet; east and west, 470 feet; area, 4% acres; height of tower, 547 feet, ll% inches; it has 634 rooms; the diameter of the clock dial is 26 feet; the height of the Pennsylvania statue on top of the tower is 37 feet; the area of the floor space of the building is liy2 acres; the cost of construction, $18,243,339.86. The great spans building City Hall, Philadelphia, Pa. Market street, running east and west, and Broad street, running north and south. Vehicles are not allowed to pass through the building, as passage is obtainable all around it.

Elder K. N. Winnie, writing from Nome, Alaska, January 8, reports that he has been granted space in one of the daily papers, "The Daily Nome Industrial Worker," whose editor is a very liberal-minded man, to answer the attacks of an M. E. Church minister, a Reverend Baldwin, who has recently been sent to Nome to take charge of

PASSING EVENTS 673 • church affairs in that place. The reverend's first efforts were to attack the origin of the Book of Mormon, attributing it to Solomon Spalding. Elder Winnie asked him if he had ever read the book, to which he insultingly answered that he had, and then proceeded to push Elder Winnie out of the church, threatening him with an officer and jail in case he did not depart. While he was granted space in the "Worker," the editor of the other paper in that city, "The Nome Daily Nugget," who is a product of Harvard College, is very much prejudiced against our doctrines, being inclined not to inform himself to any degree on the subject. Elder Winnie proceeds: "I am not holding regular meetings but am visiting as the way opens, introducing the gospel to the people and circulating the following literature: All of Volume 14, 'Improvement Era,' bound in parts 1 and 2; 'Liahona, the Elders' Journal';'Reminiscences of Joseph Smith, the Prophet'; the Book of Mormon; the Doctrine and Covenants; 'The Great Apostasy'; the semi-weekly 'News'; 'Lives of Our Leaders'; tracts from the Southern States mission; 'Added Upon'; 'Missouri Persecutions'; 'Rays of Living Light'; 'Joseph Smith's Own Story,' etc. I am also sending what literature I can to those who request it, in the outlying points in the district. I have found in my experience that it is what we give and what we do that counts for more than what we say. I rejoice that the beginning of this year, 1912, finds the work of the Lord rolling on with greater momentum than ever before, and that in the midst of many weaknesses, the Lord has seen fit,up to this hour, to strengthen me to labor in his name in defense of all he has revealed in these latter days. Since yielding obedience to the gospel and receiving the priesthood, I have always felt that I am never quite alone, but that there is a power, though invisible,

all powerful, reserved for me and for his servants, to meet every emergency. May he who knows our hearts continue to bless and strengthen us for every duty and obligation as they come to pass."

A strong argument for prohibition is sent the "Era," clipped from the "Milling and Grain News," Kansas City, Mo., January 9, 1912, by Bishop Henry H. Blood, nf Kaysville. Kansas has been the butt of many derisive jests because of her determination to shake off the evils of the liquor business but time seems to be demonstrating that she is reaping a rich harvest of righteous living, in this one particular. Bishop Blood expresses the wish that all of our lukewarm strict regulationists could read these statistics, from the paper quoted, which is a reliable and high-class journal. The quotation is given under the heading: "Statistics from Kansas, Not only Wheat but Morals Showed a High Quality Last Year": "Ninety-six counties out of the 105 in Kansas have no inebriates. Six or seven along the Missouri border have them. Thirty-nine counties did not send a prisoner to jail last year. There were 912 prisoners in the state penitentiary last year, but only seventeen per cent of this number were Kansas born. Fifty-seven counties in Kansas have no use for poorhouses, and last year did not send a member

574 IMPROVEMENT ERA there. Eighty-four counties last year did not report a case of insanity. The death rate in Kansas is less than in any other section in the world — seven and five-tenths per thousand of the inhabitants. There are a large number of newspapers in Kansas, and only four of them carry whiskey ads." Lamond Bunnell, writing from Sidney, Australia, January Elder J. 26, Hyde has just returned from a reports that President Charles H. trip to the Tasmanian and Victorian conferences, where he found the work of the Lord progressing nicely. Conferences were held in Hobart, Tasmania, and in Melbourne, Victoria. All the elders are in good health, looking forth to the fruits of the new year with bright hopes. Elders in the picture, top row, are: Wesley E. Tingey, Centerville, Utah; Sargent A. Rice, Claresholm, Alta., Canada; John Fulmer, Abraham. Middle row: Horace Heiner, Morgan, William W. Houston, Panguitch, Utah; Archie D. Allred, Afton, Wyoming; Horace E. Worsley, Centerville, Utah. Bottom row: Coral B. Russell, Rexburg, Idaho; Joseph M. Wright, Hinckley, Utah. Elders Heiner, Allred and Rice have been here from twelve to twenty months. The others are new comers, and the weather conditions seem to them "warm." Trouble Mexico began just after President Madero's- inaugurain November 18, General Bernardo tion, November 6, last, and as early as Reyes was arrested in Texas by United States officers for violating neutrality laws, and later was tried for sedition in Mexico. Emilio Vasquez Gomez and Emilio Zapata joined with him in an effort to overthrow Madero in December last. Disturbances continued in various parts of the country, notwithstanding efforts by the government to quell them. On February 1 the rebels named E. V. Gomez provisional president; and on February 27 rebels under General Campa took the Mexican city of Ciudad Juarez, just over the border from El Paso, Texas. General Orozco proved disloyal to Madero and went over to and headed the rebel army in Chihuahua. Zapata and other leaders continued to plunder haciendas and capture towns. The Madero government is said to be showing little vigor, and what the outcome will be cannot be conjectured. On March 2, President Taft warned all persons in the United States to obey the neutrality laws, and all Americans in Mexico to take no part in hostilities except in self-defense.

Yuan Shi Kai, former Manchu premier, was formally inaugurated provisional president of the new republic of China, in the presence

PASSING EVENTS 575 of a great gathering of delegates, envoys, miltary and naval officers, and other prominent personages, in the foreign on March 10. office, In consenting to this, Dr.Sun Yat-sen, the leader of the revolution; did a gracious act for which the foreign press universally paid him great compliments. The ceremony was solemn, almost pathetic, and typical of China's transition. But things are not altogether favorable to the peaceful establishment of the new regime. On the evening of February the troops of Peking mutinied and began looting and 29, burning, and there is great unrest in all parts of the country supplemented by a famine which is claiming thousands of victims. ;

New Wards and Changes in Bishops, Etc., for the month of February, 1912, as reported by the Presiding Bishop's Office: New Wards. Tabiona ward, Duchesne stake, organized with James S. Jones, bishop, and Ross F. Crandall, ward clerk; Bluebell ward, Duchesne stake, organized with Wm. P. Merrill, bishop, and J. Isaac Lybbert, ward clerk. Bishops. Edward Powell, Upton ward, Summit stake, to succeed John C. Kidd; David J. Sutton, Montpelier First ward, Bear Lake stake, tosucceed Wilford W. Clark. Ward Clerks. Hyrum S Nicol, Theodore ward, Duchesne stake, to succeed Barr W. Musser; Albert J. Bird, Fifth ward, Pioneer stake, to succeed Wm. A. Pettit; Henry J. Kotter, Elsinore ward, Sevier stake, to succeed Edward Payne; Nels Buttler, Santaquin ward, Nebo stake, to succeed Lars A. Johnson. The South Pole was discovered by the Norwegian explorer, Roald Amundsen, on December 14, 1911, and was first announced in two Norwegian newspapers on March 8, 1912, based on a telegram from Captain Amundsen dated Hobart, Tasmania, which reads: "Pole reached 14-17 December." He used the "Fram," which carried Dr. Fritjof Nansen to the regions of the north, some years ago. The captain left Buenos Ayres on his South Pole trip late in 1910, with a small pack of Siberian dogs, and his men were provided with skis for traversing glacier ice. Captain Robert Scott, the British explorer, and his steamer, "Terra Nova," have not been heard from. Abram Hatch, president of the Wasatch stake from 1867 to 1902, and a prominent pioneer of the state and Wasatch county, died at his home in Heber, December 2, 1911. He was born in Addison county, Vermont, January 3, 1830. He came to Utah in September, 1850. He crossed the plains eleven times for freight and emigrants, filled a mission to the states in 1861, and to Eng^nd in 1864-7, crossing the Atlantic on his return in the "Great Eastern." Several years he represented his county in the Utah legislature, and was prominent in the business development of the country. President Anthon H. Lund, first counselor in the Presidency of the Church, and a prominent pioneer, was appointed by Governor William Spry, January 27, to fill the vacancy in the Capitol Commission, caused by the death of the late President John Henry Smith.

576 IMPROVEMENT ERA On March 14, the commission adopted and accepted the plans of the new state capitol building, drawn by Architect Richard Kletting. The style of the new building is severely classical Corinthian, and very much like the capitol at Washington. Mr. Kletting is a German by birth, and came to Utah twenty-nine years ago. The building is to cost two million dollars, and the architect will receive two per cent of the contract price.

"A Victim of the Mormons" is a vicious picture play which has been exhibited in pretty much all parts of the earth. On the very lirm ground that it slanders the religious beliefs and moral ethics of the public of Utah, a number of people protested against its being shown in the and Governor Spry succeeded in getting the west, National Boaid to withdraw the libel, which was to have been released for presentation in Utah and other states early in February. The films are of foreign origin, and have been mentioned in the "Era" as having been shown in Scandinavia and other European countries, and in Africa.

David McKenzie, pioneer thespian, and member of the Deseret Dramatic company, died on Sunday, March 10, 1912. He was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, December 27, 1834, and came to Utah in October, 1854. His career upon the stage is well known. In the Salt Lake theatre he filled leading supporting roles with many of the famous stars of the country. He filled two missions to England, one with President Joseph F. Smith, in 1874-5. He was a faithful attendant at Tabernacle services, and acted for many years as clerk and bookkeeper in the President's office. He was an ardent, faithful worker for the upbuilding of both Church and State.

Margaret G. Clawson, wife of Bishop Hiram B. Clawson, died February 10, 1912. She was the daughter of Thomas A. Judd and Teresa Hastings, and was born in Ontario, Canada, September 6, 1831. She came with the family to Utah, in 1849, arriving in Salt Lake City, October 16. She was married in 1852 to Bishop Clawson. Her husband, four sons and three daughters survive her. Her dramatic career is well known. She took part in the first play ever presented in the Salt Lake theatre. A strike of the coal miners of England went into effect February 29. The government tried but failed to avert the strike, and more than a million colliers stopped work. Three or four times that number were thrown out of employment, and industries have stopped for lack of fuel. An individual minimum wage for all underground workers is what is demanded of the coal owners.

Judge C. C. Wilson, chief justice of the supreme court of Utah, from 1868 to 1870, died at his home in Kewanee, Illinois, March 11, 1912, age 85. While chief justice of Utah he was highly honored for his impartiality and honesty of purpose.