--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 16 number: 3 published: 1913-01 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations, "Passing Events," *Improvement Era* 16, no. 3 (January 1913): 274–278.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1603unse 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: improvementera1603unse start_page: 274 end_page: 278 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1913-01) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1603unse publication_year: 1913 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 1913, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Passing Events Passing Events Sir Thomas Lipton, the British sportsman, multi-millionaire, and merchant, visited Salt Lake City, December 1, and v/as entertained by Ex-Senator Thomas Kearns, at the Alta Club. Carl A. Ek, a stone-cutter by trade, for ten years since its organization bishop of the Twenty-fifth ward, Salt Lake City, widely known as a great friend of children and the poor, died November 8, 1912. He was born in Skokloster, Sweden, June 10, 1845, joined the Church in 1871, and came to Utah in 1878. A widow and ten children survive him. James W. Ure, a prominent business man, a pioneer of 1849, and a leading member of the Deseret Sunday School Union Board, died in Salt Lake City, December 10, 1912. He was born in England, October 21, 1847, and two years later came to Utah with his parents. He was a devoted Latter-day Saint, a conservative and able counselor, and a man of faith, works, and character. Mary Pearce Ballantyne, widow of the late Richard Ballantyne, founder of the Sunday school among the Latter-day Saints, died at the home of her daughter, Jane B. Anderson, Salt Lake City, Nov. 26,- 1912. She was born in London, England, Oct. 1, 1828, came to Utah in 1855, and was a faithful member of the Church. She is survived by six children, forty-eight grandchildren, and twenty-three great grandchildren. The Utah Educational Association held its nineteenth session in SaltLake City during the closing days of November. The attendance was larger than ever before. More than 3,000 teachers were in regular attendance. G. N. Child was unanimously chosen president of the organization. Many important school topics were discussed by leading educators. Alma W. Richards, Utah's premier athlete, winner of the high jump at Stockholm and holder of the Olympic record in that event, left Tuesday, Dec. 3, for San Francisco, where he was to become a member of the American track team which sailed for Australia on December 11. Coach E. L. Roberts of the Brigham Young University, where Richards was developed, was to accompany him. They were expected to be gone two months. David Eccles, financier, and founder of manufacturing and business enterprises in Utah, Oregon, Idaho, and Wyoming, fell suddenly in Salt Lake City, December 5, 1912, as he was returning up- PASSING. EVENTS 275 town from the railway station on South Temple street, at 9:15 p.m. He died fifteen minutes later jn the emergency hospital at police headquarters. In his death the state of Utah lost one of its great and leading citizens. He was born at Paisley, Scotland, May 12, 1849, and was the second son of William Eccles, woodturner, who was a blind. David became very early a stay of the family. His father joined the Church, and the family emigrated to Utah, arriving in the fall of 1863.Here it was no easier to obtain a livelihood. The boys gathered wood which the father turned into implements which in turn they hauled about on a little hand sled to sell to the people of the settlement. David went to Oregon where he labored two years in lumber camps, then returned to Ogden, secured employment at the lumber mill of David James, as logger. He saved enough to buy a yoke of ox^n, and engaged in the logging and wood chopping business for himself; and later bought a small interest in a mill in the Paradise hills, near Eden, in Ogden valley. In DAVID ECCLES the mountains east of Huntsville, 1873 he purchased a mill in lumber and expanding became interested in a small way in other enterprises. With H. E. Gibson and W. T. VanNoy he opened his partners. In 1889 a lumber yard in Ogden, and in 1880 bought out organized the Oregon Lumber company, and then slowly built railhe invested in banks, sugar factories, street railways, coal comroads, panies, flouring and lumber mills, cattle and land companies, electric light and power organizations, and machine and implement companies, great orgnizations, so that at his death he was president of seventeen at least as many more, being counted worth and had large interests in at his death from ten to seventeen million dollars. He held a position from 1885 to 1887. He was made mayor of in the Ogden city council the city in 1887, filling the place with honor for two years. He married later, Ellen Stod- Bertha Jensen of Huntsville, in 1875; and ten T ears Wellsville. The children of Bertha are twelve, and of Ellen, dard, of nine. David Eccles was a very remarkable man. From poverty, without "pull," by strenuous work, education, and alone, with neither help nor thrift, good judgment, and persistent industry, he forged his way to 276 IMPROVEMENT ERA affluence. He helped scores of men, and all his brothers and sisters, to good opportunities by which they prospered. He provided a beautiful home and all the comforts of life for his aged parents. He gave thou- sands of people employment in the great enterprises which he founded. His fortune was freely invested at home in the development of industries and for the upbuilding of the commonwealths where he wrought. He did all this in less than forty years. But this was not all. He was a clean man, without bad habits. In financial matters he was close, but honest, but in big things liberal. He was the same when driving oxen as when he controlled millions. While not over-religious, he was true to the faith, and a firm believer in God and in his Son Jesus Christ, and in the mission of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Peter Barton, pioneer of 1862, bishop of Kaysville for thirty years, a leading business man and one of the most beloved of men in Davis county, died in Salt Lake City November 28, 1912. He was born in Lancashire, England, March 21, 1845. He was the first missionary to England from Kaysville, filling a mision to that country in 1874-6, when he presided over the Sheffield conference. On his return he was chosen bishop. He did much to develop the country and at his death was interested in a number of leading business institutions in Kaysville. Orson P. Arnold, a veteran of Utah's trying days, a prominent man of affairs, the pioneer street railway builder, and an Indian war veteran, died in Salt Lake City, November 22, 1912. He was born in Amboy, Oswego county, New York, Nov. 21, 1838; the family moved to Nauvoo in 1840, and to Utah in 1848. In 1858 Orson took part with Lot Smith in the Utah war, in which he was wounded. He became one of Brigham Young's confidants; and in 1866, during the Indian war, he went to the relief of the settlers in Sevier and Sanpete counties. He was brave, possessed an iron will, was prompt, energetic, patient and enduring, and faithful to the end. The Union Pacifice Merger, arranged in 1901, by which the Union Pacific acquired control of the Southern Pacific, was held to violate the Sherman anti-trust law, in an opinion announced by Justice Day of the United States Supreme court, Washington, December 2. In announcing the opinion, Justice Day said: "This court reaches the decision that the Union Pacific and Southern Pacific systems, prior to the stock purchase, were competitors engaged in interstate commerce, acting independently as to a large amount of such carrying trade and that since the acquisition of the stock in question the dominating power of the Union Pacific has suppressed competition between the systems and has effected a combination in restraint of interstate commerce within the prohibitions of the act." The control of the Central Pacific by the Union Pacific from Ogden to San Francisco, will be permitted, and this was the leading desire of Mr. Harriman in forming the merger. - PASSING EVENTS 277 The Balkan Situation was relieved by the conclusion of an armisticeon December 3, which provided that representatives of the Balkan states and Turkey were to meet in London on December 13 to arrange terms of peace. Greece refused to sign the armistice, but participated in the conference. St. James Palace, the nominal resi- dence of the English court, was selected as the place of meeting. It will be more than a peace-meeting for the Powers; it will involve considerable map-making, and it is hoped will result in the right settlement of the Balkan question, which has been a source of trouble to Europe s,o many years. The preliminaries were completed on Dec. 16, on which date a naval engagement was reported between the Greek and Turkish fleets between the Dardanelles and Imbros island. Th actual negotiations began on the 17th. There is little hope that the conference will early terminate. The Administration Building Corner-stone of the University of Utah was laid with appropriate ceremonies, October 23, 1912. The occasion marks a new period in the splendid history of the University of Utah. The new building will be one of the most beautiful college buildings in this country, and will complete the half-circle of buildings now in use. It will be the first really fine building in the inter-mountain country devoted to higher education. Governor Spry, W. W. Riter,chairman of the Board of Regents, President J. T. Kingsbury, and other officials took part in the ceremonies, the granite stone, 26x36x56 inches in dimensions, being placed in position by W. W. Riter. The November Election in Utah shows that the three national parties were all well represented. Here are the figures for President, Congress, and Governor: ^ir President — Vote .Plurality For Congress Vote Plurality IMt (R) 36,726 6,309 Thomas (D) 30,504 Wilson (D) 30,417 Love f P) 19,390 Roosevelt (P) 21,576 Larson (P) 18,425 .For Congress — For Governor Ffowell (R) 37,004 6,500 Spry (R) 37,275 7,394 T."Tohnson (R) 35,813 5,309 Tolton (TO 29,881 T. D. Tohnson (D) 30,475 Morris (P) 20,428 None of the eight proposed constitutional amendments were carried. The Parcels Post law goes into effect January 1, 1913. Charges for postage will be by zones from the place of mailing. This is how the zone rates are arranged: the "home" zone includes all territory within its rectangular district and within adjacent rectangles for fifty miles in any direction. The zones change with the point of mailing. For parcels-post purposes the zone in which a package is mailed is the first zone. Postal delivery within the zone of mailing costs five cents for the first pound and three cents for each additional pound. The 278 IMPROVEMENT ERA second zone includes a radius of 150 miles in any direction from the point of starting, the third 300 miles, and so on up to the eighth zone, which includes all points more than 1,800 miles away. The rates increase proportionately for each zone until for the eighth it is twelve cents for each additional pound. The limit of weight is to be eleven pounds, and the maximum size seventy-two inches in length and girth combined. Distinctive parcels post stamps must be used on all fourth class matter, zone maps will be furnished to all postmasters and each package must bear the return card of the sender. New Wards and Changes in Bishops, Etc., for the Month of November, 1912, as reported by the Presiding Bishop's office: — New Wards and Missions Parley's ward, Granite stake, with Herbert Savage, bishop, and Arthur Gardiner, ward clerk; address Sugar Station, "Utah. French Mission, Edgar Brossard, president; address 49 Rue du Faubourg du Temple, Paris, France. — New Bishops and Presidents John F. Jones, Palisade ward, Rigby stake, to succeed Samuel C. Weeks, acting; address Twin P.O., Idaho. George H. Maughan, Topaz ward, Pocatello stake, to succeed Arthur M. Fullmer; address Dempsey, Idaho. R. Arthur Meeks, Thurber ward, Wayne stake, to succeed Geo. W. Sidwell; address Thurber, Wayne county, Utah. David T. Howell, Warm River ward, Yellowstone stake, to succeed George A. Hibbard; address Warm River, Idaho. W. Arthur Maxfield, P. E., riawson ward, Emery stake, to succeed Wm. Hitchcock; address Clawson, via Ferron, Utah. Hyrum Lee, Bybee ward, Rigby stake, to succeed Erastus Walker; address Rigby R. D. No. 1, Idaho. David E. Shawcroft, Richfield ward, San Luis stake, to succeed Henrv W. Valentine; address R. F. D. La Jara, Colorado. Simon Wm. Grotegute, c Dar>tsh Fork Fourth ward, Nebo stake, to succeed Abraham J. Hanson; address Spanish Fork, Utah. George Graham, Twenty-fifth ward. Pioneer stake, to succeed Carl A. Ek: address 467 Post street, Salt Lake City. H. G. Ivins, Japan mission, to succeed F.'bert D. Thomas; address 81 Yakuojimae Machi, Ushigome, Ku, Tokyo, Japan. A. Theodore Johnson, Swedish mission, to succeed Andreas Peterson; address Svartens^aten 3. Stockholm, Sweden. — Ward Clerks Elisha Warner, Spanish Fork Second ward, Nebo stake, to succeed Wells Brockbank; address Spanish Fork, Utah. Wm. A. Peck, Bryce ward, St. Joseph stake. to succeed Wm. O. Tayler;address Bryce, Graham county, Arizona. Morgan Beck. Snaniph Fork Third ward, Nebo stake, to succeed S. W. Robertson; address Spanish Fork, Utah. Maud Baker, Thurber ward, Wayne stake, to succeed Clara Sidwell; address Thurber, Utah. Louis R. Wells, Twentieth ward. Ensign stake, to succeed Levi W. Richards; address 176 G street, Salt Lake City. James Peterson, Thatcher ward, Pear River stake, to succeed H. B. Coles; address Tremonton R. D. No. 2, Utah. V> m. Moore Claydon, Layton ward. St. Joseph stake, to succeed Abraham J, Perkins, Box 191, Safford, Arizona. Nils P. Anderson, Logan Seventh ward. Cache stake, to succeed Fred Fcholes; address care Logan Second-hand Store, Logan, Utah. Edwin J. Lewis, Annis ward, Rigby stake, to succeed C. W. Price; address Lorenzo R. D. No. 1, Idaho. John W. Shawcroft, Richfield ward, San Luis stake, to succeed Lewis E. Shawcroft: addressLa Jara, Colorado. — Changes in Addresses, Etc. J. Wm. Forsberg, Thirtv-third ward, Liberty stake, 436 South Twelfth East, Salt Lake City; S. E. Woolley, Hawaiian mission, Lai, Oahu, Territorv of Hawaii. Fish Haven ward, clerk is Newell Booth, not Hewell Booth, as printed heretofore. George Ivan Okerlund, who labored less than two months as a missionary in West Virginia, and who died in the field, of typhoid fever, was buried at Loa, Wayne county, October 20. He lived a pure and upright life, and was beloved by many friends. He was the second elder from Wayne stake to die in the field. George B. Taylor, for eleven months a missionary in the Western States mission, died in a hospital in Denver, Nov.14, 1912, from typhoid fever. He was true and faithful, and had labored chiefly in Pueblo.