--- 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: 17 number: 4 published: 1914-02 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* 17, no. 4 (February 1914): 402–406." source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1704unse 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: improvementera1704unse start_page: 402 end_page: 406 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1914-02) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1704unse publication_year: 1914 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 1914, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Passing Events Passing Events American farm products for 1913, according to an announcement by the Department of Agriculture, amounted to ten billion dollars worth, and five billion dollars of cash income; it was a notable year for American farms; and yet a shipment of eggs worth $20,000 was landed in California from the Orient, in January, for consumption in the United States. A. C. Matheson was appointed by Governor William Spry on the 6th of January, to succeed the late Mr. Nelson as superintendent of public instruction for Utah. Mr. Matheson was born in Dundee, Scotland, in 1870, and at the age of eight came to this country with his parents, locating at Parowan. He is a graduate of the University of Utah, 1895, and has acted as chief assistant to Supt. Nelson since 1901. Elder E. N. Austin, Liberty, Idaho, writes January 6, 1914: "In the January issue of the Era, page 245, some missionaries, in mission messages, state that Caleb W. Haws is supposed to be the only elder ever buried in England, though the editors say that others have been buried there. In this connection, I wish to state that Elder Jesse Cherry, of Centerville, died in England from smallpox, some fifty years ago, and was buried there." The Telephone Trust announced it's voluntary dissolution without resort to the courts, on December 20. The American Telephone and Telegraph company agreed with the Department of Justice to relinquish control of the Western Union, to avoid suit under the anti-trust law. Other "big business," it is believed will follow suit. The J. Pierpont Morgan company has withdrawn from the directorates of a number of large financial institutions. Hon. Duncan Marshall, retiring president of the Irrigation Convention, made a very forceful speech at the recent meeting of the convention in which these words occur: "If you want to keep a boy on the farm, keep livestock. There isn't a boy in Alberta who doesn't take pride and interest in some livestock of his own. Get the boy started on good livestock so that he may be able to see the good points. Let him do all his own selection, feeding and marketing, and don't take his money and put it to your credit. Let the boy have the proceeds of his toil and start a bank account of his own. If you can show him a profit he will not leave the farm." The Hetch-Hetchy bill was signed on December 19 by President Woodrow Wilson granting public water supply to San Francisco from the Tuolumne river, in the northwestern part of the Yosemite National Park. The president stated that the bill would not impair the usefulness of the public domain. The water system for San Francisco, under the Hetch-Hetchy plans, will be second in magnitude and engineering difficulties only to that of New York City. A dam three hundred feet high will impound a lake on the floor of the Hetch- PASSING EVENTS 403 Hetchy valley nine miles long and from a thousand to four thousand feet wide containing two hundred twenty-four billion gallons of water. The open water course will lead twelve miles between canyon walls, and the aqueduct proper will be one hundred sixty-four miles long. The daily capacity of the system will be four hundred million gallons, and is intended to supply the needs of all the cities about San Francisco Bay. The ultimate cost of the system is estimated by the engineers at $77,367,400. The volcano Sakura-Jima, in southern Japan, near Kagoshima, broke out in violent eruptions, January 12, accompanied by severe earthquakes, by which many buildings and uncounted lives were destroyed. In the Gulf of Kagoshima the water seemed to be boiling, and the quantity of floating pumice stone was so great that it prevented navigation. Lava for several days flowed steadily down the sides of the volcano to the sea, increasing the area of the island as the substance solidified on reaching the water. On the eastern coast, the houses are completely demolished, the ashes and lava having reached to the eaves. More than 1,500 out of two thousand buildings on the islands near the volcano were buried, and a little village of four hundred houses on the island of Sakura was buried, with many people in them, even as in ancient Pompeii. The loss of lives may reach thousands, and it was estimated that only nine thousand out of Sakura's estimated population of nineteen thousand had been accounted for up to the evening of January 16. The suffering everywhere is intense, and famine has added to the misery. Aid and letters of sympathy from many of the nations of the earth are being extended to Japan in which both President Wilson and Secretary of State Bryan have joined. Judge Orlando W. Powers, a prominent criminal lawyer and formerly associate justice of the Supreme _ Court of Utah, under appointment of President Cleveland, died in Salt Lake City, Friday morning, January 2, 1914. He was born, June 16, 1850, at Pultneyville, Wayne County, New York, on the shore of Lake Ontario, sixteen miles north of Palmyra. He graduated from Ann Arbor, in 1871, and entered politics the following year, later removing to Kalamazoo, Michigan, where he practiced law. In 1874 he entered the stump for the Democratic party and was elected city attorney of Kalamazoo, in 1876. He stumped the state for Samuel J. Tilden for president of the United States, and in 1885 was re-electedcity attorney. In May, 1885, he accepted the position of associate justice of Utah and became judge of the first district court at Ogden. This was during the crusade against polygamy. In 1886 he was retired from the judgeship of Utah, returning to Michigan for a very short time where he became the editor of the Grand Rapids Daily, but in September, 1887, he returned to Utah and resumed his practice of law, remaining here ever since. He took an active part in Utah politics both in the Liberal and Democratic parties. He was a member of the legislature in 1892; and in 1895 was Democratic state chairman. He stumped the East for William Jennings Bryan, in 1896, and was a candidate for United States senator in 1898, but was defeated. The Mexican situation has changed somewhat since last month in that General Francisco Villa attacked the federal army at Ojinaga, on December 29, and the fight continued until about the 11th of January, when the federal soldiers, under General Salvador Mercado, were defeated, owing to lack of ammunition, and 4.300 of them with Generals 404 IMPROVEMENT KRA Orozco, Salazar, Rojas, and others, ran into the United States. With the defeated Mexican army, 1,500 civilian refugees also made their way into the United States. The war department made arrangements to provide for the Mexicn federals and refugees at Fort Bliss, where they will be fed and clothed at the expense of the United States government. It is estimated that it will cost $45,000 a month to provide for the self-invited guests. General Hugh L. Scott has ordered rations to be distributed at the rate of half a carload a day. General Ynez Salazar escaped from Ojinaga, and was arrested at Sanderson, Texas, for violating the neutrality laws. This Salazar is the same bandit who was given the mission by Huerta of wiping out the settlements of the Latter-day Saints in Chihuahua, and who was the immediate means of their exodus. The coward now fled to the United States to seek that refuge which he absolutely refused to grant to innocent neutral people in his own country. On January 13, Minister Mohino announced that the Mexican government would default in the payment of all interest on all external and internal bond debts due in April, held principally in the United States, Great Britain, France and Germany. The new currency bill or "Federal Reserve Act," passed Congress and was approved December 23. It is said by many senators and representatives, as well as by business men, to be the most important law passed by Congress since the Civil War. It is mainly intended to put an end to business panics, and the prolonged hard times that follow them. After Congress had passed the tariff bill late last summer, members of Congress were weary and wished to adjourn until December, but President Wilson insisted that they remain and pass the reform currency bill. He argued that the two should go together, and that with the low tariff there was great danger of hard times as long as the banking and currency system remained unreformed. Six Republican senators and one Progressive senator joined the united Democratic senators in voting for the bill. The vote in the Senate was 54 to 34, the 34 being Republican senators. In the House all the Democrats except two voted for the bill and 37 Republican representatives voted "aye" with the Democrats. The leading features of the new law, which practically changes the whole banking system of the country, are principally these: The new system is to be governed by a Federal Reserve Board consisting of the Secretary of the Treasury and six others appointed by the president, their annual salary to be $12,000 each. This board has very great powers. Not less than eight nor more than twelve Federal Reserve, or "Regional" banks are to be established throughout the country. These are banks for banks, which means that the banks will deposit money in them as individuals deposit money in ordinary banks. The 7,500 national banks in the country are compelled to subscribe to the stock of these Regional banks, and to make deposits in them under nenaltv of losing their charters. The 18,000 state banks in the United States cannot be compelled to come in, but are invited to do so, and doubtless most of them will. To prevent panics the new law provides for re-discounting business papers that the regular banks hold. By turning over this paper to the Regional bank they may obtain 50% of its face value in new paper money, which paper money is guaranteed not only by the business paper and the local bank but also by the United States. The notes are protected by a gold reserve of 40%. In this way a bank which has good assets will be able to get cash no matter how "tight" the money market may be. PASSING EVENTS 405 The idea of the whole bill is to make capital and credit flow where it is needed, and not for it to pile up uselessly where it is not needed. Business men throughout the country, as well as the banks in most instances, express their satisfaction with the new bill; however, some are distrustful that the new arrangement may cause an inflation of the currency. Large numbers of both national and state banks have so far enrolled themselves under the system provided by the new currency bill, and it is not believed that manv banks of importance will remain outside the Federal Reserve system. Hearings were held throughout the country in January as a preliminary to selecting eight cities in which the new Federal Reserve banks are to be located. Andrew Clarence Nelson, state superintendent of public instruction for Utah, died on December 26. Supt. Nelson had suffered for nearly twenty-seven years with a cancerous growth on the left side of his throat. He underwent frequent operations but without permanent effect. Supt. Nelson was born in Ephraim, January 20, 1864, and was the son of Mads P. Nelson and Margaret Hansen Nelson, who came to Utah with the early pioneers. Graduating from the district schools, he entered the Brigham Young Academy, at Provo, from which institution he graduated in 1891. He was principal of the Manti Seminary for three years, then principal of the Manti schools, and later superintendent of Sanpete county, in which position he remained for four and a half years. He then studied in the state university of Indiana, and graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Science. In 1900, he succeeded Emma J. Mc- Vicker who filled the unexpired term of Dr. John R. Park, the first state superintendenent of public instruction for Utah. Sput. Nelson was married in 1884. to Miss Amanda Jensen of Sevier county, daughterof Captain John Jensen, a pioneer. His wife and ten children survive him. Supt. Nelson is considered the father of rural high schools in Utah. The entire educational system of the state was greatly improved by him until it won the praise of leading educators of the 406 IMPROVEMENT ERA entire nation. For thirteen years he devoted his entire time to the cause of education, and during that time won the love of all local educators, and won fame as a prominent figure in national educational circles. His death is a distinct loss to the state, its people and educational interests. Elder Joseph Black, son of John M. and Harriet Spencer Black, a resident of Grayson, Utah, died October 25, 1913, from the effects of injuries received from being thrown from a load of hay while on his way from Monticello to Grayson. He was born October 22, 1884, at Salina, Utah. The family, when he was three years old, removed to Huntingtotn where his father was employed in the Co-op. gristmill, then to Kirtland, New Mexico, and became members of the Burnham ward. Here Joseph passed the grades of the Aaronic priesthood, serving faithfully from deacon to priest. He attended the common schools where he was studious and received rapid promotion. In 1907, he filled a mission to the Central States, responding promptly to the call, notwithstanding he had a slight impediment in his speech which made it embarrassing for him to talk in public. Elder George F. Richards set him apart. After laboring fearlessly twentysix months in the mission field, he returned to his mother's home in Kirtland, New Mexico. In 1910, he removed to Grayson, Utah, where he entered 120 acres of land and built his home. He married Miss Louise Brown, daughter of Azariah and Jane Guymon Brown, April 4, 1912, in the Salt Lake Temple. He served as a ward teacher, and as second counselor in the Y. M. M. I. A., and in all his Church activities was accompanied by a rich flow of the missionary spirit, maintaining that home converted souls were quite as precious as those converted in the mission field. On one occasion he baptized ten children. Born in troublesome times and in comparative poverty, he yet overcame every obstacle, and, through the example and sympathetic counsels of his parents, imbibed an earnest faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ. He led a pure and clean life. He who serves God is never forsaken, and death cannot stop his activities. I believe that under the direction of the priesthood of the son of God, Elder Black is laboring in the cause of righteousness in another world as diligently as he labored here. Funeral services were held at the ward schoolhouse, at Grayson, under the direction of Bishop Bayles. Beautiful music was rendered by the ward choir, among the songs being, "Count Your Blessings," a favorite hymn with Elder Black. Other songs were, "Nearer, My God, to Thee," "O Grave, Where is Thy Victory?" and, "I Need Thee Every Hour." Elder Black was one of a large family, he leaves grandparents, parents, wife and one child, and many brothers and sisters and friends who mourn his early and unexpected death. — John R. Young.