--- 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: 12 published: 1914-10 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations, "A Word to the Reader", *Improvement Era* 17, no. 12 (October 1914), unpaginated front matter. source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1712unse 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: improvementera1712unse rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1914-10) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1712unse 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. --- # A Word to the Reader A Word to the Reader N the days of the Nephites when the leaders wished to instruct the people, a proclamation was made throughout all the land and the men came with their families and pitched their tents round about the temple and listened from their tent doors to the words of their leaders. But in the days of King Benjamin the multitude became so great that the leader could not be heard, so the words which he spoke were written and distributed among those beyond the sound of his voice that they might also hear. This is the method employed by the Improvement Era today. The Church is greater than ever before, and the problems with which it has to deal are infinitely more complex. Every month the leaders of the Church speak to the readers of the Improvement Era on such problems. What of the moral and religious indifference of the people? of the tendencies of modern fashion? of the new dances? of the liquor and divorce questions? of the theory of evolution? of the doctrines and discipline of the Church? Are you interested in the attitude of the best educated men of the Church on these and a hundred other important questions? The words of the leaders of this people are taken to those not under the sound of their voice, every month, through the Improvement Era. And you don't have to travel to the temple, or live in tents, to hear them, as in the days of the Nephites. You receive the Era in your own home and can read it at your leisure and pay vastly less, despite the added ; convenience, than it would cost to take a trip to the temple or the public house of worship. When the University of Utah was first organized it had traveling representatives in London, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, Rome, and other great cities gathering the best of the world's knowledge for the young people of Utah. That was an enormous educational idea. The Improvement Era today has two thousand traveling correspondents in every corner of the earth who every month are telling the readers of the Era, through its columns, of the most interesting things they hear, and sending photographs of the most interesting sights they see. This unique educational advantage is made possible to the readers of the Era because of the co-operative plan on which the magazine is published. The chosen leaders and home contributors write articles which are indispensable to the missionary. He re- ceives the Era free, and in return contributes articles on conditions and customs in every portion of the globe. You, as a reader, get the advantage of both ends of this great co-operative plan. A young man said to the writer the other day, "It's no use my subscribing to the Era, I don't even have time to read the newspaper!" The young man had uncon- sciously given one of the best reasons in the world for subscribing for the Improvement Era. In the Era every month is given a compilation of impor- tant events in the world's history, stripped of the un- authentic and surplusage and adapted to the interests of the "Mormon" community. There is no other such compilation for the Rocky Mountain country. Adaptation is the watchword of the Era. It holds a unique position, and is attempting to fill it. Every community, and especially the "Mormon" com- munity, has interests and view points of its own. Every community, therefore, develops in time a literature of its own. The Era is attempting to develop a liter- ature characteristic of the "Mormon" community, of the Latter-day Saints. But the greatest mission of the Era is to furnish a channel for intellectual and spiritual intercourse among the great multitude which now makes up the community of the Latter-day Saints. No organization of any size can long endure unless the members of that organization, however widely sep- arated geographically, exchange ideas with one an- other. They must read the same things and think along similar lines. The Era furnishes for the organizations which it repre- sents, The Priesthood Quorums, the Y. M. M. I. A., and the Church schools, a means of keeping their members in touch and harmony with the central or- ganization. And because of the breadth of its interests and its wide distribution, it furnishes the opportunity to members of the Church generally to keep in touch with the progress of thought in the Church and to the Church a valuable means for maintaining itself as a united whole. YOUR OBLIGATION Let us help you to keep in touch with all these advantages. Your order written on the pink slip in this number with your check or money order for $2.00 enclosed will have prompt attention, and will cause the Era, with its 1,200 pages of good reading and its 400 illus- trations to visit you, with its load of information, in- struction, and entertainment, every month for a whole year. YOU GET THE MANUAL FREE Further than that, it will bring you, free of charge, a val- uable treatise on "THE VOCATIONS OF MAN" dealing with the divisions of labor, classifications of man's activities, and the vocations engaged in by men. It is one of the most instructive and practical manuals we have ever placed in the hands of our young men, and will be of great assistance in aiding young men to choose a vocation, as well as in arousing an interest in parents to aid their children in the important task of helping to choose their life's work. The Junior manual is the second in a series on "The De- velopment of Character" and treats on "Conduct," in fifteen chapters, with about one hundred stories on ethical and religious topics suitable for the junior classes, and home study and reading. SEND SUBSCRIPTIONS NOW Subscribers who have followed the timely, appropriate ar- ticles which have appeared in Vol. 17 will readily un- derstand that there are many articles that cannot be named in advance as we print such information and discussion as is pertinent to the hour. From three to four hundred illustrations appear in each volume and together with the twelve hundred pages of the best reading matter obtainable, the Era makes a book not only of current interest but of historical value. You get it all for $2.00 with either the book entitled "The Vocations of Man" or "Lessons on Con- duct" free. Send your subscription today, filling out the pink blank in this number. Presidents of ward Y. M. M. I. A. should arrange imme- diately for a complete canvass of their wards, instruc- tions for the conduct of which may be obtained from stake superintendents of the Y. M. M. I. A. who have the canvass for the Era in hand, from the Y. M. M. I. A. Hand Book, or from the General Secretary who will gladly furnish information, lists, suggestions, re- ceipt books and sample copies. Address The Improvement Era 20-22 Bishop's Bldg., Salt Lake City, Utah. Write today, using the order blank in this number.