--- 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: 18 number: 4 published: 1915-02 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* 18, no. 4 (February 1915): 373–378." source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1804unse 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: improvementera1804unse start_page: 373 end_page: 378 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1915-02) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1804unse publication_year: 1915 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 1915, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Passing Events Passing Events The Knight Sugar Company decided on January 13 to move their factory from Alberta, Canada, to a site near Layton, Davis county, Utah. The San Diego-Panama-California Exposition was officially opened at midnight, January 1st, by President Woodrow Wilson who pushed the button at Washington connecting a wire leading to the exposition grounds. The Utah building was visited by a large contingent of Utah people including Governor William Spry and other leading citizens. A national prohibition amendment was submitted to the House of Representatives, and a final adverse decision upon the subject was given by the House on the 22nd of December. The resolution was by Representative Hobson and was submitted to Congress as a constitu- tional amendment prohibiting the sale and manufacture of liquor in the United States. There were 197 yeas and 189 nays. Among the nays were Representatives Howell and Johnston of Utah. Increase in freight rates, approximating five per cent on all the railroads between the Atlantic seaboard and the Mississippi river, north of the Potomac and Ohio rivers, were granted on December 18 by the Interstate Commerce Commission. It is estimated that the advanced rates will increase the income of the roads about thirty million dollars annually. The decision was made upon the showing by the roads that in addition to conditions from which they previously asked relief, they are now confronted with an emergency because of * the war in Europe. A resolution on woman suffrage which provided for the submitting amendment to the federal constitution to enfranchise to the states an women, was defeated in the House of Representatives January 12, by a vote of 204 to 174. It was the second vote in the history of Congress on the woman suffrage issue. The question was before the House on the Mondell resolution to submit a constitutional amendment providing that the right of suffrage shall not be abridged "because of sex." A two-thirds affirmative vote was necessary to pass the resolution, and it was defeated by a vote of 30. Congressman Howell voted for the resolution and Congressman Johnston was absent and did not vote. A severe earthquake in Italy on January 13, 1915, destroyed a num- bei of villages. It is estimated that fifty thousand people were either killed or injured in the disaster, and a later estimate places the number at 100,000. The earthquake was of wide extent and is said to be the most severe that Rome has felt in more than a hundred years. The ' earthquake swept over central and southern Italy, with Ayazzano, as the center of disturbance. Towns with thousands of inhabitants were overthrown and great suffering has resulted. The wounded in some instances were left in the ruins for two and three days. In Avazzano there were over eight thousand dead. Famine and severe cold add to the sufferings. The eleventh assembly of the Utah Legislature convened in Salt Lake City on Monday, January 11, 1915. The senate was organized immediately by the selection of Senator W. Mont Ferry as president, with Alexander Buchanan, Jr., as secretary. The House, however, 374 IMPROVEMENT ERA being nearly equally divided politically were in deadlock until Satur- day, the 16th, when the members succeeded in organizing by the selec- tion of Lewis R. Anderson of Sanpete county as speaker, by a vote of 25 to 20. One of the important questions to come before this legisla- ture is the formation of a prohibition bill to be submitted for adoption to the people who are to vote upon it at a special election, if the pro- gram carries. A straight prohibition bill was introduced on January 20, in the Senate. James Dwyer, a noted pioneer of Salt Lake, and well known throughout the state of Utah and the intermountain west, as a man of sterling character and ability, died of general debility in the early morning of January 13, at the L. D. S. Hospital. Mr. Dwyer was born November 22, 1831, in Bansha, Tipperary county, Ireland. While he was very young, his parents settled in Detroit, Michigan, where his father became a leading business man. While a boy Mr. Dwyer at- tended school there and worked with his father. In 1860 he was con- verted to the faith of the Latter-day Saints and came to Utah, crossing the plains in an ox team company. He came to Salt Lake and engaged as a news dealer and began his famous book-store, as a news-stand, in the old Townsend House, on West Temple and First South. He was greatly interested in education and many young men throughout the state can testify to the help which he rendered them in their selection of books. His old store at No. 72 South Main street was the center of the educational and literary thought and gatherings of Salt Lake City for many years. In 1884 a fire destroyed his stock, and he went out of business, devoting the remainder of his time to educational affairs and to his personal business. In 1862 he was married to Sarah Hammer with whom he had eight children. An extended sketch of Brother Dwyer appeared in the Improvement Era for June, 1911, Vol, H, page 696. An enjoyable dinner was given by the General Board of the Y. M. M. I. A. to the General Board of the Y. L. M. I. A. on January 14, at the Bishop's Building. The purpose was to increase the spirit of good fellowship between the members of the two boards, and to provide an enjoyable evening's entertainment. Both purposes were fully ac- complished. There were over one hundred and fifty in attendance, in- cluding members of the two boards, their escorts, and some of the leading authorities of the Church. A reception was held at seven o'clock, and the dinner was followed by a program of speeches, toasts, songs and a joke contest. President Joseph F. Smith gave the address of welcome, which was responded to by President Martha H. Tingey of the Y. L. M. I. A. President Heber J. Grant acted as toastmaster. He was introduced by a very complimentary speech by President Smith, in these words: "It ismy pleasurable duty to introduce to you a gentleman who possesses a tongue 'like the pen of a ready writer;' a gentleman with memories as inexhaustible as the eternal elements; a gentleman with a brain as full of energy as harnessed electricity; a vigorous, true friend and an intense but forgiving enemy; a gentleman who is generous to a fault, whose days are full of wakeful activities, and whose nights are sleepless; a gentle- man you can 'tie to', and who will not disappoint vou this even- — — ing our 'toastmaster' for this auspicious occasion Elder Heber J. Grant." After a witty response by Elder Grant, he introduced toasts which were responded to by President Richard W. Young. Mrs. Ruth May Fox, and Oscar A. Kirkham. A feature of the evening was the joke contest between Orson F. Whitney and B. S. Hinckley. Among the delightful musical selections were the contralto solo by Evangeline Thomas, violin solo by Miss Mae Anderson, and the bass solo by PASSING EVENTS 375 Willard Andelin who responded to an encore and sang "Rocked in the Cradle of the Deep." Elder B. H. Roberts offered the invocation and President Anthon H. Lund pronounced the benediction. Thomas Hull of the General Board social committee had charge, and to him and as- sociates is due in great measure the success of the very pleasant evening.. The Great War. Since our last report closing December 16, des- ultory fighting has been proceeding both in the east and in the west with no decisive results. Much suffering has been endured by the soldiers both in Poland and Belgium and France on account of the snows and winter storms. ' — December 17. Great Britain declared that henceforth Egypt will constitute a British protectorate, the suzerainty of Turkey being ter- minated. It was announced from Russia that the German cruiser "Frederich-Karl" was sunk during a recent engagement in the Baltic. The allied troops occupy Westende on the Belgian coast after a bom- bardment by warships which forced the Germans to retire. — December 18. The British government announced that the khedive of Egypt Abbas Hilmi Pasha had been deposed and the government bad appointed in his place his uncle Prince Hussein Kemal Pasha, with the title of sultan. Sir Arthur MacMahon is appointed high commis- sioner for Egypt. The Germans occupy Lowicz half way between Lodz and Warsaw, after several days' fighting. The Italian senate adjourned after a demonstration in favor of peace. King Haakon of Norway, and King Christian of Denmark met with King Gustave at Malmo, Sweden, to discuss problems of the war affecting the Scan- dinavian countries. — December 20. Dixmude is evacuated by the Germans after occu- pation since November 10. Prince von Buelow, special German am- bassador to Italy, was received by King Victor Emmanuel. — December 22. General Joffre retires twenty-four French generals. — December 24. The Russians take four thousand Austrians pris- oners. The Germans take 837 prisoners and kill three thousand Anglo- Indian troops near St. Hubert. — December 25. Seven British sea planes attack Cuxhaven, Helgo- land, the German naval base. December 26. —ABritish submarine enters the Dardanelles and destroys mines. The Russians captured ten thousand Austrians at Krosno in Galicia. December 28. — Georges, near Nieuport taken by the French.of St. is December 29. — President Wilson protests against the detentionAus- American ships in search for contraband. Russians defeat the trians near the Carpathians, taking three thousand prisoners. — December 30. There was hard and continued fighting in the trenches between Meuse and Moselle. The Germans make a bomb- dropping raid on Dunkirk, and fifteen are reported killed. December 31.— The French attack the village of Steinbach, Alsace, and the Montenegrins invade Herzegovina. January 1.— The British battleship "Formidable" was sunk in the Channel by a German submarine, according to official announcement from Berlin. — January 3. Two British men of war attack the German East African port of Dar-es-Salaam effecting considerable damage. — January 5. Cardinal Mercier is said to have been arrested and con- revolt fined to Malines by the Germans for inciting the Belgians to against German military rule. _ . January 9.—The swift German battle cruiser Von-Der Tann was sunk in battle with a British battle cruiser off Pernambuco, South America. 376 IMPROVEMENT ERA The Sonora Colonies, Mexico, were recently visited by C. W. Lillywhite, of Douglas, Arizona. In a letter to the Era, dated January 4. he gives an account of his trip with a brief statement of the present condition attending the colonies. Since the exodus of our people from — Morelos, San Jose and Oaxaca, in September, 1912, there has not been on an average more than eight or ten Americans caring for the prop- erty in those colonies. Notwithstasding this small American popula- tion, practically all of the more than one hundred and forty homes vacated by the colonists are occupied at present. The lands have been utilized, and doubtless never before in the history of that country have the natives enjoyed such luxuries without cost to them. If they had used American economy and foresight they might have stored food and clothing to last them for years to come, but their shiftless habits and indolence have not only proved their own loss and present suffer- ing but also have been the cause of the destruction of thousands of dollars' worth of property belonging to the colonists. When the "Mormon" colonists were forced to fly before the invasion of Salazar's "Red Flaggers" there was every appearance of thrift and industry, but today a more perfect picture of decay, destruction and retrogression it would be hard to find. Notwithstanding that the land is well sup- plied with firewood to be obtained at little labor, fence posts have been burned for fire wood and even door and window frames from brick houses are torn out and burned, not out of revenge, but merely to supply an immediate want of firewood at a minimum cost of labor. The fruit trees yielded much delicious fruit, and many thousands of bushels of golden grain were harvested and sold, the proceeds going to buy drink (mescal) — that greatest curse to the Mexican race, and today the colonies are teeming with a destitute, starving people, a people, it seems to the observer, almost too indolent to feed and warm themselves when the necessaries for such comforts are placed in their hands, without coit to them. The bean crop this year was almost a complete failure, and now to add to the misery and want of the nation, and to the colonists' keen loss, the most destructive floods in the history of the colonies have visited the country (December 19-20, THE MAXHAM HOME One of the neatest brick cottages of Colonia Morelos as seen while the flood was washing the corner walls away Dec. 27, 1914. PASSING EVENTS 377 1914). Hundreds of acres of rich lands have been washed away, and thousands of dollars of damage have been done to fences and canals, and have placed these colonies apparently beyond the possibility of being reclaimed and re-inhabited and settled by the Latter-day Saints In 1905, the colonies also suffered greatly by floods. At that time more than a thousand acres of fertile land, under a high state of culti- vation, and many homes, were washed away at Oaxaca. What with floods, crop failures, drought, the revolution, grafters, bandits and rob- bers, poor Mexico has suffered more than any other land; and these have reduced its race of fifteen million people to the most abject suf- fering, poverty and famine. There is no need to go to Belgium to find a famine-stricken and starving nation. Not more than sixty miles from the boundary line, dividing peace and plenty and misery and want, between progress and degradation, between the United States The flood at its height, Dec. 27, 1914. and Mexico, one may witness tnousands of human beings suffering severely for food and clothing. It will be six months yet before any- thing from the soil can be harvested for their relief. These are the conditions now confronting the natives inhabiting the homes of the colonists at Sonora. They are starving in a land surrounded with rich mineral deposits, acres of the most fertile soil, with orchards of choice fruit trees, implements on the ground. Our colonists are, in obedience to wise counsel, seeking homes in a land whose government guarantees to the industrious inhabitants thereof the fruits of patient toil. "In my opinion," says the writer, "any of the colonists who cherish the faintest hope that they might ere long be permitted to return to the Sonora solonies and enjoy the same blessings as before the exodus, and see those colonies again peopled by industrious Latter- day Saints, will do well now to banish such hopes and resign them- selves to labor to build homes in a land of more perfect peace and security. Aside from the ravages of the revolution, the recent floods have rendered the security of the colonies hopeless. Their present condition would discourage the stoutest hearts. Many farms along the Batipito river were washed away entirely. It was formerly a small, harmless little stream but is now a yawning, hungry-looking river-bed covering almost a third part of the once fertile valley." Driftwood and sediment cover the farms for some distance back from the banks. "The Last Letters of the Prophet Joseph," by B. F. Cummings, Sen., in the next number of the Era. Many other attractive features; including a good story. Original Story Contest. — 1. Open to all. The Improvement Era of- fers $25 for the best story in a monthly competition beginning in January and ending in June. 2. stories for monthly competitions must be in the hands of the All editor by the 5th of February and on the 5th of each month thereafter, and must contain not less than three thousand nor more than about five thou- sand words. Address the Associate Editor Improvement Era for further particulars. Bishop's Building, Salt Lake City, Utah. Improvement Era, February, 1915 Two Dollars per Annum with Manual Free Entered at the Post Office, Salt Lake City, Utah, as second class matter. Joseph F. Smith, \ -pr j: ( torsb Heber J. Grant, Business Manager Edward H. Anderson, ) Moroni Snow, Assistant TABLE OF CONTENTS Portrait of Prest, Jedediah M. Grant Frontispiece When Shall War Cease? A Poem Alfred Lambourne 283 The Hand of God in Events on Earth Prest. Jedediah M. Grant.. 285 Making Farm Life More Attractive. Illus- trated F. S. Harris, Ph. D 288 Evolution not Supported by Embryology Rcbert C. Webb 295 Navajo Marriage Customs. Illustrated J. F. Anderson, A. B 301 The Wonderful Development of Modern Bac- teriology J. F. Greaves, Ph. D 307 A King of Western Scouts 111. Illustrated., colcmon F. Kimball 316 Chastity. A Poem F. E. Barker 325 Antho-n L. Skanchy— V. VI, VII Dr. John A. Widtsoe 326 To Nature. A Poem Guy Coleman 331 The Miser. A Story Elsie C. Carroll 332 The Sabbath Day George W. Crockwell 339 A Wise Old Man. A Poem 344 The Kindergarten and its Educational Value. .Ida Dusenberry 345 Father's Sweetheart. A Poem A. Ira Cox 349 Tree Sap in Winter. Illustrated Delbert W. Parratt 350 Some Problems of the War Dr. Joseph M. Tanner 353 Nineteen Fifteen. A Poem Aretta Young 356 Editors' Table— Walk in the Light Prest. Joseph F. Smith 357 The Man Behind the Czar Christian Richardson 358 Messages from the Missions 360 Priesthood Quorums' Table Suggestive Les- — son Outlines for the Deacons 365 — Mutual Work Originality in Public Speaking 367 Fourth Annual Convention of the Na onal Vocation Guidance Association B. H. Roberts 368 The Class Leader Dr. George H. Brimhall .... 370 Important Information for Scout Leaders. .Dr. Jchn H. Taylor . . 371 Books Bryant S. Hinckley 372 The Campaign for Funds Heber J. Grant 355 Passing Events 373