Passing Events

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINIIIIU& jj*a>iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiMiiiiii nTTTn PASSING EVENTSm Seth Low, former mayor of New York, and one time president of Columbia University, died September 17, at Bedford Hills, New York, age 66 years. A cargo of tulips arrived in New York harbor in early October from Holland. The cargo consisted 'of 12,500 cases of tulip and other bulbs, the largest of the kind that has ever crossed the Atlantic. A protest from France and Great Britain has been received against the action of General Carranza in closing two important banks in Mexico City in which foreign capital was invested. The "Bremen" the German submarine merchantman, which was expected to arrive some weeks ago at New London is now conceded by German authorities to be lost. The Utah state capitol building was formally opened October 9, 1916, closeon to twenty thousand people being present at the opening exercises, and passing through the magnificent building. Destructive floods in China are reported on the Hwai river in the province of Anhui. It is said that more than seven thousand square miles of that province were inundated and a million persons driven from their homes with very heavy loss of life. Mrs. Margaret Whitehead Young, widow of Joseph A. Young, oldest son of Brigham Young, died October 3. in Salt Lake City. She was born in Lancashire, England, and was 79 years old. Richard W. Young, president of the Ensign stake, is her only surviving child. China has arranged for a loan of sixty million dollars in the United States, and a St. Paul company has contracted to construct fifteen hundred miles of railroad through a part of China controlled largely by the French and British interests. The loan is secured by this road. The Utah-Idaho Sugar company have erected a new sugar factory at Brigham City. The completion of the factory was celebrated on Monday, October 2, by appropriate exercises, including music and speeches, and in the afternoon sports of various kinds and dancing in the evening. The factory began operations about the middle of the month. The German submarine U-53 entered at Newport, Rhode Island, on October 7, and on the next day, passed the three-mile limit, and sank, almost within sight of our Atlantic coast, six steamers, four of them British, one Norwegian and one Dutch. The boat brought mail for the German embassy at Washington, and departed out of the harbor without taking supplies. Dr. Torild Washington Arnoldson, professor of modern languages, University of Utah, died October 2, following an operation, at the Holy Cross hospital. He was born in Sweden, in 1871, and was one of the most widely known linguists in the United States, speaking French, English, Swedish, German, Spanish and Italian fluently. His father, K. B. Arnoldson, was the winner of the Nobel peace prize, in 1908. the office General Carranza, on September 30, issued a decree abolishing of vice-president in Mexico, and reducing the presidential term from six

92 IMPROVEMENT ERA to four years, making the president ineligible for a second consecutive term, though he might serve after four years had elapsed. The congress is to choose a successor, if the president dies or resigns. The thirty-eighth annual fair of Utah opened on September 30, and continued to and including October 7. Notwithstanding the heavy rains in the early part of the week, great interest was taken in the exhibit, which was of an unusually interesting and attractive and useful character. One of the features of the fair was a thrilling aviation display by Aviator Gertson each day. Robert Crookston, one of the oldest inhabitants of Cache Valley, and personally acquainted with the Prophet Joseph Smith, died September 21, 1916. He was in Carthage when the prophet was killed. He was born in Scotland, and embraced the gospel in 1840, came to Utah in 1850, and to Cache county in 1864. He helped to quarry the corner stones of the Salt Lake Temple. He was ninety-five years of age. The National Guard on the Mexican border is being released as new regiments arrive. Ten thousand were relieved and have returned. The Montana boys passed through Salt Lake City on Oct. 14th. Some of the Utah boys are scheduled to arrive in Salt Lake City about November 1. Units from Maine, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Montana, Utah, and the District of Columbia, are also returning home. The New York sympathetic strike, called by union labor leaders to assist the striking employees of the Inter-Borough Rapid Transit Company, proved a dismal failure. After two or three days of idleness, nearly all the men returned who left work. The car strike continued somewhat longer, although the railway officials in a few days declared that three-fourths of the cars were running as usual. In addition to the milk strike, caused by the dairymen's league demanding higher prices, there were several other industrial troubles threatened in New York. A special handbook on "Inebriety" has been issued by the National Conference of Charities and Corrections. It consists of addresses and reports on the attitude of the large employer, and of labor, toward alcoholism, tht experience of life insurance companies, the charitable treatment of the drunkard, and public and voluntary campaigns to curb the drink evil. The booklet of 100 pages, bound in heavy paper, may be secured for 25 cents, at the office of the Conference, 315 Plymouth Court, Chicago, 111. High prices. Standard brands of wheat flower sold in the central markets for $9.30 a barrel, the highest price in more than forty years. Shortage in Argentina from drought is held responsible. Wheat passed the $1.60 a bushel mark at the Chicago market. Meat is steadily going up. There is a steady decrease in the number of food animals in this country, and the export of meats has trebled since the war began. The export of beef alone is said authentically to be ten times as much as it was before the war. The Mexican joint commission which sat at New London decided in the latter part ofSeptember to transfer its meetings to Atlantic City. One of their discussions was informal and dealt with plans to stamp out typhus in Mexico and for improving the educational system. The complexity and magnitude of the issues involved cause slow progress. The American representatives are insisting on the inclusion in the discussion of the entire question of the political, financial and industrial ability of the present government, before agreeing to withdraw our troops from Mexico. Duncan M. McAllister who for many years has been a resident of the 17th ward in Salt Lake City, where he has occupied many leading positions,

PASSING EVENTS 93 and who for many years has acted as clerk of the general conference of the Church and also as chief clerk in the Salt Lake temple, was given a farewell reception, September 25, prior to his removal to St. George, where he is to be chief recorder in the St. George temple as he has been in the Salt Lake temple. He was born in Glasgow, Scotland, 1842, came to Utah in 1862, and has held many important positions in the Church. Bishop Joseph Christensen of the Tenth ward, Salt Lake City, succeeds him as temple recorder. Spencer Clawson, Sr., one of the most widely known business men and civic workers in Utah, died suddenly October 2, in Salt Lake City. Mr. Clawson was born in Salt Lake City, August 15, 1852, and was a son of the late Hyrum B. and Ellen S. Clawson. He was chairman of the famous Pioneer Jubilee Commission, 1897, and largely responsible for its tremendous success. He was also chairman of the Utah Exposition committee, at Portland, and at the time of his death was president of the Utah Historical Society. "He was a man who went about doing good," is the verdict of his life, by his many friends who knew him. A new L. D. S. mission house and church is to be erected at Gates and Franklin avenues, Brooklyn, New York. The work on the chapel began in October. It is located in one of the leading resident sections in the city. The old mission home, in the Harlem district, New York, is to be abolished. The new structure will be about 40 by 85 feet, built of brick with terra cotta trimmings. The auditorium will have a seating capacity of about 400, and a large pipe-organ will be installed. There will also be Sunday school rooms, rooms for social purposes, class rooms, main offices, cloak and rest rooms, and a baptismal font on the lower floor. The building will be modern in all respects, and will cost about $23,000. John. W Taylor, former member of the quorum of the Twelve Apostles,died in Forest Dale, after a long illness, on October 10. He was a son of the late President John Taylor and was born in Provo, May 15, 1858. John W. Taylor took an active interest in civic affairs, and was engaged in farming at the age of 25 in Cassia county, Idaho, and later lived at Kamas, Summit county. He was a kind man of indomitable perseverance and strong convictions. He did faithful work as a missionary, and did good service for the cause in his earlier years. Through unwillingness to agree, on vital questions, with the Council of the Twelve, he was excommunicated some years ago, the action being accepted by him without expressed protest and with no bitterness to the Church. The Okuma cabinet of Japan resigned on October 3. It was formed in August of last year. Premier Count Okuma, who is seventy-eight years of age, resigned owing to his failing health, and to make way for a man of bolder national policy, especially toward China. He was charged with being too considerate of the feelings of the United States. Count Siski Terauchi, late minister of war and resident general in Korea, has been named as his successor. He has served in Great Britain as foreign minister and ambassador, took a prominent part in the negotiations following the presentation of the twenty-one Japanese demands on China, and was connected with the discussion at Washington concerning the anti-alien law of California. He was born in 1852, and entered the army at the age of 19. For the International Irrigation Congress, at El Paso, Texas, Hon. George Albert Smith, vice president, and Major Richard W. Young, chairman of the Board of Governors, with twenty-four delegates from Utah, left on October 10 in a special car over the Salt Lake Route. They attended the twenty-third annual meeting of the Congress which opened on the 14th. Included in the company is Dr. John A. Widtsoe and Prof. R. R. Lyman of the University of Utah, Dr. Frank S. Harris of the state Agricultural College,

94 IMPROVEMENT ERA Mayor A.R. Hey wood of Ogden, President L. W. Shurtliff of Ogden, and many other prominent men and women. At the closing business session on the 18th Hon. George Albert Smith was unanimously elected president of the Congress. The Elephant Butte dam, N. M., was formally dedicated on the 19th, as the closing feature of the conference. Eleftherios Venizelos, the Cretan, started a revolution in the Island of Crete, and is forcing Greece into the war in favor of the Entente Allies against the Bulgars. This armed insurrection which he has raised, should it succeed, will be the fourth war in which Greece has become involved through his efforts. He declares that the sovereign of Greece is a victim of bad counsel, that war material has been given to the Bulgars, that Greek soldiers have been sent to Germany by way of Sofia, and that Greek patriots are regarded as traitors. He declares that the duty of the revolution is to save of Greece what there is still time to save, by establishing a national unity, and by returning to the policy dictated by national conscience; namely, "To range ourselves on the side of the Allies and Serbians to expel the invaders." Joseph Smith Wells, secretary and treasurer of the Utah Light and Traction company, a prominent business man of Salt Lake City, and a member of the presidency of the Ensign stake, died in Salt Lake City, October 18, 1916. He was taken ill on October 8 with chills, which developed into pneumonia. He was the eighth child, and the ninth to die in the large family of the late President Daniel H. Wells, who had twenty sons. Joseph S. Wells was by training and practice a faithful Latter-day Saint, and has occupied many positions in the Church. He filled a mission to Great Britain in 1885-7, labored as a home missionary from 1887 to 1904, in the Salt Lake stake, and was chosen as first counselor to Richard W. Young when the Ensign stake was organized, April 1, 1904. In October, 1911, he became a member of the Church auditing committee, and held both positions at his death. He was obedient, devoted and capable, a man of faith and prayer, with high moral and religious principles. He was especially active in business affairs, having occupied many responsible positions with leading business institutions for whom he did thorough and capable work, retaining the confidence and good will of both officers and employees who recognized in him a friend and an advocate of the square deal. To aid the Syrian and Armenian peoples, the President of the United States proclaimed Saturday and Sunday, October 21 and 22, joint days upon which the people of the United States were to make contributions for these stricken peoples. In conformity therewith, Governor Spry, of Utah, in a proclamation directed the citizens of the state to the great want of these war-stricken peoples, and urged a generous response to the appeal of the President for funds to relieve their suffering. Astate relief committee had been organized with Hon. John C. Cutler treasurer. AU funds were to be handled through the national treasurer of the American Red Cross. In this connection, the Germans have reported the terrible condition of the people in Armenia, a quotation from which we give, containing some of tiu' details: "In every tent there are sick and dying. Anyone who cannot manage to get a piece of bread by begging eats grass raw and without salt. Many hundreds of the sick are without any tent and covering, in the open, under a glowing sun. I saw desperate ones throw themselves in grave trenches and beg gravediggers to bury them. "At another place there is no grass; the locusts have consumed everything. The people were gathering locusts and eating them raw. Others were looking for roots of grasses. They catch stray dogs and like savages pounce upon dead animals, whose flesh they eat eagerly without cooking."

PASSING EVENTS 95 The Construction of the Cardston Temple, Canada, is progressing favorably. Its prominent position on a hill overlooking the city and commanding a wide view to the Canadian Rockies to the west, is attracting the general attention of all visitors to the province. It will be a handsome and imposing structure, standing alone in the great northland, in simple stateliness and grandeur, it is already causing favorable comment by travelers and by visitors from various parts of the British Dominion, and the United States. The Latter-day Saints in that country as well as in the United States are looking forward to its completion and dedication, with high anticipations — though the dates for these events are, of course, not yet known. The accompanying photo shows one of the temple corners and gives an idea of the progress of the construction. — Died Richard Palmer, born Aberdare, "Wales, March 20, 1828, died in Cedar City on September 16. James M. Boyle, a pioneer settler of Payson, born Tazewell county, Virginia, March, 1837, died October 2. Joseph Cornwall, a pioneer of Mill Creek, Salt Lake county, born Ireland, August 7, 1832, died October 1. George Todd, veteran harness-maker and early pioneer of Utah, born England, July 8, 1828, died October 1, in Salt Lake City. James May, an old-time resident of Salt Lake City, and father of Mrs. Ruth May Fox, died Wednesday, September 27. He was born in England, July 31, 1829, and came to Utah in 1867. Mrs. Mary Catherine Smith, widow of Samuel H. B. Smith, cousin of President Joseph F. Smith, died September 26, in Salt Lake City. She came to Salt Lake in 1850, having been born in Quincy, Pa. George Y. "Wallace, one of the founders of the telephone system of the west, and one of the most influential business men in Utah, died September 27, in Salt Lake City. He was born at Brandywine Mill, near Canton, Ohio, October 27, 1844. He was the organizer of the Rocky Mountain Bell Telephone company. Thomas R. G. Welch, a pioneer of Morgan county, died September 23. He was born, July 10, 1835, in England, and came to Utah in 1857. In Morgan county he had occupied nearly every civil position. He was an inveterate worker in civil and Church affairs.