Passing Events

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PASSING EVENTS

"Utah, We Love Thee," by Professor Evan Stephens has been adopted by the legislature as the official song for the state of Utah, it is about twentyone years ago since Utah entered the Union of states, and this song was sung on that occasion and has now been adopted as the official song of the state.

A. L. Hartley, well known as the president of "The Church of Christ," an organization that controls what is known as the temple lot, at Independence, Missouri, died at his home there on January 28. His funeral was held January 30. The community which owns the lot is said to be few in number, but it was expected that a new president will be chosen.

Indiana will go dry, on April 2, 1918. On February 9, 1917, Governor James P. Goodrich signed the state-wide prohibition bill making Indiana dry on the first-named date. The law prohibits the sale, manufacture, giving away, or advertising, of all alcoholic liquors, except pure grain alcohol for chemical and medical purposes, and wine for sacramental uses.

"The Railroad Red Book," a monthly publication of the Rio Grande railway comes to hand for January 1st filled with interesting information concerning the resources of Utah, Colorado and New Mexico. From its stories, by reliable citizens in various sections of these states, the year 1916 was most prosperous for the intermountain west. Little of this prosperity was due to the European war.

Count J. H. von Bernstorff, former German ambassador to the United States sailed for hishome in Germany from Hoboken, New Jersey, on the Scandinavian-American liner Frederick VIII. With him was the Countess von Bernstorff, who is an American, and nearly two hundred German diplomatic and consular officials. His departure completes the severance of diplomatic relations between the United States and Germany.

Wyoming will vote in 1918 on a constitutional amendment providing for prohibition. On January 17, at Cheyenne, the senate of the legislature concurred in the house amendments to a bill providing for such submission to the voters of the state. When Governor J. B. Kendrick signed the bill his wife is said to have given him a kiss in public as a reward for his action. The news telegrams vouch for the pleasing incident, beautifully typical of the sentiment of the women of that state on the liquor question.

The Young state-wide prohibition bill to take effect August 1, 1917, was signed by Governor Simon Bamberger, of Utah, at 4:56 o'clock Thursday, February 8, The enforcement of the prohibition bill is to be in the hands of the governor instead of a commissioner as at first proposed. The governor expressed himself as being satisfied with the bill except in one particular which is that the bill does not provide a good definition of intoxicating liquors according to his understanding. He has already set to work to advise officers on how to make the law effective. Copies of the bill will be extensively distributed among officers for educational purposes.

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The rural post roads in Utah will receive $113,900; in Idaho, $120,927; "Wyoming, $122,393; Oregon, $157,374; and Arizona, $137,027, for improve'- ment for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1918. Ten million dollars have been appropriated by Congress to aid the states in the construction- of rural post roads, and this amount has been given to these western states from the second annual distribution, in accordance with the federal aid road law. For the fiscal year of 1919, fifteen millions; and for 1920, twenty millions; and 1921, twenty-five millions, have been apportioned from the national funds from which, of course, Utah and the other states named will receive theii share in the years to come.

The eldest son of R. Savage, of Glenwoodville, Alta., Canada, so we learn from Mr. Savage, was drowned on December 21 when two torpedo-boat destroyers were lost in a collision in the North Sea. The disaster resulted in the loss of six officers and forty-nine men. Writing from Canada, January 19, to the Improvement Era, Mr. Savage states that he has the sad news from England that his oldest son was drowned in this collision. He adds, "My heart throbs with sorrow, but I feel a satisfaction that the boy was not murdering Germans nor being torn to pieces by them." "We extend to our friend and his family in the north our sincere sympathy in the bereavement which has befallen them. They have three other sons in the great war.

George Halls, a pioneer of Mancos, Colorado, and a former resident of Huntsville, Utah, where he engaged in school teaching, died at his home in Mancos, January 3, 1917, and was buried on the 5th of January. His brother William Halls is also a resident of Mancos. George leaves two adopted children, and his wife, Mary M. Hammond, daughter of the late Francis A. Hammond, well known as a missionary to the Sandwich Islands, pioneer of Utah, particularly the southeastern part, and former bishop of Huntsville. George Halls was a pioneer of Mancos and Southern Utah, and aided in the ej?rly eighties in building the Rio Grande railway near Durango. He was a staunch worker in the Church, and had held many civil offices in Mancos. lie was the first bishop of Mancos ward, which position he occupied for twenty-five years. He was born Oct. 18, 1846, in England, and came to Utah in 1862, settling in Huntsville.

James G. McDonald, who has served sixteen consecutive years as a member of the Board of the Utah State Fair Association, resigned as president, January 20, 1917, on account of ill health. His service on this board is the longest continuous service on record. He was appointed by Governor Heber M. "Wells, when the state fair occupied the old Tenth ward square. During the greater portion of this time he has acted as president and served as supervisor of buildings and grounds. One of his last actions was to urge the change of the time for holding the fair to an earlier date, on account of the prevalent bad weather in early October which has been a retarding feature of the attendance at the fair for years past. The dates are now fixed one week earlier than heretofore.

Christen Carl Christensen died, Nov. 21, 1916, in Provo, Utah. He was born thirty-six years ago in Denmark and came to Utah as a small boy. A faithful Church worker, he filled many positions in the priesthood, Sunday school and M. I. A. He was one of the presidency of the Eighteenth Quorum of elders, Pioneer ward, Utah stake, at the time of his death. For nearly twenty years he had been a subscriber for the Improvement Era, having all the volumes bound in a collection which he prized very hightly. The quorum to which he belonged passed resolutions of condolence to his family on January 14, in which they called attention to his "fidelity to duty, his thrift, his ability as a class leader, his sincerity of purpose, his

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courage, honesty, and truthfulness, and to the useful and beautiful life which he lived." Andrew Hartley.

The Submarine raid. California, a British passenger steamer of the Anchor Line, bound from New York to Glasgow was torpedoed "Wednesday, February 7, at 9 o'clock, off the Irish coast, and sank in nine minutes, with a loss of forty-one lives.No Americans were lost. The ship carried a single 4.7 gun mounted on the stern. Calvin Ray, a son of Raymond Ray and a grandson of Attorney J. E. Ray of Salt Lake, born at Fillmore about seventeen years ago, was fireman on the British ship Turino, which was sunk by a German submarine on the 7th. He was rescued, but an American negro fireman was killed. Since February 1, when the German submarine raid went into effect as high as fifteen ships a day have fallen prey to submarines.

Alaska is asking for prohibition. It will be remembered that Alaska voted dry on November 7 last by a majority of more than two to one in her four judicial divisions. More than eight thousand voters, out of approximately twelve thousand, recently signed their names to a gigantic petition against alcohol. This petition asked that Alaska territory be made dry after January 1, 1918. Dr. Aline Bradley, legislative superintendent of the fourth division of Fairbanks, Alaska, in a recent letter to one of the United States senators stated that, "There is no good reason, however, why Alaska should wait for the memorial from her fourth territorial legislature before securing the passage of a bill by Congress prohibiting the sale, manufacture and importation of alcoholic beverages into Alaska." He then begs the senator's earnest consideration for the passage of a prohibition bill for Alaska during the present session of Congress. Since the above was written the Alaska bill has passed both houses of Congress.

The Mexican Punitive Expedition, under General Pershing, retired from Colonia Dublan early in February and ten thousand soldiers returned direct to Columbus, New Mexico. Many of the "Mormon" settlers of Juarez and Dublan followed them out, but a number remained in their old homes. The "Mormon" refugees have settled in Deming, New Mexico, where they will found a colony. Many Mexicans also followed the expedition out of Mexico, and are finding work on railroads and ranches in the southwest. On February 9, Villa and his bands, under Salazar, occupied Colonia Juarez. Another Villa band under Rodrigo and Silvestre Quevedo, took possession of Colonia Dublan, former headquarters of the American Punitive Expedition, in which there still remain many "Mormon" settlers. General Pershing's troops, within three days after their arrival in Columbus, were on their way to quarters in Fort Apache and Fort Huachuca, in Arizona, and Fort Bliss and Eagle Pass, Texas. On Monday 12th, Mexican bandits crossed the United States border and raided the Corner ranch, sixty miles southwest of Hachita, N. M. They — carried three men into Mexico Andrew P. Peterson, Hugh Acord and Burton Jensen, and later killed them, the badly mutilated bodies being found on Feb. 15, by "Mormon" scout, Lem Spillsbury, and his companions. U. S. Troops left on the same evening for the Corner ranch section, and Gen. Funston has ordered the border patrols strengthened.

Admiral George Dewey, hero of Manila bay, was honored in the Senate of the United States when President Wilson formally announced that the admiral had died on the 16th of January. Senator Tillman introduced a resolution expressing the profound grief of the Senate, and in his introduction to the resolution said:

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"Admiral Dewey's spirit was the spirit of John Paul Jones, of Stephen Decatur, of James Lawrence, of Oliver Hazard Perry, of David Farragut. He upheld and illustrated the traditions which these men and others like them established. He knew no fear. His first thought always was- the Navy and his duty to it, as was his last thought. John Paul Jones, with his ship sinking under, replied, in answer to a summons to surrender, 'I have not yet begun to fight'; Perry's message after his famous victory was 'We have met the enemy and they are ours'; James Lawrence, mortally wounded, shouted with his last breath, 'Don't give up the ship'; Farragut, sailing into Mobile Bay, which was said to be filled with torpedoes, said, 'Damn the torpedoes; go ahead'; and Dewey, entering Manila Bay, with mines and torpedoes under him and shore batteries and enemy ships firing on him, uttered not a word until he gave the famous order, clearly and quietly, as if he were talking of another matter, 'You may fire when you are ready, Gridley.'

The Great Peace Proposal. President Woodrow Wilson appeared before the Senate of the United States on Monday, January 22, and made an address on world peace before that body. For a hundred years past no president, since Thomas Jefferson, has orally addressed a message to a single branch of Congress. His reason for doing this he said was that to the Senate is equally committed with the President the constitutional duty of considering foreign affairs. The main points of the now famous speech are summarized in the Outlook as follows: "The United States must and will have a voice in determining and arranging the world peace which will follow the European war. "The American Government will not interfere with the terms upon which the present war is settled, but it will have something to say about future arrangements for the guarantee of international justice and good order. "As an individual and as a 'person in high authority,' speaking for 'liberals and friends of humanity in every nation,' the President drew a distinction between immediate peace and permanent peace. "A permament world peace must be 'a peace without victory.' "It must be a peace between equals. based upon the principle that governments derive all their "It must be just powers from the consent of the governed. "As a concrete example, 'there should be a united, independent, and autonomous Poland.' "Great peoples 'should be assured a direct outlet to the great highways of the sea.' "The freedom of the seas must be assured. "Naval armaments must be limited, and the navies of a peace league must keep the seas at once 'free and safe.' "Armaments on land and all programs of military preparations must be limited. "The principles of the Monroe Doctrine must no longer be confined to America, but must be made world-wide. That Doctrine the President thus defines: 'No nation should seek to extend its policy over any other nation or people, but every people should be left free to determine its own policy, its own way of development, unhindered, unthreatened, and unafraid, the little along with the great and powerful.'

"The President concluded by saying that the foregoing are American principles and are also the principles and policies 'of forward-looking men and women everywhere.' 'They are the principles of mankind and must .

prevail.'

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The message is elevated and eloquent in tone, and was received with varying sentiments at home and abroad. The chief criticism abroad was against its utterance that the peace to come should not be a victor's peace. In England and France public sentiment is strong in the belief that complete victory for the Allies is essential to a peace that shall be permanent.

Diplomatic relations between the United States and Germany severed. Shortly after President Wilson had delivered his peace message to the Senate, Germany announced in a note on January 31, as if in answer thereto, a campaign of ruthless submarine warfare against neutral as well as belligerent ships. President Wilson in his message to Congress on February 3 announced, that since the United States government had declared, after the sinking of the Sussex, that it would break off diplomatic relations with Germany unless she abandoned her methods of submarine warfare, there was now nothing else for this country to do, consistent with its dignity and honor, than to sever diplomatic relations with Germany, which was accordingly done and Count von Bernstorff was handed his passports. Ambassador Gerard was recalled. The German note which precipitated the crisis was handed to the secretary of state on January 31, and announced Germany's new purpose in these words: "After the attempts to come to an understanding with the Entente Powers have been answered by the latter with an announcement of an intensified continuation of the war, the Imperial Government, in order to serve the welfare of mankind in a high sense and not to wrong its own people, is now compelled to continue the fight for existence again forced upon it with the full employment of all the weapons which are at its disposal. * * * Germany will meet the illegal measures ol her enemies by forcibly preventing, after February 1, 1917, in the zone around Great Britain, France, Italy and in the eastern Mediterranean, all navigation, that of neutrals included, from and to England and from and to France. All ships met within that zone will be sunk. The Imperial Government is confident that this measure will result in a speedy termination of the war, and in the restoration of peace which the United States has so much at heart." This German blockade which ended friendly relations with the United Slates applies to the Mediterranean with the exception of waters bounding the Spanish coast, and a safety zone extending along the African coast and thence to Greece. The German proposal graciously permits one American passenger steamer a week to sail for England without being sunk on sight.

The interests of the United States in Germany have been turned over to Spain while those of Germany in the United States are now handled by the Swiss ambassador. Switzerland, and Holland have declined the invitation of President Wilson to join the United States in the diplomatic break. It is hoped, not only by the President but by the people of the United States generally, that the severance of diplomatic relations will not result in a declaration of war, although that is what generally follows, and in this country every preparation appears to be making for such a result. Up to and including the 13th of February 91 ships, with a tonnage of over 200,000, were sunk by German submarines. Sweden, Norway and Denmark have protested as;ainst the German naval measures, as being against international law.

Emilie D. Maeser, wife of the late Dr. Karl G. Maeser, died in Forest Dale, Feb.7, 1917. She was born in Lubeck, Germany, Nov. 18, 1853, and came to Utah in 1873. She was a great lover of music, and for a number of yearswas organist of the Temple choir, and a faithful and energetic Church worker. Her onjr daughter, Anna Maeser, died Nov. 19, 1899.