--- 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: 20 number: 9 published: 1917-07 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations, "Mutual Work," *Improvement Era* 20, no. 9 (July 1917): 838–843.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2009unse 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: improvementera2009unse start_page: 838 end_page: 843 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1917-07) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2009unse publication_year: 1917 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 1917, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Mutual Work MUTUAL WORK Winners of the Reading Course Books The Deseret Sunday School Union and the Deseret News Book stores each offered a complete set of the reading course books for 1916-17 to the two ward joint Mutual Improvement Associations getting the highest or greatest number of points for reading for the year, in proportion to the enrolled number of members in the wards. Forty-three stakes reported their two wards which had the highest number of points, making eighty- six wards in competition. The two wards which won are Daniels and Midway, both of Wasatch stake. The former ward has an enrollment of fifty, and made 1,683 points, or 33.6 per cent. The second has an enroll- ment of 71, and made 1,780 points, or 25 per cent. The two sets of books offered by the two book stores named, will go one set each to these two wards. For the present season of 1917-18, the two wards getting the highest number of points for reading, per enrollment, will also be given a com- plete set of the reading course by each of the book stores named. The Reading Course The reading course for the year beginning June 1, 1917, and ending April 1, 1918, is as follows: 1. The New Testament. 2. Coniston — Churchill. 3. Laddie — Porter. 4. The Three Things — Andrews. 5. Men Who Made Good— Farris. 6. Life of Thomas A. Edison — Wheeler. 7. Florence Nightingale — Richards. 8. Snowbound — Whittier. 9. How to Get Ahead — Atwood. Complete set, postpaid, cash with order, $5.65, at the Deseret Sunday School Union, and the Deseret News Book stores, Salt Lake City, Utah. These books represent the fields of (1) religion, (2, 3) fiction, (4) moral story, (5) inspirational biographical sketches, (6) achievements in science and (7) accomplishments in service, (8) poetry, (9) thrift and economy, making an engaging and wide field of profitable reading for those who take up the course. The course was first begun in 1905-1906; for that year, 750 persons in the Y. M. M. I. A. read one or more of the two books then adopted, viz., John Halifax and Rasselas. In 1916-1917 there were 7,925 young men, ac- cording to the General Secretary's annual report, who read one or more of the eleven books of that year's course. It is estimated from the scoring report that many thousands of persons must have read one or more books of the 1916-17 course including both young men and young women, as the course is now joint. A total of 177,247 points in the special activities were scored on the reading course in the sixty -four stakes reporting. There were eight stakes not reporting in this activity, and these also must have had a large additional number of readers. MUTUAL WORK 839 Senior Public Speaking Contest The preliminary tryouts for the Senior public speaking contest in the M. I. A. conference in June, were held on Friday afternoon, June 8. The following are the entries made and the Church districts represented. The winner from the Church district, his or her address, and the title of the speech is also given. District No. 13, Yellowstone stake; winner, Eva Hix, St. Anthony; sub- ject, "War for Honor." District No. 9, Liberty stake; Horace Knowlton, Thirty-first ward, Salt Lake City; subject, "Will Permanent Peace Ever Come?" District No. 3, Union stake; winner, Blanche Black, care D. B. Stod- dard, LaGrande, Ore; subject, "Fellowship." District No. 8, Weber stake; winner, Florence Doxey, 3085 Pacific Ave., Ogden; subject, "Internationalism." District No. 10, Utah stake; winner, Earl R. Gronemann, Sixth ward, Provo; "America's Perilous Position." District No. 12, Parowan stake; winner, Durham Morris; subject, "La- bor Opens the Door." District No. 6, Bear Lake stake; winner, Ira N. Hayward, Paris, Ida.; subject, "A League to Enforce Universal Peace." District No. 7, Benson stake; winner, LeRoy Funk, Richmond; sub- ject, "The Aim of Life." District No. 16, Duchesne stake; winner, Mary E. Smith, Mt. Emmons; subject, "Why is the United States at War with Germany?" The winners in the Friday try-out were from District No. 13, Eva Hix, St. Anthony, Ida., and Ira N. Hayward, District No. 6, Paris, Ida. The final winner was Ira N. Hayward, of Paris, Idaho, the title of his paper being "A League to Enforce Universal Peace." No more entertain- ing nor intellectual feast could have been anticipated than was enjoyed in these tryouts. Each of the nine contestants was well prepared, and the speeches were delivered with energy and feeling. Regrets were expressed by many of those who heard them that more than one could not have been awarded some recognition. In the sixty-two stakes that reported on public speaking, 13,484 points had been made, and it is estimated that all together, leading up to the finals, 5,319 addresses had been delivered, by as many young people. The public speaking contest will be continued as the one activity that will come up to the grand finals at the next June conference, for the year 1917-18, and we trust that many more young people in all parts of the Church will become active in this contest, not only because of its interest but because of its value to those who take part. We congratulate th£ Mu- tual Improvement Associations upon the splendid showing made in this particular activity. General Improvement Fund The secretary's report for the year ending May 31, 1917, shows $5,377.85 received on the fund for the year 1917. The disbursements for the same time amounted to $5,907.67, leaving a deficit for this year of $529.82 which, added to the deficit from last year of $1,676.94, makes a total deficit, May 31, 1917, of $2,206.76. The receipts for the past year from the General Fund showed a de- crease of $43.53 compared with the previous year. The following stakes paid 100 per cent or more in General Fund: that is, each member enrolled paid the full amount of his dues or more. It is fair to note that a large number of the stakes obtained all that was 840 IMPROVEMENT ERA possible by donation, and then afterwards raised the fund through public entertainments: 1. Snowflake 117.5 8. Blackfoot 100 2. North Davis 117 9. Box Elder 100 3. Bingham 116 10. Cassia 100 4. Idaho 114 11. Ensign 100 5. Raft River 110 12. Salt Lake 100 6. San Juan 109 13. Uintah 100 7. Moapa 104 14. Yellowstone 100 The following stakes reached 80 per cent or over: Big Horn, 94.3; Curlew, 83.4; Fremont, 82; Liberty, 90.1; Ogden, 80.2; Shelley, 89.7. The following stakes reached 50 per cent and over: Alberta, 59.6; Bannock, 72-9; Bear Lake, 55; Cache, 56.1; Carbon, 78.6; Deseret, 73.5; Duchesne, 68.1; Hyrum, 70; Millard, 59.8; Morgan, 66.4; North Weber, 67.8; Oneida, 78.7; Pioneer, 77; Pocatello, 74.9; Rigby, 61.3; St. George, 63.5; St. Johns, 75.6; St. Joseph, 65.8; Sevier, 53.7; South Davis, 56.7; Summit, 58; Taylor, 54.7; Union, 58.1; Utah, 73.3; Wasatch, 71; Wayne, 74.7. The following stakes fell under 25 per cent of the full amount: Malad, 14.4; Boise, 14.7; Juab, 15.6; Tooele, 20; Emery, 21.1; South Sanpete, 22.5. Juarez and Portneuf did not report. The Church Pennant Awarded to Wasatch Wasatch stake received the Church pennant for scoring in special activ- ities for the season 1916-17. Wasatch stake had a joint enrollment of 669 — 332 in the Y. M. M. I. A., and 337 in the Y. L. M. I. A.. This joint enroll- ment made a scoring of 13,404 points in special actitvities, or 20 per cent as per enrollment. The pennant was awarded to that stake on Saturday eve- ning, June 9, at the final tryout in Salt Lake City. Stake Superintendent, Y. M. M. I. A., Charles N. Broadbent; Stake President Y. L. M. I. A., M. Josephine Broadbent. The Improvement Era We desire to congratulate the officers of the Y. M. M. I. A. for the splen- did work which they have done in securing circulation for the Improvement Era. Volume 20, now running, has an increase over last year of 543 sub- scribers, notwithstanding a number of the stakes fell down in their efforts to canvas the wards completely for the magazine. However a great many of the stakes * and wards did themselves proud in this respect. It is a fact that if the canvassers would go out immediately at the proper time, the mat- ter of obtaining subscriptions could be done in three or four days in every ward. All that we ask is that some live and sympathetic person who is thoroughly converted to the value of the Improvement Era, should visit every family in the ward and ask them to subscribe for the magazine. This will not only serve our purpose, but it will place the association upon the efficiency report and in this respect their duty will have been accomplished. It is the general experience of those who have tried it that the required number may be obtained easily by this method. Nearly everyone is favor- able to our magazine, and especially those who have seen it and read it in the past. They need only to be asked, and they will subscribe or renew. We trust that this fall, beginning with October, that our association members will make it a point to fulfil this obligation resting upon them, promptly and with spirit. MUTUAL WORK 841 The Improvement Era has spent upwards of $40,000 in distributing mag- azines to the missionaries in the world, thus spreading the word of the Lord and accomplishing good for the Latter-day Saints. This has been ac- complished through the energetic help which our officers have so freely rendered to the magazine. We have also been enabled to assist in the matter of employing field secretaries for the scouts and for special activ- ities, among the associations, by the help of an accumulated small surplus; and we were enabled, as announced and approved by the General Board and stake superintendents and officers at our June conference, to subscribe $5,000 for Liberty bonds, thus helping the Government our "bit" in the present crisis. For the coming volume we hope to make the Era as attractive as it is possible to do with the means at hand, and with the ability that we pos- sess. We depend upon receiving the hearty co-operation of all our officers, thus insuring increased success during the coming year. It must be remem- bered by our officers that our expenses have practically doubled for paper, for the past year, so that we are not in a position to slacken our efforts in the matter of obtaining subscriptions for the year to come, but rather we should increase our efforts and place the magazine thoroughly upon its feet. We print below a statement of the percent of the Church population ob- tained in each of the twenty-five stakes which led in subscriptions for the Era: Stakes Having 5% or More in Era Subscriptions, Volume 20 . Alberta 7.81 8. St. Johns 5.37 2. Snowflake 7.44 9. Curlew 5.24 3. Juarez 6.04 10. Shelley 5.15 4. Idaho 5.79 11. Big Horn 5.14 5. Raft River 5.72 12. Oneida 5.01 6. Bingham 5.46 13. Box Elder 5.00 7. Taylor 5.39 14. Uintah 5.00 Stakes Having from 4% to 5'7c in Era Subscriptions, Volume 20 1. Kanab .4.85 7. Carbon 4.51 2. Cassia 4 77 8. Blackfoot 4.38 3. Union 4.72 9. Bannock 4.32 4. Deseret 4.66 10. Wasatch 1.25 5. Hyrum 4.66 11. Moapa 4.09 6. San Juan 4.56 Statistics There are 745 Young Men's Mutual Improvement Associations in the stakes of the Church, out of which number 675 have both senior and junior classes. There are 36,918 members in the permanent enrollment. In the active enrollment there are 18,446 seniors and 11,909 juniors. According to the secretary's report there are 23,792 boys and men between the ages of 12 and 45 who are not enrolled; 1,128 members are away from home at- tending school, and 664 are away upon foreign missions. During the year, 33,714 meetings were held, with an average attendance of 16,908. In de- bating there was an increase of 378 debates, and a total of 594 debates dur- ing the season. Other special activities showed a marvelous increase all along the line. In class work, among the junior classes, there were 1,330 who passed the first year's course; 613 who passed the second year's course, and 656 who passed the third year's course. 842 IMPROVEMENT ERA There are 450 libraries, an increase of 19 during the season. There are 6,722 reading course books in these libraries, 8,166 other books, and 2,394 pamphlets, making a total of 17,282 books and pamphlets in the libraries, which is an increase over last year of 5,207. The stake officers made 3,229 visits during the year, or 39 more than the previous year. There were 187 membership committees who were actively engaged in work in the various stakes which is an increase of 57 over last year. There were 163 committees on vocations and industry, an increase over last year of 28. This department of our work will be materially enhanced in the coming year with the new book that is being published by the asso- ciation entitled The Man of Tomorrow, a discussion of vocational success with the boy of today. This book, it is expected, will be ready for distribu- tion before the beginning of our next year's work and will be a splendid aid to vocation counselors as well as to the boys for whom it is written. Officers' attention is called to the very low number of active membership committees. We trust that this division of our work will receive more at- tention in the coming season, so that we may increase our membership, and get the efficient number in every ward throughout the Church, namely, ten per cent of the Church population; and, of course, it is not intended that we shall stop there. But our purpose is that we get all the young men who should belong to these organizations that they may receive the benefits ac- cruing from membership in them. Membership Enrollment in the Y. M. M. I. A. During the past season, the Y. M. M. I. A. have labored with diligence to obtain at least ten per cent of the Church population of each ward in the Church as members in the association of the wards. How far the organ- ization has been successful in achieving this purpose is shown from the fol- lowing report of stakes that have ten per cent or more of the members in the stake enrolled in the Y. M. M. I. A.: 1. San Juan 15.5 14. Raft River 11.7 2. Bear River 14.6 15. Bear Lake 11.4 3. Cassia 13.5 16. Wayne 11.2 4. St. George 13.5 17. Oneida 11.0 5. St. Johns 13.4 18. Shelley 10.9 6. Moapa . 13.2 19. Malad 10.8 7. Portneuf 12.7 20. Bannock 10.7 8. Big Horn 12.3 21. Alberta 10.6 9. Idaho 12.3 22. Duchesne 10.6 10. Curlew 12.1 23. Snowflake 10.5 11. Maricopa 12.0 24. Deseret 10.3 12. Star Valley 11.9 25. South Davis 10.0 13. Morgan 11.7 The Church average enrollment in all the stakes is 8.25% of the pop- ulation. The effort to obtain 10% all around did not succeed last year, but in the year that is to follow a successful effort must be made to obtain efficiency in enrollment and membership. Not much is lacking, only 1.75-% additional. Officers throughout the Church will take notice of this, and set about to make a campaign that will bring the required enrollment for the year to come. We recognize the fact that the war will make this a little more difficult, since many of our young men will probably be enrolled among the soldiers of the nation. But it must be remembered that there are many boys who should be enrolled in our organization the coming year MUTUAL WORK 843 who were not of age at the last enrollment. The age of enrollment in the Y. M. M. I. A. is from twelve years up. Let us get to work early. Scenes in the Corn and Bean Campaign. Oscar A. Kirkham, Field Sec- retary Y. M. M. I. A., assisted by Chauffeur R. T. Sloan, who furnished the automobile gratis, conducted a corn and bean campaign in April and May. Stakes between Oneida, Idaho, and Sevier, Utah, were visited, and be- tween five and six hundred entries of one-eighth of an acre were signed by boys who were personally visited and instructed, and to whom seed was delivered for planting at actual cost. Two hundred dollars in prizes will be given by the Improvement Era, for the greatest yield per unit. Books We have received a volume of School and College Credit for Outside Bible Study, by Clarence Ashton Wood, published by the World Bo >k Company, Chicago and New York. This book sets forth in an inter- esting manner the result of the author's investigation concerning the prob- lem of religious education. Complete information is given concerning the growth of the movement for granting academic credit by elementary and high schools and colleges for serious Bible study which is carried on outside of school, in churches, Sunday schools, or. Young Men's or Young Women's Associations of all creeds. In this book educational and religious workers who believe that a real knowledge of the Bible is a necessary part of school training will find much indispensable information; and all laymen interested in the religious education of young people, will derive great satisfaction from a consideration of the facts set forth in the work. TI.e book also presents suggestions as to the best mode of procedure to secure state or municipal action in this important movement. On the whole, the work is a valuable ready reference of an interesting kind.