--- 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: 21 number: 1 published: 1917-11 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* 21, no. 1 (November 1917): 91–94." source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2101unse 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: improvementera2101unse start_page: 91 end_page: 94 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1917-11) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2101unse 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. --- # Passing Events IINIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIUia PASSIN G EVENTS George Albert Smith, retiring president of the International Irrigation Congress, was selected president of the International Dry-farming Congress, at its closing business session, September 28, at Peoria, Illinois. The British Army has grown from 450,000 men, in August, 1914, to men, May 2, 1916. The conscription force on February 10, 1916, 5,000,000 produced 750,000 men. In the fifth week of the war, September 2 to 8, 1914, 250,000 men volunteered, 30,000 in one day. Major-General Tasker H. Bliss was named as Chief of Staff of the army lo succeed Major-General Hugh L. Scott, on the 21st of September. General Scott retired from office on the 22nd. He was 64 years old when he reached his age of retirement but will be recalled to active service, likely with the training of troops in the United States. General Bliss will reach the age cf retirement on December 31st. A naval battle in the Gulf of Riga between Russian and German battle- ships was reported from Petrograd, October 18. The Russian battleship Slava was sunk. The Slava was an old style battleship built in 1903, of 13,516 tons, 397 feet in length, 76 feet beam and 26 feet draft. She had a compliment of 825 men. A railroad is now in operation between Berlin and Riga. The second Liberty Loan campaign for a fund of three billion dollars was started on the third of October. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints, in conference assembled, on the seventh of October, voted to purchase $250,000 of the bonds. Ten million dollars have been assigned to Utah, and it is expected that this amount will easily be raised by the end of October. Nearly four million dollars had been raised at the date of this writing. James H. Moyle, national Democratic committeeman from Utah, and a well known citizen of Salt Lake City, was formally nominated to be first assistant secretary of the treasury, at Washington, on the 22nd of September. He will succeed Byron D. Newton who was made collector of the port of New York. He was first notified of that appointment on Tuesday, Sep- tember 18, and after giving the matter thorough consideration, Mr. Moyle telegraphed his acceptance, and left for Washington to take up his new duties on October first. Earl G. Brown, of Salt Lake, who enlisted in the aviation section of the army, April 15, was killed in an accident in which a motorcycle ran into him as he was walking along a country road at Mineola, Long Island, New York. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Brown, of Salt Lake City, and was one of the first of the young men of this city to enlist after the war was declared. Until September 22, he served at San Antonio, Texas, when he was detailed to the school of aviation at Long Island. He is the first of Utah's patriots to be brought dead from the field of honor. The "Garabed" is an invention by Mr. T. K. Giragossian. The in- ventor claims that there is no limit to the things that the Garabed will do. He claims he has operated the device for ten hours without interruption and without the use of fuel from any source of energy now in use. If this con- trivance is found practicable, it will replace the enormous builk now taken up by fuel on cargo carriers and warships and immediately release a great 92 IMPROVEMENT ERA amount of shipping for the use of the allies. The inventor also says that its use will avoid many of the accidents that result from the use of fuel on internal combustion engines. Election day this year in the camps of the soldiers in France, and in the training camps in the United States, will witness a great soldier vote. The election day, in the camps of the soldiers, will be on any day that commanders select between October 26 and November 6, which is election day in some of the states. In some cases it will be necessary to wait for a full return from the soldiers' camp before deciding who is the winning ccndidate. If the election is at all close, the soldier vote may be the de- ciding factor. The sailors on the high seas will also cast their ballots in a similar fashion. Clarence Earl Miller died in early October at Camp Lewis, Wash- ington. He was given military honor when he was transferred from one train to another at Pocatello, Idaho, enroute to Salt Lake. This impress- ive method of paying tribute to the dead soldier, according to the news- papers, was arranged by Sergeant W. S. King, 2nd Battery, Royal Field Artillery, British Army, who was a passenger on the train. Amilitary funeral was held on the 10th of October, at Herriman, Utah. Soldiers from Garfiled escorted the body to the grave. Bishop Franklin P. Crane of the Herriman ward officiated. The young soldier is survived by his parents, several brothers and sisters. The second contingent of drafted men of Utah for the National army, left Salt Lake City amidst great demonstration on the evening of September 19, and arrived at Camp Lewis, American Lake, Washington, at noon Sep- tember 21. The contingent consists of the drafted quotas from the districts in Salt Lake City and county, and Juab, Tooele and Davis counties. Contin- gents from other parts of Utah and southern Idaho were also sent about the same date, and are located with the Utah boys in Camp Lewis. The Utah contingent were assigned to the 362nd regiment of Infantry, and while the — camp was not in very good shape when they arrived later, they received the necessary provisions which enabled them to become comfortably lo- cated, including two blankets, a tick of straw, and other necessaries. They received their physical examination, and then were inoculated against ty- phoid and small pox. The drilling since their arrival has been strenuous. Secretary of the Treasury, William G. McAdoo spoke in the Salt Lake Theater at noon on October 18, on the subject of the second Liberty Loan. His address was filled with patriotic fervor. A great audience filled the house from pit to dome, with hundreds standing in the corridors and also the stage full of people. In the course of his address, Secretary McAdoo gave the reasons why America is in the war. The need of funds to carry on the war, and what these funds are being expended for. His address savored of an earnestness scarcely found in the average political speaker. He re- ferred to h.j recent visit to the soldiers, at Camp Lewis and at Camp Kear- ney, and complimented Utah on its splendid regiment at Camp Kearney. In introducing Secretary McAdoo, Governor Bamberger thanked him in behalf of the people of Utah for having given Utah recognition in the appointment of James H. Moyle as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury. The visit of the Secretary to Utah will doubtless result in a great stimulus to the Liberty Loan campaign. Spain lately has been passing through troublesome times. Across the entire country, discontent is widespread. Workmen have been and are striking almost everywhere. Revolutionary outbreaks occurred also, and for a time it seemed that the government was endangered; but the crisis seems to have passed and things continue in their regular order. However, strikes are not infrequent, outbreaks of anarchists occur also at irregular PASSING EVENTS 93 intervals, and the government continues on its troublesome way. The people appear to want a change but they are not sure of just what kind of a change they want. The trouble lies mostly among the workers; they are talking of revolution, but that has been the habit of Spain for some length of time. In several cities there has been rioting with no consistent reason for the outbreak. The people in Spain are very restless, but they do not seem to want to enter the war, and yet they fear that if they do not fight it may not be well for them after the war. The recent strikes in Spain are the result of this restlessness among the people, who do not know just what they want, so they stop work, break windows, and yell! President Hipolito Irigoyen, President of Argentina, the great South American Republic, who prevented a break with Germany which it was thought would soon come about, through the recent expose of Sweden's duplicity in aiding Germany's Minister to Argentina, Count Luxburg, to transmit messages to Berlin. Count Luxburg was given his pass- ports, and although Berlin has dis- avowed Luxburg's messages, the feeling in Argentina is high, and war will very probably be de- clared, notwithstanding the presi- dent's position. President Irigoyen was elected in 1916 for a term of six years. He was born in Buenos Ayres, nearly fifty years ago. He has been prom- inently identified with political ac- tivities for the past twenty years and on several occasions he had been offered public offices which he refused. Copyright Underwood & Underwood, N. Y. Bishop Robert McQuarrie, the oldest acting bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, resigned his position as Bishop of the Second Ward, Ogden, Utah, and his resignation was accepted at the sacra- ment meeting of the ward, on Sunday evening, October 14. He was 85 years of age on the 17th of August, and is perhaps the oldest bishop in the Church both in point of age and length of service. He was born in Scotland, and came to Salt Lake City, September 12, 1857, leaving for Og- den the following day, where he has resided ever since. From December 4. 1862, to February 20, 1870, he acted as second counselor to Bishop Lester J. Herrick. On the latter date he was called to preside over the Ogden second district, until May 28, 1877, when the district was organized into a bishop's ward, and he was ordained a bishop. He has held that office to the present date. He has been a leading character in the city of Ogden, both in a civil and religious work, for more than half a century, and is dearly beloved by all who know him. George E. Browning, a widely known business man of Ogden, was named and sustained, on the same Sun- day evening, as bishop of the Second ward, to succeed Patriarch Robert McQuarrie. The counselors of Bishop Browning will be William E. New- man and E. J. James, who succeeded George Shorten and C. J. A. Lindquist, who acted with Bishop McQuarrie. 94 IMPROVEMENT ERA A Utah boy who entered and passed the examination of the aviation home that the Utah boys in Texas are making officers reserve school, writes rapid progress. He is especially proud of the showing made by the Latter- day Saint boys in their squadron. He says: "There are 150 men in the squad. Of this number, 32 are from Utah. Almost three-fourths of the non- commissioned officers for the squadron were chosen from our number. Nearly every 'Mormon' boy received an appointment to some office of re- sponsibility. No other organization in the camp has made such a record. Our boys are all well. During August and the first part of September, from fifty to one hundred fifty men in the whole camp, I am told, were overcome by the heat every day. I do not know of one Utah boy who has been af- fected with it. This is another boost for the west. About fifteen of us Latter-day Saint boys hold a sacrament service in our tent every Sunday. In these meetings we have been blesssed with the Spirit of the Lord to a very great extent. In fact, many of us expressed the thought that we had never attended meetings where a better spirit prevailed. In these meetings, we sing and pray, after which the sacrament is partaken of, and then we follow a regular course of study from the New Testament. Though we meet with many temptations, we are all trying to conduct ourselves as Latter-day Saints should. We all have faith that we shall live through the war, and return to our homes as physically, mentally and morally s.-itng as we were when we left." A farewell parade of the 145th regiment of the Utah Light Field Artil- lery, and the three regiments of infantry at Fort Douglas was witnessed ii Salt Lake City on Monday, September 7. The parade was reviewed by the commanding officer, his staff, the Governor, the Mayor and other officials and upwards of 30,000 citizens who lined the streets of Salt Lake City to wit- ness the parade. Our frontispiece shows the circling of the monument on the oc- casion by the troops. Owing to a delay in the completion of the cantonment at Linda Vista, the Utah Light Artillery left Salt Lake City as late as Oct. 10, on the evening of which day many thousands of people again gathered to do honor to the boys. They marched to the station, where they were entrained and left in four trains for Linda Vista, some of them as late as 1:30 on the morning of October 11. The boys arrived at Camp Kearney, Linda Vista, California, on Saturday morning, October 13, having had a very pleasant trip from Salt Lake City. Arriving in Los Angeles on the afternoon of Friday, October 12, they were dismissed for six hours, to view the city of Los Angeles. On Saturday morning at 2:00 o'clock, they left Los Angeles, arriving at Linda Vista at 8:30 that evening. On the following morning, which was Sunday, services were held. Chaplain B. H. Roberts spoke on "Inspection and Introspection," and is said to have given a very excellent talk, which the boys greatly enjoyed. Camp Kearney is set on a broad plain with no signs of vegetation in sight except the scrub brush which covers the red clay soil.The Camp covers 21 square miles, being seven miles long and three miles wide. It is intended to accommodate about 45,000 soldiers, but not nearly that many have yet arrived at the camp. Each of the camp tents has a floor about a foot off the ground, and the sides of the tent are boarded, about three feet up. The kitchen has a gas stove, a refrigerator, and water is piped into it. There are modern shower baths and plumbing throughout the camp, so it appears that they are going to be more comfort- able than they were at Fort Douglas. The Y. M. C. A. holds song services, on Sundays, and altogether its organization is doing a wonderful work for the soldiers. There are about eight of their places at Linda Vista, where the men are welcome to come and amuse themselves in games, singing, or writing on paper which is furnished by the Y. M. C. A. During the week moving pictures, boxing matches, and various other amusements are given free of charge.