Passing Events

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General Lnigi Cadorna, who was responsible for the Isonzo debacle,

has been removed as a member of the Inter-Allied Supreme War Council,

according to a telegram from Rome, February 10. General Gaetrano Giar-

dino, former minister of war, has been appointed to succeed him.

B. Henry Lessmann, an Ogden minister, who gained admittance to the

Fort Douglas prison camp, by virtue of his ecclesiastical calling, and after

the prison authorities had been given the strongest recommendation of

his trustworthiness, was arrested on February 11, in the act of smuggling

a letter to an enemy alien interned in the civilian section of the third War

Prison Camp at Fort Douglas. Miss Augusta Minnie Deckman was arrested

as an accomplice. Lessmann was later released on a $2000 bond.

President Heber J. Grant received a telegram from Secretary W. G.

McAdoo, appointing him a member of the Liberty Loan General Executive

Committee for the Twelfth Federal Reserve District, on January 31, 1918.

This appointment followed his selection, shortly before that time, as chair-

man of the Liberty Loan Sales Committee for Utah. He is to serve without

compensation, under the chairmanship of the Hon. Joseph K. Lynch, Gov-

ernor of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.

Sir Cecil Arthur Spring-Rice, former British Ambassador to the United

States, died at Ottawa, Canada, one o'clock, February 14, 1918, of heart

failure. He passed peacefully away in his sleep. Sir Cecil became British

Ambassador in Washington, May 6, 1913, succeeding Ambassador James

Bryce. He spent many years in the British diplomatic service, having come

to Washington first as third assistant secretary of the embassy.

Lieut. Dudley A. Loomis, pilot, 22 years old, a native of Moscow,

Idaho, and a student of the Idaho State University, was burned to death,

February 7, on the post field at Fort Sill, School of Aerial Observers,

when his machine made a nose dive from a height of five hundred feet and

burst into flames. His body was burned beyond recognition. He attended

the training camp at Presidio, California, and was there commissioned to

the Aviator School at Fort Sill.

Herbert S. Auerbach, a member of one of the well known merchant

firms of Salt Lake City, has been appointed Major in the ordnance depart-

ment of the United States Army. He was a member of the board of

regents of the University of Utah, and vice-president of the Utah Better

Roads Association. He resigned from the Board of Regents, owing to

his appointment to the national service. Major Auerbach is the son of

Samuel H. Auerbach, founder of the great mercantile establishment bear-

ing the name, and who is now in retirement at the age of seventy-one.

Abd-ul-Hamid, for thirty-three years the tyrant Sultan of the Ottoman

Empire, died February 10, 1918. He was born September 22, 1848, and

became sovereign of Turkey when his elder brother, Murad V, was de-

posed because of mental incapacity, in 1876. In the Revolution of 1909,

he was driven from the Imperial Palace on the shores of the Bosphorus,

PASSING EVENTS 465

made a prisoner, and confined in the Villa Latini, a former residence of a

Greek merchant in Saloniki, the city where the Young Turk movement

had its birth, a party bent upon constitutional government. He had been

a prisoner since that time, and died in prison.

Elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have been

accorded recognition as ministers of the gospel, by the High Court of

England, according to a correspondent writing to the Deseret News, under

date of January 15. The decision was rendered in the case of the North

London Branch President, William Thomas Fawkes, of Ashford, Middle-

sex County. The question was whether he is a regular minister in the

denomination known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,

with reference to his position in the matter of military service. It was set-

tled that the Church was a religious denomination, and that Mr. Fawkes was

an accredited minister therein, hence exempt.

A prophecy come true. — The International News Service prints the fol-

lowing telegram from London, dated February 8: "For three hundred years

the inhabitants of Jerusalem have cherished a prophecy and a hope that

their city would be taken by a friendly and benign power; that it would

fall without bloodshed; that the conqueror would enter it on foot, and

that his name would signify "Allah" and his prophet. That prophecy has

been fulfilled. General Allenby entered the Joppa gate on foot. There

was no bloodshed, and he entered as a friend. Then his name is significant,

'Alle' is obviously 'Allah'; 'nby' in the Arabic stands for something very

nearly equivalent to prophet or seer." The reader is referred to the por-

trait of Allenby entering the Joppa gate of Jerusalem, published in this

number of the Era.

The Russian Church and State were absolutely separated as far as it

could be done by them, on February 5, by an edict issued by the saviet

and signed by Nikolai Lenine and other members of the defacto govern-

ment of Russia. The edict eliminates church incomes from the state and

confiscates all church realty, furnishings and iJaraphernalia. Religious free-

dom is guaranteed, so long as religious societies do not interfere with

social order, limit the rights of individuals, or hinder the republic. No

religious scruples are to exempt persons from their duties as citizens. Mar-

riage ceremonies and birth registrations are to be performed by the civil

authorities. Religious teaching is abolished in the state schools and in pri-

vate schools with a similar curriculum. No state assistance will be given

to any church, society, or religious agent.

Charles W . Carter, pioneer photographer of Salt Lake City, born Lon-

don, England, August 4, 1832, died at the home of his daughter, Mrs.

George Smith, of Midvale, Utah, on Sunday, January 27, 1918. To him is

due the preservation of many scenes in early Utah and on the plains, and

also pictures of Indians. These photographs have been of great service to

historians, and have often helped to settle questions in land litigations. He

had several studios in Salt Lake at different times, and at one time had

a stand outside the temple wall, on the southeast corner of the temple

grounds, where he sold his pictures. He was early in life an English

school master, and also a sergeant in the British army, and saw the 165th

regiment leave England before it participated in the battle of Balaklava.

He came to Salt Lake City in 1859.

President Woodrow W ilson delivered a message before Congress in

joint session, on February 11, again setting forth the principles upon which

America demands that the peace of the world shall be re-builded. The

speech was delivered in answer to the speech of Count von Hertling, the

468 IMPROVEMENT ERA

German Chancellor, delivered January 24, rnd also to that of Count Czernin

of Austria, delivered the same day. The German and Austrian speeches

were delivered in answer to President Wilson's speech of January 8, which

has heretofore appeared in the Era. The President, in the remarkable

Feb. 11 address, reiterates that final peace must be based upon justice,

and that provinces are not to be bartered about as pawns in a game. A

good example of bartering provinces is found in the recent treaty of the

new republic of Ukrain with Germany. Parts of Poland were made the

pawns.

Ships sunk by submarines, in 1917, was nearly three times as great as

the total of production in tonnage in the United States and Great Britain,

during that year. Great Britain produced only 1,163,474 tons of shipping

last year, whereas the output in the United States was 901,233 tons, mak-

ing a combined total tonnage of 2,064,7^7. While sinkings by sumbarines

last year generally are reckoned at six million tons. For 1918, this short-

age is not expected. The output of ship tonnage in the United States for

1918 is estimated at two million five hundred thousand tons to four mil-

lion tons. The shipping board officials are confident that at least three mil-

lion, five hundred thousand tons will be completed by the Allies in 1918.

Britain has no definite estimate, but it is expected that that country will

materially increase its 1917 figures. Japan also is expected to increase its

output very materially.

Tuscania, a Cunard Liner transport, bearing two thousand one hun-

dred seventy-nine officers and men of an American National Guard division,

was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine on February 5, in the

North Atlantic near the Scottish coast. Up to Tuesday evening, February

12, a week after the disaster, one hundred seventy-one victims of the ill-

fated Tuscania had been laid to rest at different points on the Scottish

coast. Considerable anxiety was; felt in Utah over the disaster, as a num-

ber of Utah men were on board. So far as is known up to this writing

none of the Utah men were drowned. Among the Utah boys rescued are

Lieut. Renwick S. McNiece, William Cb>e, Jr., Raymond D. Smith, Edwin

J. Allen, Jr., of Salt Lake City. This is the first vessel carrying over

troops to be sunk, though the Antilles was sunk October 17, 1917, on her

return trip with the loss of 67 men.

A peace treaty between the new Ukrainian Republic of the Southern

part of Russia, and the Central Powers, or the Austro-German power, was

signed at Brest-Litovsk on February 11. The new republic is fully recog-

nized by the quadruple alliance and the contracting parties agreed to live

in peace and amity for all time. Following the treaty the Russians de-

clared the war ended, and ordered a de-mobilization of the army. It pro-

vides that direct intercourse is to be resumed and that reciprocal relations

are to be established at once on all fronts. The treaty apparently included

a secret giving away of Polish provinces to the Ukrain and there was great

dissatisfaction, strikes, and wrath, over the action of the Central Powers,

in Warsaw and other Polish districts on Feb. 17, and on the 19th the Ger-

ans took up arms again against Russia, and to aid the Ukrainians against

tli3 Bolsheviki, who captured Kiev on the 18th.

Alonzo P. Kessler, former assistant postmaster of Salt Lake, a son-in-law

of President Joseph F. Smith, and prominent for years in public activity,

died in Salt Lake City, February 4, 1913, from injuries received in falling

from a scaffold. Alonzo Pratt Kessler was born in Salt Lake City, January

20, 1868, and was the son of the late Bishop Frederick Kessler and Mrs. Jane

Elizabeth Pratt Kessler, prominent and esteemed pioneers of Utah. In asso-

ciation with President Nephi L. Morris of the Salt Lake Stake he filled a

mission to Britain, in 1894, returning to Utah in the spring of 1896. The

following year he was called to preside over the Eastern States Mission,

holding that position for two years. He married Donette Smith, daughter

of President Joseph F. and Mrs. Julina L. Smith. His wife and five children

survive him, also six brothers and three sisters. He had recently built a

beautiful home in Salt Lake City, in which a few days before his death,

Tuesday, January 29, the family celebrated his fiftieth anniversary. He

had many friends, and was widely known and esteemed.

Winning the War through Business. — Recently it was announced that

five hundred thousand American business men, through their commercial

organizations, are preparing to notify the business men of Germany that

they will not re-establish trade relations with Germany unless a government

in that country responsible to the people is given power. This proposed

action of the business men is based upon the logic that only through indus-

trial intercourse with the United States can the military party of Germany

get the sinews with which to precipitate a second great world war. This

blow directed by American business at German business will supplement

the steps already taken to bring home to the different classes in Germany

the purposes and will of America to establish conditions which will elim-

inate, as far as possible, factors which will disturb again the peace of the

world. Is it not possible that this action, if carried into effect, would have

greater power than even military force or starvation, to bring the German

autocracy to terms, and to bring peace to the world?

Lieutenant Robert E. Lee, U. S. A., grandson of General Robert E.

Lee, the commander-in-chief of the armies of the Confederate States dur-

ing the Civil War, is fighting for

the United States. Lieut. Lee has

the mark as a military leader set

by his famous grandfather as the

goal of his efforts, ough he will

be doing his utmost for that Union

which his grandsire strove to de-

stroy. Gen. Lee's fame as a sol-

dier is secure, for he is rated by

military experts as one of the

greatest commanders the world

has known. If Lieut. Lee inher-

its his military skill there will be

no question about his chances of

being rated a military genius.

Major William Fitzhugh Lee Simp-

son, a grand-nephew of General

Robert E. Lee, recently died

while on duty in France, accord-

ing to a confirmed report received

here. Major Simpson was in

charge of the American school of

machine gun fire in France. No

particulars of his death except

that it was due to appendicitis,

have been received. The Lees- are

in the fight.

© Underwood & Underwood, Xew York

Bolo Pasha was sentenced at Paris, February 14, to be shot dead as a

traitor. He had been shown to be one of the most cold-blooded, daring

and calculating schemers for wealth at the expense of his bleeding father-

land ever recorded in the annals of treason. He carried on a German prop-

aganda in France. Boloism has come to mean a system by which Germany

strove to break down the French morale, and instil a desire for peace by

spreading the idea that Germany could not be beaten, and that it would

be well to make the best terms possible as soon as they could be arranged.

Bolo himself was said to have had the use of a fund of more than one

million, five hundred thousand dollars, to be used in attempting to corrupt

the French press, French statesmen and leaders, and to influence French

opinions by subsidizing newspapers in France or founding new publica-

tions to disseminate the spirit of pacifism. His activities were especially

interesting to Americans because it was charged that of the large funds at

his disposal, a million, six hundred eighty-three thousand dollars were

transferred from a Berlin tank to France, by way of New York. It was as

a result of the discovery of his manipulations of this fund, through five New

York banking houses, that the New York state attorney general was able to

obtain information which, forwarded to France through the French Ambas-

sador at Washington, brought about Bolo's arrest in Paris.

Some Shells. — That expresses it better than any descriptive phrase could

for this British official photo. It is some pile of shells. This is but a slight

Copyright, Underwood & Underwood, New York

part of the huge quantity of munitions that is piled up behind the lines to be

used daily in teaching the Teuton that his place is beyond the Rhine. Try

to count them if you can, and then multiply this pile by any number, but

be sure that it is so large that it approaches the infinite. Then you still will

be far short of the actual number of shells used by the Allies on the

Western front.

General Efficiency Report of Y. M. M. I. A. for January, 1918

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A stake report must be sent to the Secretary of the General Board, 21 Bishop's

Building, Salt Lake City, Utah, by the 10th of each month, to be published monthly in

the Era. When the report shows that the requirements in General Efficiency have been

reached, it is indicated by placing 10 in the proper space; if half, place 5. When stakes

are below half General Efficiency requirements, it is indicated by a blant (See Y. M.

M. I. A. Hand Book, pp. 17, 18, for regulations.)

Helping Him to Choose Wisely

A few years ago a young man gradu-

ated from the law school of a noted uni-

versity. He had a host of friends, he had

inherited a modest fortune and every-

body predicted a brilliant career. But

he didn't succeed. Why? Simply because

he disliked office work and had no taste

for the law and therefore he never even

attempted to begin practice.

Having nothing definite to do, he be-

came discouraged and finally started on

the downward path of dissipation. For-

tunately, however, a wise friend, who un-

derstood the principles of "vocational

guidance" took hold of the young man.

He found that the boy loved outdoor life

and that he was interested in horses and

machinery. Accordingly the boy was

urged to purchase a farm and to study

scientific agriculture.

Today that young man is one of the

most successful farmers and stockmen in

America. And his success is due to

proper "vocational guidance," or the se-

lection of the work for which he was

best adapted.

Statistics show that 763 out of every

1000 persons in gainful occupations feel

that they are in the wrong vocations. In

other words, they are "square pegs in

round holes" and therefore the chances

for their success are very slim. And the

sad part of it all is that such failures are

unnecessary.

"The Man of Tomorrow"

a wonderful new book on "Vocational Guidance"

By

Claude Richards

a successful business man,

It is

will help every young man and woman in the selection of their life work,

suited for young and old, and should be read by every parent.

"Vocational Guidance," as outlined in Claude Richards' book, is insurance against

failure and a short cut to success.

The book is substantially bound in red vellum; it is printed on good paper, is

profusely illustrated and has 296 pages. The price is extremely low — ONLY $1, post-

paid $1.10.

This book should be in every home. Mail your order today to the

Improvement Era Office

20-23 Bishop's Building, - Salt Lake City, Utah