--- 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: 7 published: 1918-05 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. 7 (May 1918): 654–658.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2107unse 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: improvementera2107unse start_page: 654 end_page: 658 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1918-05) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2107unse publication_year: 1918 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 1918, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Passing Events PASSING EVENTS Joseph F. Seeley, a missionary laboring in the Central States Mission, died March 29. He was born September 26, 1894, and left on June, 1915, for the mission field. Secretary of War Baker, recently made a trip to Europe during which he inspected the American army at the front. He also visited Venice and Rome, and was at the front in Italy. David Keith, pioneer mining man and capitalist, died in Salt Lake City, April 16. He would have been seventy-one years of age on the 24th of May. His only son, David Keith, Jr., a lieutenant in the quartermaster's corps ,is with the United States forces in France. Joseph F. Smith, Jr., was chosen and unanimously sustained, at the late annual conference of the Church, a member of the General Board of Education of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. He fills the vacancy caused by the death of President Francis M. Lyman. Elmo Giles, son of Mr. and Mrs. Geo. Giles, died April 11, in the Samoan Islands, of ptomain poison, according to a telegram sent to President Joseph B. Keeler, of Provo. Elder Giles went to the Samoan Islands nearly three years ago, having made excellent headway as a missionary. He was twenty-three years of age and was the only son of his parents. Alonzo Young, son of the late President Brigham Young and Emmeline Free Young, died, March 31, 1918, in Salt Lake City. He was born December 20, 1858. All his life he has spent in Salt Lake City, and has been a faithful member of the Church, working earnestly in its various organizations. At the time of his death, he was the head of the wholesale shoe department of the Z. C. M. I. and also a member of the High Council in Ensign stake. Bishop Otto J. Poulson, of Sharon ward, Utah stake, recently received word from his brother, Ludvig Poulson and his son, who are in the trenches in France. Both are very optimistic believers in the success of the Allies. The two soldiers, father and son, were farming in Box Elder county, when the son registered for the draft; the father then decided that he would go with the boy, and after leasing his farm enlisted, although the father was far past military age. A second increment to the second National Army under the selective service act will go to Camp Lewis during the five days beginning April 26. The total army to be raised throughout the nation is 104,000 men for this date. The second increment in Utah will amount to 618 men or about \2Va% of the gross quota of the state for the first draft. The decision to speed up the formation of the second army will increase this number, in the state of Utah, by about 168 men under another call. These men will probably leave for army posts inside of 30 days. Texas and Prohibition have at last come together. The last step in the enactment of the state-wide prohibition law for Texas was taken March 21 when Governor W. P. Hobby at'ached his signature to the statutory prohi- PASSING EVENTS 655 bition bill. The bill becomes a law about June 26 or 27. One other step that Texas made on the same date was the concurrence in the Senate of the amendment to the bill giving Texas women the right to vote in primaries and nominating conventions. This is certainly a step in the right direction; but why not give them citizenship the same as the men, without any strings to it? The concrete ship "Faith" was launched at Redwood City, California, on March 14. The Faith carries a gross burden of 7,900 tons, and a net of 5,000 tons; it is ten times larger than any other concrete ship in this country. The ship is 320 feet long and is built to make between ten and eleven knots under usual conditions. Her builders believe her type will solve the shortage of bottom. Unlike concrete ships launched abroad, the Faith slid into the water right side up instead of upside down. Several advantages are claimed for the concrete ship, among them, that it can be built for the present cost of wooden ships, and can be launched within ninety days, while the cost of building the plant is one-twentieth that of a steel shipyard. Colonel Richard W. Young with twenty-six other colonels were nominated by President Woodrow Wilson, on April 16, to be Brigadier-Generals, while ten Brigadier-Generals of the National army were nominated to be Major-Generals. Among the latter was Brigadier-General Leroy S. Lyon, whose work at Camp Kearny, as commandant of that camp, is well known to Utah people and to the readers of the Era. It is reported that Brigadier- General Richard W. Young will take the place of General Leroy S. Lyon at Camp Kearny, and that General Lyon will be transferred for active work at the front, also that Lieutenant Colonel W. C. Webb will be promoted to Colonel and given full charge of the regiment. _ A purchase of Liberty Bonds amounting to $250,000 was authorized by the General Annual Conference of the Church in April. There was a unanimous vote to approve the purchase of these Liberty Bonds from the Church tithing, to be placed in the hands of our Government for the defense of Liberty and Freedom that we enjoy to worship God according to the dictates of our own conscience. A like amount having been appropriated at the last October Conference for the First Liberty Loan, the Church has purchased a half million dollars worth of bonds. Among the ten thousand persons present in the great tabernacle when the matter was proposed by President Joseph F. Smith, there was not a single negative vote. Bolo Pasha was executed for treason at Vincennes, April 17. On February 4 last, he was placed on trial for high treason, was convicted on the 14th, and sentenced to death. He came to America in February, 1°16, and is said to have received through the German Bank of Berlin and deposited in several banks of this country some ten million francs to advance German propaganda in the United States. Disclosures made by the United Stales Government relative to his activities were said to have brought about his arrest. His propaganda in France, generally known as "Boloism," became very threatening. "With Bolo's death, Boloism will die," is the general slogan in France. Bolo's brother is a Catholic priest and is said to be one of the most eloquent pulpit orators of the church in France. The Daylight Saving Law went into effect at 2:30 o'clock a. m., Sunday ahead morning, March 31. Everybody in the United States pushed the clock one hour, in order to enjoy one more hour of daylight. The purpose of starting the day's work one hour earlier is to save fuel. Shops and busi- all the fuel now used for nesses will close before dark, and therefore save lighting. Most people will be able to get their evening meals in daylight inestimable quantity of and go to bed with the sun, thereby saving another 656 IMPROVEMENT ERA fuel. The people will be able to get home from work in daylight, and the change, therefore, will be good for the general welfare. A few hours may be thus obtained for exercise in war gardens, before darkness. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ordered all meetings to be held as usual on the new time, thus falling in line with the general movement. Some wag, who remains unreconciled to the plan, suggests that the tubes in all thermometers be moved up an inch in the fall, and down an inch in the spring, thus making our winters warmer and our summers cooler. He should be provided with a sun dial, for he has evidently not yet seen the light. © Underwood & Underwood, New York General Foch and General Pershing, Men of the Hour, seen together. This most unusual and striking photograph is probably the only one in existence, showing General Foch, the generalisimo of all the Allied armies, and General Pershing, Commander-in-chief of the American Expeditionary Forces. Shortly after the great western drive of the Germans began, on March 21, General Pershing offered the immediate use of the American army in France to General Foch. He accepted at once. The American army are at this writing in the line of battle against the Huns. The smile of confidence and assurance of victory these two "men of the hour" wear, is typical of the spirit of the leaders and of the men fighting the terrible battle on the western front. Holland feels much aggrieved at the seizure of the Dutch merchantmen in American ports. The Dutch government considered it "an act of violence which it will oppose with all the energy of its conviction and its wounded national feeling." The ships, however, were taken over by the Government of the United States under an undoubted belligerent right, although it is one not frequently used. It is the right of angaria, a maritime law which PASSING EVENTS 657 permits a billigerent to seize neutral property under stress of necessity, and with due compensation. It must be remembered, however, that Holland is under a more menacing position today than ever. The German wolf being at its very door. Vice Admiral Von Capelle, the German minister of the navy, declares the act "a robbery of Dutch tonnage whereby Anglo-Saxons have incurred the worst kind of odium for decades to come." Berlin, besides, has howled threats and implications ever since the negotiation with Holland was begun for these ships. And this is really an explanation of why Holland, which lies in the very jaws of the wolf, dared not consent to the terms proposed, and accounts for the statement that the Dutch nation has "taken notice of President Wilson's proclamation with painful surprise," and considers that "the seizure of a neutral mercantile fleet is unjustifiable." The government of Holland naturally also denies the allegations that the Netherlands, owing to German pressure, was "powerless to observe the provisional agreement," and declares it "contrary to facts." The great German drive on the western front began on a twenty-five mile sectoron March 21. For about ten days the Germans made progress in bending the British lines a distance of over twenty miles towards Amiens. The battle continued with fierce onslaught up to March 28, when it was thought that the wholesale advance of the German army was checked. A succession of very violent attacks on the British position around Arras and Vimy Ridge, at the extreme northern end of the salient, followed. The Germans are said to have lost three hundred thousand people killed, while the loss of the Allies is not considered as large. On March 29, it was made known that the allied war council at Versailles had agreed to put all the armies on the French and Flemish front under a single command and had chosen General Ferdinand Foch, chief of the French General Staff, for that high command. This great Frenchmen then took general charge of the whole line. The action received almost unanimous approval in France, Great Britain and the United States. Shortly thereafter, strong Allied counter attacks began to be heard of. American troops took part in the fighting and General Pershing put one hundred thousand men who were ready for field duty at the absolute disposal of General Foch. American battalions were brigaded with French and British troops wherever that seemed wise. Periodically the Germans dropped shells 65 to 70 miles into Paris, from their long-range guns. On Good Friday one of these shells fell on a church and killed seventy-five persons. The action on the western front speeded the war preparations in America, and another call for men was made under the selective draft law. The conflict at this writing (April 20) is still raging in unprecedented terror in various sections of the whole western front, from Mondidier to Arras, and in the Ypres section. The British troops in Mesopotamia defeated and dispersed the Turkish army on the Euphrates and took several thousand prisoners. Turkish resistance in and near Bagdad to Aleppo seems to be completely broken. — "Scientific Aspects of Mormonism" Shall there be a Second edition? — The first edition, by the Putnam Publishing Co., of New York, was sold out six years ago. The book is apparently in greater demand today than ever before, book dealers getting as much as $5.00 each for second-hand copies. The original plates are owned by the author; but, considering the present high cost of printing, he is reluctant to venture a second edition, unless he can get the assurance of at least 500 subscriptions. Those who desire to help the movement will please drop a postal card to Prof. N. L. Nelson, Provo, Utah, with this message: "Kindly enter my name on your subscription list for the Scientific Aspects of Mormonism, at $1.50, postpaid," giving name and address. If this scheme carries, the book will be out by June 1, 1918. General Efficiency Report of Y. M. M. I. A. for March, 1918. V ex to v < T3 Ward g*E 1 CO u M a STAKES Lrt W 3 Vocations and Industries Monthly Stake Officers' Meeting cn|§ en 5 * and 5 5 10 5 10 5 5 10 10 5 5 10 5 10 5 5 5 10 5 10 10 10 5 10 10 10 5 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 Box Elder 10 5 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 5 10 10 5 10 10 5 • 10 ' 10 o 10 5 10 5 10 10 10 5 5 10 5 10 10 5 10 10 10 10 5 10 10 10 5 10 5 5 10 10 10 5 5 5 5 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 5 10 10 10 10 5 5 5 10 5 10 10 5 5 5 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 5 5 10 * 10 5 5 10 10 5 10 10 10 5 10 10 10 * 10 10 Millard 5 10 10 10 10 10 10 5 10 10 10 5 10 10 5 10 5 10 5 5 5 10 5 5 10 10 5 5 10 5 5 5 10 10 5 5 5 5 5 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 5 10 10 5 10 10 10 10 5 5 10 10 5 10 5 5 10 5 5 5 5 5 5 10 5 10 10 10 10 10 10 5 10 10 10 5 10 5 5 5 5 10 10 10 10 10 10 5 ' 5 10 10 10 10 10 .> 10 5 5 10 10 10 5 5 10 5 10 5 5 5 5 10 10 10 5 10 5 10 10 10 10 California Mission. . 10 10 10 1 5 5 5 10 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 S. When stakes are below half General Efficiency requirements, it is indicated by a blank. (See Y. M. M. I. A. Hand Book, pp. 17, 18, for regulations.)