--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Tanner, Joseph M. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 21 number: 10 published: 1918-08 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Tanner, Joseph M., "Problems of the Age—XXV–XXVII," *Improvement Era* 21, no. 10 (August 1918): 866–876.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera21010unse 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: improvementera21010unse start_page: 866 end_page: 876 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1918-08) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera21010unse 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. --- # Problems of the Age—XXV–XXVII 868 IMPROVEMENT ERA into a torrent that becomes quite irresistible. There are specious arguments set forth by those who point to the high cost of child life. There are medical fees, drug bills, nurses, hospitals, and a host of overwhelming burdens which parents declare themselves unable to bear. Many support their practices on the economic distress which they feel from their fulfilment of God's requirements. It is a serious problem. When evils multiply in such a fashion they bring along with them a whole train of so-called — invincible arguments, arguments which pacify, excuse, then justify. A great wave of exictement is now moving over the world on the question of race suicide. Recently Mrs. Margaret Sanger was imprisoned in New York because of her propaganda of child birth control. The doctors of New York have held sessions upon its advisability. There is a division of sentiment among them, though the great majority are convinced that they must abide by the law, which some think ought to be repealed. Great movements for the preservation of child life, for the education and training of children, have now the endorsement and assistance of — thousands of women, Mothers' Societies, many of them made up largely of unmarried women well along in years. Many of these societies have their members in the homes of mothers whose children require special attention, but that is only a symptom. The real cause must be sought elsewhere. I quote at length from Ex-President Roosevelt and Prof. Conklin of Princeton, in the Metropolitan of October, 1917: "Reforms are excellent, but if there is nobody to reform their value becomes somewhat problematical. In order to make a man into a better citizen we must first have the man. In order that there shall be a 'fuller and better expressed life for the average woman,' that average woman must be in actual existence. And the first neces- sity in 'bringing up the child right' is to produce the child. "Stated in the abstract, these propositions are of bromidic trite- ness. But an astonishingly large number of persons, including a lamentably large number who call themselves social reformers, either are, or act as if they were, utterly blind to them when they try to deal with life in the concrete. This is true of every group of persons who treat Bernard Shaw seriously as a social reformer. It is true of every group of reformers who discuss the home and the school, but regard it as indelicate to lay stress on the fact that neither is worth discussing unless there are children in sufficient numbers to make the home and the school worth perpetuating. It is true of all blatant sham reformers who, in the name of a new morality, preach the old, old vice and self-indulgence which rotted out first the moral fiber and then even the external greatness of Greece and Rome. It is true of the possibly well-meaning but certainly silly persons who fail to see - that we merely enunciate a perfectly plain mathematical truth when we say that the race will die out unless the average family contains at least three children, and therefore that less than this number always means that, whether because of their fault or their misfortune, the parents are bearing less than their share of the common burdens, and are rendering less than their proportion of patriotic service to the nation." Speaking of the graduates of Harvard and Yale, he further says: "On the average, during the thirty years, the graduate who mar- ried did so after he had left college eight years. About 78 per cent married, roughly four-fifths. But over 20 per cent of the marriages were childless. This leaves only three-fifths of the men of the class who contracted fertile marriages, and who, therefore, if their stock were to progress, had to make good the shortcomings of their fellows. PROBLEMS OF THE AGE 869 The average number of children per married graduate capita was about 2.3, and shrank decade by decade. Taking the entire num- ber of graduates the average number of children surviving was 1.55 per capita (of whom, of course, on the average, half are daughters). This means, roughly, that in these thirty classes of Harvard and Yale graduates, representing, of course, a high average of the energy, am- bition and cultivation, and a reasonably high average of the wealth of the land, every four fathers left behind them three sons. If this ratio continues it will mean that 140 years hence — a period as long as that which divides us from the Declaration of Independence the — ************ average college graduates of today will be represented in their de- scendents by only three-tenths of their present number." "In Massachusetts, for the twenty-five years ending in 1911, the deaths among the native-born population exceeded the births by 270,000, whereas during the same period the births in families with foreign-born parents exceeded the deaths by nearly 530,000. If this process continues the work of perfecting the boasted common school and college system of Massachusetts' native Americans will prove about as useful as the labor of those worthy missionaries who on different occasions have translated the Bible into the tongues of sav- age races who thereupon died out." Prof. Conklin writes: "The cause for alarm is the declining birth rate in the best ele- ments of a population, while it continues to increase among the poorer elements. The descendants of the Puritans and the Cavaliers, who have raised the cry for 'fewer and better children,' are already dis- appearing, and in a few centuries, at most, will have given place to more fertile races of mankind. * * * if we had fewer luxuries we could have, and could afford to have, more children. * * * We need not 'fewer and better children' but more children of the better sort and fewer of the worse variety. There is great enthusiasm today on the part of many childless reformers for negative eugenical meas- ures. (They forget that) sterility is too easily acquired; what is not * * so easily brought about is the fertility of the better lines. * The chief motive for limiting the size of families is personal comfort and pleasure rather than the welfare of the race. It is more im- portant for the welfare of the race that children with good inheritance (in mind, body and will) should be brought into the world than that parents should live easy lives and have no more children than they can conveniently rear amid all the comforts of a luxury-loving age. * * * Race preservation, not self-preservation, is the first law of nature. Among the higher organisms, the strongest of all the instincts are those connected with reproduction. The struggle to be free is part of a great evolutionary movement, but the freedom must be a sane one, which neither injures others nor eliminates posterity. (Any movement which) demands freedom from marriage and reproduction is suicidal." The Latter-day Saints, in the simplicity of their faith, are perfectly willing to trust the conditions of life and the purposes of God for the maintenance of an equilibrium between man's power of production and his needs. History has shown abundantly that infanticide and race suicide were never a necessity. The punishment which the world has invited upon itself in the various ages has been sufficient to remove all fears of an overpopulated world. As a matter of fact, it is not a case of economic necessity. The reasons are found through the perversion of God's laws and the ex- 870 IMPROVEMENT ERA cesses of life which selfish indulgence creates. They are with the old — prophets, they believe that children are the heritage of the Lord and "blessed is he that has his quiver full." Their compensation comes to them through the assured value of child life. With Jesus, they rejoice in the words: "Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven." XXVI— Music — History. It is from the historical and moral side that I approach this subject, which is as old as the human race, and as diversified as human life. Of all the arts and accomplishments given for the entertainment and pleasure of man, none has been a greater source of pleasure. It exalts, refines,, ennobles, soothes, and heals the human heart. It also entices, charms, and persuades the human soul to leave its moral anchorage and enter the realms of dissipation and vice. Music, as it comes from instruments, is an unspoken language, but saturated with every suggestion of human thought and feeling. As an expression of the human emotions, it has both a moral and a licentious aspect. It has been made more dangerous to human life because it is usually unsuspected of any wrong. It may beguile and seduce those who, in the beginning, could not be touched by any other form of pleasure that entices to wrong-doing. — Dangers. I speak first of the dangers of music. The vibrations of our inner life are set in motion by this royal pastime. It enters the domain of our thoughts and feelings, mostly of our feelings. These it helps us to conceal, but the vibrations of thought and feeling, once set in motion, carry us on to action. From the earliest times, music has been the companion of evil consorts. Its value has been fully known, not only in the dens of vice, but in the palaces where excessive luxuries and insinuating corruptions find a guilded home. The world has long known the evil of certain entertainments. It has known the effects it has had in the baudy house, the barroom, and the promiscuous dancehall. Moral loving communities would not tolerate for one moment in their homes the companionship of the lewd, the frivolously gay, and the licentious devotees of the dance. They believe they have abolished corrupting evils when they have drawn the line which excludes the men and women who symbolize them. That is but one step: the music that helps to beget a vitiated life they often admit without question even to the inner sanctuaries of their homes. Who has not stopped to listen, as he passed along the road, to some music in the home, to wonder how such strains of immoral tones could be permitted there? The fact is, people never suspect that there can be an immoral sound, when the truth is, immoral sounds have helped from the beginning to beget immoral lives. — Oriental Vice. Some years ago, when the writer was in Egypt, he was invited to witness some dance scenes that gave an illustration of the contortions and immoral movements of the human body. These motions were set to music, and he was told that men often resorted to these musical demonstrations that they might enjoy all the more later on the vices into which they were about to cast themselves. Along the quays of the great oriental cities, where vice runs rampant, music acts as the siren which charms men from their onward course in life to the sinful intonations of the dance hall and evil resorts. There is a kindred between tone and motion: sound is said to move along in waves; it has its rhythm. These waves create movements, thoughts, and feelings that are in harmony with them. Strange that every blessed thing which God revealed to man, Satan has been present to deform that what was intended for exaltation may be turned to debase- ; — ment, and after all, we have hardly suspected that such was true of music. PROBLEMS OF THE AGE. 871 # — Emotions. We now have the rag-time, and the "Jazz" that may be witnessed on the dancing floors of our resorts. The contortions of the body give rise to contortions of the mind. One might easily imagine as he looked on the ball-room scenes of some pleasure resort, that he had been taken back to the voluptuary gardens of ancient times, and to the days of Rome and Greece, when the Jazz, under another name, was corrupting, undermining the social life of the nations who gave themselves up to its indulgences. It is the old, old story that evil companions corrupt good morals, and there is an evil companionship in music. — Exalting. But music exalts, it refines, ennobles, and charms with the spirits of virtue the human soul. We have our music: we aim in the early periods of life so to saturate our youth with the sweet, innocent strains of the Sabbath school song that it will take possession of them, and leave little room for the music whose vulgar tones would invite them into an erring life. The emotions of the soul are real. There is a rhythm in "life; we respond to the subtle influences that we cannot see, we cannot analyze, we can only feel. If we would have a correct balance of life, and its elements properly mixed within us, we should not exclude music any more than we exclude prayer. It should be in our homes, to encourage and to fortify us. Thus, we sing in the Sabbath schools songs that awaken our religious emotions, our patriotism, our devotion, our worshipful thoughts. We sing, too, in congregations, that the harmony in one soul may be the harmony in all. Our children gather in concerts and enjoy the mutual helpfulness of congregational songs. It is not easy to define the line of cleavage between two forms ol music, but in a general way they must be distinguished. Nor is it always of God might more a matter of art: perhaps a soul attuned to the worship readily detect an improper coloring to music than the finest artist. The hymns of John Wesley have had a marvelous influence upon the religious emotions. The older generations will remember how fond our late President, Brigham Young, was of these devotional hymns. We have endeavored to makesuch a classification as would put our musical life on the moral side of sound. our young Jazz.—There is perhaps no more sinful temptation among siren voice of people today than the insinuating sounds that come from the a license-loving age. The thoughtful world is just beginning to realize how far the Jazz and kindred music is carrying us from the moorings of our moral safety. I quote from a writer in the Chicago Herald, of November 4, 1917. There the celebrated violinist, Isador Berger, says: "The white man took the negro's 'Jungle time' and 'ragged' it unmercifully. It was a great success among people who preferred not to consider the moral phases of the question. Clergymen and against this kind o social service forces over the country stormed but the world music, calling it 'obscene, indecent, demoralizing, etc., amusement for its own sake went on acclaiming jazz that loved tunes as the acme of entertainment. writers turned "But when America went into the war the song to patriotic tunes. They began to turn out marching tunes in the for their favorite and hope that the soldiers would seize upon one British lorn- make for its authors the amount of money which the mies' made for the writers of 'It's a Long, Long Way to Tipperary. tingling now with "Cafes, tea dansants, dancing pavilions, are ragtime tunes still hang these stirring martial airs. Some of the old on ' but half-heartedly, as though they knew it, like other soft, lux- things, they must disappear before the strident note of war. urious 872 IMPROVEMENT ERA " 'War music arouses the best in man, while "jazz" music appeals to the lowest elements in his nature,' says Louis Guyon, a dancing master of Chicago who has won great prosperity for himself by re- fusing to permit the modern dances to be performed on his mammoth floor. T have always fought the "ragtime" dance as immoral, in- decent and vulgar, and I have found that thousands of people still felt that the old-time waltz, two-step and polka were totally different from the "jazz" measures. " 'Marching tunes and martial music are written in a tempo that does not lend itself to syncopation.' "Legitimate music appeals to human feeling and soulful apprecia- tion. It makes the mind 'dreamy' and imaginative. It does not excite base thoughts. It may develop abstract love and the spirit of sacrifice for a loved one, but it does not fan the flames of physical passion as does the music which accompanies the one-step and the fox trot. These qualities make it permanent and enduring, while the 'jazz' tunes are reliant upon qualities that make them valueless to- morrow. Their fleeting nature is a proof of their deficiency in meritorious characteristics. "A great German painter, Alois Kolb, with the Teutonic artist's love of the gross and grotesque, Once painted a picture of profane music which modern moralists insist describes the spirit of the modern dance as it was before the sterner music began to crowd it out. He pictured Satan playing a violin from the pedestal from which the Sphinx, symbol of cruelty and lust, looked down upon a maudlin world. "Human beings made mad by the debased music of Satan danced below in an orgy of indecency. At the bottom of the picture Kolb placed the snake-haired head of Medusa, the mythical goddess one sight of whom would turn a human being to stone. Medusa stood for vice in the mind of the primitive man; the writhing reptiles that were her hair symbolized the ghastliness and repulsion of crime, and the ruination of the man who looked upon her personified the dead- ening effect which familiarity with wickedness produces in the human being." Music has sometimes been classified according to the society it keeps. Even in ancient times this classification prevailed. Its appeal is directly to the feelings, and it is perhaps true to say that it touches the passions more strongly than even the spoken or written word. When such music is applied to the dance, it brings to its aid the baser imaginations which give thoughts and feelings of the most degenerate character. It is a powerful truth, and yet we have scarcely begun to sense it, that there is an evil music to be shunned, just as there is an evil companionship. Qualities.—The evils of debased music are more insidious because of the almost universal indifference if not ignorance about the kinds of music. Yet when we stop to think, there are as many kinds of music as there are peculiar qualities and characteristics in individuals: we have music that encourages frivolity. I once heard a musician say that "if I played long such music I should become down-right lazy." Then there must be music that induces idleness, just as there is music that creates excessive hilarity and light mindedness. If we were as choice about the music which we permit in our homes as we are about the character of the language used, we should eliminate much of it that is positively evil. Music is a power or a gift to man that was intended to delight, to exalt, to refine, and to encourage. It is a part of the noblest traits of human life. But like many PROBLEMS OF THE AGE. 873 other exalted states of being, it has found degeneracy with other degenerate conditions of life. It is more dangerous because of its unsuspected and not easily detected evil influences. — Latter-day Saints' Point of View. "If thou art merry, praise the Lord with singing, with music, with dancing, and with a prayer of praise and thanksgiving" (Doc. and Cov. 136:28). This is part of a revelation given to Brigham Young in 1847. Music and dancing associated with praise and prayer, make them acceptable to God. XXVII —Dancing — Example of Russia. Of all the nations of Europe, Russia has been most given to social and religious vagaries. Political activities were forbidden and improvements had little encouragement. The great masses of the people are "mujiks" or peasants. They have been in intellectual darkness for centuries, and therefore a prey to all kinds of delusions. Class distinction has been persistent and most oppressive to the people at large. The distinction was really based upon work. There were those who worked, and those who did not. Labor was a badge of inferiority. The rich aspired to social distinction and the excessive pleasures which idle lives beget. Petrograd was notorious as a den of vice, and the ball-room was the center of social ambitions. The ballet was never so popular in Paris as it was in the Russian capital. It was full of scandal and the source of sex corruption. When the revolution of 1905 broke down, writers were under as severe a censorship as in the old regime. They turned their attention to fiction, as lascivious as the unbridled social life and the ball room could make it. The dance was often the center of the so-called Russian realism. It afforded an opportunity to play upon thoughts and feelings of those whose daily lives were a round of pleasure and dissipation. The social novel with its disgusting realism of life in Petrograd was remunerative and popular. The Russian ballet dancers were famous the world over. Their movements catered to the more sordid instincts of men and women. At one time their vulgarities were too much for most of the European capitals, who frowned upon them. In time they were imitated, and gained more and more a world-wide reception. The degeneracy of the ball-room was nowhere more striking than in the domain of the czar. The censorship did not per- not mit any more of its weird life to reach the outside world than could Petro be prevented. I quote from the New York Sun of Sept. 9, 1917, dated g.ad, Aug. 5 (by mail): "Ballet girls are being permitted to enter the learned profes- sions. A special commission to prepare reforms in the former im- perial,now state, theatres, has pronounced for the abolition of the but a system under which the ballet pupil could never be anything ballet dancer. „ "At the age of nine years many girls entered the ballet school learning to dance, of the Marlinsky Theater and spent their childhood receiving scarcely any general education, and were ordered to go on the ballet stage. If they refused, they were excluded from all except the lowest occupations. They were further prevented from leaving the great that such a country without special permit. The demand was so barbarous system had to be inaugurated to keep up the supply. Corruptions of the Dance.-The revolution has broken down Russian revealed the world what before was never half sus- exclusiveness and to that country has rebounded pected. Interest in the life and conditions of in the desire to know more about the country and its people. The papers 874 IMPROVEMENT ERA are full of revelations of its inner life. Psychologists and sociologists have rushed to an explanation of causes and effects. They are enlightening the world about the hidden things in the social and religious practices of its people. In the mysteries of Russian degradation they have given prominence to the dance. As an institution, it is as old as the world, and in ancient — and medieval times was closely associated with religion religion of the kind which the Hebrews were forbidden to practice. Here is what John D. Quackenbos, professor of psychology in Columbia University, has to say in one of the New York dailies: '-> "There is nothing new about making a religious rite out of a las- civious dance. It is palpably in accord with the bias of wanton hu- man nature to give to the poetry of motion an unchaste rhythm and to legitimize such action with the sanction of the gods. The records of the ancient world teem with revolting narrations of dances in honor of licentious love gods, cunningly calculated to excite the grosser pas- sions, and commit the riotous zealots to ineffably unbridled baccha- nalia. In such appeals to the sexual side of their nature men and women were made to believe by interested priests that they were do- ing the will of heaven. "In course of time the lecherous dance lost its devotional charac- ter. Loath to die its natural death, it revived in the epidemics known as the dancing manias that swept over Europe in the Middle Ages in periodic outbreaks of religious delusion. Thereafter the sensual dance lost its devotional kinship, and found cloister in the bawdy-houses and circles of ill-fame, whence, to the odium of Christian communi- ties, it has been dragged of late years, to pollute society at large with its lewd mazes and disgusting insinuations. The dancing mania of the twentieth century, none the less dangerous because dissociated from dogma, is the only religion of a host of addicts in this country." The mania of the dance has usually been a symptom of social decay, and has represented society at its worst. It has foretold the day of calamity in more than one nation of the earth. Whether the dance represents the worship of some lascivious god idol, or is an object of devotion in itself, its devotees suffer a moral loss to themselves, and bring numberless thousands to the shrine at which they worship. — Not an Evil in Itself. Has the dance no proper place in social life? Or is its abuse responsible for the sins which grow out of it? David danced about the Ark of the Covenant while on its way to Jerusalem, to the disgust of his wife it must be said. It is one of the most universal of all forms of pleasure. It combines intimate companionship with the rythm of movement and joyous sounds of music. David danced in a spirit of divine joy. The object of his dance was the expression he felt for a God-given achievement. Undoubtedly such pleasure has its place in the mirth of social life. Its Control.— Its dangers, however, have been fully recognized by the Latter-day Saints, who sought to control it in such a manner as to free it from the excessive pleasures and temptations that might grow out of it. Dances were opened by prayer, and the old and young mingled freely together. Any movements or attitudes indecorous were frowned upon, and a spirit of gentility was cultivated as far as possible. We need not wonder that the Saints have felt with some alarm the influence of its mania which is now sweeping over the world. It is one of the most convincing indictments against the stability of society in this age. In places it amounts almost to a disease. The youth of the world today is under a heavy tribute to it. It is literally enslaving millions. It is perhaps the best expression of the irreligious condition of the world. Its addicts have lost respect for PROBLEMS OF THE AGE. 875 the Sabbath, have lost the moral sense of duty, have surrendered themselves to a life of mirth, and now worship at the shrine of pleasure. It is really giving serious cause for alarm. It dictates to fashion, ignores health, and fosters indecencies. Its abolition has never been accomplished, but today it passes all control. The ball room is responsible for the waste of untold millions; it teaches frivolity and delights in extravagance; it is classifying society by its exclusion of parents and the older members of the community; it snatches from home life and its sanctity those who need most its protection, and it obliterates God in the thoughts and feelings of its devotees. The dancing craze is more than a symptom; it is a disease. In the New York Sun, Sept. 9, 1917, Jane Dixon writes: "The toddle, friends, is New York's latest dance delirium. As yet the delirium has not become epidemic. The germ of the toddle first manifested itself in the brain of one G. H. B., official delineator of the dance for the Isle of Manhattan. From the dome of this terpsi- chorean demon the toddle germ rapidly spread to his feet, where it manifested itself in all its violence, breaking forth in a movement half way between a fat suburban gentleman running to catch the 5:55 and a lazy 'possum that has just dined heavily on persimmons. Do not think the toddle is Mr. W.'s only output. His is by no means a one- track mind. He has invented a pretty little idea he calls, 'Hello, pals.' Not a song, mind you; a dance. Hear him: '"Hello, pals" is the successor of our "Paul Jones." It is a plain, unvarnished one- step. But there is a plus sign after the one-step. Partners do the one- step until a signal from the music is given, when they shake hands and recite a little poem. It goes: " ' "Hello, pals, I'm glad to meet you ' Hello, pals, I'm glad to greet you." Its Sacrifice to Mammon.— How inspiring! From different parts of the world come candidates for training to this famous dancing master, soon to be a millionaire. The glare of his wealth attracts the ambition of the lesser lights. They, too, see the glitter of gold, and there are millions today in the dancing business. The dimension of this industrial life has grown into enormous proportions. Dancing is the new spirit of the age. Our little ones take to it with fresh delight. Parents who see these rare gifts pour their gold into the pocket of the dancing artist and modistes in unstinted measure. We may object, but we hesitate. Parents are old-fashioned. Thev want to do what is for the best. To deny children what they seriously want is a social offense. If a decision is delayed, the dancing master is brought to the house. His persuasion is convincing. Maybe we are behind the times. Social reauirements are the meat and drink of the age. We dare not ostracise our children. If we still hesitate, it is because we do not love these monsters of cruelty! Who dares face the accusation? The pace is set and we are going in full speed. An Element of National Destruction.—The dance has the respectability of being the most ancient of customs. It was one of the strongest competitors in the rare for national ruin of the ancient empires of Mesopotamia. The literature of those ancient times is full of nauseating details of dance debauchery. Those nations all wen; down when they had most to boast of; when in the age of their greatest glory. "Eat, drink, and be merry is the siren of destruction. The current of modern life is tempestuous. Who can withstand it? Is the picture overdrawn? Read what Max Muller, the great- est of Oriental scholarsand translators, says: He declares that had he not made in his translations copious expurgations, he would have been prosecuted for circulating obscene literature. 876 IMPROVEMENT ERA Duty of the Church.— Do the bell room and the Church have anything in common? One represents the joyous side of life, the other religious. The Church must have its guide and its guardian. The ball room is without either unless, as among the Latter-day Saints, it comes within the regulation of Church organizations. It is not easy outside of these organizations to control the excessive tempting pleasures of the dance. From the Ball Room to Hell is the title of a book by one who professed to know the dangers of the dance. The book created rome comment at the time it was published. It has passed out of memory. The passions of pleasure rarely yield to reason. Are we yielding to what we know l be a dangerous social condition? It is hard to withstand a constant pressure. We grow tired and break down very often. Society is honeycombed to the center by all kinds of excesses, extravagances, delusions, improprieties, vices, and shames. "A calamity howler" is no answer to the signal of social dangers. The war is laying bare many of the world's shames which before h d been covered by artistic drapery. Dancing is now a profession. Its devotees must be up-to-date. There is money in every newly invented dance. Professionals have sprung up by the thousands. New steps are the rage. Formerlv this form of .leasure was conducted at night. Now it goes on day and night. Schools oi instruction are multiplying rapidly. It was once one of the cheapest of all pleasures; now it is most expensive. Once it was a pastime for the entire community; now children would be ashamed to see an attempt on the part of the parents and elders to dance. It is creating a class distinction, always a source of danger to social life. Shall the mania be suppressed? Can it be cured? The disease is in the mind. It is vastly more difficult to cure mental diseases than physical ones. The coming generation will be inheritors of the dread disease. It is said that nothing today contributes more to race suicide than the dance. The habits of youth are not easily broken off by married life. Children are in the way, they are an obstacle which must be prevented. Conversations in the home and in up-to-date society too often hinge upon the discussions of the ball room. Criticisms and snobbery are rife. Ridicule isencouraged. The serious side of life is barred. Revelations. —"Say nothing but repentance unto this generation. Keep my commandments, and assist to bring forth my work, according to my commandments, and you shall be blessed" (Doc. and Cov. 11:8). "Do you believe in a personal devil?" That is often a question put by even many of our own people. Where does the devilish spirit of an abandoned age come from? It is a disease of the mind, we are told. Just a disease that may be cured by some scientific treatment, we are told. It is not popular to believe in a devil. What has God said about the devil? "And it must needs be that the devil tempt the children of men, or they could not be agents unto themselves, for if they never should have bitter they -ould not know the sweet" (Doc. and Cov. 29:39. Read more of same section). Get the Saving Habit As for rules for saving, theer are not many. Use system, and be persistent. One of the best ways to save at the present time is to invest in war savings stamps and certificates. The thrift stamps cost only 25 cents, and they soon reach about $5, when you get a certificate and interest. Try it. Dixie is Doing her Bit By Frank C. Steele In food production, as in men and money, Dixie is doing — her bit in the present world crisis. The Sunny Southland that splendid Southland of today which in a very few short years has been literally hewn out of land exhausted and devastated by war's despoiling hand— is rising with inspiring patriotism to the call of the Nation and the demands of the- Allied countries, even with greater energy and power than is generally recognized in the North and the West. I am now — in Atlanta the New York of the South. It is Cotton Field in Full Bloom a city of tall' smoke-stacks and cleaving sky-scrapers; a city of beautiful homes and kindhearted people who are invariably "powerful glad to see you." Here one can feel the pulse of the South, and the blood which flows through every artery of the country to the heart, beats warm for the sacred cause of liberty. The people of the Southern States are consecrated to the task of winning the war with all possible despatch. Bui- what is the South actually contributing to the cause you ask. Very well—you shall have cold facts. The figures may surprise you. No doubt when you ponder over them a few moments you will see that the South's bit is a big bit. Dixie is 878 IMPROVEMENT ERA • , „ MmM^1 t "*—ik •^jSbSSS9k»?" tfcwjj^fc * :.-- --• « Savannah River, One of Dixie's Great Water Outlets to the Sea no slacker. The statistics are gathered from government reports, federal and state, and they are therefore absolutely reliable. The value of farm crops in the South in 1917, not including live stock products, was $5, 510, 000, 000 which was $150,000,000 greater than all the value of all the farm crops in the United States in 1911; and 1911 held the record value up to that year. This was 6 per cent less than the total value of all the farm crops in the United States in 1914. The value of farm crops in the South in 1917 showed an increase of $2,000,000,000 over 1916, and an increase of$3,500, 000,000 over 1909. Scene at a Southern Cotton Gin