Editors’ Table: The Solemn Assembly

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Joseph Fielding Smith James E. Talmage Stephen L. Richards Richard R. Lyman Melvin J. Ballard. Hyrum G. Smith, as Presiding Patriarch of the Church. The Counselors in the First Presidency, the Twelve Apostlesand Patriarch, as Prophets, Seers and Revelators. First Seven Presidents of Seventy: Seymour B. Young, Brigham H. Roberts, Jonathan G. Kimball, Rulon S. Wells, Joseph W. McMurrin, Charles H. Hart and Levi Edgar Young. Charles W. Nibley, as Presiding Bishop, with David A. Smith and John Wells as his First and Second Counselors. Heber J. Grant, as Trustee-in-Trust for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In each instance, President Grant announced the motion to sustain the authorities voted upon, and called for the affirmative vote. Following the response, the negative of the question was presented, and should there be any who favored it, they were requested to make known their will. The voting throughout, which was completed at 10:37 o'clock, was unanimous, without exception, in favor of the affirmative.

President Heber J. Grant's Pledge of Service and Action

After the presentation of the authorities at the General Assembly in the annual conference of the Church, President Heber J. Grant delivered his first spech as President of the Church, to the people in conference assembled. He pledged to the Latter-day Saints faithful service, and declared the standard of action and policy that he would pursue in the new responsibility to which he had been chosen. He said: A Pledge of Faithful Service I feel humble, beyond any language with which God has endowed me to express it, in standing before you here this morning, occupying the position in which you have just voted to sustain me. I recall standing before an audience in Tooele, after having been sustained as president of that stake, when I was a young man twenty-three years of age, pledging to that audience the best that was in me. I stand here today in all humility, acknowledging my own weakness, my own lack of wisdom and information, and my lack of the ability to occupy the exalted position in which you have voted to sustain me. But as I said.

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as a boy in Tooele, I say here today: that by and with the help of the Lord, I shall do the best that I can to fulfil every obligation that shall rest upon me as President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to the full extent of my ability. I will ask no man to be more liberal with his means than I am with mine, in proportion to what he possesses, for the advancement of God's kingdom. I will ask no man to observe the Word of Wisdom any more closely than I will observe it. I will ask no man to be more conscientious and prompt in the payment of his tithes and his offerings than I will be. I will ask no man to be more ready and willing to come early and to go larte, and to labor with full power of mind and body, than I

will, always in humility. I hope and pray for the blessings of the Lord, acknowledging freely and frankly, that without the Lord's blessings it will be an impossibility for me to make a success of the high calling whereunto I have been called. But, like Nephi of old, I know that the Lord makes no requirements of the children of men, save he will prepare a way for them, whereby they can accomplish the thing which he has required. With this knowledge in my heart, I accept the great responsibility, without fear of the consequences, knowing that God will sustain me as he has sustained all of my predecessors who have occupied this position, provided always, that I shall labor in humility and in diligence, ever seeking for the guidance of his Holy Spirit ; and this I shall endeavor to do. The Standard of Action. I shall not occupy your time by reading Section 121 of the Doctrine and Covenants. I will leave that for each and every one of those before me, and those to the right and the left, holding the priesthood, and as many of the audience as may feel so disposed, to read it when they go home. With the help of the Lord, I shall endeavor, standing at the head of the Priesthood of God vipon the earth, to exercise the authority that has come to me in keeping with that wonderful revelation: "No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only by persuasion, by long suffering, by gentleness, and meekness, and by love unfeigned." God being my helper, the priesthood that I hold, the position that I occupy, shall be exercised in accordance with these words that I have quoted to you. We can do nothing, as recorded in that revelation, only as we exercise love and charity and kindness—-love unfeigned. With the help of the Lord that is exactly how I shall administer, to the best of my ability, the Priesthood of God that has come to me. I could stand here and occupy all of the remaining time, with the hundred and one thoughts that have come into my

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mind, in connection with the duties that devolve upon me; but I am anxious that my counselors should speak to you here this morning, and I am anxious to pay my tribute of respect to those men who have preceded me. I take no credit to myself for occupying the position that has come to me. I realize that failure will be the result if I do not give the Lord the credit for calling me to this position, and seek for the light of his Spirit to guide me in all that I shall do. President Grant then dwelt at length on the life and labors of each of the Presidents of the Church, from Joseph Smith, the prophet, to Joseph F. Smith, the great preacher of righteous- — ness and late leader of the Church bearing his testimony to the divinity of their callings and to the inspiration of God unmistakably apparent in their administrations, and declaring that they were servants of the living God. He then occupied the remainder of the time in a eulogy of President Smith, the time, through his suggestion, being largely devoted at the morning and afternoon service at the Tabernacle, as well as in the Assembly Hall and at the Bureau of Information, to memorial — exercises in honor of the beloved leader the late President Joseph F. Smith.

Church Statistics

President Heber J. Grant, at one of the meetings of the annual conference, read the following interesting information on a variety of items of moment: During the year 1918 there were 14,761 baptisms and 15,963 children blessed. There were 5,752 deaths, which is the largest number on record for any year. Of this number, 1,054 died of influenza and 862 died of pneumonia. Military.— Over 20,000 members of the Church were in the military service of the United States and its Allies at the close of the year 1918. Of this number, 383 died in the service. We should have been allowed not less than 20 chaplains, and we made application for permission to furnish our quota, but for some reason, unknown to us, we were only allowed to furnish three chaplains, two of whom saw active service at the front in France. — Priesthood. There has been a better attendance of the priesthood at the ward weekly meetings, but there are still 9,078 persons who hold the priesthood whom the bishops report are willing to labor, but have not been assigned to any duties in the stake or ward. Tithes.—There has been a considerable increase in the amount of tithes paid for the year 1918. The tithing has been

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well handled by the bishops. Very little loss has been incurred, except through the failure to find a market for the large potato crop of the year 1917. — Temple Work. There were 175,525 baptisms for the dead performed in the temples, and there were 78,001 endowments for the living and the dead. The Hawaiian temple is now practically completed at a cost of about $200,000. The Cardston temple is nearing completion, and will cost, when finished, about $600,000. — Sacrament Meetings. In consequence of the quarantine and conditions prevailing during the epidemic of influenza in the latter part of the year 1918, the attendance at Sacrament meetings has fallen off, and the visits of the ward teachers have not been as regular as in other years. — Finances. The following are some of the expenditures paid out of the tithes and other Church funds during the year 1918: There has been expended for assisting the worthy poor $279,244.30 For missionary work and building of meetinghouses in the missions, mission houses and return fares of elders 345,761.51 For the maintenance and operation of the Church school system, including the erection of new school buildings 695,561.70 For the maintenance and operation of the St. George, Logan, Manti and Salt Lake Temples 170,000.00 For the construction and equipment of the Hawaiian and Cardston temples 340,036.17 For the erection of meetinghouses (this does not in- clude donations for the same purpose by mem- bers of the respective wards) 288,766.76 For the maintenance of stakes and wards in all their various departments 526,002.91 Attention was called to the fact that the work which the Pioneers did in planting trees and in beautifying homes, farms, ward meetinghouses, schools and other buildings, is being sadly neglected in the Latter-day Saint communities. Our advice and counsel to the Latter-day Saints is to plant more trees, to get the best kind adapted to each locality, and to grow them wherever they can be grown.

The Task of the M. I. A.

Among the many good instructions that were presented to the officers of the M. I. A., at the recent spirited and successful June conference, of which the Era will have more to say in the August

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number, none exceeded in importance the subject of teachertraining classes, by Elder David O. McKay, at the first session of the conference, Friday, June 6. The supreme task in the field of Mutual Improvement is the raising up of a body of teachers, leaders and workers who are intensely in sympathy with the spirit of our cause, and who are at the same time, able instructors, knowing the needs of the young men and young women of Zion who are waiting to be trained in the principles of the gospel and in the spirit of the great Latter-day work in which we are engaged; men and women who may honestly and squarely meet the M. I. A. students and their needs in method, spirit and measurable results. Until our organization awakens to the need of properly trained teachers, and by that we mean men and women who have the love of the young people at heart and the spirit of the gospel in their souls, as well as some professional knowledge of teaching, we cannot hope to make the progress that we should be making in these wonderful organizations. There can be no doubt that these problems of holding our young people and teaching them effectively to love and to live their religion and to observe the duties and obligations of life and citizenship in the Church, the community and the Nation, are the most important immediately at hand. The first task that lies before us is to find properly trained teachers who can furnish to the teacher-training classes a background of spirit, facts and methods that will awaken the large number of teachers in our organizations to the responsibility of earnestly and skilfully guiding the youth to a knowledge of the truth, showing them the necessity of making use of every opportunity to live rightly in relation to their fellow-men, and to make use of every opportunity for self-government, and above all and over all, to assist every young man and young woman to complete living on the foundation of faith in God — and his great latter-day work the aim and purpose of the Y. M. M. I. A. As a beginning in this direction, those who have in charge our organizations must insist upon the teachers of the Y. M. M. I. A. attending the teach-training classes now or soon to be organized in every ward of the Church.

Messages from the Missions

The Book of Mormon Making Many Friends H. Cecil Baker, Albany, New York, writes, May 26: "Due to the zeal and efforts put forth by our faithful and energetic missionaries, though few in number, the work in this district, the Albany conference, is pro-

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gressing rapidly. Elders A. Earl Worlton and Robert W. Bird, are laboring in Schenectady, New York. Two families have recently applied for baptism. Sister Elizabeth Hadley, and Alice Hatch are accomplishing much good in Rensselaer. Through the medium of the Book of Mormon, many friends are being made. Truman D. Gilbert, has been honorably released to return to his home in the West, and the position of Conference President which he has occupied, is now given over to H. Cecil Baker, vho has toured the conference, and pronounces the prospects very en-

couraging. The Era is very much appreciated by all the Saints and friends, af well as the missionaries who are laboring in this conference, who are, standing: Alice Hatch, Woodscross; Elizabeth Hadley, Taylor, Utah; Sitting: H. Cecil Baker, Minersville, Utah, incoming conference president; Truman D. Gilbert, Preston, Idaho, outgoing conference president; Robert W. Bird, Pocatello, Idaho; A. Earl Worlton, Lehi, Utah.

One Hundred Ten "Mormons" in Japan The Missionaries of the Japan mission met in conference at Tokyo, Japan on April 10, 1919. The first session was for the purpose of announcements and discussing the work to be done at the conference. Two sessions, held on the 11th and 12th respectively, were devoted to giving reports of work done since the last conference. These reports showed that the missionaries are all united and they are doing a conscientous work among the people. On Sunday, 13th, the regular Sunday school session was held with an attendance of 57. In the afternoon the Saints' sacrament meeting was held and Elders Palmer and Wright gave some very good talks to the Saints on the Trinity. The general and local Church authorities were presented and unanimously sustained. In the evening a public meeting was held, and the subject of the Holy Ghost was discussed in able speeches, end from different points of view, by Elders Olpin, Lee and Stoddard. Four sessions of the conference were devoted to the consideration of the fifth year of the Seventy's Course in Theology, by Elder B. H. Roberts, on the subject of "Divine Immanence and the Holy Ghost." Each missionary gave a talk for about thirty minutes on one or two chapters of

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830 IMPROVEMENT ERA the course and in this way the whole course was covered. Much good was gained by all present by getting a much better understanding of this difficult phase of the gospel. Besides the above sessions a special fast and testimony meeting was held where all the missionaries laboring in Japan, of whom there are eleven elders and two lady missionaries, bore their testimonies. The meeting was a very spirited one, and many strong testimonies were borne. This was among the best sessions of the conference, and was the most enjoyed. One other session was held in which various questions were answered i'nd instructions in regard to the work of the coming season were given by President Stimpson. A priesthood meeting was also held, on the 17th, at 'which members of the local priesthood were present, this being the last session of the conference. Various ways of cooperation between the missionaries and the local brethren were discussed, and it is hoped that more results will follow this united effort in the future. The total Church membership was reported as being 110 souls. The elders all expressed themselves as being very grateful for the Era because of the clean and wholesome material it contains. It is looked forward to with interest and read from cover to cover. It was the voice of the conference to work for some kind of Church magazine to be the organ of the Japan mission to be printed in Japanese as an aid in missionary propaganda. While all were assembled in Tokyo a picture was taken of the missionaries in native costume. Those in the picture are, left to right, standing: Elder Bryan L. Wright, Ogden, Elder Joseph S. Pyne, Provo; Elder Louring A. Whittaker, Circleville, Utah; Elder Myrl L. Bodily, Fairview, Idaho; Elder Owen McGary, Shelley, Idaho; Kofu Conference President J. Ray Stoddard, Richmond, Utah; sitting: Tokyo Conference President Versall L. Cowley, Venice, Utah; Children of President Stimpson; Mission President Joseph H. Stimpson, Riverdale, Utah; Sister Pearl M. Lee and children; Sapporo Conference President LaFayette C. Lee, Hinckley, Utah; Elder A. Ray Olpin, Pleasant Grove, Utah; Osaka Conference President Val W. Palmer, Logan, Utah. The missionaries returned to their fields, with determination to labor to their utmost for the spread of truth and to infuse the love and unity so manifest at the conference, into the Saints and investigators "till all come to a unity of the faith." Jos. H. Stimpson.

New Elders' Home Elder A. G. Wright informs the Era, under date of March 11. 1919, that the following elders are laboring in the Hauraki district of the New Zealand mission. Left to right: H. L. Hawkes, Preston; R. S. Wood, Burley, Idaho; W. Z. Ward, Willard, Utah; in charge of the Maori work; A. G. Wright, Ogden, Utah, in charge of the European work, and D. A. Thomas, Salt Lake City, Utah. He continues: "The three elders who are sitting labor among the Maoris of this district with headquarters at Kiri Kiri, and the elders standing labor among the Eur pean people with headquarters at Thames. Recently a piece of property was purchased here by the Saints with the help of the mission upon which an elders' home has been erected. This home consists of a fine five-room cottage and was built by the elders mentioned above, with the help of Elders Dewey Long and E. J. Banks, of the Waikato district, and Brother Thomas Carless, of Waihi. Brother Carless is one of our Saints in this district and an experienced carpenter, and helped materially in the erection of our home. Not only did re work two months on the home without remuneration, but he also gave a very hearty donation toward it. The home serves as a meetinghouse, at present,

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where our European services are being held. Until our new church )'s built We are indeed proud that we have a place this home will serve us nicely. of our own in which to worship the Lord. A bazar and concert was held in Thames on February 25, ur.der the direction of the Relief Society which

proved to be a great success. The net proceeds of this bazar and concert were about $200. The Saints and elders made the affair a complete success, and the Maori Saints, of Kiri Kiri, added their part. We all worked together and with the help of the Lord were able to pay off the debt of the Elders' Home."

"Done Better than We Have Known" Arnold G. Holland, writing from Bradford, England, May 7, says: "There is a great scarcity of elders from Zion here, m this mission at present: only four, outside of the Mission Office force, which is composed of three, but despite all odds, the work is prospering and, in the words of President Richards, we have 'done better than we have known.' This is a great testimony to me. The Era is one of our best friends in the mission field. Personally I think it a grand magazine, and I shall be a life-time patron of it. We pass the few copies that are so kindly sent to us free, to the Saints and friends, and some of the numbers find their way into high places. We wish the Era continued success."

REMEMBER THE M. I. A. SLOGAN: We stand for spiritual growth through attendance at sacrament meetings.

Germany lost one hundred ninety-eight submarines during the war, according to statistics published in a German newspaper. This number included seven submarines interned in foreign ports, and fourteen that were dstroyed by their own crew. More than three thousand sailors lost their lives in the submarine sinking, as shown by the statistics, while several thousand others lost their reason, and had to be committed to lunatic asylums, according to the translated telegrams by the Associated Press. Harry G. Haivker and Lieutenant Commander Grieves, who left St. Johns, New Foundland for England to cross the Atlantic in an aeroplane, were rescued by the Danish steamer Mary, in mid-Atlantic about 800 miles from the Irish coast, on May 19, the same day that they departed. The aeroplane came down into the sea off the bow of the ship, a boat was launched, and the two aviators were rescued, being greatly exhausted. The ship had no wireless, and hence the relatives of the aviators could not be informed of the rescue until a week later. The New Joseph Smith Memorial Building, on the grounds of the Latter-day Saints University, Salt Lake City, is practically completed, and will be dedicated, it is said, about September. The first public enteitainment held upon the spacious roof-garden was held on the evening of June 6, at the annual reception and social tendered to visiting stake officers by the General Board of the Y. M. and Y. L. M. I. A. during the annual conference. Refreshments and a splendid program were provided by the Social Committee of the organizations under direction of Roscort W. Eardley, chairman. The transport Plattsburg, which has come to be known as the "bridal ship," because more than three hundred wives, taken by American soldiers abroad have come to the United States as passengers upon this ship, arrived at Hoboken, June 16, with sixty-nine more brides and twenty children, representing part of the marital activities of men aboard our destroyers and submarine chasers, cruising from ports on the southern ccast of England and Ireland during the war. Twenty-five of the brides were Irish, the others were English or Scotch, all who saw the arrivals on the Hoboken pier agreed that the judgment of the sailors could not be questioned. Drug addicts, are increasing in the United States, according the investigation of a special committee which submitted a final report in Washington, June 13. More than a million addicts to drugs are estimated to be found in the United States. Imports of opium into the United States has increased twice as fast as the growth in population; and over ninety per cent of the amount of these drugs entered for consumption, is used for other than medical purposes. It is stated that the United States consumes from thirteen to seventy-two times as much opium per capita as other countries. The report shows that twenty million dollars per annum is the estimate of the value of habit forming drugs imported. Whether nation-wide prohibition will increase this evil, is not yet definitely determined, but the opinion that prohibition will increase the use of narcotics, and that the drinkers will seek in opium a substitute for alcohol receives support from investigations made in some of the Southern states, where prohibition has been in effect for some years.

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The Division of Educational Extension, Department of the Interior, is perfecting a film service available for communities and organizations concerned with arrangements for Americanization meetings. Thirty-one centers up to the first of June, had qualified for receiving the service, and materials had already gone forward to a large number of these centers, including the University of Utah, Salt Lake City. Efforts are being made to extend these contracts to include all the states, and until such states are organized, inquiries may be made direct to Visual Instruction Section. In teaching Americanization, the motion pictures are of great importance, and these exist in fairly large numbers, with new ones constantly being made. Pictures which show essential facts concerning the resources, achievements, and institutions of America: "These may be industrial, depicting the extent, the activity, and the character of a great manufacturing plant or of a mining or farming project; or scenic, revealing the wealth of America's natural beauty or the prosperity and attractiveness of the American city and village; or dramatic, showing America at work or at school or at play, or giving a narrative of the life of typical Americans, or putting in picture form typical pieces of American literature." An over-seas flight without a stop was made across the Atlantic ocean on June 15, by Jack Alcock, a captain of the British Air force and Lieut. Arthur Brown, an American. They have the honor of having made the first non-stop flight across the Atlantic ocean from New Foundland to Ireland, thereby winning the Daily Mail's fifty thousand dollar prize. The Americans, however, were first to cross the water by air. Alcock left St. Johns, New Foundland at 4:13 p. m., Greenwich time, 12:13 New York time, and made the flight in sixteen hours and twelve minutes after he left St. Johns, landing in Galway, Ireland. The record-making trip was made in a Vickers-Vimy bomber, having two engines of three-hundred seventyfive horse power, with a gasoline capacity of eight hundred and seventy gallons. The machine had a wing spread of sixty-seven feet, and was forty-two feet eight inches long, the weight, full load, being thirteen thousand pounds. The time of the flight was sixteen hours and twelve minutes; the distance covered being sixteen hundred eighty nautical miles, and the average speed one hundred two nautical miles an hour. Owing to a fog, the plane flew up-side down at times because the pilot lost all sense of direction. This flight was a great achievement and shows that the world is on the threshold of great development in aviation, much greater than ever dreamed of a month or two ago. Report of changes in ward and stake officers for the month of May, 1919, as given by the Presiding Bishop's Office: New ward and bishop Ogden 14th ward, Weber stake, Clarence Morris, bishop. — New Presidents and Counselors. Jordan stake President Soren Rasmussen succeeded Vm. D. Kuhre; John G. Sharp, 1st Counselor and Joseph M. Holt, 2nd Counselor. Address of President Rasmussen, Draper, Utah. Ogden stake, Thomas E. McKay, succeeded Thomas B. Evans as President; John Halls, 1st Counselor and Samuel G. Dye, 2nd Counselor. Address of President McKay, Huntsville, Utah. Juab stake. Isaac H. Grace, succeeded Thomas H. G. Parkers as 2nd Counselor in the Stake Presidency. — New Bishops. 2nd ward, Liberty stake, Henry B. Elder succeeded Heber C. Iverson, address 843 South 5th East, City. Shumway ward, Snowflake stake, Walter H. Denham succeeded Wallace E. Shumway, address same. Showlow ward, Snowflake stake, John L. Willis succeeded James C. Owens, address same. Lincoln ward, Bingham slake, Fred A. Caine succeeded A. E. Stanger, address Idaho Falls, R. D. No. 1, Idaho. Hawkins ward Portqeuf stake, Joseph L. Brower, acting in lieu of George Z. Hq- T