--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - McOmarrie, John G. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 22 number: 10 published: 1919-08 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'McOmarrie, John G., "“This Is the Place”," *Improvement Era* 22, no. 10 (August 1919): 871–876.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera22010unse 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: improvementera22010unse start_page: 871 end_page: 876 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1919-08) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera22010unse publication_year: 1919 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 1919, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # “This Is the Place” 'THIS IS THE PLACE' 873 and accomplishments of a people, are so well understood and recognized, that the reader will appreciate without argument, the necessity of a special place being prepared and selected for the carrying out of certain great purposes. When Abraham was called to father a nation whose special mission it should be to establish in the world the idea of the one supreme God, it was necessary to lead him from the rich and unvaried valley of the Euphrates into a land of varied climate which would afford an opportunity for a more varied development; a land separated FARO* 15 ft ' SHETLAND £f — "Every European waterway is land-bound every outlet, a strategic point far which nations must fight." by deserts, mountains, and seas, from nations steeped in false ideas and bound by false traditions: a place were the choice people might enjoy at least a partial seclusion, until they became established in the higher ideals, and fitted, in a degree, to maintain these ideals in the world. Still, if this people were to be of any use to the world by way of diffusing light through the spiritual and n °ntal darkness which prevailed, their seclu- 874 IMPROVEMENT ERA sion could not be such that it would shut them off from contact with the world. We find, therefore, that Palestine, the place selected, was on the crest of the "Fertile Crescent" on the great highway of trade, the most public place in that world in which Abraham, and David, and Jesus lived. Unfortunately, however, so far as the permanence of their homes and institutions was concerned, Jerusalem was the strategic point of this little world, and Palestine was, from its location, the buffer state between Egypt and Babylon; between Assyria and Phoenicia. There could not be a great war without Jerusalem in some way being involved. More battles have been fought around the "Holy City," than any other city in the world; and, time after time, its temples have been torn down and its libraries destroyed, and its people scattered, until finally, the Jews have become a nation without a country, and a people without a home. It might be observed in passing that the scattering of Israel, the diffusion of their blood, and also their ideas, as men became more widely distributed on the earth, were parts of the divine plan. For reasons, which the history of the past will help us to recognize, the place suitable for the establishment of a permanent Zion, a commonwealth which would become a glory and light to the world, should possess the advantages of Israel's — ancient home, such as variety in climate, seclusion from close contact with old established systems and philosophies, and yet hold a position in the eyes of the world where it could not be hidden. Moreover, it should be a place rich in the material things of life that the arts and trades might flourish at home, and the missions abroad be sustained. This Zion should also be pre-eminently the land of peace, far removed from strife, where she might sit secure amid the crash of nations, the decay of systems, and the breaking up of institutions which must precede that age when service shall supplant competition, and love as a controlling factor drive force from the world. Was Brigham Young right? Is this the place, possessing all the features and advantages necessary for the accomplishment of the purposes predicted by the prophets which comprehended the fulfiling of Israel's mission to our Father's family? 1. The temporary seclusion which the place afforded has been such that the organizations of the Church have been thoroughly worked out, and the institutions and agencies of development so established that the Latter-day Saints are now prepared to maintain their position and uphold their idrals in the world. — "THIS IS THE PLACE" 875 2. The material wealth and advantages of these mountains and valleys have been gradually unveiled until we can now see plainly a place that fulfils to the letter, the description given of the land of Joseph by Moses (See Deut. 33:13-18). There is hardly a precious metal or mineral necessary in the complex business and industrial world, which is not found in this intermountain basin,* and somewhere, from Utah's Dixie to the wheat fields of Idaho, is being produced as great a variety of food products as could have been gathered by the Pharaohs of Egypt, the kings of Assyria, or the emperors of Rome, from their vast dominions. 3. With the awakening of the Orient and the opening of the Panama canal, the Pacific will naturally become as active as the Atlantic in bearing the commerce of nations. In this event, the center of the world's activities will shift to the United States. We shall then find the designated place on the crest of the continent, and on the great highway of trade and traffic, the most prominent place in the world. Salt Lake City occupies a position, so far as contact is concerned with the great modern nations, similar to that which Jerusalem occupied in the little world in which David and the Master lived. 4. The most striking feature, however, is that with all these advantages, it is so situated that it can never be a battlefield; that is, it is not a strategic point, for which nations need to fight in their struggle for advantage. So long as nations live under the competitive system, they will strive to- secure, as a protection to their trade, the freedom of the seas and the control of the waterways which furnish the outlet for their products. They will also try to make secure the natural walls of their respective homes. For example, the United States could not permit Mexico to hold the mouth of the Mississippi river, nor any other nation to control the ports of the Atlantic or the Pacific. Dr. H. H. Powers, in a series of lectures given before the Brigham Young University on the causes of war in Europe, pointed out, as the principal cause, the fact that every waterway was land-bound and that every outlet is a strategic point for which nations must fight. Turkey holds the key to the natural gateway of the vast territory of Russia. The Adriatic is *There are at least 190 useful minerals found in the state of Utah, among them, agate, alum minerals, arsenic, asphalt, azurite, basalt, bismuth, bituminous rock, brown iron ore, calamine, carnotite, cement material, chalcedony, clay, coal, coke, copper, cuprite, gas, gold, granite, gypsum, hematite, iron, lead, limestone, manganese ore, marble, natural gas, niter, onyx, oil shale, ozokerite, petroleum, phosphate rock, platinum, potash, quicksilver, radium, salt, sand and gravel, sandstone, shale, silver, slate, sulphur, topaz, uintaite, zinc. Idaho has at least one hundred useful minerals. For a complete list, see Bulletin 624, U. S. Geological Survey. Editors. 876 IMPROVEMENT ERA the avenue of trade for Italy; Austria and Serbia and Albania really hold the point that controls this important waterway. The rivers of Germany have their outlet into the North Sea through Belgium and Holland. She has no suitable naval base, and cannot control the channels by which she reaches the open seas. England, with her forts at Gibraltar and her navy in the English channel, and across the North Sea, really holds the gateways of Europe; and if we look to Western Asia, we will see that the island Empire of Japan holds a similar strong position, controlling the outlets of Asia to the Pacific. A glance at the accompanying map will show that these causes are all eliminated on the Western Hemisphere. Canada, the United States, Mexico, Central America, and all the countries of South America, have free access to the seas. This is pre-eminently the continent of peace, and also of liberty. It is war and national dangers that make for autocracies and kingdoms. It is peace and security which stimulate democracy and give opportunity for individual responsibility and judgment to develop and become active. There are few questions which concern America alone which cannot be settled by arbitration. The place selected is not only on the western hemisphere, but is in the best section of that hemisphere, and under the control of the greatest Government the world has ever known; and it is also in the securest part of this favorite land. If the United States should be attacked from the Atlantic, the seaboard might suffer, but it is not at all probable that her armies would be pushed back through the Mississippi valley and the Rocky mountains into this section. If we were attacked from the Pacific, though California might be taken, an army could hardly push its way through the Sierra Nevada mountains and across the great deserts which intervene between these and the valley of the Great Salt Lake. Moreover, if our seaports were taken, a very improbable thins;, and the Mississippi controlled, terms of peace would necessarily be made. There would be no necessity of pushing the conquest further. While as a people the Latter-day Saints expect to take part in the world's activities, whether of peace or of war, and to do, as they have always done, their full part in upholding every movement which makes for the uplift of humanity and for the freedom of the world, still, it is something to know that while some take part in the victories of war, others may continue unmolested about the victories of peace; and furthermore, to know that their homes will be safe, that their temples will not be torn down, nor their libraries, the accumulation of revealed and acquired knowledge, be destroyed, and their treasures lost, as such treasures have been at Alexandria, Jerusalem and Athens. — — "THIS IS THE PLACE" 877 Imagine the position Salt Lake City, San Francisco, New York, Paris, Berlin, London, Constantinople, or Tokyo, or any important city upon the world's great highways; then think of the difference in the security of the first, for the things which we feel are so vital to the accomplishment of the special mission before us! Surely Brigham Young was right when he said "This is the : place." Wehave seclusion, security and plenty. The Lord has done his part. He has prepared the place. He has revealed the truth. He has bestowed the authority, and deeply should the Latter-day Saints feel the obligation resting upon them to so live that their lives may be examples to the world, and that they may faithfully perform their duty and service to mankind. The Heroic Age We live in an heroic age Nor may we thought or action gauge By those same standards we had used, E'er hell on earth its Furies loosed. We count not time by days nor whiles, But by the ships that cross the miles, Nor do we count in terms of space The World has grown so small a place. We count not wealth, but give it free, What though our treasures strew the sea Our ships still sail, and more and more Shall carry from our boundless store. We count not love, but lay it higher Upon our holy altar fire, And O, dear Lord, we know the price. For love is life's sweet Paradise. We count not life, for who would be A living soul and yet not free? O countless dead, on blood-drenched sod, Yet more shall tread where ye have trod! We count not self nor present hour But hold it as our sacred dower To cleanse the world of tyranny That unborn nations may be free. We live in an heroic age, One glimpse of God's infinite page, For all our loss and pain intense, Vouchsafes an holy recompense. Salt Lake City May Belle T. Dav> The Bride By Elizabeth Cannon Porter "What are those people going into Unity Hall for?" asked Miriam Manners of her brother Alfred Trent, as she turned from the window. "Some kind of a 'Mormon' meeting, I believe. A 'Mormon' apostle going to talk on 'Salvation for the Dead'," replied Trent. "So they call them apostles!" mused his sister. "I think that I would like to hear it."The car was then ordered, and her cloak brought, and Miriam ventured forth to hear an exposition of the gospel for the first time. When the magnificent limousine drove up to the curb, and the liveried chauffeur lifted out the richly clothed woman, Elder Sam Brink, from Idaho, was standing on the sidewalk. A dull wave of resentment swept over him at the display of wealth, until he perceived that the woman was lame, when he felt sudden compassion. The speaker, a brainy, scientific man, dwelt on the eternity of the human soul. He said that qualities brought into this world had been earned in a pre-existence ; that what knowledge or proficiency we gained in this life, we would take with us to the next. He advocated childbirth, as it gave to spirits bodies, so that they could go through this grade of the eternal school. But the part of the lecture that fascinated Mrs. Manners, was the eternity of the marriage contract. Marriages, said the speaker, for time and eternity, performed in the temples of the Latterday Saints, would continue in the hereafter, and children born in such unions, would always belong to their parents. Then the speaker expounded on the necessity for young people to keep pure and worthy to enter the house of the Lord. Mrs. Manners' mind had gone back to her young husband, and her two-year-old son, Harold, both of whom had preceded her into the great beyond. Her heart leaped at the possibility of again meeting them. The marriage of Miriam Trent, the banker's daughter, and Harold Manners, the broker, had been one of the most propitious in all Boston. More than that, it had been happy. There had been a year's honeymoon abroad, much of it spent in the sun along the shores of the Mediterranean. After that had followed two years with baby Harold. Then came the automobile accident. They were crossing a bridge.