--- 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: 23 number: 3 published: 1920-01 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations, "Mutual Work," *Improvement Era* 23, no. 3 (January 1920): 272–273.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2303unse 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: improvementera2303unse start_page: 272 end_page: 273 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1920-01) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2303unse publication_year: 1920 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 1920, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Mutual Work Henry Clay Frick died suddenly at his home in New York, Dec. 2, 1919, in his seventieth year.His wealth is estimated at over a hundred million dollars. Joshua W Alexander, of Missouri, has been appointed Secretary of . Commerce by President Wilson, to succeed William C. Redfield, resigned, to enter private business. Congress convened in regular session, Dec. 1, 1919. The President's message was sent the following day, by messenger, the President being unable to deliver it in person, on account of the condition of his health. A conference of the National League of Women Voters was opened in the Assembly Hall, Nov. 17, by Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt. The object of this League is to take the place of the woman suffrage association. A new experimental farm, it is announced, has been donated by Davis county to the Experiment Station of the Utah Agricultural College, Logan. It is situated just at the north edge of Farmington, and is said to be one of the best farms in Utah. The League of Nations was taken up for discussion and suggestions at a meeting at Brussels, convened Dec. 1, of representatives of France, England, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, Holland, Sweden, Norway, Portugal, Greece, Poland, China, and Japan. The first woman in the British parliament is Lady Astor, the Americanborn wife of Viscount Astor. She was elected from the Sutton division of Plymouth. The vote stood 14,494 for Lady Astor, and 13,431 for her two opponents, the Liberal and Labor candidates. Another American murdered in Mexico adds complications to the already existing difficulties in the relations between the United States and our neighbor to the south. The latest victim is James Wallace, who was slain, as reported, by a Carranza soldier, near Tampico, Nov. 26. Snow in Utah's "Dixie" was reported from Cedar City, Nov. 28. The dispatches said that the mail service in southern Utah was cut off and that at St. George, in the center of the grape and cotton raising "Dixie," twelve inches of snow fell in two days. At Kanarra the snow was two feet deep. The wartime prohibition act has been declared constitutional by the United States supreme court, the opinion, which was unanimous, being written by Judge Brandeis. All the points raised bv the "wets" were brushed aside. There is now no chance that the liquor traffic will be legally resumed before the constitutional prohibition amendment becomes effective, on January 16, 1920. PASSING EVENTS 275 The Y. L. M. I. A., a short time ago, it was announced, had secured a membership of 50,000 and over. This was the goal which the organization had planned, to attain by the date of the fiftieth anniversary of the organization, on Nov. 28, 1869. The Y. M. M. I. A. are to receive their report by Jan. 1, when it is expected this organization, also, will have reached a membership of 50,000. The death of Elder Thomas B. Dobbins, of Santaquin, Utah, who was performing missionary work at Salem, Mass., occurred at that place Dec. 3, under very sad circumstances. According to the report, he purchased a shotgun and shells on the day of his death, and was found later suffering from a fatal wound. His friends and relatives believe that he met with an accident- He was an exemplary young man, twenty-four years of age. A conference of leaders of the so-called "Interchurch World Movement" convened in Salt Lake City, Dec. 8, 1919. Sessions were held three days. The gathering was one of sixty-seven held in the United States during December for the purpose of acquainting state leaders and pastors with the purposes of the interchurch movement and formulating a program. One purpose, among others, was to effect better co-operation among the churches of the world in missionary efforts. The international labor conference, in session at Washington, according to an announcement dated Nov. 25, has taken steps toward perfecting a permanent organization, by the creation of a governing body composed of twelve government representatives, six labor representatives, and six representatives of capital. The function of the governing body will be to keep in constant communication with governments and labor organizations f hroughout the world, to collect information, to give advice and, if need be, to pass disputed matters on to the council of the League of Nations. August A. Nordtvall, for more than thirty years custodian of the buildings and grounds of the University of Utah, died Nov. 17, 1919, at his home in Salt Lake City, sixty-eight years of age. He was born in Thorstuna, Sweden, October 31, 1851, and came to America in 1880. In 1904 he went to his native land as a missionary and remained there two years. Until his final illness, which lasted for more than two years, Mr. Nordwall was a familiar figure about the university. He married Frederika Erickson, also a native of Sweden, in 1882. Mrs. Nordwall died ten years ago. A sister of Aunt Emmeline B. Wells, Mrs. Adeline M. Woodward Earl, passed away at Los Angeles, Cal., Nov. 16, 1919, at the age of about ninety years. She was born at Petersham, Mass., Dec. 6, 1829. She moved from Massachusetts to Nauvoo, 111., in 1844, and joined in the exodus from Nanvoo to Winter Quarters in 1846, coming from there to Utah, in 1848. Her husband, Jesse Earl, was a member of the Mormon Battalion and a violinist of note among the pioneers. Mrs. Earl resided in Salt Lake until about seventeen years ago, when she moved to Los Angeles to be with her daughter, Mrs. Sam T. Godbe. She was the mother of four children. James Barton, of Salt Lake City, passed away, Nov. 28, at the age of eightv-three vears, after an illness of several weeks. Deceased was born at St. Helena, England. He came to America in 1860 on the sailing vessel Underwriter, in company with more than 500 Latter-dav Saint immigrants fiom England and Switzerland. The same year he and his twin brother, William B., who survives him, crossed the plains by ox team and settled at Kaysville, where they engaged in farming. In 1879 he came to Salt Lake