--- 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: 7 published: 1920-05 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: "Young Men's Mutual Improvement Associations, \"Wonderful Bridge Over Snake River,\" *Improvement Era* 23, no. 7 (May 1920): 607." source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2307unse 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: improvementera2307unse start_page: 607 end_page: 607 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1920-05) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2307unse 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. --- # Wonderful Bridge Over Snake River " THE RIGHTS OF A MAN 607 his wife that we wouldn't be able to let him off to come home for some days, as the Jones boy just wouldn't let him out of his sight. "Well, Jimmie didn't last long. He just simply couldn't. And there are his wife and family up there in pretty sorry straits, I tell you. Yes, Jim always was a pretty good provider, but while the epidemic was on, his yards took fire and he lost all his last year's crop, and some of his best animals. When the funeral bills were all paid there was just simply nothing to speak of left." "But what has this got to do with the question of the rights of a man?" broke out Will, who had not lost sight of the fact that he still had a point to make, even though the question of Jimmie and his suffering family was one of serious moment. "Only this," replied the old man: "Jimmie took the 'flu,' but it was not the 'flu' that killed him. It was the thousands of 'cigs' he had sucked during the past twenty years. Those thousands of 'sigs' so weakened the lung tissues that when a cold settled on the membranes, they had no power of resistance. Yes, that's what killed poor Jim! Boys, I hate to say it, but the fact is that — Jim committed suicide a slow but sure suicide. He had no right to do it, for as Will has said, a man has no right to do a thing that will injure another. Jim, poor, good, well-meaning Jim; just like Will here, thought that he was injuring no one but himself! But who has been injured? I say little Annie up there in that old hut, and her four suffering little tads. They will suffer for years to come, because Jim would have his 'cig.' Bicknell, Utah The Wonderful Bridge Over the Snake River, Near Twin Falls, Idaho. Height, 345 feet; length, 688 feet; cost, $100,000.