Passing Events

The Russian soviet government, on June 1, was granted permission to open a central trading office in London. This may be but a preliminary to further recognition of the new Russia. Mr. Thomas Hull, former Surveyor General, and General Secretary Y. M. M. I. A., has recently been appointed purchasing agent of the University of Utah, a position for which he is well qualified.

The prohibition amendment was upheld by the supreme court in an opinion rendered by Judge Van Devanter, June 7. In the same decision the enforcement act is also held to be constitutional.

Congress — second session of the sixty-sixth—adjourned sine die on Saturday, June 5, without endorsing the treaty of Versailles, or adopting any substitute measure. Technically, the United States i9, therefore, still at war with Germany.

Mr. George N. Child, on June 7, was appointed superintendent of the city schools, for the next two years. A vote of appreciation for service performed was given by the city board of education to Dr. Ernest A. Smith, retiring from the position.

Norman H. Davis of Tennessee, was appointed undersecretary of State, June 14, by President Wilson, to fill the vacancy left by the resignation of Frank L. Polk. Mr. Davis resigned last week as assistant secretary of the treasury in order to accept the state department post. He was one of the advisers to the American peace delegation at Paris.

The latest in aircraft is a giant biplane designed and constructed at the L. W. F. Engineering Co's factory at College Point, L. I. It has three twelve-cylinder Liberty motors, and measures 106 feet from tip to tip of the "wing." It accommodates a crew of four men, carries a load of 7,776 pounds, and is capable of a speed of 110 miles an hour. It can remain in the air for sixteen hours at a time.

President ad interim of Mexico is Governor Adolfo de la Huerta of Sonora. He was elected by the Mexican congress in extraordinary session, May 24, 1920. On June 2, he took the oath of office in the chamber of deputies. He is the tenth Mexican president since Porfirio Diaz abdicated, May 25, 1911, and one of his first acts will be a proclamation providing for the election of a successor to take place in September.

Pope Benedict, June 1, issued an encyclical, announcing that, while he maintains the claims of the holy see to temporal power, he rescinds the order forbidding Catholic rulers to visit the king of Italy in Rome. It is understood the first monarch to visit Rome under the new conditions will be King Alfonso of Spain. The next step will be, logically, for the pope to declare that he is no longer a "prisoner" in the Vatican.

The crop outlook, at present, June 1, is excellent. A winter wheat production for 1920 in Utah of 2,912,000 bushels as against 1,722,000 bushels

PASSING EVENTS 871

actually produced last year, and a spring wheat production of 2,998,000 bushels, as against 1,960,000 last year, are the predictions of the June 1 federal crop report received by Mr. Miner M. Justin, field agent of the bureau of crop estimates. The total wheat production of 5,910,000 bushels forecast for Utah this year is 60 per cent more than last year.

Samuel S. Cluff, pioneer settler of Provo and Indian war veteran, died June 17 at his home in Pleasant View, of complications incident to old age. Mr. Cluff had filled many positions of trust in the community. He was born September 27, 1837, at Kirtland, Ohio, and came to Utah with his parents in 1850, settling in Provo, where he had since lived. Mr. Cluff . is survived by his two widows, six sons and two daughters. He is also survived by five brothers, twenty-eight grandchildren and three great- grandchildren.

The distinguished service cross, according to an announcement made June 9, has been awarded to Corporal Max C. Chamberlain of Salt Lake City, son of W. H. Chamberlain. Corporal Chamberlain served in A com- pany, Twenty-eighth infantry. The citation reads, in part: "For extra- ordinary heorism in action south of Soissons, France, July 19, 1918. Al- though twice wounded by machine gun fire, Corporal Chamberlain con- tinued in the assault wave and assisted in driving the enemy from their positions."

The Women Suffrage amendment failed to receive the ratification of the Delaware Legislature, that body adjourning sine die, June 2, without taking action on the measure. It was referred to the house committee of the whole on May 28, and there it remains. Immediately upon the an- nouncement of the defeat of the suffrage amendment by the Delaware legislature 55,000 appeals were sent out by the National Woman's party to suffragists in the middle west, asking them to take part in the protest demonstration at Chicago on June 8.

John J. Thomas, brother of former Governor Arthur L. Thomas, died suddenly May 28, at his ranch near Ukiah, Cal. Mr. Thomas was born in Chicago sixty-eight years ago. He came to Utah in 1880 and made his home in Salt Lake until about three years ago, when he moved to his California ranch. He was a member of the city council of Salt Lake for a number of years and also served for a considerable time on the board of education. Later he became a member of the state board of equaliza- tion, with which he served for more than fifteen years.

The Knox resolution declaring that a state of peace exists between the United States, Germany and Austria-Hungary passed the House of Representatives on May 20, having been adopted by the senate previously. On May 27, President Wilson vetoed the measure, for the following rea- son: "I have not felt at liberty to sign this joint resolution because I can- not bring myself to become party to an action which would place an in- effaceable stain upon the gallantry and honor of the United States."

Frank L. Polk, on June 4, sent in his resignation as under-secretary of state, to take effect on June 15. Mr. Polk is the third high official of the state department to resign this year. He entered government service on September 16, 1915, as coun- selor for the state department. Later he was made an assistant secretary of state, and last year was elevated to the post of under-secretary. When Secretary Lansing returned from the Paris peace conference last summer. Mr. Polk was sent abroad to take his place, and he acted as head of the Amer- ican delegation until the conference adjourned last December.

872 IMPROVEMENT ERA

The death of William Dean Howells, editor and author, which was announced in the latter part of May, removed from this mortal sphere a character of national prominence. He was born at Martin's Ferry, Ohio, 1837. During 1861-5 he was United States consul at Venice, and at that time he Obtained recognition as a literary genius, by his contributions to the Atlantic Monthly. Later in life he became the editor of Harper's Magazine and, for a short time, of The Cosmopolitan. He stood in the foremost ranks of American authors, as a novelist, a writer of works of travel, and of biographical and literary essays.

Samuel II Auerhach, 73 years of age, active in Utah business since he .

came to Salt Lake in 1866, died in New York City June 4. He had been ill about three months. Mr. Auerbach was born at Fordon, Prussia, June 15, 1847, and was educated in the schools of his native town. He came to America at an early age, moving west shortly after reaching New York City. He settled in California, associating in business with his brother, Frederick H. Auerbach, in a mining town, Marysville. He came to Salt Lake in 1866, following his brother, who had established the firm of F. Auerbach & Bro. in 1864. He married Miss Eveline Brooks on December 16, 1880, and they became the happy parents of eight children.

The Republican National Convention, in session in Chicago, on the 12th of June nominated Senator Warren G. Harding, of Ohio, as the party's candidate for the presidency, and Governor Calvin Coolidge for the vice presidency. The platform adopted endorses the attitude of Congress in regard to the treaty of Versailles and suggests some kind of international arrangement for the maintenance of the peace of the world. It denounces the present Mexican policy of the United States; declares in favor of the principle of arbitration in industrial disputes; endorses the principle of collective bargaining; pledges the party to the enforcement of all laws, without mentioning specially the prohibition amendment; condemns the administration for failure to enforce the laws against profiteering, and approves of the act of Congress aiding soldiers and sailors.

A Latter-day Saints chaptel was dedicated at Long Beach, Cal„ May 30, by President Heber J. Grant. Three services were held. They were all well attended. Beautiful musical selections were rendered by the choir, under the direction of Walter R. Sant, and by soloists. Everard McMurrin rendered "The Publican" very acceptably. Isabelle Larson sang, "Lead kindly light," and Robert H. Pennock rendered, "I come to Thee." "The end of a perfect day" was sung by Miss Para Ellsworth, and solos were given by Elder Claude C. Cornwall and E. E. Ellis. The speakers during the day, besides President. Grant, were Bertram M. Jones, Joseph W. Mc- Murrin, president of the mission; Bishop Charles W. Nibley, Elders Franklin S. Richards, and Willard Smith, Miss Nina Webster, and Elder James H. Steele. The chapel is situated on Atlantic ave. and Anaheim St., two of the principal streets of the city.