--- 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: 24 number: 4 published: 1921-02 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations, "Passing Events," *Improvement Era* 24, no. 4 (February 1921): 367–372.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2404unse 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: improvementera2404unse start_page: 367 end_page: 372 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1921-02) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2404unse publication_year: 1921 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 1921, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Passing Events The value of the output of the Utah mines for the year 1920 is estimated to be $46,000,000. The cornerstone of a new City and County building was laid in Provo, December 14, in the presence of a large assembly. Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd Ivie of Kaysville, left January 20 for Japan. Elder Ivie has been called to preside over the Japanese mission. The city of Fiume, where the poet Gabriele d'Annunzio had established an independent government, in defiance of Italy and her allies, was occupied by Italian troops on December 29, after severe fighting. The Irish home rule bill, as passed by the British parliament, December 21, provides for two parliaments, one for the north and one for the south of the island, with a council of forty, to be elected by the two parliaments. Each parliament shall decide upon the method of selecting senates. Ex-king Constantine of Greece entered Athens on December 19 amid the thunder of cannon, the hum of airplanes, and the roaring cheer of multitudes. His admirers compare his return with that of Napoleon from Elba. No foreign ministers were present during the welcoming ceremonies. The quickest transportation of mail from San Francisco to Salt Lake City was accomplished December 30, 1920, when letters taken from the post office in the coast city, at 6:30 a. m., were delivered here at 3 p. m., by airplane, the same day, having been on the road only eight hours and a half. Olof L. Eliason, 84 years of age, a jeweler of Salt Lake, died December 15 at his home, 939 Pennsylvania avenue. Mr. Eliason was a native of Sweden, and came to Utah with his family about 1860. He settled in Salt Lake and opened a jewelry store on Main street, remaining in the business to the end. The annual session of the members of the Utah state Farm Bureau opened January 6, at Hotel Utah, Salt Lake City. From the various angles of banking, road building, taxation, legislation, and marketing, the speakers gave expression to the urgent need that agriculture be placed upon a better business basis. The fifteenth annual convention of teachers in the schools of the Church was held in Salt Lake City, in the buildings of the L. D. S. High School, December 30 and 31, 1920. The sessions were well attended and the exercises were of the highest order, both as regards music, subjects discussed, and lectures given. L. Moth Iverson, 70 years of age, died suddenly in the twenty-first ward chapel, after having delivered an address at the .services, on Sunday afternoon, January 2. He was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, and came to Utah in 1880. For many years he was connected with Zion's Savings Bank. Later he engaged in business for himself. His wife, three sons, and five daughters survive him. 368 IMPROVEMENT ERA Edward Benjamin Critchlow, a well-known attorney, died suddenly of heart disease, December 19, at his home in Salt Lake City. Mr. Crilchlow was a native of Warren county, Mississippi, and was horn in 1858. He was educated in the public schools of New York state, the Salt Lake Collegiate Institute, Columbia university law school, and was graduated from Princeton university in 1882 with a degree of A. B. diaries H. Skidmore, superintendent of the Box Elder county public schools, was elected president of the Utah Educational association at the election held in Salt Lake December 30, 1920. Professor Skidmore received 483 votes, Professor B. Roland Lewis, head of the English department of the University of Utah, polling 308 votes. D. W. Parratt, superintendent of the Granite district schools of Salt Lake county, was elected vice president of the association. Captain William T. Colton, identified with the development of the railroad industry in the west from the time of his discharge from the Union army at the close of the Civil War and until last June, a resident of Salt Lake since 1883, died January 7, at Bryn Mawr, Pa. Word of his death came in a telegraphic dispatch from his son, Francis Colton. an architect of New York City, to Ernest A. Greenwood, 531 First Avenue, for many year's a business associate of Mr. Colton. Cornelius M. Fairbanks, a Utah pioneer, was laid to rest at Driggs, Idaho, December 24. He was born in New Jersey in 1843 and arrived in Utah in October, 1847. He took an active part in the upbuilding of Utah and participated in the early Indian wars. His father, David Fairbanks, was the first justice of the peace in Salt Lake City and first bishop of Pay son. Besides a widow, Emily A. Davis Fairbanks, whom he married in Salt Lake, April 6, 1864, seven children survive him. John Isaac Hart, 94 years of age, died at the residence of his daughter, Mrs. Oscar Childs, Hooper, Weber county, Utah, December 21, after five days' illness. He was born in England, December 11, 1826, joined the L. D. S. Church in 1844 and came to Utah in 1853. After two years in Salt Lake he came to Ogden. He was bishop of West Weber for a number of years. He leaves six sons, seven daughters, sixty-three grandchildren, 115 great-grandchildren, and nine great-great-grandchildren. The total population of the world, according to the Gotha Hofkalendar, is now estimated at 1,699,000,000. Of these there are 205,000,000 in North and South America, and 1,494,000,000 in the rest of the world. As to the density of the population, the average number of inhabitants to the square mile is estimated at 28.5. Europe is most densely populated, with 114.5 persons per square mile, while Australia has only 2.45. In North America the average population per square mile is estimated at 15. Woodward Field, the U. S. air mail field at Salt Lake City, was dedicated, December 21, with post office officials, state government representatives, and county officials, as well as delegates from various com- city mercial bodies of the state in attendance. The program commenced at 3 o'clock at the field, as follows: Opening address, Mayor Neslen; address, Harden Bennion, secretary of state, acting governor; dedicatory prayer, the Rev. Elmer I. Goshen; dedication, E. R. White. A banquet was held in the evening at the Commercial Club. The inaugural ball in honor of Governor and Mrs. Charles R. Mabey was held at the Hotel Utah, January 10. It was in every respect a successful affair, attended by citizens from all parts of the state, members of the new legislature, county and local officials and officials from neighboring counties and cities; retiring officers of the state; state and county leaders in PASSING EVENTS 369 last fall's election; former governors; pioneers who recall the ox-cart days and debutants out in society for the first time and members of the defeated party basking in the glory of their rivals. Dr. von Bethman-Hollweg, former chancelor of Germany, passed away at his estate, Hohenfinnow, near Berlin, January 2, this year, succumbing to an attack of pneumonia. He held the office of chancelor from July 4, 1909, to July 14, 1917, when he was succeeded by Dr. George Michaelis. He was the author of the famous characterization of the Belgian treaty as a "scrap of paper," but he had sense enough to oppose unrestricted submarine warfare and to warn Germany against underestimating the strength of the United States. He was 64 years old at the time of his death. Governor Charles R. Mahey and the other new state officers took the oath of office at the state capitol, January 4, in the presence of a number of prominent citizens. Chief Justice E. E. Corfman administered the oath. The other officers sworn in were, H. E. Crockett, secretary of state; Harvey Cluff. attorney general; Mark Tuttle, state auditor; W. D. Sutton, treasurer; and Dr. George Thomas, superintendent of public instruction. Governor Mabey is the fifth executive of Utah since statehood was obtained. His predecessors were, Heber M. Wells, John C. Cutler, William Spry, and Simon Bamberger. The central portion of the city of Cork, Ireland, was burned to the ground, December 12. The conflagration followed an ambush of the military at Pillows Cross, the previous evening, in which four persons were killed and others wounded. Three civilians were taken from their houses and killed. Then the fires started. Bomb explosions and firing of guns were heard. The city hall, which was totally destroyed, was an historic building valued at $1,000,000. More than three hundred buildings were destroyed. The latest reports from Ireland are to the effect that the Irish revolutionists are prepared to listen to proposals of peace. Elder Anthony W. Ivins returned, December 10, from a tiip to Mexico, where he went to visit the L. D. S. colonies and look into the matter of the return of the land abandoned by the owners during the late revolutions. Elder Ivins says the conditions are very much improved. Villa is attending to his ranch, and the general impression is that the new government will succeed in bringing peace and prosperity to the country. Elder Oscar A. Kirkham, who accompanied Elder Ivins, is very hopeful of the outlook in Mexico. Elders Ivins and Kirkham stopped off at Douglas, Arizona, to be present at the dedication of the $32,000 L. D. S. chapel December 5. President Heber J. Grant, Elders Ivins and Kirkham were speakers. Earthquake shocks, December 17, destroyed several towns along the Argentine slope of the Andes mountains. At Tresportenas more than one hundred people perished, and at Costa de Araujo there were eighty-one fatalities. At Tresportenas, Lavalle, and Lacentral not a house was left standing. At Costa de Araujo great crevices were opened out of which hot water spouted. About the same time that this happened in South America an earthquake occurred at the entrance of the Bay of Avlona in Italy. A number of houses disappeared in a landslide, and many deaths were reported. Another earthquake shock was reported from the island of Yap in the South Pacific Ocean. Experts at Tokio believe that there has been a tremendous upheaval of the bed of the Pacific. Mrs. Bathsheba Smith Merrill, daughter of the late President George A. Smith and Mrs. Bathsheba W. Smith, died at her home in Sandy, De- 370 IMPROVEMENT ERA cember 22. Death was due to the infirmities of old age. She was born August 14, 1844, at Nauvoo, 111., and accompanied her parents to Utah in 1848. Her father firbt came in 1847 to the Salt Lake valley, returning to accompany his family and a troop of emigrants here. Mrs. Merrill was married January 3, 1861, to Clarence Merrill. They made their home for a time with her parents in the structure now known as the Church Historian's office. For years the Merrill family lived on a ranch in the mountains of Piute county, Mr. Merrill having charge of the Deseret Telegraph line between Fillmore and Cove creek. Mrs. Merrill and her husband were leaders in dramatic art at Fillmore. TLey came to Salt Lake in 1883 from Fillmore. Mrs. Merrill was the mother of fourteen children, ten of whom are living. The first debate in the historyof Utah between a local "team" and one from a great eastern university was held in College Hall, Provo, December 22, between representatives of the B. Y. University and Princetown. The B. Y. students were declared to be the winners. The question was, "Resolved, That Congress Should Pass a Law Prohibiting Strikes in Essential Industries, Constitutionality Conceded." Princeton had the affirmative, and was represented by Charles Denby, of Washington, D. C; John F. Currite. of Buffalo, N. Y.. and Alfred McCormack, of Brooklyn, N. Y. The Brigham Young university sustained the negative which was in the hands of George Ballif, Ernest "Wilkinson, and E. H. Harter. The judges were Elmer E. Corfman, chief justice of the supreme court of Utah; S. R. Thurman, associate justice of the supreme bench; and Harold Stephens, district judge in Salt Lake county. At the close of the debate, a banquet was given in honor of the visiting team, under the direction of Professor Cutler, head of the B. Y. U. domestic science department. The Assembly of the League of Nations at Geneva, December 13, unanimously adopted the plan for an international court submitted by the committee to which it had been referred. The jurisdiction of the court comprises all cases which parties refer to it and all matters specially provided for in treaties or conventions in force. Members of the league and states mentioned in the annex to the covenant may either when signing or ratifying the protocol to which the present statutes are joined, or at a later moment, declare that they recognize as compulsory, ipso facto and without special agreement in relation to any other member or states, accepting the same obligation, that jurisdiction of the court in all or any classes of legal disputes concerning the interpretation of a treaty, any question of international law, the existence of any fact, which if established, would constitute a breach of international obligation, and the nature or the extent of reparation for a breach of an international obligation. On December 14 the Assembly went on record as favoring the limitation of armaments by the powers for the next two years, by mutual agreement. On December 15, Austria was admitted to the League, and Bulgaria, Costa Rica, Finland, and Luxembourg, on December 16. On December 17, Albania was received as a member. The Assembly adjourned December 18. The fourteenth session of the Utah Legislature met at noon, January 10. Thomas E. McKay, of Huntsville, was elected president of the senate, and E. R. Callister, speaker of the house. The political complexion of the legislature is somewhat peculiar. Among the forty-seven members of the house there is only one Democrat, while in the senate there are seven, owing to the holdovers. Among the duties first attended to was the selection of employees. PASSING EVENTS 371 In the senate the choice was: Q. B. Kelly for secretary, J. J. Peters for minute clerk, William Langenbacker for docket clerk, Alfred Stout for sergeant-at-arms, Norman Wold for mailing clerk; Francis Wetzell, Mrs. E. Keightley, Miss Marie Standish and Miss Anna Laura Stohl for committee clerks; John Squires and Fred Meisner for door-keepers; Thomas Gledhill and A. D. Ross for watchmen, and J. Chester Knudson and Ashby Badger for messengers. In the house: Charles R. Bradford, Salt Lake, chief clerk; E. L. Cropper, Salt Lake, minute clerk; La Mont Allen, Cache, docket clerk. The governor's message was read January 11. He recommended, among other things, the reorganization of the state administrative system, so as to secure economy as far as compatible with efficiency. Severe fighting between Greeks and Turks near Smyrna was reported January 10. Greek forces were said to be advancing in three columns nineteen miles north of Banza. The three hundredth anniversary of the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers was celebrated, December 21, 1920, with appropriate exercises, at Plymouth, Mass. A company of descendants of the Pilgrims and distinguished guests gathered in a modest theater and listened to addresses by Senator Lodge and Governor Coolidge, and a poem by Dean Le Barton R. Briggs, of Harvard university. One feature of the celebration was the transmission by telephone of a message from Governor Coolidge to the governor of California. This part of the program had been arranged as a fulfilment of a prophecy by Daniel Webster a hundred years ago. On the occasion of the two hundredth anniversary of the Pilgrim landing, Webster, referring to the progress of the country in the coming century, said: "On the morning of that day * * * the voice of acclamation and gratitude, commencing on the rock of Plymouth shall be transmitted through millions of the sons of the Pilgrims until it looses itself in the murmurs of the Pacific seas." Locally, the event was celebrated in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, by a gathering of citizens, presided over by the mayor. President Heber J. Grant offered the opening prayer. Addresses were made by Professor B. Roland Lewis of the University of Utah; the Rt. Rev. A. W. Moulton, Episcopal bishop of Utah, and Hon. Nephi L. Morris. The Rt. Rev. Joseph S. Glass, bishop of the Catholic diocese of Utah, pronounced the benediction. A number of patriotic songs were sung under the direction of Professor A. C. Lund. Professor J. J. McClellan played Handel's "Largo" (his own arrangement), and Miss Margaret Summerhays sang, "The Flag Without a Stain." "The Pilgrim's Chorus" was rendered by the choir. Is the life of a child worth $10? Some people declare that Americans have forgotten all about the war, and all about the dreadful conditions which is felt among European nations. But the European Relief council believes that Americans are always humane and that the loss of human life, human suffering and particularly the suffering of little children always touches a chord of sympathy in liberty-loving citizens of the United States. Building upon this latter belief, the council is making an appeal this month for $33,000,000 to alleviate conditions among 3,500,000 children in central and southeastern Europe. These children are too weak from lack of food to laugh, to play, or to sing. They are just trying to keep body and soul together until the next harvest. Herbert Hoover, chairman of the European Relief council, believes that when that harvest once comes, the starving nations can take care of their own children, and is hoping that this will be the last appeal to be made for their relief from the American people. But now he is asking Americans in the name of common humanity to give to give in the name of their own little children; to give in the name of 372 IMPROVEMENT ERA the youth who must carry on the big ideals of the world in the future. The Sum of $10 will keep one child on one meal a day until harvest time. A joint state committee has heen appointed with Mrs. Annie Wells Cannon as chairman, Mrs. H. W. Pickering as secretary, W. W. Armstrong as treasurer,and headquarters were opened in the Hotel Utah and for one month until January 31, Utahns are asked to give as generously as possible to a most humane cause. Subscriptions in any amounts can be forwarded to the European Relief Council, Mezzanine floor, Hotel Utah, Salt Lake City. 1 MtSt- y •' .»" 1 ^^"* Mi ^ (lli ii '' im" '' Br r'l .^V<. ~ ^ j^^^^m^ J-^ *i a 5 r r i• •% si*'-' • M v ,, MB|0(| ft wf'