--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Sjodahl, J. M. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 26 number: 3 published: 1923-01 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'J. M. Sjodahl, "Recent Events in the Near East", *Improvement Era* 26, no. 3 (January 1923): 254–264.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2603unse 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: improvementera2603unse start_page: 254 end_page: 264 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1923-01) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2603unse publication_year: 1923 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 1923, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Recent Events in the Near East Recent Events in the Near East By J. M. Sjodahl A conference on the so-called "near eastern" question con- vened at Lausanne, Switzerland, November 20, with delegates present from Great Britain, France, Italy, Turkey, Greece, Japan, and other countries interested. The United States was represented by the U. S. ambassador to Italy, and the minister to Switzerland, but these gentelmen did not vote on any ques- tion before the congress, though they participated in the di^ cussions. Former Prime Minister of Greece, M. Venizelos, was one of the prominent figures at the opening of the congress. A chain of momentous events led up to this congress at Lausanne. It will be remembered, at the close of the world war, the great powers decreed that the Turks were to be driven out of Europe. The pro\ince of Thrace was allotted to the Greeks, and a strip of territory on each side of the Straits, including Constantinople, was to be a neutral zone under the administra- tion of an international commission. While the Turkish sultan at Constantinople, Mohammed VI, signed these terms, under compulsion, a number of energetic patriots got together in Asia Minor, and, under the leadership of Mustapha Kemal Pasha, organized a government of their own, with headquarters at Angora. One of their first official acts was to issue a declaration in which they demanded the restoration to Turkey of eastern Thrace and the control of the Dardanelles. They also declared, in view of the fact that Great Britain seemed to favor Greek aggression in Asia Minor, that they would resist such aggression to the utmost. Shortly after the return to Athena of the exiled King Con- stantine, the Greeks began military operations against the Turks, encouraged, it has been claimed, by the policy for which the now disposed prime minister of Great Britain, David Lloyd George, was responsible; while the Turks, as has been claimed, had the moral support of France and, perhaps, Italy. At first the Greeks met with some success, but all of a sudden, as an avalanche from the mountain, the Turks, fired by their old- time enthusiasm, swept down upon the Greeks and drove them back in wild confusion. Smyrna fell, on September 9. Immedi- ately, a massaacre of the population began, and the city was RECENT EVENTS IN THE NEAR EAST 255 destroyed by fire. On September 26, Constantine abdicated, and on October 10, a convention was signed at Mudania, a small port on the Sea of Marmora, by which the Turks were given Thrace, but not the control of the Dardanelles. Whether the rout of the Greeks was due to Turkish super- iority as fighters, or to treachery in the interest of some deep-laid militaristic plot outside Turkish territory, history must decide in due time. On November 3, the Kemalist government declared the sultanate ended, and assumed all the authority and power vested in the sultan, both political and ecclesiastical. On the 17th, the sultan fled from Constantinople, and on the day following, Prince Abdul Medjid Effendi, a cousin of Mohammed VI, was elected caliph by the Kemalists, it being held that the sultan surrendered the caliphate when he left Turkish soil. The conference at Lausanne was called for the purpose of enabling the powers interested to reach an agreement on the boundaries between Greece and Turkey in Europe, the neutral- ization of the Dardanelles, and the division of "interests" in Asia Minor and the "near east" generally. The policy of the new Turkish government, as announced to the world, is radically different from that of the old sultans. To all appearances the Kemalists aim at the establishment of a Turkish democracy. They have transferred the political power of the sultan to a "grand national assembly," and they have made the caliph an elective officer, at the same time depriving him of all political power. In other words, they have made a complete separation between church and state, as we should express it. Abdul Medjid Effendi is the first caliph in the his- tory of Turkey without temporal power. A brief explanation of the office of caliph may be apropos. The word means "successor" and the caliph is supposed to be the successor in direct line from Mohammed. He has, there- fore, in the Mohammedan world, a position similar to that of the pope among the Roman Catholics. The office has been claimed for the Turkish sultans as the successors of the Arabian prophet, through Abu Bekr, Oman, and Othman. The duty of the caliph, as the high priest of Islam, is to begin the prayers in the chief mosque every Friday — the Mohammedan Sabbath— to de- liver the so-called khotba or sermon, and to lead the pilgrims to Mecca, and to march at the head of the armies of the faithful. Unfortunately for the Turkish claims, there is a consid- erable sect of Mohammedans, the so-called Shiites, who claim the succession through Ali, and they are very bitter against the Turks. There are other claimants to the honor of succession, but less important. 256 IMPROVEMENT ERA We have always regarded the sultan as possessing unlimited power, but, in fact, he has, in later years, had only nominal power. The sheik-ul-islam, or "lord of the faith," is the chief interpreter of the law, which, in Mohammedan countries, means, chiefly, the Koran, their Bible; and he, together with the grand vizir and some other functionaries, has always managed the government for the sultans. The termination of the sultanate will, therefore, not effect the general trend of affairs in Turkey to any great extent. The caliphate remains, and the Moham- medans all over the world, with the exception of the dissenters, will look to Constantinople for spiritual guidance, as the Cath- olics do to Rome. Politically, only the Turks are affected by the change of government, but that will concern mostly the small governing class. The probability is that the great masses of the people will hear of it, only after some time, and will never know the difference. What the events in Turkey will mean to the rest of the world, only the future can tell. It is almost certain that the so-called Christian population under Turkish dominion will be oppressed to the utmost, and murdered, if they resent persecu- tion. Lloyd George, not long ago, asserted that the Turks had done away with one and one half million Armenians and half a million Greeks since 1914. Murder is part of the religion of the Turks, if the killing of heretics is murder. But when the atrocities become so daring that the conscience of the world is aroused from slumber, war breaks out with more bloodshed and savagery. The Turks are very bold at present. They have a treaty with Russia, signed March 17, 1921, which provides that regu- lations concerning the Black Sea and the Dardanelles shall be settled by a conference of delegates of the littoral states, and that the sovereignty of Turkey be recognized. They are bank- ing on this agreement with Russia. They may also have the Ruseo-German treaty in view, which was signed at Genoa, April 11. this year, and which provides for friendly relations and "mutual assistance." A strong Turkey in Europe, backed by Russia and encouraged by Germany, means trouble. The latest word from the Lausanne congress, published Dec. 14, is that Turkey has expressed its willingness to join the League of Nations. That might have the effect of transferring the "near eastern" question to the jurisdiction of the League for a peace- ful settlement on a basis of justice to all concerned. I believe, with President Anthony W. Ivins, (Conf. Rep. Oct. 1922, p. 93), that peace can be established now, and could have been setablished long ago, if the nations would lay aside all RECENT EVENTS IN THE NEAR EAST 257 selfish efforts for the obtaining of advantage one over another, and unite in promotion of the welfare of all. But as long as selfishness predominates in the councils of nations, there will always be those who sow the dragon teeth from which comes the harvest of strife with all concomitant evils. And yet, there is no cause for alarm. God lives and rules and the day of redemption is drawing near. An Ode to the Pine Tree Oh, thou pine, so tall and stately, Monarch of the forest trees, High above thy neighbors towering, Sighing gently in the breeze. Like the waves upon the ocean, Sound the gentle winds that blow Through thy branches pointing outward, Waving softly to and fro. With your needles hung in clusters Long, and green, and slender, too. And the cones that fall beneath thee Of a dark and brownish hue. At thy feet a tiny streamlet, Trickling down the mountain side From a spring so cool, refreshing, Through the ferns and flowers glide. There, amid the solemn stillness Of the glorious summer night, Shines the moonlight through thy branches Sending forth its silvery light. Then a deer comes up the mountain, Stands and gazes on the scene, Ere it turns to drink the water From the liny mountain stream. 'Tis a scene too great for painters, Here where human feet scarce trod, With the pine 'mid nature's beauties, 'Tis the handiwork of God. Mesa, Arizona Mrs. Ida R. Alldredge Doing Common Things in an Uncommon Way A Study for the Advanced Senior Class M. I. A. 1922-23 By Dr. George H. Brimhall, President Emeritus, Brigham Young University Lesson XIII — Community Making Reading Reference: Town and City Planning, by Dr. F. S. Harris. President Brigham Young University, in the Improvement Era, October, 1922. 1. The City Clean. — The worth-while community building, like good character building, must begin with provision for purity. One of the striking differences between the civilian and the savage is that the former moves the filth from his home, and the other moves himself and leaves the home in possession of the filth. The home builder "holds the fort," the nomad "flees before his enemies." "Starve the fly" is a better slogan than "swat the fly." One is a preventative and the other is a cure. Filth is matter out of place and many if not most of our diseases are filth discomforts. The first question to be asked about a place in which to live is, "How about the health there?" And this question has in it two sub-questions, "Is the air in- vigorating?" and "Is the water pure?" Whatever else may be unprovided for in material com- munity building, the provision for cleanliness must not be neglected, and whatever else may be tolerated, the contamina- tion of our water and air must not be. Social Cleanliness. — As matter out of place is filth, so are improper practices social pollution. The inquities of outlaw individuals can never fill the com- munity cup. It is only when the stream of community sanction or popular approval of a sin is poured into the cup of iniquity that it becomes full and calls for destruction. The best safeguards against evil is a generous provision for the good; and large expenditures for municipal centers of re- creation means small outlay for reformatories and jails. A plea for public playgrounds may consistently come from every home, every school, every church. A community that fur- nishes conditions for street Arabism must not expect to escape the penalties of high-handed vandalism. Make good the games of childhood and youth and their adult lives will not be bad. DOING COMMON THINGS IN AN UNCOMMON WAY 259 Cleanliness in sports contribute towards cleanliness of character Ethics in recreation trains for ethics elsewhere. 2. The City Strong. — a. The Laity: The strength of a com- munity cannot be measured by the strongest character in it nor by the weakest. Community strength is equal to the average ability and righteousness of its people, and provisions for a high average must be one of the aims of community building. Democracy cannot be safely carried to the point of unrestricted immigration or unthoughtful mating. High grade community requirements are the aristocracy of righteousness. Right living communities attract individuals of lofty ambitions and goodly endowments. The ideally strong community will have no slum quarter nor will it endure the existence of low grade social cen- ters. b. Leadership Strength. Ancestry, education and inspira- tion are the great sources of leadership. To disregard eugenics, neglect education or repudiate inspiration, means to retard the production of high grade leadership. The home with goodly parents, the school with efficient teachers, and the Church ac- cepted of God will be provided for in the comimunity aiming at ideal leadership and the power to produce leaders. 3. The City Beautiful. — It is a perfect delight to attend a stake conference at Fairview, Utah, in summer time. One gets all the information and inspiration usually accompanying such gatherings, but he gets something else — something uncommon. The grounds hold out a hand of beauty-welcome and the archi- tecture of the building, especially that of the windows, calls you right up to the line of devotion. The grove, planted in the city once known as Battle Creek, is a most delightsome audi- torium, and gives the town an undisputed claim to its present BUILD, YE BUILDERS, BUILD Build an aeroplane for progress, Build for peace a lasting fortress; Build for confidence a throne, Build it of scpiaredealing stone Build, ye builders, build, Oh, build, ye builders, build. Build for union, build for freedom, Build the common people's kingdom; Build for future, build for now. Build to speed the pen and plow, Build, ye builders, build, Oh, build, ye builders, build. 260 IMPROVEMENT ERA Build for strength and build for beaut), Build for order, law, and duty; Build for grownups, girls and boys, Build for everlasting joys, Build, ye builders, build, Oh, build, ye builders, build. Questions and Problems 1. Correlate the first two questions to ask concerning a place in which to live, with the memorable saying of President Brigham Young, "This is the place." 2. From a community -building point of view, account for the building of the Salt Lake Theatre at a time when it was far in advance of any other public building in the state. 3. In the light of providing for community strength, discuss the plan of starting communities with a "call," as was the case in the early settlement of the country by the Saints. 4. Give evidence that the world's great leaders have been inspired. 5. Account for the Prophet Joseph Smith's ardency as a student. 6. Show the educational attitude of the great community-builder, Brigham Young. 7. What five things are especially considered in the planning of a mod- ern city? See p. 1073, Improvement Era, October, 1922. 8. What is a newspaper syndicate? How was Edward Bok related to the formation of one? Chap VIII, brief edition. 9. Explain municipal zoning and give the five ordinance provisions regulating it. See Improvement Era. 10. What small cities in Utah have made special efforts toward producing the City Beautiful? 11. Read up on the city from which the Saints were driven in Illinois. a. Meaning of its name. b. The building of it. 12. Explain the benefits of a home building loan association, as a community building factor. Lesson XIV — Remodeling Old Communities References: Our Weakness and the Source of Our Strength, by Charles W. Nibley, Presiding Bishop of the Church; October number of the Improvement Era, 1922; "City Planning," page 150, New International Year Booh, 1921: "The City Planning Commission as a Publicity Agent." by Lee R. Cook, The American City Magazine, April, 1922. When the individual becomes "run-down" he recognizes two things, the need of rebuilding, and the value of expert ad- vice. Common method of remodeling communities consists in much waiting and little working, and the uncommon way is much working and little waiting. 1. Material Remodeling. — Organize for Uplift: Responsi- bility like authority may become so decentralized, or spread out everywhere, that it is felt no where and fails to function. When an individual or a group is singled out to do a certain thing, and are expected to do it, and expect support in doing DOING COMMON THINGS IN AN UNCOMMON WAY 261 it, they always can and generally will move things otherwise immovable, so then, organize a civic improvement association, proAide for a sub-organization to push material improvement. This organization will, by making a business of it, find ways and means of consistent agitation, proper education, and judicious execution in the direction of their objectives. It will undoubtedly look to the expert for suggestions if not for directions. It will "read up" on community building, it will correspond with cities which have been remodeled, and will visit some such new towns as St. Anthony, Idaho. It will send out questionnaires to home owners and the students of the school asking for their views as to what the community most needs in a material way, asking such questions as: How can our city be made more beautiful? Get the whole community to work on this problem. How may we provide a camping park for travelers? What one thing can we do to "put our town on the map?" etc., etc. The questionnaire will serve three definite purposes: It will set the people to thinking about community welfare ; it will indicate the kind and amount of interest existing; it will establish a reciprocal rela- tionship between the association and the people. The associa- tion, officered by the recognized leaders of the community, with public sentiment stimulated, will get "everybody in the drive," to the extent of breaking the brakes that have slowed the town down to a losing pace. The old buildings that cumber the ground will be either remodeled, repainted, or removed. The bur- producing vacant lot will be cultivated, or at least kept clean of weeds. Disease-breeding barnyards will be cleaned up or cleared away. Lawns will grow around church buildings where cobble stones now cover the ground, and the antiquated outhouse will be superseded by sewage or cesspool possibilities. Some of our community inconveniences give us a back seat on the stage of civilization. Fences that bristle, and gates that groan, will go, and in their places will come something better. The old town, with a few land marks left to show appreciation and pre- serve tradition, will pass away, and a new one will take its place. The inhabitant awakened to progress will cause the desert to blossom as a rose, the fragrance and beauty of which shall be more in evidence than its thorns. 2. Social Remodeling: — a. Look to the social leadership. b. Don't permit a low-salaried teacher to instruct high-bred cnil c Don't do without first class scoutmasters and Bee-Keepers. d Demand trained directors for your dances, and thus do away with much scolding of young people, a practice that causes much resentiment and effects little reform. e. Provide a movie on the same basis that you do other educa- tional advantages. 262 IMPROVEMENT ERA f. Insist upon a lecture bureau. g. Help to make true the declaration of the greatest of all lead- ers, "Men shall not live by bread alone." Recognize the Church as the greatest of reformatory forces. The ward organizations lead in creating and keeping up neigh- borliness, the stake gatherings are unrivalled in developing the get-together spirit, the keep-acquainted practice, and the pull- together power. The building and beautifying power of the Church is great in the material field, and in the forming of character is supreme. Questions and Problems 1. When does a town become a municipal museum? 2. Under what material conditions is the old home a source of sadness? 3. Give three reasons why a broken window should be immediately repaired. 4. Why should a person who is opposed to taxes want to live in a run- down town? 5. Show that "easy got" educators are an injury to a community. 6. Name six things that a committee on material improvement could do towards remodeling a community. 7. In what particulars does your neighborhood need remodeling? 8. Discuss the necessity of trained dance directors. 9. Give evidence that the Church is the greatest of all social reforming forces. 10. Tell of Edward Bok's acquaintance with President Roosevelt, Chap. VII, brief edition. Lesson XV — Preventing Community Decay Reading References: Gospel Doctriiie, President Joseph F. Smith, p. 325: Goldsmith's Deserted Village. ■ 1. Hold to High Ideals. — Springville, early in its history, created a strong sentiment against shacks, and took a solid stand against saloons. Perhaps the mothers have been chiefly re- sponsible for the forwardness of the community in neat homes and tidy surroundings, but it is a matter of history that the fathers combined in saying the saloon shall not "scent us up," and when the fathers speak as one, their voice is an irresistible force. Saloons to north of it, saloons to south of it, there the little city stood, held its ground, and grew. Visit her municipal park today, free to travelers. Spend an hour in her public art gallery; ask about her water system and the ownership of her lighting system; make photographs of her homes, and then say whether it has not been materially pre- served from decay by holding to high ideals. 2. Keep a Real Educator in the Community. — A person who can do as John R. Park did in the little town of Draper. He brought out the diamonds by finding and firing with ambition DOING COMMON THINGS IN AN UNCOMMON WAY 263 the manhood and womanhood of the village until it became famous as a place from which educators came. Sturdy pioneers founded Provo, but Karl G. Maeser found it, and put it into both houses of Congress, and on the bench of the supreme) court of the United States, and there it is today, with its Reed Smoot, ¥m. H. King, in the Senate; Don B. Col- ton in the House, and George Sutherland in the supreme court. 3. Guard the Life Line. — Abraham sent a long way for a well-bred daughter-in-law, and Jacob's mother, Rebecca, won her case by the final plea for Isaac to consent to Jacob's leaving home, by sayiug: "I am weary of my life because of the daugh- ters of Heth." (See Genesis 24; and Genesis 28:26.) The modern Jacob need not be sent to some ancestral home for his Rachel. He can find her at the college, where the giddy gain no footing, and the light-minded cannot stay. 4. Down with the Dust. — Money spent on street sprinkling surprisingly lessens the sale of brooms and soap, and what is more, it relieves our mothers and sisters from the necessity of personating the trade mark of Old Dutch Cleanser. Dust drives people to the big center and the recollection of it keeps them there, when they might be better off elsewhere. Dust contributes to community decay, in at least three ways: It is unpleasant, and people want to get away from unpleasantness. It is unhealthful, and everybody wants health. It is uneconomic- al, as it causes unnecessary work, and no one likes to stay with unnecessary labor. 5. Away with the Weeds: — Weeds are plants out of place. Like meddlesome men they create conditions of discomfort. They mar beauty and hang on in a way altogether unprofitable. Community interest should be such that every property owner would patriotically keep the weeds down to the center of the street adjoining his property. That part of the highway is really a part of his doorway or his window landscape. 6. Discourage Debt: — "III fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, "Where wealth accumulates and men decay." There is no more fatal way of destroying the financial average of a community than the road of debt. This financial average is the rock upon which the middle class stratum of society rests. Crush or take out the middle class, and you have a community condition where slavery and oppression inter- dependently exist: One always feasting, the other involunta- rily fasting. The easy borrowing of money is apt to end where the people of Egypt found thmselves after the seven years fam- ine, alive, but owned by one great creditor. The lender quickly 264 IMPROVEMENT ERA learns what the borrower too often forgets, that interest eats all the time. 7. Minimize mail orders: The followng dialogue illustrates why: Farmer: "Buy my berries? first of the season." Grocery man: "Think so; see you've got a new harness." "Yes, got it from Chicago." "Oh, say, come to think of it, can't take your ber- ries, the harness maker across the street has not been able to pay his grocery bill." Home town first, state first, America first are all sentiments that guard against community decay. The trouble is that self first is shouted to us so loudly that we cannot hear the safety signal, and we act like one who cannot see that the sinking of the boat means his going down. 8. Utilize the Output: — It will pay the home town of every man and woman of prominence to keep in close touch with them. They can be relied on as leverage in community lifting. Go where they may, or do what they will, "There is no place like home" at times, and there are no friends like those of youth. Frequently remembered they will be "friends at court" or direct benefactors of the community where they "grew up." The look- ing after these persons can be made to a community what keeping track of its graduates is to a school. 9. All Pull Together: — "A kingdom divided against itself cannot stand;" so spake the greatest sociologist of the ages. Questions and Problems 1. In what respect is the history of Springville, Utah, being repeated by our Republic? 2. Discuss the community effect of paying low salaries to teachers. 3. ."What do students advertise in college by showing that they are better at courting than they are at studying. 4. Show how dust contributes to community decay. 5. Present the best plan you can think of for keeping down the weed-, in your community. 6. Show how dust contributes to community decay. 7. Distinguish between the mail order business and the parcel post system. 8. At what point does competition in business breed community decay? 9. Explain the Canadian noxious weed law. 10. "What uncommon thing did Edward Bok do for music in 1916? Chapter VIII brief edition.