The Battle on the Heights

The Battle on the Heights By Elizabeth Cannon Porter The storm swirled around the great gray capitol that stood upon the hill; but pink Chatney roses nodded on the desk of the lady legislator. Mrs. Landon, watching the snowflakes beat upon the windows was reminded of the last act of Camille. For a moment she had forgotten the subject before the House, the repeal of the anti-cigarette law. The setting was worthy of the battle that waged in that brown and crimson chamber. The doors opened on a great rotunda, a symphony in gray marble. In the center stood the figure of an Indian, Massassoit, the peace lover. An eastern Indian wrought by a western man who brought his gift of sculpture and his love of the aborigine from the Utah town of Springville. Green grasses spread at his feet. In the azure dome floated seagulls, the savior birds of the Pioneers. Nearby hung the gold-star flag" — each star representing the costly sacrifice of the life of a Utah boy in the World war. Outside, down the flight of granite stairs and the terraced gardens beyond, swept the city. Ice-clad peaks circled the valley of the Great Salt Lake. It seemed that only one part of the law had been rigidly enforced — that which provided that cigarettes should not be advertized in the state. No longer did the Russian cigarette "Zurida," a lady garbed like Cleopatra in a breastplate and a string of pearls, languish on the billboards. Nor did "La Fatima," an houri in Turkish trousers smile seductively on the passer-by. Nor yet did a gilded youth, the glass of fashion in a pinchback suit, puff a "Camel" from the columns of the newspapers. Men still smoked in public places and the heretofore officers of the law did not molest them. On the one side were the moralists and law-sustainers who demanded that the law be enforced. Opposed to them were the men that considered the law an infringement on personal liberty, the smokers and the advertisers. Back of this was the sinister rumor that the tobacco interests were prepared to pour money out like water to accomplish the repeal of the law. Early in the political conventions of both parties when they worked for the nomina- tions, men and women had been pledged for or against the law. The tobacco interests conceded the three women in the legis- lature to the opposition. A zealot on the enforcement of the law had read a list of

356 IMPROVEMENT ERA statistics on the extravagant waste in the tobacco industry quot- ing a book by Dr. F. E. Pack. He asked: Do you know: That 12 years ago nearly 3,000,000,000 cigarettes were smoked an- nually; and now 46,000,000,000 cigarettes are smoked annually? That nearly 2,000,000 acres of our choicest lands are devoted to raising tobacco? That the use of cigarettes in the United States has increased 7700 per cent during the last 10 years? That our public school system, with its 19,000,000 pupils and 500,000 teachers, cost the people less than one-half as much as tobacco? Thati three Panama canals could be built each year on the amount annually expended for tobacco? That ten times as many universities as now exist in the United States could be maintained by this vast tax? That if the amount expended for tobacco were converted into silver dollars and each placed edge to edge it would form a belt large enough completely to encircle the earth at its largest diameter? He was answered by the leader of the other side, a brilliant orator who argued that the law was ineffective — a dead letter. He ended with an impassioned plea for personal liberty. Part of the people had no right to legislate what the others should do. Mrs. Landon had not intended to speak, but she was on her feet: "Mr. Speaker: No one loves freedom more than I love it. We women of the west have fared rather better and been freer than others of our sex, for Utah was one of the first six states to enfranchise its women, to send them to its legislature. Our state had the first woman state Senator in the United States. We have been freer because we have had so much of the work to do. Many of the Pioneer women were of necessity the heads of their own families. "If we see our children injuring themselves, do we allow them to go on? We stop them from burning, cutting or drowning themselves. We surround them with every safe- guard that our ingenuity can divise. So must we save them from poisoning — the inhalation of nicotine, At the meeting of the National Council of Women, a member of the Y. L. M. I. A. of our state introduced the resolution, 'we stand for the non-sale of cigarettes to minors.' It was enthusiastically acclaimed and adopted. And the women and girls represent one half the population of this nation. "The white man has borrowed opium from the Chinaman and adopted smoking from the American Indian. The former has one use in medicine; to ease the agony of the dying. But as it has done a hundred times more harm than good the government has prohibited its use. Even ancient China, de-

THE BATTLE OF THE HEIGHTS 357 spite her enormous revenue derived therefrom has stopped the raising of the white poppy. The United States has prohibited traffic in liquor. So our state has the right to prevent the sale of the most harmful form of nicotine — a drug that has no use whatsoever in medicine. "There is nothing in the law that prohibits mature men from smoking providing they don't blow it into the faces of others in public places. Had I a son I would rather that he be reared in a place where cigarettes are not sold on every street corner, and where it is not considered manly. I hope my girls will grow up in a state where it is against the law to smoke!" The law was not repealed. Be Ready for the Judgment O, how would you feel were the Savior to come To dwell with the Saints here today? With a heart full of love can you welcome him home A King that the world must obey? For, sitting in judgment, the Savior will read The secret desires of your heart, You know ev'ry influence, purpose and deed Your record on earth can impart. Chorus: Be ready for the judgment, be ready for the hour When Jesus comes to reign on earth in all his royal power; Be ready for the judgment, and ever watch and pray, Be ready for his coming today, today! And while you are waiting his advent on earth And know that he soon will appear, 'Tis meet that your character has the true worth The Lord would approve were he here! Then surely repent of each habit or vice You know that the Savior decries And shun ev'ry evil that now may entice Your heart from the virtues you prize. Today as co-worker with Jesus the King Resolve all his laws to approve; And give him your heart as a full offering To build up his kingdom of love. The change must be great from old ways to the new As heaven's pure laws make you free, For all must be pure, and be perfect and true Is ever our Savior's decree. Albuquerque, N. M. Joseph L. Townsend

Doing Common Things in an Uncommon Way A Study for the Advanced Senior Class M. I. A. 1922-23 By George H. Brimhall, President Emeritus, Brighton Yow.g University Lesson XIV — Part I, The Causes of Delinquency Helpful References for Lessons of the Month: "Crime and Punishment," chapter 11, Towne's Social Problems. "Crime, its Causes and Prevention," chapter 4, Blackman Gillian, Sociology, Lessons 14-17, Senior Manual, 1922^23. Jukes Edwards, Dr. A. E. Winship. Causes of crime or delinquency in any standard work in sociology. Book of Mormon, Alma 39. A — Thoughtless Marriages Heredity is universally accepted as one of the causes of delinquency. Mr. Towne tells us that recent tests of those sentenced to our reformatories and industrial schools hiave shown a considerable portion to be below the average mental- ity. To be well married is next to being well born. The gen- eral law of biological life is figs from figs and thorns from thorns, and exceptions only prove the rule. Today we do not accept the theory of a distinct criminal type, nor the theory of acquired characteristics; we do recognize that heredity plays an important part in determining criminal tendencies. B — Ignorance of Parents Herbert Spencer called attention to the fact that if our civilization should come to a stop, and a new race should ex- amine the curricula of our educational institutions, they would not find evidence of our even having been engaged in the child-rearing business. The parents must be awake to certain facts among which are the following: That to treat two or more children alike means to treat each of them differently; that children and young people admire the authority that judiciously manages them; and that weaknesses in management creates in them, first, a disregard, and then a contempt for the management that is nothing more than an attempt; that confidence is tKe great carrying power in character making; that the giving

DOING COMMON THINGS IN AN UNCOMMON WAY 359 of responsibility is the greatest evidence of confidence, that one "do" is more effective than many "don'ts"; and that expecting children to be good is preparation for character building, but directing them in being good is a character building process; that the child as an imitative creature is at the mercy of ex- ample; that children "catch on" to much that we think is be- yond their reach; that threats at best only intimidate the weak natures and antagonize the strong ones; that discouragement is mental morphine. C — Parental Indifference 1. Indifference to the child's habits. All children are more or less accumulative, and the habit of stealing has grown out of a neglect on the part of parents to investigate the title to articles obtained by children, and insist upon the ownership of everything being honest. Children and young people are prone to exaggeration, so that care must be exercised to train them in acquiring the habit of distinguishing between facts and fiction in their expressions, otherwise they will become habitual falsifiers. 2. Indifference to young people's ideals. The child is headed away from delinquency when he is traditionated in the belief that to be good is better than to possess good things. 3. Indifference as to companions. Carelessness as to the quality of the boy's gang and the girl's set is next to indifference as to what kind of teacher the boy or girl has. As a rule the boy who gangs high, will marry well, and the girl whose set is inferior will not carry well. 4. Indifference to employment. Indifference to employ- ment in the home contributes greatly to delinquency. Labor leads away from delinquency. Bright mindsi and busy hands should meet somewhere every day. An acquaintance with in- dustry attracts away from iniquity. 5. Indifference to Religion. Nothing so effective against delinquency has ever been written as the decalogue and the beatitudes. An absence of the bed-time prayer, and blessings at the table, the family circle petition to Divinity, leases the gate to temptation open. D — Education Defects 1. Failure to provide handcraft opportunities. If we expect industry in the state we must plant it in the school. Thinking and toiling are complements to each other, in any complete school. Making things while we are learning things will do much to eradicate the idea "that the world owes us a living."

360 IMPROVEMENT ERA 2. The elimination of spiritual education from our schools. A godless school is a poor connecting link between the Christian home and a state, where the motto is In God we trust. E — Civic Laxity 1. Light-minded legislation. The passing of laws to be "winked at" encourages the breaking of laws. 2. Spasmodic following up of offenders instead of constant vigilance. The probability of escaping the consequences of crime tends to encourage it. 3. Failure to censor amusements judiciously. In our hours of greatest freedom we are made or unmade most effectively. F — The Cigarette Surveys show that cigarette smoking is injurious to the mind, the body, and the morals. Cigarette smokers as a rule may not be delinquents, but delinquents are almost invariably cigarette smokers. Q — Intoxicants The following quotation from Mr. Towne is illustrative of the extent to which intoxication causes delinquency. That the prisoners themselves realize the relation between intoxication and crime is shown by the recent petition drafted by them in an eastern penitentiary. In this petition they charge that seventy per cent of the crime in the state is due to the excessive use of intoxicating liquors, and ask for a state-wide prohibition law. Not only Pennsylvania but the American Republic has answered this petition with the 18th Amendment to our Fed- eral Constitution. "Then conquer we must for our cause it is just," is a good war cry now. H — Too Much for the Few and too Little for the Many a Cause of Delinquency The wide inequality of possession has produced the idea of "stolen fortune" and pitted the employer and employe as enemies, each with a conscience that justifies his going to the limit in getting all he can out of the other. I — The Doctrine that Individual Existence Ends with Earth Life Eliminate the idea of everlasting existence, and a thought that it pays to plunder rushes in to fill the \acant place. J — Making Pleasure-Seeking a Business The happiness hunter is a rainbow chaser. Happiness must be a part of us not something apart from man.

DOING COMMON THINGS IN AN UNCOMMON WAY 361 K — Lack of Self -Discipline Doing only what we like is the way of the weakling. We should seek to acquire the habit of doing things which ought to be done, but which we do not like to do. L—War That is not only a source of delinquency to individuals, but it is delinquency itself in the most gigantic form. M — Some Statistics Discuss the following: a. More crime among single men than married. b. Lower classes furnish more than upper classes. c. Crime increases with density (of population). d. Five times as many male as female convicts. e. Youth is the criminal age. f. Training in trades and morals decreases crime. g. Occupations which attract rude untrained men show most crime. h. Alcoholism weakens inhibition powers, dulls the conscience, and excites anger and lust. — Blackman's Sociology. Questions and Problems 1. Name, in the order of their importance, three objectives of marriage. 2. Illustrate the fact that in order to treat people "alike'" we must treat them differently. 3. How may the ideals of a young person be discovered? 4. Suggest means of getting a boy into a better gang. 5. Mention some devices for getting a girl into a better set. 6. Give three reasons for having young people work. 7. Mention three ways in which religion prevents delinquency. 8. Wherein does spasmodic enforcement of law fail in the prevention of delinquency. 9. Give four reasons why our cigarette law should remain in force. 10. Quote "Towne" on intoxicants. 11. Give two causes for the idea that "the world owes me a living." 12. Mention three things that are usually behind a lack of self- discipline. 13. Account for "more crime among the single than among the mar- ried." 14. Why does crime increase with density of population? 15. Give reasons for youth being the criminal age. Lesson XVII — Prevention of Delinquency Some Uncommon Things to Do 1. Forbid the marriage of the unfit, and provide places of refuge for the morally irresponsible. Neither revelation nor science justifies the perpetuity of imbecility; but both pro- nounce against it. Reformatories should be more moral hospi- tals than places of punishment. 2. Standardize family life. The burden of delinquency

362 IMPROVEMENT ERA falls upon two institutions, the state and the church. Both of these organizations therefore as a matter of self protection are interested in the home, and each in its sphere has a right to insist upon a certain standard of home life, and in providing spiritual inspectors of homes, and some churches keep tab on families as to their temporal as well as spiritual condition, and the system of inspection is so free from the element of espionage that the visits of the church representatives are occasions of enjoyment. From a public welfare point of view, a standard family life should be sanitary and provided with a plenitude of good, wholesome food, comfortable clothing and respectable domicile. Evidences of self effort and loyalty to the government must be found, and it becomes the duty of the state to aid where necessary in maintaining family life standards, not so much by direct appropriation as by furnishing opportunity for self help. 3. Cherish chastity. "We stand for a pure life through clean thought and action." 4. S:ress religion for salvation here and hereafter. There has been nothing said or written in all the ages that is more ef- fective in the prevention of crime than the decalogue and the beatitudes. A belief in the doctrine of guardian angels and the prayer habit are wonderful forces in the presence of tempta- tion. The idea of the All-seeing Eye makes deeds of darkness difficult. 5. Educate for life as well as for livelihood. — Necessarily most of the education consists in knowing, but in justice to the individual and to society it should consist also in becoming skilled in some one line of work. Education stands in the front ranks as a preventative of delinquency. "While education does not prevent crime, and some of our very worst criminals are very highly educated, still there is no question but that education and training prove strongly deterrent factors. The study of criminals in any of our penal institutions shows a very large proportion who have not even had a common school education. "Dr. Rock Sleyester, prison physician of the Wisconsin State Prison, made a careful investigation of two hundred and sixty-nine murderers. Of this total number of men he found about one-third had never been to school, half had reached the fourth grade, and but three per cent had finished high school. "Of all the prisoners in the Michigan State Prison at Joels- sen, nine-tenths had failed to complete even a common school course. * * * Of the two hundred and sixty-nine mur^ derers, ninety per cent had begun work before fifteen years of age, and more than one half of them, although averaging

DOING COMMON THINGS IN AN UNCOMMON WAY 363 thirty-five years of age, had never learned a trade or become skilled in any line of work." Towne. 6. Enforce the 18th Amendment to the Constitution. The slavery of King Alcohol was not limited to color lines. The new emancipation proclamation is signed by not only one brave man but by millions of valorous men and women. 7. Advertise the achievements of reform. The victory shouts of law defenders should be made so loud that the "growler's" growl and the "howler's" howl can not be heard. 8. Curtail the criminals notoriety. It is said that the assassin of President Garfield exultantly exclaimed, "The fiend who fires a gilded dome gets greater fame than the patient fool who builds it." The villain who stabbed the Empress Elizabeth of Austria, after 12 years of confinement, ended his life imprisonment by suicide because, as he said, "Nobody writes or speaks of me any more." 9. Control Commercialism. Society cannot exist without traffic, but traffic without restriction is an automobile with an intoxicated chauffeur at the wheel. Men, women and children are all at its mercy. Merchandizing in manhood and woman- hood and childhood spells ruin to statehood. 10. Put partiality out of criminal procedure. Unjust legal discrimination emboldens the "high grade" offender and en- rages the "low grade" delinquent; discourages the reformer, and disgusts society in general. 11. Elevate amusements. Money spent in public parks and playgrounds is money saved. 12. Elevate industry. Censorship of films and games les- sens court sentences. In the family, in the school, in the church and in society, let the slogan be: "With all thy habits have the work habit." 13. Work and pray for peace. A few months of warfare drags humanity down to a level from which it has been ages in climbing. There is not standing room for civilization on a battlefield. Questions and Problems 1. Give a description of a standard family among the Latter-day Saints. 2. "What should be looked for by the state in a standard home? 3. Why should the Church be interested in the material needs of its members? 4. On what grounds may the state consistently say who shall marry and how families are to be conducted? 5. Discuss this problem: Next to information, employment is the strongest guard against evil doing. 6. Discuss the propriety of every believer in the 18th Amendment writing the President of the United States a letter congratulating him on his stand concerning the maintaining of the entire constitution.

364 IMPROVEMENT ERA 7. Discuss this proposition: Labor should not be treated as a mere commodity. 8. Discuss the following statement: Publicity of crime sometimes makes it almost an epidemic. 9. "What evidence is there that certainty of punishment is more ef- fective than severity in the prevention of crime? 10. How do playgrounds and parks aid in the prevention of delin- quency? Lesson XVIII — Cure of Delinquency Introduction. — All cases of cure require that the physicians take a helpful attitude toward the patient. The inflicting of pnishment to gratify revenge is antiquated and altogether out of place in modern life. The individual or the group that pro- ceeds along lines of retribution are treading on grounds scrip- turally forbidden: "Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord." In the light of the history of the cure of crime, it is evi- dent that the great objective is to make the person immune to a recurrence of his anti-social conduct. This aim can best be reached by the formation of new habits. A — Home Cure for Delinquency 1. Look for causes. To find and remove a cause is the foundation for permanent cure. 2. Cultivate the conscience. It was the spark of divinity within him that caused the prodigal to say, "I will arise." 3. Stir the sympathies. Icicles are poor levers. 4. Harrow only as a necessity. Book of Mormon, Alma 39, especially paragraph 7. 5. Pray. with the delinquent. "Father's been praying with me" is as good a title for a song as "Mother is praying for me." 6. Count their virtues. The illumination of one's good qualities tends to throw his failings into a profitable forgeful- nes8. Nothing is more discouraging to the struggling delinquent than to have his weakness "harped" on. Discouragement has dragged to the bottom many a struggling swimmer who but for the useless burden would have made the shore. 7. Guard against unnecessary exposure. Scattering a dis- ease never lessens its fatality, and forgetfulness of sin is one of the fruits of perfect repentance and forgiveness. 8. Quietly cooperate with outside forces. Relatives, friends, good books, especially employed help may succeed with de- linquents after the home forces have seemingly failed. No home force for good ever fails in the great end. Time will tell in its favor. No person ever gets beyond the pull of a mother's apron strings or the lifting force of a father's love. 9. Guard the way to strong temptation. Moral reform

DOING COMMON THINGS IN AN UNCOMMON WAY 365 should be looked after with a solicitude and skill equal to that which accompanies physical convalescence. "Leave me not in temptation," is the unuttered prayer of many a delinquent. B^Schdol Cures It is claimed by some that the school is not a reformatory, but we might as well say the reformatory is not a school. The home-made delinquent, the accidental offender, in fact all intelligent anti-social persons this side the hardened criminal, whose liberty is a menace to society, is entitled to the efforts of the public school to refit them for a place in the common- wealth. Dr. Karl G. Measer is remembered as having said, "No student should be eliminated from school so long as the school is doing him more good than he is doing the school harm." In the management of delinquents at school the process must be creative in the following order: 1. Turn on the light. An unruly youth, like Bucephalus, can not be managed facing his shadow. Alexander the mighty trainer turned the horse's face towards the sun and then began his training. 2. Make a new life. The delinquent must enter upon a new line of activity. Special provisions must be made for him to form new habits, and this of course requires special attention, and the argument that he is entitled to no more attention than the average child would hold if his welfare was the only consideration, but society is at stake in his case. If his anti- social condition is not changed by the public school, the state will be at the expense of expensive specialization with him in reformatories if not in jails. One of the best ways to awaken this new life is the placing of responsibility by which the time and opportunity for misdemeanor will be occupied in do- ing good turns. 3. Awaken new love. For reformatory advancement there can be formal credit given, but the teacher may give credits in the book of his confidence which will be more appreciated and of greater intrinsic value to the student than all otner symbols of school standing. The student must feel tlie gen- uineness of the teacher's interest. Manifestations of love must be unfeigned and the best conditions can be brought about only through interest and action on the part of the teacher. He must operate under the law of growing to love through sacrifice. C — Cures at Reformatories We build reformatories with the wish that we might never have to use them. We boast of a large attendance at our

366 IMPROVEMENT ERA schools and rejoice at the small enrollment at our reformatories. They are places of last resort for the wayward youth. They are expensive, but the cheaper they are made the more expensive they are. The great expense of so-called reform schools begins where the school fails. It is a penny wise and pound foolish policy not to provide up-to-date opportunities for the learning of a trade. There is something in a name, and the substitution of Industrial School for that of Reform School points to- ward progress. The chances for making good in life are in favor of one graduated from a reformatory with the habits of "Getting" at, sticking to, and finishing things." Without being equipped for an occupation the released delinquent goes forth a sort of fugitive if not a vagabond. It would be interesting to know the relative cost of carrying the youth successfully through an industrial school and the expense of caging and caring for a jailbird. D — Classification of Criminals Reform schools for young offenders, industrial reformation for adult first offenders, inebriate farms for the victims of drugs and liquors, work houses for vagrants, hospital prisons for the criminal insane, state penitentiaries for the older or more hard- ened criminals, special institutions for women criminals. 1. Graded System. First, a person placed in the second grade may be demoted or advanced. 2. Parole. Permission to leave the prison remaining under the sur- veillance of the prison authorities. 3. Indeterminate Sentence. Maximum time of sentence may be in- creased through bad conduct. 4. Probation. Out of jail sentence on condition of good behavior. 5. Lease Systeln. Prisoners leased to contractors who are made respons- ible for prisoners. 6. Contract System. Prisoners' time given to contracts under state supervision. 7. The Piece Price System. Contractor supplies material and pays fixed price for completed work. 8. The Public Account System. The state provides employment and receives all profits. 9. State Use System. Articles not put on the market but used by the state. 10. Public Work System. Employment of prisoners on roads, State farms and in forestry. See Towne pp. 2201228. In some institutions a portion of the earnings are deposited to the prisoner's credit and given to him on his release. Problems and Questions 1. Show that the retributive element in curing delinquency is in- jurious to both the offender and the offended.

DOING COMMON THINGS IN AN UNCOMMON WAY 367 2. Discuss the distinction between sympathy with the offender and condolence of the offense. 3. Produce evidence of the power of prayer in effecting delinquency cures. 4. Discuss this proposition: Alma's pleadings with his wayward son is a model for parental procedure for curing delinquency. 5. When is self forgiveness consistent? 6. To what extent is the public school obligated as a reformatory? 7. Distinguish between talking to a delinquent and talking with one. 8. On what grounds should a delinquent student receive more atten- tion than the non-delinquent? '9. Show that working with a delinquent will be more effective than wroking for him. 10. In what respect does the welfare of the state demand industrial opportunities at our reformatories? 11. Explain the juvenile court system of today. 12. In what respect does the indeterminate sentence indicate human progress in the cure of delinquency. 13. Discuss the probation sentence. 14. Bok. Certitudes By Nephi Jensen, President of the Canadian Mission At the end of each year the Canadian mission sends to each missionary in the mission a blank questionnaire. These ques- tionnaires contain questions concerning a great variety of sub- jects regarding the missionary's actual knowledge of the gospel, the religious habits, the attitude of the people concerning their faith in the power of God, and call for definite personal experi- ences. Question "number 3" asks, "What is the most remarkable manifestation of the power of God you have witnessed?" We now have in our files questionnaires filled out by ninety- seven different missionaries. The answers given by these ninety- seven young men and women, to "question number 3" are all before me in typewritten form. They present a marvelous array of testimony to the existence of the power of God in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They furnish a complete refutation to the cynical remark, sometimes heard, "The power of God was made manifest in a marvelous way in the early his- tory of the Church, but we do not hear so much of these things today." The answers came from persons who, prior to coming up- on missions, had followed varied occupations. A majority of them had been farmers. Some came from the sheep and cattle ran^e. Others were mechanics and laborers. Four had been school teachers. Three had been bookkeepers. Four were

368 IMPROVEMENT ERA stenographers. Nine had had college training. Three were col- lege graduates. All of the ninety-seven, except two, were under thirty years of age. The ages of most of them ranged between twenty and twenty -five. Sixty-three, or more than two-thirds of the entire number, had witnessed the healing of the sick, through the power of God, either since or after coming upon their missions. In eighteen cases the reported healings took place through the administrations of the elders who filled out the questionnaires. In addition to the above cases the restoration of the hearing of an aged person who was almost deaf, was reported. Three cases of the restoration of sight were mentioned. One of these had occurred in the mission. In this case the boy receiving his sight, had practically lost his power to see, and the doctors had given him up as a hopeless case. Testimonies were given concerning other distinct manifesta- tions of divine power. Eight had heard members of the Church speak in tongues. Five had received distinct answers to prayer. Four had been led by the impressions of the Spirit to homes where people were ready for the gospel message. Two had been given original utterance by inspiration. Four had wit- nessed the marked change in the lives of converts. One elder stated that his dead brother had appeared to him one night and thanked him for his deliverance through the vicarious bap- tism of the living brother. The healings reported occurred in a great variety of cases. In one case the doctor had stated that an operation was nec- essary. Through the administration of the elders the woman was healed without an operation. A child given up by the doc- tors to die of diphtheria was administered to at 1 a. m. At 8 a. m., the same day, the little one sat up and played. One elder was given instant relief from severe earache. A lady mis- sionary reported that her brother had been healed by the power of faith, after he had been pronounced dead by the doctors. A man afflicted with neuritis of the arm received instant relief through the prayer of faith. A paralyzed man was healed. A child prematurely born, given up to die by doctor, priest, and parents, was given its normal life through the prayer of faith. In the midst of this cloud of witnesses, how can we doubt that there has been a real restoration of the all-conquering faith of which the Christ was the great teacher and perfect exemplar? Surely the Lord God has wrought mightily in our day for the enlightenment, advancement, salvation, and exaltation of man- kind!