Editors’ Table

EDITOR'S TABLE & obligation which has been given to our association by the £ ^Presidency. We have felt that this body of men and women are willing and able to serve the young people efficiently in this undertaking. They must keep in mind the standards and ob- jectives as held out in the folder issued by the General Boards. There we find a few fundamentals, namely, the preservation of health, clean amusement, proper employment ol leisure hours and social cooperation. The latter means the assistance of the priesthood quorums, and every auxiliary organization in the Church. There must be united effort to bring abou this cooperation and we must work together as a whole with the great objectives in view— clean amusement and the preser- vation of health and morals-and specifically encourage rever- ence for and faith in our religious obligations. The departmental meetings were interesting schools, in which leaders sought to be educated. The arrangement of the conference meetings was such that each department was given the opportunity to present its claims and activities to the whole body. It was a good arrangement and worked out very satis- °Many officers were in attendance and every stake in the Church except three was represented. The meetings were well attended and the Sunday afternoon meeting, being a joint meeting of the Mutual and Primary, was favored with the pres- ence of many of the presiding authorities and conducted by the Presidency of the Church. The tabernacle was packed and hundreds were turned away. Presidents Heber J. Grant, Charles W. Penrose, Anthony W. Ivins, and Elders George Al- bert Smith, Reed Smoot, Richard R. Lyman, and Melvm J. Bal- lard, of the Council of the Twelve, delighted the young people with their presence, their helpful counsels, and strong testi- monies concerning the divinity of the great work of the Lord, and gave much encouragement to them to be prayerful, and clean in their habits, and to press on efficiently in the great work before them. We are certain that the numerous leaders ot the 1V1. l. JX. returned to their home organizations better equipped than ever before, for the heavy responsibilities resting upon them. They go with two visions before them: to seek divine guidance through individual and family prayer, and to put their best ef- forts into providing clean recreation and entertaining leisure time activities for the young people of the Church. We trust that during the year every effort will be bent toward obtaining the bee*, results than can follow these two objectives. — A.

844 IMPROVEMENT ERA Messages from the Missions Big Conference in Arizona The semi-annual conference of the Arizona conference was held at Tucson, April 27-29. Pres. Joseph W. McMurrin, presided, and President Samuel W. Price, conducted the meetings. A number of missionaries at- tended. A special priesthood meeting was held on Friday at 5 o'clock, with eleven missionaries present. The first general session convened on Saturday morning at Binghampton. All the branches are in good condition. On Saturday evening a splendid musical operetta was rendered by the Bing- hampton Mutual under the direction of George Clawson; and on Sunday morning at 10 o'clock the conference was continued at Tucson, a number of the brethern speaking on various principles of the gospel. President Mc- Murrin urged the Saints to use their talents in forwarding the work of the Lord, and particularly stressed the need of supporting the living oracles, the chosen leaders of the Church. A number of gospel talks were given by the elders, and President McMurrin blessed the elders and encouraged them to continue in the lines of their duties and expressed the hope that the Saints in Tucson would soon have a place of their own in which they could worship the Lord. Splendid musical numbers were given by the combined efforts of Tucson and Binghampton. The average attendance throughout the conference was 250, showing a splendid increase in member- ship, and that the work of the Lord is steadily advancing in Arizona. Samuel W. Price was released to return to his home in Santa Ana, Calif- ornia, after thirty two months of service in the field. Elders left to right: (back row) J. Frank Robinson, Wallace C. Thomp- son, Levor M. Doney, Heber J. Webb, Myron B. Childs, Ray Blackburn; Dolvman Bayles; (front row) James W. Harvey, Theodore E. Reese, Gecoza McRae, returned missionary; R. Clarence White, Joseph W. McMurrin, California mission president; Samuel W. Price, President Arizona con- ference; Heber E. Farr, president Binghampton branch.

EDITOR'S TABLE Better Conditions in Norwich 845 Elder A. Lewis Elggren, clerk of the Norwich conference, England, reports that that conference includes the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, and part of the county of Cambridgeshire, ten elders laboring in that district, all of whom believe that there is still a great work to be done in that country. "President David O. McKay has said, 'This is the harvest and not the gleaning time'. The British mission has prejudice to surmount. The word 'Mormon', in some places here has taken on the meaning of everything that is bad. Instead of signifying more good in the mind of an uninformed Englishman, he conceives it to be more bad. To allay this misconception we are using tracts telling the truth and denying the anti-'Mormon' slanders about the Latter-day Saints. Conditions may not be as smooth and easy here as in other missions, yet they are not as bad here as some of the Saints of Zion seem to believe. The anti-'Mormon' movement of a year ago has died down to almost nothing. The enemy played himself out, and the old polygamy stories were rehashed to such an extent that the public became tired of them,. So the adversary is losing ground while we are gaining. Attendance of investigators at all our meetings has increased and we are getting many non-members into our cottage meetings. Our largest and best conference was held April 8. President David O. McKay of the European mission was present and delivered strong and impressive addresses, taking for his text, 'By their fruits ye) shall know them'." ; ~ r**\ 1 f^N':' J 'i * m~~" '?•>■- Hi' ' : •'■;«» am kL 12* ii r *' f t § 1 f- f V i . - 7 f ^w T " » ■( f ^ H .r- t V 'V m 1^1 * , Elders of the conference, top row, left to right: Arthur H. Aamodt, Murray; Francis L. Dent, A. Lewis Elggren, James D. Moyle, Salt Lake City; Floyd A. Bailey, Ogden; Peter Tolboe, incoming conference presi- dent, Castle Dale. Middle row: J. W. Ernest Tomlinson, ex-president of the Sheffield conference, Salt Lake City; Russel H. Blood, of the Liver- pool mission office, Kaysville; President David O. McKay, of the European mission; Joseph Coulam, out-going conference president, Pleas- ant Grove; William E. Allen, of the Liverpool mission office, Provo. Bottom row: Claren Schofield, Spring City; Jesse R. Peterson, Hyrum; and Percy Whetton, Ogden, Utah.

846 IMPROVEMENT ERA No Opposition in Berlin Elder Willard M. Hansen, writing from Berlin, Germany, April 30, encloses a picture of the missionaries laboring in that conference, taken at their monthly priesthood meeting, April 5. He says further: "We are blessed here in being able to work with practically no opposition such as one finds in so many other fields. The people seem to have been prepared during the past few years for the gospel message and we find many who are seeking the truth. Over seventy have been baptized since the first of January, and if we can continue to work unhindered, we will undoubtedly have a record-breaking year. Here in Berlin we are for- tunate in being able to hold our meetings in the auditoriums of three large high schools. This will probably sound strange to the missionaries who were here before the war and who were constantly persecuted and driven from the city because they were 'Mormons.' Conditions here are not as bad as the American newspapers would make one think. We are able to buy anything we want if we are willing to pay for it and al- though one reads of the many cases of starvation, none of us have found an actual case of it yet. Our members here and our Church membelrs particularly, are blessed with the necessities of life, and they feel that the hand of the Lord is protecting them and helping them during these uncertain times. We all feel that now is the reaping time in Germany and we hope through our efforts to be able to convert many souls to the truth." m * #\ M I tPT ^ ~- « 4f '** Elders left to right, back row: Vernon Rhodes, Garland; Wayne Kartchner, Provo Bench; Carl Ballantyne, Ogden; Samuel Hanks, Salt Lake; Carl Colditz, Chemnitz, Germany; Hermann Strauch, Dresden, Germany; W. Leonard Beers, Salt Lake; Otto Hardel, Schonlanke, Ger- many. Second row: Henry Hofer, Salt Lake; Franz Rimmasch, Konigs- berg, Germany; J. Russell Hughes, Provo; Conrad Quinney, Logan; Taylor Peery, Porterville, California; Victor Taylor, Provo; Clinton Pugmire, Ogden; Homer Duncan, Salt Lake; William Schult, St. Louis, Missouri; Truman Young, Salt Lake. Front row: John D. Philips, Idaho Falls; Elwood Winters, Garland; Arnold Ehlers, Salt Lake; Willard M. Hansen, Salt Lake, conference president; E. Virgil Norton, Salt Lake; Edward Breitenbucher, Dayton; Conrad Dietz, Salt Lake; Otto Andra.

EDITOR'S TABLE 847 Liquor the Curse of Australia Elder G. Raymond Hall, Perth, Australia, reports that the work of the Lord in that part of the world is growing, and that the elders are enjoying their labors well. "Religion is not very popular in this country, but we are gradually finding a few honest souls. The people here are great pleasure seekers and the liquor is the curse of the country. We surely enjoy the Era and look forward to its arrival each month. We use the numbers to a very good advantage as literature for friends and investigators after we have read them." Missionaries Treated Kindly and Succeed Elder H. Landwaard, president of the Amsterdam conference of the Netherlands mission, reports that at their March 4 conference, some 400 people met at each meeting on Saturday and Sunday to hear the teach- ings of the Latter-day Saint elders and listen to the testimonies of the divinity of the Church. President John P. Lillywhite, now released, was present and delivered powerful and interesting sermons. "We have plenty of investigators and many baptisms have been performed. The people here are hospitable and kind and we have any number of con- versations nearly everywhere we go. The Saints are very kind to the missionaries. We have a well organized Mutual where we teach the principles of the gospel and the English language. We have a wonderful Relief Society, between forty and fifty members, and a choir which is a credit to the conference. Amsterdam is a very clean city and a de- sirable place to work, hence the missionaries are all happy and find much joy in their labors. We find the Improvement Era a very great help as a missionary." Missionaries left to right, top row: H. Noorda, Salt Lake City; Claire E. Jackson, Ogden; Ralph R. Merrill, Brigham City. Front row: H. Landwaard, conference president; Johan J. DeBry, Salt Lake City.