--- 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: 26 number: 9 published: 1923-07 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* 26, no. 9 (July 1923): 855–860.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2609unse 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: improvementera2609unse start_page: 855 end_page: 860 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1923-07) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2609unse 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. --- # Passing Events ■■■ ■ , ■; ... . . .■ . ■ ■ ■ - ■ * ■■:■■ :• ■■• ■-■■■ ■ ' Beet growers in Utah and Idaho received a bonus of $300,000, June 1, from the Amalgamated Sugar Company, says an Ogden dispatch. The amount represents 75 cents a ton for beets delivered last fall. The Bulgarian government was overthrown June 9, by a military coup. The agrarian prime minister, M. Stamboulisky, was arrested, June 11, by his military body guard, and M. Zankoff was made the head of the new regime. Laban John Keys died at his home near Sandy, Salt Lake Co., Utah, May 30, after an illness of about a year, 66 years old. For 25 years he has been head of the city ticket office of the Oregon Short Line, and has made a host of friends. The Presbyterian General assembly in Canada voted, June 11, in favor of amalgamation with the Methodists and Congregationalists. The vole was 426 to 129. The minority leaders at once announced that the Presbyter- ian church would continue. The Irish rebellion came to an end, May 28, when Eamonn de Valera, its leader, issued a letter to the republican commandant of the Dub- lin area, in which he expressed the view that "it is no longer possible to defend the Irish republic by fighting." Former Bishop Hyrum G. Olsen passed away June 2, at his residence in Salt Lake City. He was born in Christiania, Norway, fiftyi-five years ago and has been a resident of Utah for forty-six years. For four years he was the bishop of Liberty ward, Liberty stake. Curly, the famous Crow scout, was buried at the Crow agency, May 2, says a dispatch from Billings, Montana. He was the sole survivor of the Custer Massacre, and it was he who brought the first news of it to the out- side world in 1876. He died May 22, 68 years old. Ogden boys graduated in Naval Academy, at Annapolis, June 7. They were Vincent Paul Conroy, son of Dr. and Mrs. Edward M. Conroy, and Walter Eugene Browning, son of Mr. and Mrs. J. Edward Browning. Both boys completed their four years' course with high honors. The report of the existence of a petrified forest in California has been confirmed. The find was made in Orange county by gentlemen attached to the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce. One fossil tree, the report says, was so old that it was beginning to turn into sandstone! Mrs. Mary Ann Mayer Rogers died at St. George, Utah, May 15. She was born at Bucyrus, Ohio, April 9, 1833, and, with her parents, moved to Nauvoo in 1844. She came to St. George in 1861. She leaves 7 children 49 grandchildren, 107 great-grandchildren, and 10 great-great-grandchildren —173 in all. Wm. J&.nings Bryain was turned down by the Presbyterians, in their general assembly at Indianapolis, May 18. He was a candidate for the of- fice of moderator, but was defeated. Dr. Charles T. Wishart was elected. The reason given for the defeat of the famous Nebraskan was his eland against Darwinism. 856 IMPROVEMENT ERA Joseph W. Folk died, May 28, in New York, at the home of his' sister, Mrs. James A. Webb. He was, at one time, governor of Missouri and a leading politician. He was born in Brownsville Tenn., Oct. 28, 1869. In 1912 he announced his candidacy for the presidency, but withdrew in favor of Champ Clark. Mrs. Morilla Little Home died May 27, at her home in Salt Lake City. She was the daughter of Feramorz Little, the first mayor of Salt Lake City, and the wife of William J. Home. She was born Nov. 26, 1859, in Salt Lake City. For more than ten years she was the president of the Granite Stake Primary board. William Sears Riggs died, May 15, in Panguitch, Utah, at the home of his son, A. J. Riggs. He was born in Quiney, 111., March 19, 1830, and came to Sale Lake in 1849. He has lived in Panguitch since 1879. He leaves 8 children, 83 grandchildren, 152 great-grandchildren and 22 great- great-grandchildren — 265 descendants. The Wendover highway plan was] approved by Secretary of Agriculture Wallace, May 25. It is the route from Salt Lake City to the Nevada line, for which money was appropriated by the last state legislature. The Lincoln Highway association protested in favor of a road from Salt Lake to Ibapah. The secretary decided in favor of the Wendover route. East high school graduates of the class of 1923 received their diplomas, June 7, at the commencement exercises in the school auditorium. Ovfer 22 student were graduated, constituting the largest class ever qualifying in the school, according to Principal J. H. Coombs. An excellent musical program had been arranged by Miss Lisle Bradford, and the exercises were largely attended. Senator Smoot accepts an invitation to speak in London, at a dinner to be given by the pilgrims, a society of Americans in the British capital. The dinner will be given July 12, in honor of the first trip across the At- lantic by the Leviathan. He has also accepted an invitation to speak in Paris, July 1. Then he will visit the Scandinavian countries, Belgium, Swit- zerland, and Germany. At the Brigham Young monument impressive services were held, June 1, in honor of the 122nd anniversary of the birlh of the great pioneer and empire builder. Mayor Clarence Neslen and Mr. H. E. Crockett were the speakers. Two wreaths, one from the state and one from the city, were placed on the monument. Appropriate services were held in the Taber- nacle, Sunday, June 3. Mrs. Emma Thomson W oodhouse died, June 4, at Lehi, of ailments incident to old age. She was born in Kentucky, Oct. 21, 1836, a year after her parents had joined the Church through the instrumentality of Elder, af- terwards president, Wilford Woodruff. In 1837, the family moved to Far West Mo., and to Nauvoo, 111., in 1840. They crossed the plains in 1849, arriving in Salt Lake valley that year. Thomas Henry Wilson, Sr., of Payson, Utah, died at his home in that city, May 12, ninety -three years old. He was the oldest man in Pay- son, where he has lived since 1855. He was born in Swainby, England, April 14, 1830; joined the Church in 1855, and arrived in Utah the same year, in Ballantyne's company. He was, at one time, mayor of Payson, and has always been prominent in business circles. President L. H. Redd, of the San Juan Stake, died in the Moab hos- pital, June 1, after an attack of influenza. He was born at Spanish Fork, Oct. 25, 1856. Under the instruction of President John Taylor he settled on the San Juan river, arriving on the present site of Bluff, April 6, 1880. In 1910 he was appointed president of the San Juan stake. He was promi- nent in both civic and ecclesiastical affairs in the San Juan section. PASSING EVENTS 857 A Petition to the Utah supretme court was filed May 22, by the coun- sel for the defendants in the injunction proceedings growing out of the dispute about the election of Benjamin R. Harris for sheriff. The petition- ers pray that the judge of the third district court be restrained] from exercising jurisdiction in the matter. They allege that the Church has broken its pledges on which statehood was obtained by interfering in politics. The body of Elder Carl L. F. Stelter arrived in Salt Lake City May 25, from Germany, accompanied by Elder Conrad Dietz. Elder Stelter had been released on account of failing health, but died in a hospital ai Berlin before he could start for home. He was born in Germany, March 13, 1870, and was the son of Ferdinand Stelter of Stettin, Germany. He came to Salt Lake accompanied by his family 22 years ago. Funeral services were held in the Twenty-fourth ward chapel, Sunday, Mary 27. Secretary of War Weeks arrived in Salt Lake*' City, May 29, from Sanj Francisco, on his way east. He inspected the Jordan Narrows and ap- proved of the location as a military training camp, but ! he said the wtaff department had no money for the project. At Fort Douglas he ex- pressed the view that the camp had deteriorated some, but that there were no funds for reconstruction purposes. He reiterated the old doctrine of Bismarck that "preparedness for war is an assurance of peace." The commencement exercises at the Brighton Young university, Provo, June 8, marked the close of a successful school year. President Heber J. Grant, of the board of trustees, presided. The annual report, submitted by President Franklin S. Harris, showed the university to be in a flour- ishing condition. President A. W. Ivins addressed the graduates, and President Heber J. Grant delivered the final address, in which he ex*- pressed his appreciation of the loyalty of the B. Y. U. faculty, the faculties of other Church schools and the Latter-day Saints generally. Great Salt Lake is two-tenths of a foot higher than it was at the high- est peak in July last year, the previous high water record at any timya since 1890, according to a report by J. Cecil Alter, meteorologist in charge of the Salt Lake weather bureau, published May 20. It is now seven and seven-tenths feet above the zero of the water gauge. The present elevation is about nine feet above that of the winter of 1902-3, when the water was at the lowest elevation on record. An Indian convention has been planned at Onondaga N. Y., July 1, 2, and 3, according to a call issued to the Six Nations, for the purpose of dis- cussing the "inalienable right of the Indians to mind their own business without outside interference." Chief Dominic Two Axe is mentioned as leader of the movement. He claims that Uncle Sam owes the Indians vast sums of money for the use of their land,' and that the debt must be paid with money and not with schools and hospitals. Tornado, flood, and fire visited Hot Springs. Ark., May 14, and left devastation in their wake. A cloudburst started the flood which split the city into three sections. Flames burst out in several places. From Colorado City, Texas, came a report the same day that seventeen persons were dead and one hundred injured as a result of a tornado which swept through Mitchell county. The wind leveled buildings and caused death and destruction for a distance of thirty miles. The propertly loss in Arkansas is estimated at exceeding a million dollars. The Moffat tunnel decision was confirmed by the U. S. supreme court, June 11. This gives the Moffat Tunnel commission the right td issue bonds, and, practically, makes it certain that another railroad will enter Salt Lake City from the east, in due time. "When completed, the James peak tunnel will be open to common use, and it is indicated in the supreme court decision that the Denver and Rio Grande Western, as well 658 IMPROVEMENT ERA as the Moffat road, will take its traffic between Denver and Salt Lake City through this tunnel, this route being much shorter than the present. The new L. D. S. chapel at Oakland, Cal., was dedicated, Sunday, May 13, by Pres. Heber J. Grant. The morning meeting was set aside for Mothers' day services, at which Carl Kjar paid tribute to mothers. Conference President Joseph W. McMurrin and President Heber J. Grant addressed the meeting. At the afternoon session President W. Aird Mc- Donald of the Oakland branch, Norman B. Phillips, the first president of the branch, and Willard D. Ellis, the present branch president, spoke briefly, giving reports of the erection of the chapel, which was dedicated by President Grant. Evolution was discussed by the Presbyterian general assembly at In- dianapolis, May 22. A resolution to withhold "official approval" from educational institutions that teach "a materialistic evolutionary philosophy of life" or which attempt to "discredit the Chritian faith," was passed!. Mr. Bryan's proposition to withdraw financial support from such schools was voted down. Mr. Bryan afterwards explained that the "resolution had been steam-rolled by a machine-ridden convention attended by a minority group of clever politicians." Mr. Bryan said he had had ex- perience enough in politics,, to know a machine when he saw one. Funeral services for Mrs. Sarah Louisa Smith Roberts were held, May 21, at the Centerville ward chapel. Mrs. Roberts was born in 1854 and was a daughter of William Reed Smith and Emeline Levitt Smith. Her father was among the prominent men who settled Davis county. He served three terms in the territorial legislature and in 1874 was elected probate judge of Davis county. He presided over Davis stake until his death in 1894. Mrs. Roberts was married to B. H. Roberts in 1877 and was the mother of six children: Mrs. T. W. Naylor, Ben E. Roberts, Mrs. Ross G. Worsley, Miss Luna Roberts, Mrs. George H. Buehler and Mrs. E. N. Wigton, all of whom were with her at the end. Stanley Baldwin succeeded Bonar Law as prime minister of Great Britain, May 22, having been called to that office by the king, undoubt- edly at the suggestion of the retired premier. He is little known outside of England. Under Lloyd George he was connected with the treasury, and Bonar Law made him Chancellor of the Exchequer. He was a member of the British debt commission which met, in Washington, the American commission, of which Senator Reed Smoot is a member, and agreed on a settlement of Great Britain's war debt to the United States. Bonar Law resigned his position, May 20, on account of ill health. His resignation was felt as a great loss to the conservative party. Extensive additions to the Temple, Salt Lake City, are under con- sideration by the Church authorities, according to an announcement pub- lished June 1, after a conference between Bishop David A. Smith and the architect, Lewis T. Cannon. A large dressing-room and wash-room for women will be added to the southwest basement section. A new checkj- dining-room, kitchen and waiting room will be built. Side wings to the present annex to include rooms for recording and completing records for the vaults will also be erected. A Memorial monument was unveiled at Tooele, Utah, on Memorial day, May 30, in the presence of a large throng. It was erected by the local Daughters of the Pioneers. The Monument is of beautiful Utah Granite with the names of the dead inscribed thereon in the following order: Garfield, Daniels, Willard C. Gowans, Eugene B. Isgreen, John A. Hogan, George A. Greenly, George W. Goins, Grant Lyman, Frank Peterson, Angelo Santralla, Earl P. Brown, Lear E. Austin, Henry M. Haynes, Raymond C. Williams, James I. Howells, Merl C. Lyman, Ross J. Bracken, Olaf Ekensten, Theodore E. Gourgrotes, Eginio Rosson, and Arthur A. Nelson. PASSING EVENTS 859 The name of Stanley Stipic who died since the Monument was ordered has not been inscribed on the stone as yet. President George H. Brimlwll has just returned to Provo, from a visit to southern Nevada, according to a notice in the Provo Post, May 23. The district visited is one in which Superintendent A. L. Kelley, a graduate of the B. Y. U., has been working for ten years. At Bunkerville, President Brimhall found 25 per cent of the entire school populatoin enrolled in the high school and 16 per cent of the high school enrollment is in the graduating class. Not one of them used tobacco. In the entire town having a population of 500, there is only one smoker. President Brimhall de- livered commencement addresses at the Virgin high school at Bunkerville and at the Moapa valley high school at Overton. "Whatever failures there may be there is no failure with the young people," declared President- emeritus George H. Brimhall. Use of Utah lake as a storage reservoir with an annual capacity cJf! 540,000 acre-feet; enlargement of the outlet at Jordan river to a capacity of 1800 second-feet; control of floods in Salt Lake county by bringing the surplus canal up to 1700 second-feet, are some of the possibilities which have been studied in the joint federal and state investigation of the Utah lake division of the Great Salt Lake project. Prominent among the areas which might be brought under water with proper drainage or other feat- ures provided include: In Tooele valley, 24,000 acres. In the area west and southwest of Salt Lake City, 34,000 acres. In the vicinity of Lehi, 10,000 acres. At the south end of Utah lake, around Mosida, 14,000 acres. In Provo bay, a new area to be erected by separating it from Utah lake by a dike, 8,000 acres. The board of trustees of the L. D. S. University, Salt Lake City, was reorganized, May 14, and Sylvester Q. Cannon, president of the Pioneer stake, was appointed president. The other members are Nephi L. Morris, Hugh J. Cannon, Frank Y. Taylor, U. G. Miller and Soren Rasmussen stake presidents. Arthur Winter retained his position as secretary of the board. The cahnge in the board came as a result of the policy adopted by the Church board of education that none of the general Church of- ficials or members of the Church Board of education should belong to the local boards of trustees of the various Church schools, with the ex- ception of the B. Y. U. and the B. Y. C, because the deed of gift with which President Brigham Young endowed these two schools provides that the president of the Church shall hold the position of president of the board of trustees. Scores perished in a fire in a schoolhouse at Cleveland, S. C, May 18, where four hundred parents, children, and friends were gathered to witness a commencement play. The fire started when a hanging lamp over the stage fell and burst, blazing oil catching flimsy draperies and quickly spreading. The audience, mostly children, became panic-stricken. Men in the crowd attempted to quiet those who became frightened, but a rush was made for the one stairway that led to the ground floor. A jam resulted, the stairway collapsed and scores were hurled into a closet under the steps. Some were impaled by jagged timbers from the broken stairs. Soon the splintered stairway caught fire. Those not killed bjy the fall perished in the flames. Sixty-two bodies were placed in one big grave in Beulah Methodist church yard. Three thousand South Carolinians, led by Governor Thomas G. McLeod, gathered from all parts of the state to pay a last tribute to those who had perished. Chinese bandits released their captives June 12, after having heldJ them in the mountain fastnesses since May 6. On that date a band of outlaws held up and derailed the Shanghai-Pekin express, near Suchow. The passengers were turned out in their night clothes and driven, like a flock of cattle, towards the mountains. From time to time, after thja capture, prisoners were released and sent out to demand "terms" for the 860 IMPROVEMENT ERA release of the other. The bandits demanded to be enrolled in the Chinese army and to receive six months' back pay, and to emphasize their demand they murdered a number of their Chinese victims. Among the women prisoners taken in the train raid was Miss Lucy Aldrich, sister-in- law of John D. Rockefeller, Jr., and her traveling companion, Miss Minnie McFadden. The two women became separated upon their release and Miss Aldrich suffered many painful and devastating experiences before she finally made her way to a small village, fifteen miles from the scene of the holdup. The only woman who reached the Paotzuku head- quarters of the bandits was Mrs. Manuel A. Verea, who did not leave the bandit camp until May 20. Four weekly papers published in foreign languages, in Salt Lake City, viz., the Danish-Norwegian, the German, the Swedish and the Dutch, have formed an association for the purpose of combining their business inter- ests under one management, and co-operating in their editorial work. Elder Adam Petersen, of Salt Lake City, has been appointed business manager of the Associated Papers, and P. S. Christiansen editor of Bikubeti), Willy Wehler, of the Salt Lake City Beabachter, C. A. Krantz, of the Utah Posten, and Wm. J. de Bry of De Utah-Nederlander. In addition, an edi- torial committee has been appointed for the purpose of directing the edi- torial policy of the papers and render such assistance as may be required from time to time. The members of this committee are Dr. John A. Widtsoe, of the Council of the Twelve; Rulon S. Wells, of the First Coun- cil of Seventy; Andrew Jenson, Assistant Historian, and Elders J. M. Sjodahl and Wm. J. de Bry. Elder J. M. Sjodahl, on June 1, was ap>- pointed the Executive Representative of this committee. The reorganiza- tion is the result of recommendations made by Dr. John A. Widtsoe and Bishop John Wells, of the presiding bishopric, who, on March 28, this year, were appointed a committee, by the First Presidency, to consider the entire question of the publication, in Salt Lake City, of the Church periodicals in foreign languages, and these recommendations have been ap- proved by the First Presidency. Hans J. Christiatvsen died, May 27, at his home in Salt Lake City, after five weeks' illness. For many years he has been promi- nent in Church work, especially in the missionary field. Elder Christiansen was born in Denj- mark, January 9, 1848. He spent his early life on the sea, and at the age of 21 entered the Danish army. He joined the Church in 1871 in Copenhagen and came to Utah in 1873. He lived in Cache valley for several years. Elder Christiansen filled five missions and presided over the Scandinavian mission from 1914 to J920. He was ordained a high priest in 1909 and was made a patriarch in January of this year. From 1906 to 1914 he was assistant editor of Bikuben, the Danish newspaper here. Funeral services were held in the 17th ward meetinghouse, May 30, and the principal speakers were An- drew Jenson, George F. Richards, John A. Widtsoe, and President Hans J. Christiansen Nephi L. Morris.