Editors’ Table

Editors ^Table Are There a People in the Far North? A Contemplated Trans-polar Flight The giant navy dirigible ZR-1, which was recently tested, is tentatively scheduled, by the U. S. Naval Board, for an air expedition to the polar regions next Summer. This voyage according to Vil- li jalmar Steffensson ,the famous Arctic explorer, will mark "one of the turning points in history." Lieut-Commander Fitzhugh Green, mem- ber of the Mac Millan expedition of 1917, and now aid to Admiral Williams, President of the Naval War College, Newport, R. I., has outlined the studies he has made of the subject, and told of the possibility of a vast unexplored area of a million square miles of land awaiting a national claimant, according to telegraphic advices from Washington, under date of December 8, 1923. It is intended, ac- cording to an article in the Popular Science Monthly for December, 1923, to cross the pole from Point Barrow in Alaska to Norway, and so witness and investigate this unexplored area of a million square miles of the surface of the globe on which no human eye has hereto- fore gazed. "Most of this enormous wilderness lies on the Alaskan side of the Pole. On the European side lies Iceland at a point cor- responding roughly to the center of the unknown area opposite it, across the top of the world." It is announced, in the article re- ferred to, that "in the center of the unknown area may be dis- covered a vast continent heated by subterranean fires and inhabited by the descendants of the lost Norwegian colony of Greenland;" that "experts are in nearly unanimous agreement that a new Arctic land will be found on this trip by the ZR-1." Dr. Harris, the tidal expert in Washington D. C, is said to have declared long ago that the data he had worked out from the polar ocean currents all convinced him that "the existence of a large land-mass near the North Pole is indisputable." The proposed air route of the ZR-1, from Alaska to Norway, will, it is said, cut the distance to European and Asiatic capitals from 11,000 to 5,000 miles, passing over what many geo- logists believe to be the unexplored polar land, as stated. A theory that volcano heat provides the necessary warmth for an unknown people, who live in a volcano-surrounded center of this hidden land, is advanced. Fifty thousand square miles, or about the size of the state of Pennsylvania, is said to be a rough estimate of the size of the land — an undulating, fertile plateau, steam-heated by hot springs, geysers and boiling pools, and rimmed by a volcanic range of moun- tains,— which is thus "bulwarked by a quake-distorted range of mountains buried in eternal ice and snow and rearing 10,000 feet

EDITORS' TABLE 257 into the sky." Behind this barrier rises a veil of vapor, and "twisting fiords penetrate the ragged ice-gnarled coast." The article further describes some imaginary conditions, which, however, have some scientific foundation, concerning this land and its people: "Just inside the mountains, hangs a veil of fog, the vapor of contrasting temperatures, for here we may imagine the aspect changes sharply. Heat from a nether world defies the cold. White of snow and ice shades swiftly to the green of verdant pastures and gold of wooded uplands. "We come upon a level clearing on which are spread symmetrically half a hundred human habitations. Tall men magnificently built and clad in short and bright-hued loosely fitting blouses are moving leisurely about. Mingling with them are comely, fair-haired women in dainty smocks. Laughing children dash here and there among the shrubbery. "No savages are these descendants of the vanished colony. Indeed, we shall be mistaken if they are not far in advance of our smug selves in culture, learning, deportment, and social refinement. They have harnessed natural energy to an amazing degree. They know the truths of other worlds. They have mastered the secrets of health." Such a prognostication is indulged in by those who "picture a polar paradise like some Titan emerald in its alabaster setting." But, coming from these speculations to features savoring of cold, hard facts, we learn that a polar air route is an argument in favor of Alaska as a starting point for the flight, because of its closer proximity to the pole; and the possibility that a vast volume of commerce and traffic may be deflected from America via the pole; also that obser- vations of air currents could possibly be made that would be of value in weather predictions. The fact that so many of the con- ditions which enter into weather predictions occur in the far north, would make it valuable to push the area of observations farther into the polar regions. Many aerial and polar experts hold that an air- line thus established between the old world and the new would become a regular communication course, in the near future. Alaska will thus come into her own, and in this way, might gather population and stand as an Arctic service station to passing planes. It is said that the ZR-1 may get away by early June at which time the weather is calm and the daily temperature just above the freezing point. After her 6,000-mile flight from Lakehurst to Point Barrow, from which she is expected eventually to take off, there must be a period of final grooming, possibly a trial or two over the icefields. "And by the Fourth of July, 1924," so the article continues, "we should know an answer to the most thrilling of all man's geographical conundrums: Does a polar paradise exist and, if so, are the vanished Norsemen there?" I The Lost Tribes of Israel and the Far North The belief that the far north is inhabited by the ten tribes of Israel, more correctly speaking, the nine and one-half tribes, may be based on the statements of the Scriptures.

258 IMPROVEMENT ERA In the Apocrypha, II Esdras 12:23-42, we are told that these tribes were led away captive, by Shalmaneser, King of Assyria, carried over the water, and so came into another land. They took counsel among themselves that they would leave the multitude of the heathen, and go forth into another country where never mankind dwelt, that they might there keep their statutes which they never kept in their own land." (See also Romans 1:3-4.) Jeremiah, speaking of the gathering of the remnants of Israel, in the last days exclaims: "Thus saith the Lord * * * behold, I will bring them from the North country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth * * * they shall come with weeping and supplication and I will lead them; I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, * * * He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock. * * * I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts: and will be their God and they shall be my people." (Jer. 31:7, 8, 31-34; Hebrews 10:16, 17; Ezekiel, chapters 36 and 37.) Further, this prophet says: "In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel and they shall come together out of the land of the North to the land that I have given for an in- heritance unto your fathers." (Jeremiah 3:18) In the Book of Mormon the ten tribes are referred to, (I Nephi 15:12-13.) and we are told that Jesus shall speak unto the Jews and also to the other tribes of the house of Israel which have been led away, and they shall write it, and the Nephites and the Jews shall have the words of the lost tribes of Israel; and the lost tribes of Israel shall have the words of the Nephites and the Jews, showing that the day is coming when all the Holy Scriptures shall be known to all Israel. Further, in the Book of Mormon, (III Nephi 16:1-3) the Lord says: "Verily, verily, I say unto you that I have other sheep, which are not of this land, neither of the land of Jerusalem, neither in any parts of that land round about whither I have been to minister. "For they of whom I speak are they who have not as yet heard my voice; neither have I at any time manifested myself unto them. "But I have received a commandment of the Father that I shall go unto them, and that they shall hear my voice, and shall be numbered among my sheep, that there may be one fold and one shepherd; therefore I go to show myself unto them." Modern Revelation on the Subject In one of the revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants, (Sec- tion 133: 26-34) we are told that they who are in the North country shall come in remembrance before the Lord, and their prophets shall hear his voice and shall no longer stay themselves; "and they shall smite the

EDITORS' TABLE 259 rocks and the ice shall flow down at their presence." The North has been mentioned both in ancient and modern times as a place from which should be gathered Israel, and this had led to the understanding some- times held that the lost tribes were located somewhere in the neighbor- hood of the North Pole. It should be understood that this is not a doctrine of the Church, but simply a theory that has been entertained and based upon the sayings of the prophets of Israel. However, the above quotation in the 133rd section of the Doctrine and Covenants is perhaps the most pertinent revelation concerning the location of the tribes in the north. This reference is in harmony with the predictions of the ancient prophets of Israel, and refers, as one may see plainly, to a body of people descended from the remnant of Israel, called the "lost tribes." The Latter-day Saints believe that a large majority of those who have gathered to Zion are of the house of Ephraim, the Lord's "first born," in the gospel of the latter days. (Jeremiah 31:9) One of our articles of faith reads: "We believe in the literal gathering of Israel, and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes; that Zion will be built upon this: (the American) continent; that Christ will reign personally upon the earth; and, that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory." In an article in the Millenial Star of November 4, 1909, Presi- dent Charles W. Penrose closes the subject in these words: "But the indications are that these 'outcasts of Israel' are to come from the north by the regions of ice to the boundaries of 'the everlasting hills,' which we understand to be the great chain of mountains reaching from the extreme north down to the south on the western continent, the land given to Joseph in the blessings pronounced by Jacob and by Moses. (Gen. 49:26; Deut. 33:13-17.) This, however, does not warrant the idea that they must necessarily come from a place in close proximity to the north pole, nor do the alleged 'discoveries' of that point by Dr. Cook and Lieut. Peary demonstrate that there is no undiscovered land, inhabited by tribes un- known to the rest of the world, in an extreme northern locality. "The explorations in search of the north pole have proceeded from the western hemisphere. Reference to a terrestrial globe or to a map of the polar regions, will show that there is yet a vast undiscovered region between the pole and the eastern hemisphere and part of the western. We do not make any assertion that there are lands or people there located, but simply refer to this fact to show the possibility of literal fulfilment of ancient and modern prophecy on this subject. For, allowing full scope for the poetic imagery and hyperbolic phrases in oriental language, there is sufficient direct pro- phecy concerning the restoration of Israel to show that the actual return of the tribes, led away by the Lord into the north countries, will be brought about as described. "The Lord's ways are often mysterious and wonderful and far above the thoughts of man, but his promises are sure and will all be fulfilled. We are living in the grandest of all dispensations, when Israel shall be gathered and Judah restored, and Christ will be revealed to 'reign in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem and before his ancients gloriously,' and all things in him shall be gathered in one. Let his Saints look for his appearing and his kingdom, and be prepared for the fulfilment of 'all things spoken of by the holy prophets since the world began,' by walking in his ways and keeping his commandments."

260 IMPROVEMENT ERA Referring also to these and other prophecies and commenting on them, President Charles W. Penrose, in an interesting article on the lost ten tribes in the Improvement Era, Vol. 13, pages 1084 to 1090, concludes with the following words: "These revelations will, doubtless, be among the records which the tribes are to bring forth in the latterdays, and which are to be united with the Bible and the Book of Mormon, showing the dealings of God among these three separate sections of the house of Israel, bringing to pass the sayings of the prophets of old, and aiding in the consummation of the great work of the latterdays. Thus, while the gathering of scattered Israel is being partly fulfilled in the bringing in of people who are of the blood of Israel from the various nations where it was scattered, there is yet to come to pass the word of the Lord a portion of which is here cited, and we confidently look for its fulfilment as literally as that concerning the house of Joseph and their record, and the house of Judah and their record. "We recommend students on this problem of the probable locality of a body of Israelites, and descendants of the tribes that escaped from Assyria, and concerning whom great promises have been made, to look at a globe showing the conformation and countries of the earth, about which something is known, or a plan of the earth's surface, exhibiting both hemis- spheres, and then, with the understanding that the Ten Tribes, in their journey from Assyria northward, passed through continental Europe away up to the regions of ice on that hemisphere, and they will see the possibility, even the probability of the existence of a body of people who will yet fulfil to the very letter the predictions of ancient prophets concerning their res- toration in the latter days. This will detract nothing from the views held concerning the great work of gathering of the people who have been mixed among the Gentiles, and whom the Lord is gathering from the east, and the west, the north and the south, and giving them an inheritance in Zion." — A The Three Men Entertained by Abraham A number of inquiries have come to the Improvement Era con- cerning the appearance of the three personages to Abraham on the plains of Mamre as recorded in the eighteenth chapter of Genesis. As to the identity of these three individuals some elders and students are under the impression that it was the Lord who ate with Abraham. This has sometimes been taught, as a proof that our heavenly Father is a person- age of tabernacle. President Charles W. Penrose in the course of his sermon at the Semi-annual General Conference, in October, 1923, answers the question in this way; he says: "Many things are in the Book of Genesis, which, historically, were evidently traditions among the people, during the time from Adam down to the time of Moses, which was over twenty-four centuries — don't forget that — and many stories are told about things that occurred, and I fear that some of them are mingled together in the same chapter, different things occuring that are put in such a way that we sometimes are a little mistaken in our views concerning them. In regard to the manifestation of God to Abraham, there is no need to say that one of those three men of whom we read in Genesis 18. and who came to Abraham when he was sitting in his tent door in the heat of the day, and ate veal with him, was God Almighty. There is no need to

EDITORS' TABLE 261 suppose that, and if you will read the chapter carefully you will find that God's conversation with Sarah and Abraham, at that time, might be en- tirely separated from the story of those three men. I merely mention that, now, because some of our elders are using that chapter as an argument to prove that our heavenly Father is a personage of tabernacle, and they can prove that without going to those narratives that are told there or elsewhere." MESSAGES FROM THE MISSIONS Chicago Conference and Mission Office Force The picture represents the elders of the Chicago conference and office force after the visit of Elder Joseph Fielding Smith of the Council of the twelve and President John H. Taylor to Palmyra. "We were very happy to have Brother Joseph Fielding Smith with us. He gave some very valuable instructions to the elders at this missionary meeting, and the elders an oppor- tunity to ask questions which only someone well informed as he could answer. Sister Lucy Taylor, V. M. Jones, E. W. Wilde, and E. Roy Grant, make up the office force, aside from President Taylor. Sister Taylor is the presi- dent of the Northern States Mission Relief Societies. The work in Chicago is progressing nicely, considering the great number of people and the small number of workers. The sister missionaries have been holding cottage meet- ings and classes in some parts of the city, and a number of members have come into the Church as a result of their very efficient work as teachers of the gospel." — John H. Taylor. Chicago conference and mission office force. Left to right, bottom row: Rachel Grant Taylor, mission president of Relief Societies; S. E. Flake, con- ference president, Snowflake, Arizona; Joseph Fielding Smith, of the Council of the Twelve; John H. Taylor, mission president; Emma L. Taylor, Salt Lake City. Second row: Agnes Peterson, Bountiful, Utah; V. M. Jones, mission secretary, Dayton, Idaho; Paul Fawson, Grantsville ; Edna Scorup, Provo; W. Everett Wilde, statistical clerk, Oakley, Idaho; A. Fontell Peter- son, Glenwood, Utah. Top row: Eldon Payne, Provo; Effie M. Chadwick,

262 IMPROVEMENT ERA Yost, Utah; L. F. Randall, Idaho Falls; E. Roy Grant, tithing clerk, Woods Cross; David F. Hart, Rigby, Idaho; Lucy Taylor, stenographer. A New Branch in Ithica We have a thriving branch of the Church in Ithaca, New York, con- sisting of eight families, from among the graduate students of Cornell Uni- versity. We have three services each Sunday, Sunday School, Sacrament meeting and Mutual, and have been privileged to hold our meetings in Barne's Hall, one of the University buildings. We consider an organized and func- tioning branch of the Church a great boone and blessing. We are informed by the missionaries that, though many Latter-day Saint students have been here in the past, this is the first time a branch has been organized. We look forward with fond anticipation and pleasure to the receipt of the Improvement Era and the Desecet News." — J. O. Ellsworth. In the Mexican Mission Elder Thomas M. Reese reports four missionaries now laboring in El Paso, Texas, in the English speaking part of the Mexican mission. They are, from left to right, back row: Hyrum P. Jones, Lehi; Thomas M. Reese, Salt Lake City. Front row: Grace Linton, Provo; Alissa M. Manning, Gar- land, Utah. Elder Reese, who has been laboring there a little more than two years was sixteen months without a companion. Seventeen new members have joined the Church during the last two years and many friends and investi- gators have been found. "We canvass from house to house, hold a few cot- tage meetings, and some attend the Sunday services of the flourishing little ward of the Church we have in El Paso. There is, however, a spirit of in- difference among the people who seem to be satisfied with what they have, but we have little active opposition. El Paso is a very good field to labor in, though the climate is very warm in the summer, but delightful at other times. A flourishing ward of the Church here makes life agreeable for the mission- aries."— T. M. Reese.