--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Unknown collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 28 number: 1 published: 1924-11 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: "Unknown, “Mutual Work,” *Improvement Era 28, no. 1 (November 1924)*: 89–92." source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2801unse 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: improvementera2801unse start_page: 89 end_page: 92 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1924-11) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2801unse publication_year: 1924 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 1924, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Mutual Work MUTUAL WORK 89 ward monthly efficiency report, as well as the stake comparative efficiency report should be 100% perfect each month, and that the compiled report should reach the office on or before the 10th of each month for the previous month, and each ward should also receive a comparative report of the wards of the stake each month. Special items of the Y. M. M. I. A. work were presented by Assistant Superintendent Melvin J. Ballard. The manuals are: Junior department: For Junior classes, Stories of the Plains; for Advanced Junior classes, Some Essentials of Character; for Senior classes, The Young Man and the Economic World. Officers are urged to order manuals and have them ready for distribution at the opening of the class work so that the most important part of Y. M. M. I. A. work — the manual study, may not be hindered. The Advanced Senior course is Prophecy and History, and appears in the Era and Journal each month. Elder Ballard pointed out the place of Scouting and the M Men's work in the Y. M. M. I. A., and a special bulletin on this subject was distributed. He urged subscribing for the Improvement Era, and explained its being placed on a cash basis and urged that the heads of families be all visited and asked to subscribe in October. The general fund this year is based on 35c on 10% of the Church population of each ward. The collections of this fund should be finished in November. He urged that the matter in Bulletins No. 1 and 2, which is contained in the Y. M. M. I. A. Handbook, be studied, and also that Bulletin No. 3 (15c) and Bulletin No. 4 (5c, 50c per dozen) be considered by recreation committees. The officers were urged to work to a year-round program in recreation and cooperate with the bishop in holding monthly meetings of the executive officers of the various auxiliary organizations. Executive Director Oscar A. Kirkham urged that the officers make a study of the Handbook and systematically follow up the local organization and plans. He spoke of the 50,000 membership desired in the Y. M. M. I. A. by June ,1925, which means a little over 15% increase in the present enrollment, the object being to get every young man between twelve and twenty enrolled in the organization, and as many over that age as possible He made an appeal for this number and called attention to the celebration that is being planned for the 50th anniversary of the organization of the Y. M. M. I. A: in June, 1925, and urged that all officers help in this accomplishment. Our aim should be: "Every young man of Mutual age in the Y. M. M. I. A. Plan now to celebrate with us our 50th anniversary." Superintendent George Albert Smith spoke on spiritualizing our M. I. A. program, and urged that leaders should be filled with the spirit of the gospel and be enthusiastic in living their religion. In the preparation and presentation of our work we should employ careful and prayerful study and correlate all our activities in the spirit of the gospel. George Budd, in behalf of the boys and girls' band of Granite, Grant, and other stakes, offered the services of 300 boys and girls for the celebration of the 50th anniversary. Ensign Stake Annual Road Show The Ensign stake "Road Show" has become an annual event. Each ward M. I. A. prepares a ten-minute act and these sketches, together with other numbers supplied by the stake boards are transported round the circuit so that the whole show is given in all of the wards on the same evening. Practically every sketch in this year's program, given Oct. 14, was an original creation by members of the local mutuals. A variety of entertainment was the result. Every act was outstanding. Benefits Forgot, a dramatization of 90 IMPROVEMENT ERA an incident in the Reading Course showing Lincoln and mother love, was an impressive presentation of the new M. I. A. Slogan. "A Study in Con- trast," an original one-act light opera, brought many laughs and surprises. "The Better Law" portrayed the M. I. A. solving problems of the girls of today. "Memories," "A Day in '47," "Moment of Opera," and "The War is Over," were all clever sketches. It was a difficult matter to decide which ward deserved the trophy cup. "Feast of the Virgins," "Jazz and Joy," "Duster Maid and Bell Hop," and "Moving Pictures a la mode," were titles of acts prepared by the stake boards. It was a delightful evening's entertain- ment, in each of the seven ward halls, which were crowded to capacity. One of Nature's Curiosities On the south-east end of the Zuni Mountain, about thirty miles east of Ramah, in McKinley county, New Mexico, a bed of volcanic scoria has spread over the country for about twenty miles in length. The road leads along the north edge, and about midway of this, signs of "Ice Cave" show the traveler where to turn off three or four hundred yards, to a real wonder that should be preserved. A pothole, perhaps forty yards long and half as wide, drops forty feet into the black mass. A ladder at the south end helps the traveler down. Across the rocky bottom to the north end, on the south side of a huge black boulder, a blistering sun beats down, while ten feet around on the other side, one has moved into a refrigerator within fifteen feet of a block of real ice, ten feet high and about twenty feet long, that almost blocks up the mouth of a cave, of which I think few have gone to the end, and none can tell the cause of the wonder. As we entered it, a sight-seer had just chopped off a large bucketful of ice for camp use, leaving as much more scattered around. He had not noticed that a few rods back, by the side of the marked trail, was a smaller hole where as good water as one ever drank, and so cold it will make the teeth ache, may be gotten with little trouble. The Bond boys, who have a little store at Ramah, McKinley county, New Mexico, will direct the tourist or guide them to a still larger cave where it is said, with a little work, a car might be driven far into the dark depths, and where in a few minutes, hair and clothes are covered white with frost. The road from Ramah also passes the foot of "Inscription Rock" where, as early as 1868, officers on their way to quell Indian troubles, made note on that massive wall, of their passing and business. These wonders are being preserved by the Government, and the ice caves should also be cared for. — S. C. RICHARDSON. Thatcher, Arizona The Pan-American congress opened Oct. 1, at Atlanta, Ga. Rep- resentatives of twenty-one Latin-American republics and many states of the Union were represented. The first day's proceedings closed with a banquet, and several brilliant speeches, expressing amity and friendship. Emperor of Russia is the title which Grand Duke Cyril, cousin of the late czar, has assumed, in a proclamation published in a Russian newspaper at Belgrade, Sept 21. Grand Duke Cyril's son Vladimir, seven years of age, is to be the heir to the throne. The grand duke was born in 1876. A mine disaster occurred Sept. 16, in Sublet mine No. 5, near Kemmerer, Wyo., when an explosion entombed forty-seven men. Twelve were taken out alive. Another group of twelve met death instantly. The entire num- ber of dead is placed at 30. Fire broke out immediately after the explosion. The abcitration protocol was unanimously accepted by the Assembly of the League of Nations, at Geneva, Oct. 2, as formulated by the arbitration commission. It now goes to the various governments for ratification. If ratified before May 1, next year, a disarmament conference of the world will be held the following June 15. The McMillan Arctic expedition arrived home Sept. 19, and dropped anchor at Mohegan Island, near the Wiscasset harbor, Me., after an absence of 15 months. The expedition is said to have been very successful. Many facts concerning magnetism, electricity, etc., were observed. McMillan re- ported that the Eskimos beyond the Artie circle are rapidly adopting civiliza- tion and the white man's ways. Brigadier General, Dr. Charles Elmer Sawyer died suddenly of heart disease at his home, White Oak Farm, near Marion, Ohio, Sept. 23. He was the personal physician of the late President Harding. Early in the after- noon he complained of not feeling quite well. His son, Dr. Carl W. Sawyer, gave him some medicine, whereupon he went to sleep. He passed away while sleeping. Great Britain and France agreed on sanctions, Sept. 15, which will form a basis for an international agreement to outlaw war, to be submitted to the Assembly of the League of Nations, at its session at Geneva. The agreement is in the nature of a pact of general and mutual assistance and makes clear that each member of the League will contribute the force at its dis- posal, either economic or military, for the general maintenance of peace. John Alfred Reeves, a well-known traffic official, for many years em- ployed by the Union Pacific, died at his home, Salt Take City, Sept. 30. He was a native of England. He was born August 12, 1870, at Davenport, Devonshire, but came to America when a small boy. In 1885, when he was still a boy, Mr. Reeves entered the freight department of the Union Pacific as a messenger boy at Omaha. The following year he was trans- ferred to Salt Lake. Dissolution of parliament was agreed upon on Oct. 9, and new elections will be held Oct. 29. the decision was taken when a motion of censure of the government was adopted, for failure to prosecute James Ross Camp- bell, acting editor of the Workers' Weekly, for sedition, the publication being a Communist organ. Mr. McDonald, the prime minister, considered it ad- 92 IMPROVEMENT ERA visablc to hasten the elections to the utmost, confident of the support of the majority of the voters. Germany wilt enter the League of Nations, if the decision of the cabinet, Sept. 23, is ratified by the Reichstag committee and the ministers of the various states. The cabinet affixed four conditions: (1) The pre- servation of German honor; (2) Acknowledgement of her position as a world power; (3) Guarantees of her freedom; and (4) Consideration for her justified claims. The sentiment in Great Britain, however, is that Germany must enter without any conditions, or not at all. A Monument in honor of the Utah Pioneers of 1847 was dedicated Sept. 28, about 12 miles from Evanston, Wyo., on a hill overlooking the Bear River Valley, members of Randolph, Woodruff, Almy, Evanston and Hilliard wards, of the Woodruff stake took part in the impressive services. The monument stands on a foundation of sandstone, four feet 8 inches square. It is made of cobble stones, 4 feet square at the base and tapers to 3 feet square. The capstone is a bee-hive, and the total height is 8 feet 6 inches. The inscription on the plate is: "Erected by the members of the Woodruff stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in honor of the Pioneers who passed this spot July 12, 1847, under the leadership of Brigham Young. Dedicated Sept. 28, 1924. This plate was donated by the R. Hardesty company of Denver, Colo." This monument is the first erected on the pioneer trail. Another will be erected in the near future by the members of the eastern part of the stake at a point where the trail crosses the Lincoln highway. Five men were entombed in the Rains mine, of the Carbon Fuel com- pany, Spring canyon, Sept. 21, as the result of an explosion. They were machine men, who had entered the mine to block out work for the following day. They were working 4000 feet from the main entry when the ex- plosion occurred. Rescue crews started work immediately, and by the 24th the bodies had been recovered. Indications pointed to the fact that the force of the explosion had rendered the five men practically helpless for a time, and that the death-dealing fumes had poured in upon them before they could adopt any measures to save themselves. The enrollment of college students at the Brigham Young University, the parent church school, has broken all precedents. This enrollment at this time of year shows a 25% increase over any previous year in the history of the institution according to E. H. Holt, secretary of the institution. The buildings are so taxed to take care of this large influx of college men and women that the officials of the institution are looking forward with anxiety to the completion of the new library building. That building, which will contain a number of spacious class rooms as well as library room, will be ready for the 1925-26 school year. The Rev. Dr. Fosdick resigned, Oct. 6, his position in a Presbyterian church in New York. Although a Babtist in his views on some topics, he has been preaching in a Presbyterian chapel for five years. Lately his modernist views have caused a great deal of controversy. The presbytery of Philadelphia led the attack against him, but the members of the New York congregation again and again sustained him, although he openly de- nied the divinity of our Lord. Finally, the demand was made of him that he either subscribe to the Presbyterian creed or quit preaching in a Presby- terian church. The resignation followed this demand. The Shenandoah arrived at San Diego, Oct. 10, having completed its trans-continental journey. The huge airship left Lakehurst, N. J., Oct. 7. Steady headwinds were encountered in the Rockies, and a driving snow storm impeded the progress as the ship traveled through San Jacinto Pass