Passing Events

Mrs. J. P. Morgan, wife of the noted financier, died, Aug. 14, at Glencove, L. I., of sleeping sickness. She was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Edward W. Egglesworth Grew of Boston. The Morgans were married Dec. 11, 1890. The McMillan Arctic expedition announced Aug. 19, 1925, that its main object, exploration of an unknown portion of the Arctic ocean, has been abandoned on account of bad weather and mishap to two navy planes, but that other scientific investigations will continue. A race of people, hitherto unknown, has been discovered in western Siberia by Prof. B. N. Gorodkoff. a Russian explorer. The Siberians call rhem "Forest people," but they call themselves "Neshen," which is said to mean "men." Four todies were discovered in an ancient mound near Bainbridge, O., Sept. 10. 1925. supposed to be the remains of royal persons. Among the valuable relics found with the remains were strands of pearls of immense size, and various objects of copper and silver. Coal miners laid down their tools at midnight. Aug. 31, in the anthracite region, involving 158,000 men in the strike. The two-year con- tract expired at that time, and the miners quit because the contract was not renewed. The operators insist that the settlement of the trouble include measures for avoiding strikes in the future. A clean hotel is to be built in New York, at a cost of $14,000,000. by Oscar A. Conkle. Ten per cent of the profits are to be devoted to mis- sionary work, and the builder purposes to accommodate only guests that do not smoke, drink or use tobacco in any form. He also hopes to be able to exclude Sunday newspapers from the hotel. Senator Wm. H. King returned to New York, Aug. 26, from an ex- tended tour of the near East, where he went for the purpose of investigating the conditions, so as to be able to discuss and vote intelligently on the queslion of ratification of the Lausanne treaty, now before the U. S. Senate. The senator has been opposed to ratification, and in an interview on his re- turn home he said he had no reason to change his views. Patriarch Richard Home passed away at his home, in Salt Lake City, Aug. 17. He was born in Nauvoo, 111., in 1844 and came to Utah with his parents. Joseph and Isabella Hale Home, when a child of 3 years. When a young man he was made a school teacher by Brigham Young and taught in Utah and Idaho for forty-two years. For the past twenty years he had been a patriarch and temple worker. Twelve children survive him. The Sixth Assembly of the League of Nations convened at Geneva, Sept. 7, 1925. Paul Painleve, premier of France, called the assembly to order, and Senator Raol Dandurand of Canada was elected president. Both expressed the hope that the assembly would be able to advance the cause of peace along the lines of the Geneva protocol, by removing the objectionable provisions. Among the interested spectators were Mrs. Woodrow Wilson and many other distinguished Americans. Early winter in the polar regions has compelled MacMillan to abandon further explorations in the North, this year, it was announced on Aug. 22. The explorers were at that time at Pandora harbor, Greenland. Trips across Ellesmere island, the message says, meant that the flyers took their

PASSING EVENTS 1195 lives in their hands every time they crossed, and too much cannot be said about the courage, the judgment and the amazing ingenuity of the U. S. navy's personnel under the most adverse conditions. The Spanish transport Espano Quinte was sunk, Sept. 1, 1925, by the Riffians, with a thousand foreign-born men on board. The transport had embarked the troops at Penon island, which is 1,000 yards off shore, and was steaming full speed with other transports to debark them at the mainland when two or three 75 shells plowed through the entire engine room. The boilers exploded and the transport sank immediately. The legionnaires were heavily burdened with grenades and cartridges and very few reached shore. The Utah Agricultural Experiment Station has recently issued one new publication on experiments on storage of flour, and another giving an account of the rules and regulations of the second Inter-Mountain Egg Laying Contest. The former is by Dr. J. E. Greaves and C. F. Hirst of the Department of Chemistry; and the latter, by Prof. Byron Alder, station poultryman. Copies of the publications willbe sent to anyone requesting them. Address Publica- tion Division, Utah Agricultural College Experiment Station, Logan, Utah. The Zionist world congress at Vienna was diturbed by a radical element. At a mass meeting held, Aug. «25, in connection with the congress speakers demanded that Transjordania be added to the British mandate, that a Jewish majority be quickly created by immigration, and that land held by Arabs be expropriated with a fixed compensation. One speaker demanded the organization of a Jewish army as the only safeguard of Zionism. Hooting and counter-hooting hailed the speeches until the police interfered and restored order. Smoor will be the name of an horticultural community in southern Utah, if the plan contemplated is carried out. The state road commission on Aug. 1 8 learned from C. B. Petty, state representative from Washington county, of the resources of southern Utah being developed. They were told of a fruit-growing community, to be named Smoot, which will be a supply point for early vegetables and fruits for a large portion of the western and northern markets, and will have in that respect great advantages in location over the more distant California and Texas fields. The Catholic papulation in the United States, according to Catholic sources, now amounts to a total of 20,738,447. This is said to be a gain of 10,608,770 members during the last twenty-five years, and 4,429,137 in the last ten years. According to the same, there are 60,155 sisters and nuns in the United States; 23,697 priests; 216 seminaries, universities and colleges; 208 monasteries, abbeys and scholastics; 5 92 convents and novitiates; 607 academies and boarding schools; 611 high schools, 559 hospitals and sani- tariums, and 598 charitable institutions. There are 264 Catholic papers and periodicals. A fatal fire, Sept. 5, 1925, destroyed the Utah Oil Refining company's high pressure gasoline process plant. Frank E. Storms, still foreman in charge, 19 Fairmount apartments, Rulon J. (Kelly) Arnold, still worker, 447 East First South street; Ulmont N. (Otto) Burdick, still worker, 1040 Windsor avenue, and Otto Larson, still worker, 5 7 North Second West street were fatally injured, and three other men suffered severe burns. The loss to the property was estimated at $200,000. The cause of the fire is supposed to have been a bursting oil pipe, permitting the hot fluid to come in contact with the air and causing spontaneous combustion. Judge Jacob Johnson, formerly district judge of the Seventh judicial district and a congressman from Utah, died Aug. 15, 1925, at his home in Salt Lake City. He was born Nov. 1, 1847, in Aalborg, Denmark, son of Jens C. and Mary Johnson. His father died while Jacob was an infant and he came with his mother to Utah in 1854. Mrs. Johnson made her

1196 IMPROVEMENT ERA home in Ogden. In 1863 they moved to Sacramento, Cal., and to Carson City, Nev., in 1869; lived in White Pine county, Nev., for two years and then in 1872 he located in Spring City, Sanpete county, Utah. During the stay in Nevada he studied law and was prepared when he came to Utah in 1872 to practice his profession. Two naval airplanes left San Francisco, Aug. 3 1 , shortly before 3 p. m. for a non-stop flight to the Hawaiian islands. Each plane carried a crew of five, a total weight of 19,000 pounds, 1,287 gallons of gasoline, and bad a wing spread of 72 feet 10 inches. The third plane, the PB-1, was unable to start with the others because of mechanical difficulties. New twin engines were installed after the PB-1 flew here from Seattle, eight days ago, and they were not adjusted completely. Nevertheless, the plane rose from the army air field at Crissy field in San Francisco in the afternoon for a trial flight just before the PN-9 planes left. At 11:25 a. m., Sept. 1, plane No. 1 was reported to be out of gas and that it had to land. The plane PN-9 No. 3 was picked up Sept. 2, by the destroyer William Jones, 300 miles from San Francisco, and towed back. The other plane PN-9 No. 1 had not been found at that date. On Sept. 7, Commander Stanford E. Moses, of the flight project, said he had no hope of saving the crew of the missing craft. The missing seaplane with its crew was picked up, Sept. 10, by the submarine, R-4, 15 miles east of the island of Kauani. the most northerly of the Hawaiian group. The Commander, John Rogers, reported that the plane had been forced down by adverse winds and lack of fuel. The news was hailed with great delight in the whole land. Rene Viviani, former premier of France, died, Sept. 7, 1925, in Paris after a long illness. Twice he filled important missions to the United States, and his oratory was so powerful that he sometimes carried the audiences with him. even if they did not understand his language, as was the case with American audiences, when he visited the United States with Marshal Joffre in 1917 and when he attended the Washington conference in 1921. M. Vivian's end came peacefully, after a long period of extreme feebleness, which friends said was to be traced to the death of his wife, soon after his return from Washington in 1922. He collapsed while pleading a case in court on June 8, 1923. and had been confined to the sanatorium since, suffering from complete breakdown. That diplomatic relations had been resumed between Great Britain and Mexico was announced from London, Aug. 28, 1925. Great Britain and Mexico have been without diplomatic relations since June, 1924, when the British charge d'affaires, H. H. Cunard Cummins, was ordered expelled by the Mexican government and recalled by Premier MacDonald. Full diplomatic relations between the two countries, however, have not existed for more than ten years, since the British government refused to recognize eitlur the Carranza or the Obregon governments. Cummins' expulsion followed friction which lasted for some time, finally culminating after his intervention to support Mrs. Rosalie Evans, a British subject, who later was assassinated on her Mexican ranch. Since his departure the American embassy has taken care of British affairs, in Mexico. A Scandinavian conference was held at Mt. Pleasant, Utah, Aug. 15 and 16 in commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the foundation of the L. D. S. mission in the Scandinavian countries in 1850, by Apostle Erastus Snow. John Frosgren and their fellow laborers. The gathering was well at- tended, there being about 2.000 present at the Sunday services, many of whom had come from distant parts of the State. Among the prominent speakers were President Heber J. Grant, Dr. John A. Widtsoe, of the Council of Twelve, Elder Andrew Jenson of the Church Historian's office, and President George J. Cannon. Saturday evening a free concert was given

PASSING EVENTS 1197 in Assembly hall. Those who participated in the concert program were Mrs. Emily Larson Knighton of Gunnison, Mrs. Hilda Christiansen of Fountain Green, Mrs. Fay Jensen, Mrs. P. C. Petersen, Eddie Isaacson. Professor Reese Griffiths, Mrs. Delia Jensen, the Misses Leda and Alta Thompson, all of Ephraim, Miss Amber Hanford and Floyd Larsen of Mt. Pleasant, Miss Lucile Tuttle of Manti and a male chorus directed by Bishop E. I. Swalberg of Gunnison. At noon Sunday an elaborte cafeteria luncheon was served by members of the Mt. Pleasant wards under the direction of Mrs. Bent R. Hansen, at North Sanpete high school, free to all out-of-town visitors. Much commendation was accorded the Scandinavian choir from Ephraim and Manti directed by Professor Fred Fjeldsted of the Snow College at Ephraim. Do the people of Utah realize and place commensurate value upon the prestige and influence which have come to them in recent years, both na- tionally and internationally, as illustrated in this photopraph by the Keystone View Co.. Inc., of New York, and published throughout this country and in Europe? The Keystone's notation, under the picture, is: THE BIG THREE "The Big Three'' on Belgium's Debt to Us. Senator Reed Smoot of Utah, President Calvin Coolidge and Secretary Andrew Mellon of the Treasury, photographed at the Coolidge home, Plymouth, Vt., where the two members of the Foreign Debts Committee conferred with President Coolidge on the Belgium Debt situation. The Shenandoah was destroyed by a terrible storm, Sept. 3, on a tour

1198 IMPROVEMENT ERA from its air port at Lakehurst, N. J. Fourteen of the crew perished. Among these was the captain, Lieutenant Zachary Landsdowne. The ship, aftct having passed the Ohio river, encountered an electric storm and a squall sud- denly forced it up from an altitude of 3,000 to one of 7,500 feet. The pressure was so great that the ship was broken into three sections. The control cabin, swung beneath the fore section of the ship proper, broke away and crashed to the ground while at an altitude of several thousand feet. It carried most of the crew who were killed. Released from the control cabin, the fore section, measuring about 150 feet, and bearing seven survivors, free-ballooned for more than an hour and finally was landed near Sharon, twelve miles from where the control cabin crashed, near Ava. The main section, carrying twenty-six survivors, landed with a crash which sent several of the crew diving through the outer covering to the ground. A middle section of some fifteen or twenty feet settled down in pieces over the countryside. The Shenandoah was the first rigid airship built in America. Six hundred and eighty feet in length, with a maximum diameter of 78.7 feet, she contained nineteen gas cells with a capacity of 2,115,000 cubic feet. Her power plant consisted of six 300 horsepower Packard engines, capable of driving her at a maximum speed of sixty miles an hour. She was completed in the summer of 1923 and her test flights were very satisfactory. While attached to her mooring mast at Lakehurst on January 12, 1924, the ship was torn loose in a violent gale, but the damage then sustained was soon repaired. Last October she was given a remarkable test in the form of a transcontinental flight. Including a stay of eleven days on the west coast, she was away from Lakehurst eighteen days. Her actual flying time between Lakehurst, Fort Worth, Texas, San Diego, Cal., and Camp Lewis, at Tacoma, Wash., and return, not counting the time consumed in locating mooring masts through fog on two occasions, was 235. hours 11 minutes, against the fastest express train time between these points of 272 hours 30 minutes, deducting time for connections. Pefer JV. Hansen, president of the Bear River stake, died at his home in Elwood, Sept. 10, 1925; he was born in Bornholm, Denmark, May 24, 1855, and jointed the Church in 1865, coming to America in 1872 He was a constant and faithful worker in civic, political and Church positions all his life. He was the first secretary of the Y. M. M. I. A. when organ- ized in Bear River, Jan. 1, 1876. He was appointed stake prresident of Bear River stake, in 1917, and was beloved by all the people. Funeral services were held in Garland, Sept. 14, 1925. Index for Volume 28 An elaborate index of the contents of the present volume of the Improvement Era has been prepared and will be sent free to any sub- scriber making application to the business office, Room 406, Church Office Building, Salt Lake City, Utah-