Passing Events

The German Chancelor, Dr. Hans Luther, resigned, on May 12, after a vote of censure in the reichstag. The entire cabinet went with him. The vote seems to be a, triumph for the monarchists. , Alton B. Parker, who in 1904 was the Democratic candidate for the presidency, against Theodore Roosevelt, died. May 10, 1926, while riding in an automobile through Central Park, New York. Three days previously he had contracted a cold. He wag on his way to his country home in Esopus, N. Y., accompanied by his wife and nurse, when he was stricken with heart attack. Death was almost instantaneous. Seed Potato Treatment is the title of a circular- by B. L. Richards, Plant Pathologist, which has been published recently by the Utah Experiment Station, Logan, Utah, and which will be sent free to anyone upon request. Address request to Publications Division ,and ask for Circular No. 60. It will show vou how to get clean potato seed, which, when planted in clean soil, wll produce a clean potato crop. Funeral services for, Carlos Lyon1 Sessions, of Bountiful, Utah, were held in the First ward chapel, April 18, 1926. He was the eldest son of Perrigrine and Julia Ann Killgore Sessions, and was born July 16, 1842, at. Nauvoo, 111. He came to Utah with his parents in the Parley P. Pratt company, arriving in Utah Sept. 24, 1847. Death came Tuesday, April 13, at Los Angeles, where he has resided the past year. Revolution in Poland was reported to have broken out, May 12, and Marshal Pilsudski, former president of the republic, was said to have entered Warsaw, for the purpose of forcing the present government from power. Dispatches from Prague and Cracow say the revolt began Tuesday night. Soldiers in the Rembertov camp, on the outskirts of the capital, resented an attack on Pilsudski's home, dose by, and, with the former president at their head, began a march on Warsaw. On May 15, President Wojciechwski and his cabinet resigned. The preliminary disarmament conference, called for the purpose of studying the question from every possible angle, convened at Geneva, May 18, 1926, and elected Dr. Giuseppe Mott, Switzerland, president, and Dr. Thomas A. Le Breton, of Argentina, vice-president. Viscount Cecil, for Great Britain, asserted that the maintenance of world peace1 is the real issue involved. Some apprehension is felt on account of the treaty between Russia and Germany, recently signed. U. S. Minister in Switzerland, Hugh S. Gibson, is chairman of the American delegation. A large business transaction was completed on April 28, when the control of the real estate in the Salt Lake City business district, held by the Clayton Investment Company, passed to Mr. Ashby Snow. The property includes twenty-five buildings and properties with a valuation in excess of $1,000,000. The controlling or three-fifths interest was obtained by Mr. Snow through his purchase of 3,025 shares of the Clayton company stock from the Merchants National bank of Los Angeles for a cash consideration of $400,000 and assumption of a blanket mortgage. The first Pan-American congress of journalists convened in Washing- ton. April 7, 1926. Twenty-one republics were represented. Secretary Kellogg, in welcoming the visitors on behalf of the Pan-American union, said thev might well exercise their influence in the cause of peace and international understanding. He predicted that progress in recent years in settlement of inter-American controversies might well lead in the not

PASSING EVENTS 81<5 distant future, "to a situation unparalleled in the history of the world — ■ a situation in which every major dispute has to be settled by the orderly processes of mediation and arbitration." Funeral serivces for Hut'um R. Huntsman, Ferron, Utah, were held there, according to a report published March 19, He was born Feb. 25, 1843, in Hancock county, 111., and came to Utah in 1853. When about 17 years o!d he made three trips back to the Missouri river after emigrants. After that he was called by President Brigham Young to help settle the Dixie country. He shared in all of the Indian troubles in that country. Once the Indians took all of his stock from him, and at another time they burned his house. His wife was Emeline Hunt. They were married in 1865, and to them two children were born. San Francisco celebrated the 20th anniversary of its destruction, April 18, with streets and shop windows profusely decorated, and appropriate speech making. The growth of San Francisco since the fire and quake was the topic of many speakers who addressed the various gatherings. Mayor James Rolph. Jr., speaking before the South Market street boys and girls, contrasted the city of twenty years ago and today. "The population of 425,000," he said, "which fled before the flames and| falling walls twenty years ago turned to build bigger and better buildings, until now San Fran- cisco has more than twice that number of inhabitants." Air mail connection was actually established between Salt Lake City and Los Angeles, April 17, 1926, when two planes carried mail and con- gratulations between the two termini. Charlie N. James, who piloted the plane to Los Angeles arrived there at 5:12 p. m. The Los Angeles pilot arrived in Salt Lake at 3:20 p. m. The time between the two cities can easily be made in seven hours. The connection between the two points by the air route has been established, and that is another forward step in transportation, from the days of the ox teams, the hand cart and the pony express. It means that the railroads have a rival. The new shah of Persia, Resa Khan Pehlevi, was crowned, April 25. amid scenes of Oriental splendor. He rose from the position of groom and trooper in the Persian Cossacks to, one of premier and dictator. After he bad become premier, in 1923, he declared himself in favor of a republic. He carried out a successful coup, which ousted the Kajar dynasty and suddenly changed his mind, announcing his intention of becoming monarch. Shah Ohmed Kajar was then in Paris, and spent most of his time on the Riviera and gave little attention to the needs of his country. The ceremony, April 25, took place in the museum hall of the old Gulistan palace. Elder Duncan M. McAllister, the Temple recorder, was "at home" tc his friends, at the Kensington apartments, on April 18, the occasion being the 84th anniversary of his birthday. He has been connected with the office of the recorder since 1893. He succeeded John Nicholson as chief recorder and held that position until 1916, when he was appointed recorder in the St. George temple. For 1 6 months he labored in the temple at Laie. On his return home he was appointed to his present position, and in spite of advancing years, is a steady and efficient worker in that capacity. Mr. McAllister is still active and retains all his faculties in remarkably vigorous condition. Mrs. Zebina Starr Alleman died at her home in Springville, Utah, March 16. 1926, of ailments incident to advanced age. She was born at Nauvoo, 111., May 2. 1846. the daughter of Edward William and Amanda Kellogg Starr. She came to Springville with her parents in 1850, and a few years later went to St. George. She returned to Springville when a young wonnn and married the late John H. Alleman. Mrs. Alleman has always been an active church worker. For many years she was president of tht Primary and also of the Relief Society of the Springville Second ward. She

820 .IMPROVEMENT ERA is survived by one son and one daughter, H. B. Alleman of Bingham and Mrs. Ida Alleman Taylor of Springville. Mrs. Sarah A. Turnbow, widow of Robert F. Turnbow, passed away at a Salt Lake City hospital, April 9, as a result! of an automobile accident that occurred April 5. She was born at Nauvoo, 111., December 14, 1842, and came to Utah in 1850. She was the daughter of Samuel and Martisha Smoot Smith. She was" an active worker in the Church. Of her eleven children, the following are still living: Mrs. S. H. Harrow, Robert F. and Joseph A. Turnbow, and Mrs. A. L. Divers, all of Salt Lake: Mrs. B. W. Brown of American Fork, Mrs. A. H. Libby and Le Grand Turnbow of Los Angeles, and Parley W. Turnbow. There arc also thirty-three giand- childien and twenty-four great-grandchildren. Hoopuloa, a village on the south coast of Hawaii, was destroyed, April 18, 1926, by a lava stream from the volcano Mauna Loa. The houses were entirely buried in the slowly moving mass. A flood of molten rock pouring out from the crater struck the sea at 6:21 a. m., starting the ocean boiling several hundred feet out. , Army airplanes arrived p few hours after the village was wiped out, but were unable to locate the flow definitely because of the dense steam and smoke. The aviators reported the heat was intense at an elevation of 3000 feet, but succeeded in getting some pictures. Huge clouds of steam hung over the ocean, rising to a height of several hundred feet. As the lava struck the water, tremendous jets of steam shot into the air, showering the entire region about the bay. The war debt of France to the United States, amounting to $4,025,- 000,000, will be paid in installments5 over a period of 62 years, according to an agreement between the American debt commission and Ambassador Berenger, representing France, April 29. The total payment7 will amount to $6,847,674,000. The first two years $30,000,000 will be paid. Then the yearly payment will increase gradually until the seventeenth year, when $125,000,000 will be paid annually until the last payment, which will be $1 17,674,104. This settlement concludes negotiations with America's second largest war debtor, and substantially completes the commission's work of funding the $10,102,000,000 foreign world war debt of this nation. Only $295,000,000 of this amount remains unfunded. Captain Roald Amundsen crossed the North Pole, in the dirigible Norge, May 12, 1926, at 1 a. m., Norwegian time, which would be May 11, at 7 p. m., eastern standard time He left King's Bay, Spitzbergen, 15 hours previously, for Nome, Alaska. At 8 o'clock p. m., May 13, the Amundsen polar expedition arrived at Teller, 75 miles northwest of Nome. Captain Amundsen, Lincoln Ellsworth, Captain Oscar Wisting, and Lieutenant Oscar Omdahl continued their journey to Nome, in a launch, piloted by Captain Peterson, the owner, and they arrived at Nome on Sunday, May 16, at 5 a. m. The launch had' to be dragged 14 miles over the ice to open water. The dirigible Norge was left at Teller, where it was deflated and prepared for shipment by steamer. The explorers state that they found ice and open water at the pole, but no land. The oldest woman of the world, as far as known, is Mrs. Delina Filkins, who celebrated her 111th birthday on May 4, 1926. She was born in the town of Stark, five miles from Jordanville, New York, May 4, 1815, and is still enjoying life. She rises every morning at 5:30, eats a hearty breakfast, makes her own bed, sews, does a few things around the house and uses her spare time for reading. When she reads the newspaper and the finer type of her Bible, Mrs. Filkins uses her spectacles, and her hearing is slightly impaired. Illness — an operation last fall — has kept her in bed only once and then she cared for herself a day after the surgeon had completed his work. Two days later she was out of bed. Ruth L. Stnith, wife of President Frederick M. Smith of the Re-

PASSING EVENTS 821 organized Church, met with a fatal auto accident near her; home in Kansas City, Missouri, on Friday, April 30, 1926, while crossing the street in that City. She was born December 9, 1872, at Little Sioux, Iowa, and was married to President Frederick M. Smith, August 3, 1897. She came to Independence, Missouri, about 1906, where the family made their home until about five years ago, when they removed to Kansas City, Missouri. She was by pro- fession a teacher, having taught in Omaha and Lamoni. For a long time she was president of the department of women of the Re-organized Church, and left her lasting impression upon the ^women's work of that church, besides contributing in many ways to its interests. The Alaskan was seriouslyl damaged, May 6, 1926, in an attempt to hop off at Fairbanks, Alaska, for a polar trip. The Alaskan is the plane of the Detroit Arctic expedition, in which Captain George Hubert Wilkins and Lieutenant Carl Benjamin Eielson were about to undertake a one-thousand mile flight in the Arctic, in order to find unexplored land believed to exist in the North. In running for a rise, the plane struck a hummock of soft earth and tilted to one side. The right wing hit the ground and was torn to shreds, the propeller was splintered and the landing gear on the right side was wrecked. The expedition has another airplane, the Detroiter, but this plane has, so far, not been able to fly over Brooks range between Fairbanks and Point Barrow. Captain Wilkins plans to hop off as soon as possible in this three engined monoplane. Oscar S. Straus passed away, May 3, 1926, in New York, at his Fifth Avenue home, after having suffered for some time from a complication of diseases. He came to this country from Bavaria at the age of 5 years, as a Jewish immigrant boy, and gradually rose to prominence as a merchant, financier, philanthropist and diplomat. In 1897 he was appointed minister to Turkey by President Cleveland. In 1906 he became the first member of the Hebrew race to enter the cabinet. He then was appointed secretary of commerce by President Roosevelt, in which capacity he had supervision of immigrants. For 18 years he was connected with; the Hague tribunal, be- ginning in 1902. He also was a founder of the National Civic Federation and author of a number of books on economics. Mr. Straus began his career ns a lawyer in 1873, but forsook this in 1881 to join; a pottery and glassware importing house under the name of L. Straus and Sons. To the North Pole and return in 15 hours was the record established by Lieutenant Commander Richard E. Byrd, a U. S. aviator, on May 9, 1926. He left King's Bay, Spitzbergen, at 12:50 a. m. and returned at 4:20 p. m., having made a distance of about 1,600 miles. He was accompanied by Floyd Bennet, of the government air service. The flight demonstrated that wings could do in less than a day what Admiral Peary, discoverer of the North Pole, consumed eight months in negotiating by dog sled. His giant three-motored airplane carried him safely over wastes which Amundsen last year pronounced unsafe for airplane flights, and the distance traveled was equal to more than a month's mushing in the Arctic under the most ideal conditions for dog teams. Among those who welcomed Lieutenant Bypd and his companion from the North Pole, were Captain Amundsen, Lincoln Ellsworth and the crew of their airship Norge, on which they afterwards made a similar flight. Christine Pehrson Ellsworth died in Payson, Utah, April 28, 1926. She was born in Sweden, July 12, 1848, came to Salt Lake City in Soren Christoffersen's company in 1862; settled in South Jordan, thence, moved to Moroni and later to' Payson. She married German Ellsworth in 1868. She had sixteen children, six of whom, with theif father, had preceded her to the Great Beyond. She walked practically the entire distance from Florence to Salt Lake City when, she emigrated to Utah. She was a patient, loving wife and mother, and a great lover of the gospel, serving as president of

822 IMPROVEMENT ERA the Relief Society of the Payson Second ward for many years. The follow- ing sons and daughters survive her: German E. Ellsworth, Washington, D. C. ; George Arthur, Lymari, Wyoming; Reuben W., Wilford J., and Mrs. May Ellsworth McKell, of Payson; Dr. Lewis N., Benjamin F., and Mrs. Sarah Ellsworth Madsen, of Salt Lake City; Dr. Jesse Ellsworth, Eureka; and Mrs. Luella E. Thorne, Pleasant Grove, Utah. Besides her ten children she leaves fifty-six grand-children and twenty-five great-grand- children. Captain David L. Davis died at his home in Salt Lake City, April 20, 1926. The day previous he visited his place of business and, on returning home, had his lunch when he suffered a stroke which ended his earthlv career 22 hours later. David Lazarus Davis was born at Llanwenog, Cardi- ganshire, South Wales, January 31, 1841, the son of Titus and M'.ry Bowen Davis. He joined the Church when in his sixteenth year. In 18 64 h: crossed the Atlantic in the ship General McClellan, which took the betier part of six months to travel from Liverpool to New York. He crossed the plains from Missouri to Salt Lake City by ox tc;m, reaching Salt Lake City in October of the same year, driving a twelve-ox team practically all of the distance. Following his arrival he worked for the late William Jennings in the grocery department of his store, later in Z. C. M. I. Later he became a member of the firm of Barnes & Davis, afterwards Barnes, Davis & Lewis. In the late 80's the latter firm dissolved and since that time Captain Davis had been in business for himself. He served two terms as a member of the city council (1886-1900) from the Third municipal ward. As a cruiser and navigator of the Great Salt Lake he was best known to many. His boats, Cambria I, II and III, and the Esther have carried many notables in their day over the lake. Considered the best informed of his time on the navigable powers of Utah's inland sea, he sailed it continuously for over sixty years. A general strike began in England, May 4, affecting all the great in- dustries of the country, pursuant to a declaration by the trades union congress. It involved close to five million workers, including more than a million miners in the coal fields, who struck as a protest against less pay and increased hours. The first effects were seen by the cessation of railroad and street car traffic, and the suspension of two London newspapers, The Daily Mail and The Mirror. On this side of the Atlantic the seriousness of the situation was reflected in a general reaction in practically all of the principal securities commodities markets. A New York report says active securities .recorded declines from 3 to IOV2 points. British government bonds sank to new low levels for the year; sterling exchange dropped nearly a cent over the week-end; French and Belgian currencies sank to record lows for all time at 3.27 and 3.28 cents, respectively; wheat futures broke 2c to 3c a bushel, and moderate recessions took place in cotton and most of the other important commodity markets. The government has made preparations, backed by thousands of volunteers, to continue what are known as the vital services, the distribution of food, bread and milk for the children, and for a continuance as far as possible for the means of transport, and the big plac;s of, business and corporations have arranged to provide sleeping and eating quarters for their employees, so that the necessity of returning home by day or night will be obviated. The strike was called off on May 12, after having lasted for 9 days. The coal controversy negotiations will be resumed and the government will pay subsidies until a settlement is reached. It is estimated that the strike has cost Great Britain $1,700,000,000. The pound went back to par. A new controversy, it was reported, had developed the day after the strike was called off. The labor unions demanded that all the strikers be reinstated. Employees stated that the industrial depression created by the strike made it impossible to give employment to all.