Passing Events

Yoshihito, the emperor of Japan, died, Dec. 25, 1926, of an attack of bronchial pneumonia. Prince Regent Hirohito was immediately proclaimed emperor. Fire in the Lourier Palace Movie theatre, at Montreal, Canada, took a toll of seventy-five lives, mostly little children, Jan. 9. The fire itself is described as trivial, but the fear-stricken Sunday audience jammed the exits, and many were suffocated. The fire seems to have started in a room under the balcony. Solomon J. Salisbury, a nephew of the Prophet Joseph Smith, passed away at his farm near Carthage, 111., according to a dispatch from that place dated Jan. 18, 1927. He was 91 years old. He is said to have been "a loyal 'Mormon' " until his death, although he did not join the Saints in Utah, owing to the opposition of his wife. The seventeenth legislature of Utah convened Jan. 10, 1927, at noon. Alonzo B. Irvine, of Salt Lake, was reelected president of the senate,* and Samuel M. Jorgensen, Salina, speaker of the house. The Catholic bishop, John J. Mitty, was invited to offer prayer. Chief Justice Samuel R. Thurman, of the supreme court administered the oath. In the house the members were sworn in by Justice James W. Cherry. The automobile death-rate in Salt Lake City in 1925 was higher than in any other of the cities in the United States, except Camden, N. J., and Hart- ford, Conn. The percentage of persons killed here during the year, accord- ing to figures made public by the U. S. department of commerce, was 32.1 per 100,000. In Chicago the percentage was 21.5 per 100,000 and in New York 18. Denver had the lowest percentage with 13.2. The recent Biennial Report of the Utah Agricultural Experiment Station is just off the press. It contains many problems of major importance both to the farmers and homemakers of the state. This report, known as Utah Experiment Station Bulletin No. 198, and prepared by Director William Peterson, covers the activities of the Station for the 18-month period from January 1, 1925, to July 1. 1926. Copies free at Logan, Utah. Secretary of State Kellogg, on Jan. 12, in a statement to the foreign relations committee of the Senate, showed that the soviet leaders in Russia, according to their own public utterances, regarded Mexico and Central America as points of vantage, from which to assail the "imperialism" of the United States, and that the proceedings of communist conferences, both in Russia and the United States, proved revolutionary designs on this country. The value of the crops of Utah for 1926 is estimated at $35,000,000. This is considerably less than the value of the crops for 1925, which was $50,000,000. But it is more than the total for 1924, which was only $33,000,000. The leading crop is hay, valued at $14,370,000. Wheat comes next, with $5,772,000. The potato crop is valued at $2,588,000. The sugar beets at $2,454,000, and the alfalfa seed at $2,338,000, which is about half of the yield for 1925. State Senator LeRoy Dixon died, Dec. 28, 1926, at his home in Provo, following an illness of five weeks. At that time he was operated upon

392 IMPROVEMENT ERA after the extraction of a tooth, but it was evident to the physicians that the end would soon come. He was born in Provo, Oct. 16, 1881, the son of Henry Aldous and Sarah DeGrey Dixon. He was elected to the state senate in 1922, and re-elected at the last election. In 1906-08 he labored in the British mission. He has served in the Provo city council six years, from 1911, and was then elected mayor twice. President Coolidge sent a special message to congress, Jan. 10, 1926, explaining the government's policy in Nicaragua. He said he was acting in harmony with the declared policy of the Central American republics, not to recognize a government that has been established by revolutionary methods. That is the reason, he says, why we recognize president Diaz, and not the claims of Sacasa, who is in exile. That is also the reason why American marines have been landed, to prevent "outside" influence from interfering Besides, there are Americans residing in Nicaragua, who must be protected. Henry W. hunt, former state senator and member of the state road commission, died at his home in Cedar City, Utah, Dec. 26, after an illness that extended over several weeks. Mr. Lunt was born in Cedar City, Jan. 25, 1863, the son of Henry Lunt and Mary Ann Wilson Lunt, who had gone to Cedar City the year before to found that colony, the elder Lunt having been placed in charge of the colonization work there. As a boy and a young man he spent his life in the open, chiefly following the range, and many were the interesting stories he could tell of life in Utah in that era. Robert W. Sloan passed away, Dec. 27, 1926, on his way to a hospital He had been ill for some time. On Christmas day he visited the graves at Logan of two sons, and the effort seemed to be too much for him. He came to this country from Ireland, when he was eight years old. He ob- tained employment at the Salt Lake Herald, when that paper was started, and remained in its employ for years. ,In 1889-90 he filled a mission for the Church in Great Britain. In 1897-8 he was a member of the legis- lature. 'About five years ago he went to San Francisco. He was widely known, affectionately, as "Bob" Sloan. A severe earthquake was felt, Dec. 18, 1926, at Lisbon, Portugal. It was accompanied by subterranean noises. The waters of the Tagus river rose considerably and soon the surface was covered with thousands of fish. Cafes, theatres and business houses were hurriedly vacated. The facade of the central railway station was cracked from top to base. Trains were delayed several hours while a thorough examination was made of the tunnels. Another shock occurred at 6 o'clock next morning, many buildings being badly shaken. Two shocks were felt at Ventura, Cal., Dec. 19, at 1 :05 and 2:45 a. m., respectively. No damage was reported. The voice of the pope, Pius XI, was heard Dec. 20, 1926, in an address, or allocution, as they call it in Rome, before a "secret" consistory. Accord- ing to the published accounts, the pontiff denounced in unmeasured terms the Mexican government on account of the "persecution" that has been "rag- ing" there "with inhuman ferocity" for months. "We have been informed," his holiness said, "that venerable bishops have been torn from their sees, the government concentrating, incarcerating and even killing pious ec- clesiastics and slaughtering the unarmed faithful praying before the ven- erated sanctuary of the most holy Virgin." And yet, president Calles is, as far as known, a member of the Catholic church. Mr. Briand sends a Christmas message to the American press, in which he denies the truth of the old adage that the best way to preserve the peace is to prepare for war. He points out that France and Germany now, for the first time in history, are cooperating for the preservation of peace, and then

PASSING EVENTS 3 93 adds: "Like Dr. Stresemann and Foreign Secretary Chamberlain, I am convinced that the year 1927 will see a new spirit and a new conception of international affairs more widely spread through the minds of the peoples, and then there will be really something changed in the destinies of humanity. No other people can associate itself in mind and heart more earnestly in the realization of such a hope." The school land question has, evidently, found its solution. The U. S. house of representatives, on Jan. 17. 1927, passed unanimously the bill, giving to the states all school sections, mineral as well as non-mineral. The bill bore the number and name of the Jones bill, which, in more gen- eral terms, had passed the senate last session. The house committee struck out all after the enacting clause of the Jones bill, substituted the language prepared by Secretary Work, and, by unanimous consent, the senate now can concur in the house amendment and the bill will be on its way to the president for signature. Senator Smoot thinks this procedure will be followed, and Senator Jones of New Mexico, author of the original bill, is entirely satisfied with the Work bill. The Utah State Society of Long Beach, California, recently plarited a tree in honor of President Brigham Young, at a flag celebration there. The Utah flag was carried by David Armstrong, a boy .scout formerly of Salt Lake City, now of 260 Ausota Avenue, Long Beach. For the first time in the history of the nation, speakers said, forty colorful flags were un- furled to the breeze at the tree-planting exercises, held at Recreation Park, under the auspices of the Federation of States Society. There were flags from Wales, Scotland, Canada and France. Following the flag display eighty- five trees were set out in Federation Drive. Each tree represented either one of the presidents of the United States, or an illustrious deceased man or woman of the various states, territories and countries having societies in Long Beach affiliated with the federation. David K. Udall, St. Johns, Arizona, former president of the stake, has been appointed president of the Arizona temple at Mesa, Arizona, the an-i nouncement being made by the First Presidency on Tuesday, Dec. 8. President Udall is one of the foremost pioneers of Northern Arizona, having taken a. prominent part in the development of that part of the state. President Udall was formerly of Nephi, and moved to Kanab in 1878, following a mission to England. In 1880 he was called by President John Taylor to become bishop of St. Johns, serving in that capacity for seven years, and following that was made president of the stake, in which office he served for thirty-five years, until the stake was reorganized in 1922, when he was ordained a patriarch. He was a member of the Twentieth Arizona Territorial Legislature and a member of the Highway Commission of that state, and for forty-five years has been engaged in carrying United States mails. The sugar manufacturing business is in its early stages of dcve'op- ment in Great Britain, where the climate and soil appear to be favorable for beet culture. Mr. Thomas R. Cutler, the engineer in charge, accompanied by seven others, residents of Utah and Idaho, among them Lewis W. Drake, Burley; Norman Drake, Burley; Claude W. Cawley and Frank Martin, Ogden; Archie Roberts, Hooper; Richard Young, Providence; and Henry Thomas, Lehi, have been engaged by the Central Sugar Company, Ltd., a British institution, to aid in the efforts to establish the sugar industry in England, where they are building a new sugar factory in Peterborough. These Americans, who, by the bye, are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, have won the high esteem of the men laboring under them, and they have been employed because of their proficiency and the

3 94 IMPROVEMENT ERA success of the industry in Utah and Idaho. Their methods will therefore be introduced in Great Britain. President and Mrs. Heber J. Grant spent two weeks of January visiting in California. They went from Salt Lake to Cedar City, Utah, where they attended the funeral services for President Henry W. Lunt. From Cedar City, they went by automobile to Lund, and thence by train, in company with Mr. and Mrs. David P. Howells, to Los Angeles, remaining there a week. On January 2, President Grant attended the Sunday school in the Adams ward, and the services in the Huntington Park ward the same even- ing. The Sunday following, January 9, he was present at the conference meeting of the missionaries in the morning; in the afternoon he attended the services in the Home Gardens ward, and there dedicated a new meeting house; and in the evening dedicated a new meeting house in the Lankershim ward. The President spent some time visiting with friends and at golf, and returned home feeling well, after a most delightful trip. He reports a very encourag- ing and satisfactory growth in the Los Angeles stake and the California mission during the last year. Ex-empress Marie Charlotte, widow of Maximilian, the ill-fated pre- tender who was killed in Mexico in 1867, died at Brussels, Jan. 19, 1927, of pneumonia, 86 years old. With her death, one of the most tragic char- acters makes her exit from the stage of history. She was married, when only 17 years of age, to Maximilian, the Austrian archduke, and they lived for a short time a most romantic life. Then, Napoleon III was induced, probably by papal influence, to invade Mexico in support of the clerical party, and Maximilian was induced to head the expedition and to proclaim himself emperor. His young wife, it is said, urged him on to this enterprise against the struggle for liberty in Mexico. But he lost out, and when Charlotte saw that the fatal end was approaching, she hastened to Europe and im- plored Napoleon, and other potentates, and finally the pope, not to aban- don their tool in the hands of the Mexican liberals. But her appeals were all in vain. In fact, they were powerless to save the man whom they had help- ed on to destruction. And, finally, after her fruitless humiliation before the pope, she is said to have lost her reason, and was found wandering the streets of Rome, babbling incoherently. She has been tenderly cared for all these years, first by her brother Leopold II, and then by the present Belgian royal family. The tragic end of all concerned in the Maximilian invasion of Mexico is a striking testimony to the truth of the prophetic utterance in the Book of Mormon, which positively states, that "he that raiseth up a king against me shall perish," (2 Nephi 10:14.) That is just what Napoleon's attempt in Mexico was. It was an effort against liberty and in favor of despotism, particularly clerical. Napoleon was captured by the Germans, Sept. 1, 18 70, and died in exile. Maximilian was killed by his enemies, abandoned by his "friends," June 19, 1867, and his wife lost her reason. Bazaine, with 170,000 men, 6,000 officers and 3 marshals, surrendered Metz to the Germans, for which in 1873 he was sentenced to death as a traitor, the sentence, however, being commuted to imprisonment. He fled to Spain and died in exile. As for Pius IX, he lost every vestige of political power when the Sardinians occupied Rome in 1870, and caused his holiness to consider himself a captive in the Vatican.