--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 30 number: 5 published: 1927-03 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: "Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations, “Passing Events,” *Improvement Era* 30, no. 5 (March 1927): 483–486." source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera3005unse 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: improvementera3005unse start_page: 483 end_page: 486 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1927-03) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera3005unse publication_year: 1927 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 1927, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Passing Events (Passing Event Five days for labor was predicted Feb. 13, at a social dinner in New York, by Frank Morrison, secretary of the American Federation of Labor. The banquet was given by typographers in honor of Charles P. Howard, of Chicago, president of the International Typographical Union. The total population of the United States according to estimates pub- lished Feb. 1, 1927, is now 118,628,000, as compared to -105,710,620 in 1920. The population of Utah is placed at 522.000; Idaho, 534,000; Arizona, 459,000; Nevada, 77,407; Colorado, 1,074,000; California, 4,433,000; Montana, 714,000, and Wyoming 241,000. The Manchurian war lord, Marshal Chan Tso-Lin, is reported as successfully sweeping southward on Hankow. On Feb. 15, he was reported to have taken possession of all territory north of the Yellow river. It is said that the uncertain attitude of Marshal Wu Pei-Fu in the province of Honan has made the Chinese civil war a three-cornered affair. The first Canadian minister to the United States, Vincent Massey, left Toronto for Washington on Feb. 14, 1927. The secretarial staff is as follows: First secretary, Laurent Beaudry, of Quebec City, formerly of the prime minister's secretariat; Hume Wrong, of the University of Toronto; A. Stone of Chatham, Ont., and M. Mahoney, the present Canadian rep- resentative at Washington. Trade relations between prehistoric Indians of the Columbia River valley and distant groups existed, according to evidences brought to light recently. Among the objects found in the valley are Catlinite pipes from Minnesota and the southwestern pueblo regions; abalone shell charms from Alaska; haliotis shells from southern California, and dentarium beads from the Pacific Coast. The artifacts are now in the Smithsonian Institution. They were found by Mr. Kreiger, curator of ethnology at the National Museum. The British parliament was opened Feb. 8. The king, in his speech from the throne, dealt largely with the Chinese difficulty and emphasized Great Britain's '"traditional policy of non-interference in the internal affairs of China." Premier Baldwin declared that the government was still deter- mined to land troops in Shanghai "for the protection of British lives." In the event, however, of the danger of civil strife, affecting the Shanghai district passing entirely away, the necessity of such a landing would no longer exist. The victims of automobiles in seventy-eight cities in the United States were 473 during the first four weeks of the present year, according to a report to the Commerce Department, Washington, published February 13, 1927. Fatal accidents in the seventy-eight cities where the count is kept, are said to have declined materially since last fall, the largest number of persons having been killed in the four weeks ending November 6, when the total was 676. Most of the deaths occurred in the city streets, though a number of fatalities on highways were reported. The question of the membership of the United States in the World court remains where it was before the present session of Congress. On Feb. 9, 1927, Senator Trammell, of Florida, urged the consideration of a resolution that the ratification previously passed be rescinded, but the proposition was promptly shelved. Our government is still waiting for replies from the gov- ernments that are interested in the permanent court of international justice, and it is not impossible that a way to co-operation may still be found, pro- vided that is what the great powers really desire. Joseph M. Anderson, president and manager of the Morgan Canning Company, passed away in his home in Logan. Utah. Feb. 15, 1927, of 484 IMPROVEMENT ERA high blood pressure which culminated in a paralytic stroke. Mr. Anderson and his brother, James Anderson, who died not long ago, were the founders of the Morgan Canning Co. He moved to Logan in 1916. He was born in Peterson on May 1, 1872. He was educated in the Morgan county schools and later in the Brigham Young College. In Morgan he was active in Church duties, also a member of the Mutual board of the Cache stake at the time of his death. Civil war is raging in Nicaragua between the Conservatives and Liberals. A battle was in progress, Feb. 8, 1927, in the town of Chinandega, sixty miles from Managua. General Parajon was in command of the liberals, while General Viguez commanded conservative forces. On Feb. 13, the Con- servatives were reported to have 4000 troops in Matagalpa territory and the Liberals little more than 2000. Three hundred additional troops were sent from Managua, F«b. 12, for Matagalpa. toward which the Liberal Gen- eral Parajon is reported to be heading. Parajon has plenty of ammunition, which he captured at Chinandega where the Conservatives had an ammunition depot. The Conservative General Gomez is in command of the forces which expected to engage in battle with the Liberals. Wm. D. Riter, a prominent Salt Lake attorney, passed away in Washington, D. C, Jan. 18, 1927. He was a son of W. W. Riter and Susan Denton Riter, born Aug. 10, 1874, in Salt Lake City. Following his graduation from Columbia in 1897 with the degree of LL. B., he made arrangements to enter private practice, but dropped them to enlist in the Utah artillery, then forming for service in the Spanish- American war.. Mr. Riter ,was appointed an assistant jUnited States attorney general April 15, 1921, and held this post until Jnauary 15, 1924, when he resigned to take up private practice in Washington, D. C, in association with Francis G. Matson, also of Salt Lake. He is survived by his widow, formerly Miss Lennie Louise Savage of Salt Lake, to whom he was married in 1901, and by three children, Virginia, Helen Louise and Denton Savage Riter. Expensive funeral rites for the late Emperor Yoshihito, 123rd rular of Japan, were held Feb. 7, 1927. The emperor died last Christmas day. but the body has been in the imperial palace since that day. On the date men- tioned the casket with its contents was started on its way to the Shinjuku gardens for the religious ceremonies preceding the burial. With night swiftly falling, the procession, made up of 9,000 persons, ranging from mourning royalty to police officials, took a shadowy appearance. A million Japanese crouched on their heels along the four-mile route of the procession with their heads bowed in prayer as the catafalque moved from the imperial palace. The muffled booming of distant cannon added to the impressiveness of the spectacle — the most costly event of its kind in the history of the timeless Orient. More than 4,500,00 yen ($2,500,000) was spent for the cere- monies. Several changes in the Iritual of the Church pf England are proposed, as permissible, by the house of bishops, as published Feb. 7, 1927. The proposal were presented at a convocation of the synods of the English church — those of Canterbury and York. Among changes proposed is the elimination of the word "obey"' from the marriage service. Other changes contemplated include: shortening of morning and evening prayer, the op- tional use of the Athanasian creed, increased prayers of thanksgiving, per- mission for extempore prayer by priests at the end of the services, direction for the use of vestments in the communion services, "softening of the com- mination service," which proclaims the anger of God against the impenitent, and removal of the word "curses" and the inclusion of prayers for the "faithful departed" in the burial service. The proposed changes will be carried out if they are approved by the present convocation, by the house of bishops in March and by the national assembly in July. Limitation of the naval strength of nations is the subject of a note which President Coolidge, Feb. 10, 1927, sent to Great Britain, France, Italy and Japan, suggesting that their governments empower their delegates PASSING EVENTS 485 at the forthcoming meeting of the preparatory commission for the disarma- ment conference at Geneva to negotiate and conclude an agreement supple- menting the Washington treaty of 1921, on that subject. Congress, in a special message was notified of the action taken by the president. The note seems to have come as a surprise to all interested, but it has been received favorably both at home and abroad. Even the pope is prompted to laud America's "magnificent world leadership in favor of peace." Mussolini could not say anything, until he had studied the note carefully. In London public opinion seems to hesitate between hope for success and fear that the difficulties at present are insurmountable. Experts at Geneva believe that if the conference materializes, France and Italy will follow the lead of the United States and accept with "reservations." Later it has developed that France and Italy do not favor such a conference. A plague of mice was reported by residents of the lowlands of Kern county, Cal., Jan. 19, 1927, and a call for expert aid against the invasion was issued by farmers of the stricken region. It seems that the mice have been driven out of Buena Vista lake bed, where sheep had consumed everything that could be eaten, whereupon the mice began an emigration en masse to other feeding grounds, devouring or dstroying everything on their route of march, even the clothes of the people. Thousands upon thousands have been killed by poisoned grain or poison gas, but the supply seems to be inexhaustible. They have multiplied rapidly, because their national enemies, such as coyotes, wildcats, hawks, etc., have been almost exterminated. It is said that hawks and owls and even wild ducks, by the thousands, have come from afar and joined in the war upon the pests. The seriousness of the peril may be judged from the report that the invaders were swarming over oil derricks in the Kern oil fields in such numbers as to make it necessary to cease all activities there, for the time being. Through a gas explosion, six persons were killed and many injured, on Jan. 26, 1927, near Turner, Idaho, in a hall used by the Latter-day Saints as a recreation hall as well as a place of worship. A basketball game was in progress between teams from Turner and Central, and quite a crowd had gathered to witness the performance. During the play the lights went out, and someone went down into the basement to investigate the cause of it. Somebody lighted a match. An explosion occurred. The walls at the rear end of the building fell out, and the plaster ceiling fell on the assembled crowd. There was a rush for the front exit, and most of those in the building had made their way out to safety when the front walls of the structure also gave way. Several of the dead bodies and the injured were found around the entrance. The dead are: T. James M'Cann, rancher of Turner and custodian of the hall; Brigham M'Cann, his brother, also a rancher; two children of James M'Cann; Elmer Anderson, of Central, basketball player and Irel D. Lowe, Central, also a member of the team. "Oocytin" is the name of a substance which starts the development of germs of life, already lying dormant in an egg, according to an announcement by Dr. Guy W. Clark and Dr. Paul W. Sharp of the biochemistry depart- ment at the University of California. The substance is extracted from the blood of various animals, and it is claimed for it that it has the power of fertilizing and producing new individuals from the egg of the common sea urchin. However, not to be misunderstood, the doctors stress the fact that the question has nothing to do with the development of life chemically, but merely acts as a spark or trigger-pull to start the life processes into the development of individual animals from the egg. The origin of life is as much of a mystery as ever, as far as science is concerned. Dr. Clark says that "these chemically started animals have not lived more than two or three days. There seems to be something lacking in the physical or mechanical means of carrying out the fertilization that causes their death after the formation of membrane has well begun and the normal process of development seemingly set going." A dag of disaster was Feb. 16, 1927. The worst storm in the records 486 IMPROVEMENT ERA of the Pacific Coast visited that part of the country, leaving death and destruction in its wake. 'More than 500 residents, the reports say, were driven from their homes at Long Beach by flood waters. The greatest tragedy was reported from the mountain camp of the Southern California Edison Company, 75 miles from Fresno, where 1 1 persons were killed in an avalanche. From Jugoslavia came reports of disastrous seismic dis- turbances., "Earthquake has followed earthquake," the message from Bel- grade said, since the first shocks early Sunday rocked a large though sparsely populated section of the country. Many buildings were destroyed at Ljubine in the province of Herzegovina, and the number of dead at that place alone was estimated at a hundred. Snowslides in the vicinity of Price, Carbon county, Utah, were responsible for three deaths and several injuries. The dead are Gus Goodart, 65, mine foreman of Latuda, Utah; Moroni Mower, 30, stable boss at the Latuda camp; Dan Grundvig, 40, miner of Wattis, Utah. On the same day, Prof. Bendandi's observatory at Faenza, Italy, registered a "catastrophic earthquake," estimated at 5,270 miles distant, and the U. S. weather bureau seismograph at the University of Chicago registered earthquakes over a period of nearly five hours, ending at 12:35 a. m., at a distance of about 8,500 miles from Chicago. Justice J. E. Frick passed away Feb. 12, 1927, at the home of his son in Los Angeles, where he had gone for his health. With his death, Utah loses one of her prominent citizens, and the bar one of its most distinguished members. Justice Frick was born Aug. 6, 1848, in Tiffin, Ohio, of German parentage. On July 8, 1897, he came to Salt Lake City. Here he engaged in the private practice of law until 1906, when he was elected to the supreme court for the regular six year term, and in 1912 he was re-elected to succeed himself for a second six year term. On the expiration of his term, he retired from the position, but former Gov. Simon Bamberger, recognizing his quali- fications for the office, appointed him to the bench again to fill the vacancy left by the death of Judge William McCarty in 1913. Again in 1920, Judge Frick was chosen for the supreme bench for the regular ten-year term and with the exception of a few vacations taken on account of illness, he remained at the work until his death. During this lengthy service on the supreme bench, Judge Frick has written the opinions and taken part in most important litigation coming before the supreme court of Utah. Gov. George H. Dern: "I have known and admired Judge Frick ever since my boyhood, and in his death, I have lost a dear personal friend," the governor said. "The state of Utah has lost one of its most distinguished citizens, whose brilliant work as a justice of our supreme court is recognized by every member of the bar. He was an encyclopedia of legal knowledge, was possessed of a rare judicial temperament and was a tireless worker. The service he has ren- dered on the supreme bench will stand as a lasting monument to his memory. He was a man of most kindly and genial disposition, warm-hearted and and sympathetic and those who knew him best were his staunchest friends." Judge Samuel R. Thurman. chief justice of the supreme court: "My association with Judge Frick began in May, 1917, and our relations ever since have been close and intimate. I have found him to be companionable in the highest degree. We had our differences of opinion at times in official matters, but never was there anything disagreeable in our relations. The supreme court relied on Judge Frick very much because of his long experience on the bench and especially on account of his familiarity with former decisions of this court. In the absence of a suitable digest of these decisions, his knowledge in that respect was invaluable to all of his associates. He was remarkable in his capacity for work, always on the job when his health permitted which was nearly all of the time. When he went to Los Angeles, Judge Frick had finished his work as far as it was assigned to him and so it may be said that his work is finished in the supreme court of Utah. Members 'of the bar all realize his great service on the bench and our loss in his passing."