--- 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: 8 published: 1927-06 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: "Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations, “Editor’s Table,” *Improvement Era* 30, no. 8 (June 1927): 741–743." source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera3008unse 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: improvementera3008unse start_page: 741 end_page: 743 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1927-06) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera3008unse 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. --- # Editor’s Table Editors ^Tahle Responsibility The early elders of the Church were commanded, as one of their first duties, to open their mouths at all times to declare the gospel of Jesus Christ to a crooked and perverse generation, with the sound of rejoicing and as with the voice of a trump. The elders were to learn of Christ and do their best to save souls and to be meek and lowly in heart. It can truthfully be said that from the time of the first call ot the Prophet Joseph Smith, and later the call to others by revelation in 1830, up to the present day, this command of the Lord to his servants has been faithfully fulfilled. They have been given power to lay the foundations of this Church and to bring it, the only true and living Church of God upon the face of the whole earth, out of obscurity and darkness. That the injunction is still faithfully complied with is apparent from the statements made in the late annual conference that, since 1830, up to the present time, forty thousand missionaries or more have gone out in fulfilment of this behest. It has cost the Church members, to comply with this commandment to preach the gospel, more than one hundred twenty-five million dollars. 'In this respect, we appear to have done our duty and shall without doubt continue to do so. Another important duty enjoined upon the people is to watch over and to protect and train the gathered converts and their children in the ways of the Lord. Can the Saints show as- much personal sacrifice, fulfilment of duty, and interest, in this commandment as in the one to preach the (gospel to all the world? We believe many can, as witness the persistent work of our quorums and auxiliary or- ganizations, but some are delinquent. The Lord has ordered that it should be a law unto the inhabitants of Zion and in her organized stakes, that the Saints should teach their children, in the home, faith in God and in his son Jesus Christ, and the doctrine of repentance and baptism and the laying on of hands that they might receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. They are also to teach their children to pray, to walk uprightly before the Lord, to keep holy the Sabbath day, to pay a tenth of their increase to build up the Church, to observe the laws of health, and to remember their labors in all faithfulness. If not so, the sin will be upon the heads of the parents. One of the speakers at the late annual conference, Elder Stephen L. Richards, called attention to the need of interpreting the gospel, 742 IMPROVEMENT ERA its wonderful vitality and import, in the language of youth, owing to the marvelous changes that have come in the past few years in the physical world, in education, and in the ways of thought. The gospel is the most valuable thing that can come to them. It will touch their hearts if it can but be unfolded to their minds aright. Living the gospel by those who teach it is the great need of the hour. Parents, and men holding the Priesthood, must show the meaning of the gospel to their children and to the negligent and wayward by living it. Elder Richards called attention to the fact that our obligations to teach and unfold the gospel to the people, who in some measure at least have departed from the faith, is of equal importance to its proclamation abroad to the nations of the earth. He made a very strong appeal to those who preside over the stakes, the missions, and the wards of the Church, and who administer in its various organiza- tions-, to do all that lies in their power to reach this multitude of good people who are worth reclaiming, and in whose blood courses the tendency to faith which comes from good ancestry. There is no doubt that the gospel message would touch them if it could but be interpreted in the language of youth and in terms which they could understand. It need only be added that one of the important ways of inter- preting the gospel to the children, and to wayward, indifferent people, or to youth who have been educated in our schools in modern infidel thought, is by example. The effective way is by strictly living up to the requirements that are made, in the commandments of the Lord, of parents and those who hold the Priesthood, because they are largely responsible for the conduct of the indifferent youths who are scattered throughout the stakes of Zion in the wards of the Church, and who do not think and feel quite as the faithful think and feel. It is difficult, if not impossible, to give effective interpretation of the gospel that will appeal to this' class, except as it shall come to them through the practical works of people who are living their religion. Herein lies our awful responsibility. — A. Books Through the Heart of the Scenic West, by J. Cecil Alter, Sheppard Book Company, Salt Lake City, Utah, 221 pages, sixty-five illustrations, thirty-three full-page plates. In this very attractive travel narrative, containing a short story of the older parks and an interesting and informative review of each of the newer resorts in Southern Utah, the author of James Bridger, A Historical Narrative, has given a splendid guide to the traveler. It is not written by one who has not seen and experienced, but by an author who writes with authority and with inspiring enthusiasm from personal knowledge. To his own in- formation the author has added traditional and historical matter, giving a new and marvelous conception of the wonders of Utah lying north and northwest of the Grand Canyon of Arizona. Tourists making the rounds of this wonderful scenery will find in this book just what is needed to make the scenery more interesting than even its wonderful self. EDITORS' TABLE 743 Latter-day Saint Hymns. — A new book for choirs and adult congre- gations is just issued. It contains 419 songs with music, among them many of the old favorites, and numerous new poems with music added, Price $1 postpaid, Deseret Book Company. Der Weg-Weisec, No. 2, the wonderful quarterly published by the Swiss- German and the German-Austrian missions, is received. It contains the outlines of the studies presented to the Priesthood, the Sunday school, Mutual Im- provement associations and other organizations in those missions. Besides the programs, it contains several literary productions of great value to missionaries and to readers in general. It includes 163 pages of matter. It Is a credit to the missions and should be a great help to those who are studying in the various organizations in those countries. Changes in Mission Presidents It was announced during the Ninety-seventh Annual Conference of the Church, by President Heber J. Grant, that Elder H. H. Rolapp had been appointed as president of the Eastern States mission, Elder B. H. Roberts, who has labored there for about five years, being honorably released. William R. Sloan had been appointed president of the Northwestern States mission, vice B. S. Young, honorably released. Chas. H. Hart had been appointed president of the Canadian mission, vice John Quinney, Jr.. honorably re- leased. Save the Trees Come out in the royal esplanade, Away from the halls of ease, And join in the Infinite Crusade, Come out and save the trees! Look up from your vague philosophies — The cults you immortalize. And. amid God's dynasty of trees. Come out and evangelize, Where the timbered billows, verse on verse, Unfold like a cantoed thing. And in ritual of the Universe. The Stars of the Morning sing ! Where the forests holy with parables Transcend all priestly sect, And the ozone brewed into syllables Entones His scriptural text; Away from the cant of church and state, And the tenet of lordly rule — Come out and join God's consulate. And stand in his vestibule. Look up from your codex cynical. From your party policies, And join your hand to the miracle — Come out and save the trees. Come out on the stark, denuded rim, And pledge to the centuries: Lift up your voice in the battle-hymn. Come out and save the trees! Mesa. Arizona. BERTHA A. KLEINMAN.