Passing Events

EVENT ji The first honor in the international high school oratorical contest, at Washington, D. C, was awarded to Senior Arturo Garcia Fer- menti, of Mexico City, October 14. 1927. Miss Dorothy Carlson of Salt Lake City, who won the first prize in the national contest, held fourth place this time. The Mexican won not only in the opinion of the judges, but in the manifest opinion of the assemblage of 6000 or more who crowded the Washing- ton auditorium to hear the final contest. He spoke before diplomats from all the countries participating: cabinet officers and their wives; countless government officials and eastern edu- cators— an audience, in fact, in which high school students constituted a minority. Two French arviators. Diedonne Cotes and Joseph Lebrix, cross the Atlantic, from Le Bourget field, Paris, to Port Natal. Brazil. They left France Oct. 10. arrived in St. Louis, Senegal, the following day. Here they were delayed by rain until Oct. 14. They left here at 6:23 a. m. on that day and landed in Port Natal at 1 1 :40 p. m. From Port Natal they intend proceeding to Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires. Ruth Elder and George Haldeman, who left Roosevelt field, N. Y., October 11, 1927, for Paris, in the airplane. "American Girl," ended their flight, Oct. 13. when the plane was forced down in the Atlantic by a broken oil pipe. The fliers were picked up by the S. S. Barindreckt, but the machine was lost. They had traveled about 3,000 miles and had 800 more to make. And thus it has again been demonstrated that transatlantic flying is not yet a practical undertaking. The American Federation of Labor wants beer, judging from a resolution passed by the conference of that organization in Los Angeles, Oct. 11, 1927. The action was taken in the adoption of a report of the resolutions com- mittee favoring concurrence in the recommen- dation of the executive council for the sale of "wholesome" beer. A deafening roar of "ayes" the report says, greeted this proposition, but nothing was said about what percentage intoxicating poison beer must have to be "wholesome." General Kouachevitch was assassinated at Istip, Jugoslavia, Oct. 6. 1927. He is said to have been the best strategist in the Jugo- slavian army, and his death is charged to Bul- arian intrigues. The newspapers demand war against Bulgaria. General Kovachevitch was one of Serbia's most noted soldiers. He founded a troop of legionnaires during the war for service abroad, In 1903 he participated in the revolt in which King Alexander and Queen Draga of Serbia were assassinated. He also fought in the Turkish-Bulgarian wars and was in prison. He had been in command of the twenty-first infantry regiment at Skoplje lately. For social work. Judge Hugo B. Anderson was re-elected president of the Utah Confer- ence of Social Work at the concluding session of their annual meeting Oct. 5, 1927, at the Newhouse hotel. Other officers re-elected were: Miss Kate Williams, first vice president; Miss Elizabeth McMechcn. second vice president, and Mrs. Amy Brown Lyman, secretary-treasurer. New directors chosen at the meeting were Judge Samuel Stewart. Mrs. A. F. Palm and R. N. Young. The holdover board members are B. H. Robinson. Dr. Arthur L. Beeley, Mrs. Ada Griswold of Ogden and F. J. McGanney. President Paul von Hindenburg, of Ger- many, celebrated the eightieth anniversary of his birthday on October 2, 1927, with old- time military delirium. Among the deputa- tions that waited on him was one headed by Chancellor Marx. In his reply he expressed the hope that Germans would unite in "respect for the opinion of others, for honorable new methods and for glorious past traditions." The papal nuncio, Mgr. Pacelli. conveyed the felicitations of the diplomatic corps. Revolution has broken out in Mexico. Ac- cording to the reports. Gen Francisco Serrano, a rival of Pres. Calles. and thirteen of his fol- lowers, were captured on Oct. 4, 1927, and shot to death 'almost immediately. Gen. Arnulfo R. Gomez, another political rival of the president, was reported captured on Oct. 5. From Nogalez. Ariz., reports, published Oct. 5. were to the effect that rioting had taken place in the City of Mexico, that nine states were in throes of revolt, and that a great many had fallen in street battles in many places. Gen. Obregon is said to have pledged the full weight of his influence in support of Pres. Calles in crushing the revolt. It remains to be seen to what extent this turmoil is due to the anti-Catholic crusade of the present Mexican government. The revolution in Mexico is ended, accord- ing to an announcement from the City of Mexico. Oct. 10, 1927. It was then barely a week old, but during that time the Calles government has caused 1 8 generals and 64 of the followers to be put to death, and marked a number of others for the same fate. Telephone connection between Washington and the City of Mexico was opened Sept. 29. 1927. by Pres. Coolidge and Pres. Calles ex- rhanging compliments over the wire. Speak-

IMPROVEMENT ERA ing into an instrument in the Hall of Americas of the Pan-American Union building, Mr. Coolidge assured the Mexican executive that he was deeply impressed with the engineering skill that had linked the two capitals, and Mr. Calks replied that he hoped the event marked a new era of good will and mutual understand- ing in which needless differences would be set aside. Neither president could understand the other, because Mr. Coolidge speaks no Spanish and the Mexican executive scarcely any English, but their remarks, later translated, were carried along the wire as clearly as if they had been conversing in the same city. A destructive tornado hit St. Louis, Sept. 29, 1927, with the result that 69 persons are reported dead, perhaps 1,000 injured, and property damaged to the value of $75,000,- 000. According to the estimate of the Globe Democrat, 5,000 buildings were demolished or damaged. With telephone service demoral- ized, it took the city several minutes to learn what had happened. The news of the tor- nado was flashed over the city by radio, and mothers in parts of the city unvisited by the storm were in terror as they awaited word from the schools in the tornado district. The twister was accompanied by a terrific rain which added to the desolation. Houses and factories were crumpled in many places like toys. The village of Rudy, in the Boston mountains, in Arkansas, was partly demolished by a tornado the same day. Of the thirty-five houses and business houses that sheltered Rudy's 150 residents, only the Frisco railway depot, five stores and half a dozen dwellings remained intact. Among structures demolished was the Baptist church. Fourteen homes were leveled, while a barn and blacksmith shop were scat- tered over a wide area. A special celebration was held on the hill Cumorah, Sept. 22. 1927, in memory of the uncovering of the Book of Mormon plates. Sept. 22, 1827, by the Angel Moroni, and their delivery to Joseph Smith for translation and publication. President Heber J. Grant, Mrs. Grant, and their daughter. Mrs. Anna G. Midgley. were among the attendants. Pres. Henry H. Rolapp. of the Eastern States mis- sion, presided. The opening prayer was of- fered by Pres. Brigham H. Roberts. The speakers were Pres. Charles H. Hart, Pres. John H. Taylor, of the Northern States mission. Pres. Brigham H. Roberts and Pres. Heber J. Grant. Major Howard Bennion offered the benediction. The same afternoon a meeting was held in the sacred grove, near the home of Joseph Smith. The speakers there were Pres. Henry H. Rolapp. Pres. Brigham H. Roberts and Pres. Heber J. Grant. On the journey President Heber J. Grant held meetings in Springfield, St. Joseph and Kansas City. Mo., and in each of these places a meetinghouse was dedicated. The President and party visited Chicago, Sept. 24, on which occasion an addi- tion to the Northern States mission head- quarters was dedicated. On Sept. 25 the President attended Sunday school at the Logan Square branch. In the evening he addressed the audience attending the services, when the hall was filled to overflowing. Willard Ande- lin, one of Utah's celebrated singers, rendered a solo. The Presidential party arrived home on Wednesday. Sept. 28. Mrs. Mary Elvira Truelson Winter, wife of Mr. Arthur Winter, secretary of the Church offices, passed away, Sept. 19, 1927, at a local hospital, following a surgical operation. She was born in Salt Lake, March 5, 1883, and was married to Mr. Winter in 1925. They lived at 229 C street. Mrs. Winter is sur- vived by her husband, a sister, Mrs. Harold Best of Riverton, and two brothers, Arthur O. Truelson and Orson T. Truelson of Salt Lake. Mrs. Lulu Ormsby Coff, wife of Harold Goff, managing editor of the Deseret News, passed away at her home in Salt Lake City, Sept. 20, 1927. For twelve years she has been suffering from heart trouble. Her de- parture at this time was all the more pathetic, because her husband was in Europe, where he went with a group of editors, the guests of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Mrs. Goff was born in Logan. Utah. April 9, 1889, the daughter of Doctor and Mrs. O. C. Ormsby. She was married to Mr. Goff in the Salt Lake Temple in 1911. Four years later she suffered a heart attack, from which she never fully recovered. President von Hmdenburg of Germany, on Sept. 18, 1927, expressed his views on the war guilt, in an address on the occasion of the unveiling of a monument in commemoration of the battle of Tannenberg in August, 1914. He said in part: The war. with all the ter- rible sacrifices it demanded from the whole country, was an extreme measure resorted to in the preservation of our existence against a host of enemies. With clean hearts we marched out to defend the fatherland. With clean hands the German army wielded the sword. Germany is ready at any moment to prove this fact before impartial judges." This is, no doubt, true, as far as the German people are concerned, but it cannot truthfully be said of the military despots that ruled the people. That war was the unavoidable consequence of the policy forced on Germany by Bismarck and the statesmen of his school. Italy, Germany's ally, refused to join Germany, because, in the view of the Italian government, it was a war of aggression and not defense.