Changes in the Young Ladies’ Mutual Improvement Association

The honorable release of Sister Martha H. Tingey as General Pres- ident of the Y. L. M. I. A. and the selection of Sister Ruth May Fox as her successor is an event which should be mentioned under this heading. Else- where in this issue will be found a de- tailed account of this important charge. Sister Fox selected Sisters Lucy Grant Cannon and Clarissa A. Beesley as her counselors. These three women have had years of experience in Mutual work, and the organization will continue to go forward under their leadership. The ninety-ninth annual conference of the Church was held in Salt Lake City, beginning Friday, April 5, and was concluded on Sunday the 7th. During the opening session a veritable blizzard was in progress. So much snow fell that it was necessary to use snow plows to clear the street car tracks, and it remained on the ground until after the conference closed. In spite of the inclement weather, and the additional fact that thousands of peo- ple remained at home and listened to the proceedings over the radio, the tab- ernacle was crowded. Likewise the assembly hall, in which a loud speaker had been placed, was filled to over- flowing during the meetings held on Sunday. Austria and Switzerland during recent years, and such a visit will add im- petus to the movement. It is expected that 30,000 Boy Scouts will be in attendance at the Jamboree, probably the largest gathering of its kind in history. A number of Latter-day Saint boys from Utah and other parts of the United States are expecting to be in attendance. * * * Alma Greenwood, prominent edu- cator of southern Utah, died March 21, 1929, at Delta, Millard county. Elder Greenwood was born in Amer- ican Fork, Utah county, October 18, 1854. In 1882, he went on a mission to New Zealand, where he was very successful in making converts for the Church. He was the founder of the Millard Stake Academy and also of the Sanpete Stake Academy. * * * The new seminary on College Hill. Logan, was dedicated April 3 1 by President Heber J. Grant. Presidents Anthony W. Ivins and Charles W. Nibley were also in attendance, and the three brethren addressed the meet- ing. It is not often that all three members of the First Presidency are able to be in one of the remote stakes at the same time, but on this occasion they spoke in the Logan tabernacle as well as at the seminary. Word has been received from the German-speaking missions that a num- ber of their Boy Scouts are making arrangements to attend the Jamboree which is to be held at Arrowe Park. Birkenhead, near Liverpool, England, from July 31 to August 13 of this year. Scouting has been making re- markable headway in Germany, Mention was made in the April number of the Era, of the installation of nine new members of the General Board of Y. M. M. I. A. On March 20, Superintendent George Albert Smith was in Los Angeles, having been called there in the discharge of his duty as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve. He ate breakfast in that

618 IMPROVEMENT ERA May, 1929 city, then, in order to attend the meet- ing at which these new board mem- bers were to be installed, he arranged to come to Salt Lake via the air. The plane in which he traveled was a tri- motor, twelve-passenger Fokker. The comfortable wicker chairs were ar- ranged on either side of an aisle, and there was a window which could be raised and lowered at will, for each passenger. Ice water and all the con- veniences which can be found in a Pullman car were available. Lunch was served at midday. The plane maintained an average altitude of 7,000 feet until Los Vegas was reached and from there to Salt Lake it flew at an average height of 9,000 feet. Dur- ing the first part of the journey, the air was rather bumpy, but later on they glided along so smoothly that no motion could be felt. The trip was made in six hours, and Brother Smith was in ample time for his meeting. He reports that the view of the lake as they approached it was most beautiful. Every island was distinctly visible, and the picture made by water and mountains was one which, while it cannot be described, will never be for- gotten. * * * A report received at the Presiding Bishop's Office from Pres. Reinhold Stoof of the South American mission states that the missionaries laboring in Brazil are meeting with much encour- agement. On September 12, 1928. Pres. Stoof, in company with Elders Heinz and Schindler, went to Brazil and commenced work in the neighbor- hood of Rio De Janeiro. On October 27 two persons were baptized. Brother Stoof's headquarters are in Buenos Aires. * * # Word has finally been received at Church headquarters that the officials of Syria, in which land Pres. J. Wil- ford Booth died, will not permit the body to be removed within a year. As readers of the Era will recall, Pres. Booth died in Aleppo, Syria, Dec. 5, 1928, and was buried there. Sister Booth is being accompanied on her homeward journey by Elder Ralph V. Chisholm who was sent to Syria by Pres. John A. Widtsoe. Utah's Boast of Basketball The New York Times of Saturday, February 9, has- the following: State pride has long been recognized as one of the dynamic forces in this country. Claims of raising the fattest hogs have vied with claims of the tallest corn. A high official of one of the middle western commonwealths boasted recently that his state had the handsomest governor's wife in the Union. A full-page advertisement in The Deseret News of Salt Lake City pro- claims Utah to excel in basketball. The assertion is backed by impressive facts. To the outsider the most interesting thing is not so much whether some other state may, from time to time, best Utah's crack team as it is the method in which basketball has filtered throughout the state, and has been responsible, even in little towns of only 1,500 inhabitants, for the building of gymnasiums. The Mutual Improvement Association of Utah alone has organized up- wards of 800 basketball teams. In every portion of the state the game is being developed, and is fulfilling its double purpose of affording diversion and of encouraging sportsmanship and improving the physique of the young. Elsewhere, when attempts have been made to arouse interest in com- munity sports, the tendency has often been to concentrate on a single team. Utah is apparently awake to the importance of interesting as many boys as possible in the game, rather than in developing a handful in each community who become specialists.