The following was adapted from the Improvement Era magazine of February 1911.
Number of Wards
The number of wards in the various stakes of Zion increased from 689, in 1909, to 696 in 1910. There are now 62 stakes, not including the California mission, where five wards were organized in 1910.
Duchesne stake, with four wards, and Carbon, with seven wards were organized in 1910. Bear Lake stake has 23 wards, the largest number in any of the stakes; Oneida and St. George each has 20; Cassia and Granite each 19; then Blackfoot and Sevier 18 each; and Summit 17.
[100 years later, on January 1, 2010, the Church reported 20,518 wards and 2,863 stakes.]
Liquor Regulation
In 1911 the Capitol building did not yet exist but efforts were underway to choose a site.
Governor William Spry read his message to the joint session on the 10th. It is a lengthy document touching on the needs of every department of the state, and recommending the passage of a local option bill “with provision for the proper regulation and control of the liquor traffic, as pledged in the platform” of the Republican party.
Senator George Sutherland was elected to succeed himself as U. S. Senator at the conjoint session, Jan. 18.
[In 1913, the ratification of the 17th Amendment provided for election of senators by popular vote rather than appointment by the state legislatures.]
Death to Americans
Rioting in Mexico, against Americans, took place in the city of Mexico, November 9, when the mob paraded the streets crying death to Americans, and threatening the American consulate. At Guadalajara there was anti-American rioting. The cause of the trouble was the lynching of a man, who was supposed to be a Mexican, at Rock Springs, Texas, November 3, which awakened bitter resentment in Mexico.
The disturbance, however, was promptly suppressed, more than two hundred rioters being arrested. The matter has been fixed up between the two governments, and the governor of Texas has promised to use every effort to punish the leaders of the lynchers.
Later, a revolution was planned to overthrow the government on November 20, but it failed, not without considerable bloodshed, however, and much alarm, especially in the state of Chihuahua, where matters are still in uproar at this writing.
[At least 597 Mexicans were lynched between 1848 and 1928. Between 1848 to 1879, Mexicans were lynched at the rate of 473 per 100,000 of population.]
Adapted from: “Passing Events”, Improvement Era, Vol. XIV. February, 1911. No. 4.
Photograph: Scott Catron
