M. M. I. A. should divide the ward into, say, three divisions; one to be presided over by the president, and each of the other by one of his counselors. The presidency should make a list of the names of all who need laboring with, and should consult the bishop and then select one missionary to labor with each of the names on the list previously mentioned. The bishop should then call the young men so selected, as missionaries, to a meeting without publicly stating the object of said meeting. When they are brought together, the object of their call should be presented, and the work expected of them fully explained. It should be especially stated that they are called by the bishop by authority of President Lorenzo Snow. Then they should be asked if they are willing to accept the mission, and all who are willing to do so should be set apart thereto. The presidency should then divide the missionary corps into three parts, assigning them to the three districts before mentioned, calling the president and his counselors to take charge of them and the work in the districts over which each has been appointed to preside, directing their labors and receiving their reports at least once each month. The work should be entirely private and should not be published before the ward. The M. I. A. officer appointed to preside over the district should give to the missionary, privately, the name of a young man with whom he is to labor, and no one need know that name excepting the presidency and the missionary. The work of a missionary need not interfere with any other duty, there being a life-time in which to accomplish the conversion of the young man with whom the missionary labors; therefore, a Sunday School teacher, a ward teacher, and all other workers, may be selected for this labor without interfering with their regular Church duties. The work should be begun immediately and all vacancies should be filled in the missionary corps without delay. Y. M. M. I. A CONVENTION. On September 9th, a convention of the General Board with the superintendencies of eleven stakes was held in the temporary home of the Latter-day Saints' College in the Lion House, Salt Lake City. President Joseph F. Smith presided. The stakes were represented as follows: Box Elder, 3; Davis, 10; Granite, 5; Jordan, 7; Juab, 1; Morgan, 1; Salt Lake, 5; Summit, 1; Utah, 3; Wasatch, 4; and Weber, 5. There were 18 members of the General Board present. The object of the meeting was to treat upon the topics to be discussed in the stake conventions which were held generally in all the stakes of Zion on the 16th. The stakes represented at this meeting conducted their own, while other stakes were assisted in their conventions by members of the Board or by their aids. Every topic named in the call published in the September ERA was discussed with much zeal and profit, under a great outpouring of the Spirit of God. A fire of enthusiasm was kindled which was spread over the whole Church, in the conventions held on Sunday, the 16th of September, and which it is hoped will find fuel in every ward society. The subjects treated and the speakers were as follows: Missionary Work:-Elders J. Golden Kimball, Frank Y. Taylor, M. F. Cowley and President Joseph F. Smith. Improvement Era:-Elders Heber J. Grant and Edward H. Anderson. General Improvement Fund:-President Joseph F. Smith and Elder Rudger Clawson. Preparations for Opening the Season:-Elder Junius F. Wells. Class Work:-Elders George H. Brimhall and Briant S. Hinckley. Miscellaneous topics, with questions and discussion, were also fully treated, many present taking part. The instructions given were of special value to the workers in the cause, and as a reminder to all officers, the ERA will present choice extracts from the remarks of the various speakers, as the season's work progresses. CLOSE OF THE THIRD VOLUME. This number closes the third volume of the IMPROVEMENT ERA. We are gratified with the success that has been achieved. We ask all our subscribers to renew their subscriptions immediately for Volume IV, upon the blanks that will be sent them, and to use energetic efforts to obtain new subscribers, because every member of the associations is an agent, and is interested in the welfare of the magazine. We call attention to the prospectus which is found in this number, and which gives in detail some of the special features that will be presented in Volume IV. We ask all to read this prospectus, being confident that by so doing they will be inspired with a desire not only to continue their own subscriptions, but to obtain other subscribers to help the good work along. It will be the aim of the General Board to make the ERA a suitable exponent of the mutual improvement cause, and to provide reading matter that will instruct and inspire, as well as entertain both old and young. We congratulate the young men upon the aid which they have given to this enterprise, and trust that they will rally to the assistance of Volume IV. with such spontaneous effort as will insure the continued improvement and success of their magazine. We repeat that the ERA is not a private enterprise, but belongs entirely to the young men; every cent which is made will be used for the spread of truth and for the benefit of the youth of Zion. Let there be a unanimous response to this call for subscribers, without further invitation. CAN A TEACHER ORDAIN A TEACHER? "Can a teacher ordain another teacher or a deacon?" is a question that has been submitted to the ERA. The general reply may be made that what power or authority a man has in the Priesthood, he can confer upon others. What a man has he can give, but it must be under proper conditions. Such conditions do not exist in organized wards, and hence, while a teacher can ordain another teacher or deacon, it would be highly improper in organized wards, stakes, or missions, presided over by authorities holding the Melchizedek Priesthood. THE ERA FREE. We desire to call attention again to the fact that the ERA is supplied to missionaries in the field, free, and that the price of subscription to their friends, outside of the organized stakes of Zion, is $1.00 We will be pleased to receive subscriptions from any source to be sent as above. EVENTS OF THE MONTH. BY THOMAS HULL, SECRETARY OF THE GENERAL BOARD OF Y. M. M. I. A. * * * August 17th: Official dispatches confirm the capture of Pekin, China, by the allied forces on 14th inst. The ministers were liberated. * Bishop Fowler at the Methodist conference shamefully abuses the "Mormons" Two steamers from Alaska bring three million in gold to Puget sound ports. The Cannon & Sons job and book printing and binding business has been sold to the Deseret News. 18th: Fourteen anarchists arrested in New York charged with conspiracy in a plot to assassinate President McKinley. * * * The 1400 Cuban school teachers on a visit to the United States are entertained at Washington. * * * 20th: Henry Parsons, born in England, April, 1827, an old and respected resident of Manti, Sanpete County, died. The Consolidated Mercur mine is putting 1175 tons of ore through daily, at a profit of $4.00 per ton. Li Hung Chang asks for * an American peace commissioner. * 21st: Official confirmation of the fall of Pekin states that the allied armies entered on the 14th, the American and Russian flags having been planted on the east wall at 11 a. m. The United States has refused Li's request for a peace commissioner. 23rd: William H. Smart has been released as president of the Eastern States Mission and will be succeeded by E. H. Snow, of St. George; Alfred L. Farrell, has been released as President of the Netherlands Mission to be succeeded by Sylvester Cannon. funeral services of Stephen Hunter were held in the Third Ward Salt Lake City. * The 25th: Mary Ann Barfoot, wife of the late Professor Joseph Barfoot, died, aged 84 years. * President Jesse Crosby of * Panguitch Stake, who removes to the Big Horn, was succeeded as president of the stake by David Cameron. * 27th: The Populist party accept the declination of Hon. C. A. Towne, for vice-president, and substitute the Democratic nominee. * The thirty-fourth annual encampment of the G. A. R. opened in Chicago last night by a monster meeting in the Coliseum; 350,000 excursionists are in the city. * General Olivier, the Boer general and his three sons have been captured by the British, and the Boers were severely defeated at Machadodorp. * * 28th: Professor Joseph J. Daynes, who, in 1867, at, the age of 15 years became Church organist, sent his resignation to President Snow, the reason assigned for the action being pressure of other private duties. He served faithfully under five choir conductors-Sands, Careless, Griggs, Beesley and Stephens, and is the only organist who has handled the great tabernacle organ since it was built in 1869. The Utah and Oregon lumber yards were destroyed by fire in Ogden; loss, $10,500. * Lord Roberts is reported to have succeeded * * Lord Wolseley as commander-in-chief of the British armies. 29th: The Great Salt Lake is lower than since 1861-2, and teams may be driven across it from the Jeremy Salt Works to Antelope Island. A fire destroys much timber in Pine Canyon, * * Tooele County, entailing an estimated loss of $20,000. 30th: There is a revival of the rumor that the Salt Lake and Los Angeles railway is to be built. Leo Rassieur was * * * chosen commander-in-chief of the G. A. R., and the next encampment I will be held in Denver. 31st: Bishop T. J. Stevens, born Bristol, England, January 24, 1848, died at Ogden. * * * John G. Woolley, prohibition candi date for president, spoke to a large audience in Salt Lake City. September 1st: Hon. F. J. Cannon announced that he is a candidate for the United States Senate. The Utah Loan and * Trust Co., in Ogden, go out of business. * * The pro duction of Utah mines reaches $13,727,620 so far in 1900. 2nd: The Salt Lake Stake conference was held; a feature was a meeting at 10 a. m., of the Sunday Schools, all being represented. 3rd: George A. Eaton, was chosen principal of the Salt Lake High School at a salary of $200 per month. His place in the Ogden High School will be filled by Professor A. E. Wilson. 4th: The Republican State Convention met in Provo and nominated the following ticket: Presidential Electors-Wesley K. Walton, of Rich, C. E. Loose, of Utah, J. R. Murdock, of Beaver; Representative in Congress-George Sutherland, of Salt Lake; Justice of the Supreme Court— George W. Bartch, of Salt Lake; Governor-Heber M. Wells, of Salt |