By the magic hand of industry, under the blessings of the God of Israel, that Western wilderness has been transformed into a picture of smiling fruitfulness. Besides the beautiful city of Salt Lake--the admiration of passing tourists, who flock there by thousands every year--there are nearly 500 other cities and settlements which "blossom like the rose." Temples have been erected in Salt Lake City, St. George, Manti and Logan, at a cost of over seven millions of dollars, besides hundreds of tabernacles and churches scattered throughout that region which represent other millions in money. Thus are the Latter-day Saints manifesting their solicitude for the welfare of the fathers who have gone before, by preparing places wherein they can officiate for them, "That they may be judged according to men in the flesh and live according to God in the spirit." Since then thousands of Elders have gone into all parts of the civilized world, traveling as the Apostles of old did, "without purse and without script," crying repentance to the nations, and calling on them to be baptized and escape the "damnation of hell." These Elders have left the farm, the workshop, the forge, the store, and, all the comforts of home and loved ones, and gone into Canada, Great Britain, Germany, Holland, France, Italy, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, East Indies, Cape of Good Hope, Mexico, South America, South Sea Islands, Sandwich Islands, Jersey Islands, Japan, Turkey and Jerusalem, having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation and kindred, and tongue and people. As a result of their warning voice thousands and tens of thousands have yielded {27} obedience to the Gospel of the Son of God, and the Church now has a membership of over 400,000 souls, and fully that many more have kept the faith and passed beyond the vale, all during the remarkably short space of seventy-five years. There have been six presidents in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as follows: Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, Lorenzo Snow, and Joseph F. Smith, the present leader of the Church, who was a member of the Quorum of the Apostles for thirty-eight years, and who attained his present position through a long life of faithfulness. At the death of President Lorenzo Snow, his predecessor, he had become the chief Apostle and was finally chosen by the highest quorum in the Church to become the Prophet, Seer, and Revelator, as was Brigham Young upon the death of the Prophet Joseph Smith. President Joseph F. Smith is a son of the Patriarch, Hyrum Smith, who met his death in Carthage jail, June 27th, 1844.