Stake No. 118

Last week the Prophet, Seer & Revelator of the world's 746,384 Mormons observed his 80th birthday. Hale & happy for such tributes as having a whole issue of the Mormon Improvement Era devoted to his life and works, President Heber Jedediah Grant of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints arrived in Chicago on Mormon business bent. The 2,000 Mormons who live in and around Chicago and Wisconsin were also happy. Heretofore shepherded by Mormon missionaries, they became full-fledged members of the Church last Sunday when President Grant organized their territory into Mormonism's 118th "Stake" or bishopric. It was the second such district set up east of the Mississippi River, New York having become the first Stake two years ago (TIME, Dec. 17, 1934)

One reason that Mormonism appeals to a man in search of a religion is that its priesthood is vast, every male communicant in good standing belonging to its higher or lower division depending upon whether he is 21 or younger. There are also plenty of Mormon offices. Chicago's Stake was divided last week into four wards, three in the city, one in Milwaukee, each directed by an elected bishop and two counselors. Elected Stake President was President William A. Matheson of Rollaway Bed Corp. Chicago Mormons are eligible for office in the Mormon agencies which cement the Church's life: Sunday schools, relief societies, mutual improvement associations for young people, a primary association for moppets, a genealogical society. Important to the Church is the last, through which good Mormons may seek data on their ancestors. By Mormon tenet, one's unshriven forebears may be admitted to Mormonism retroactively and posthumously, baptized by proxy.

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