Property is being acquired in many parts of the world, and mission houses
are being erected. Carthage Jail, in Illinois, the farm containing the
birthplace of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and a large part of the Temple
grounds at Independence, Missouri, have been purchased by the Church.

In the year 1905 a monument of polished granite was erected and a
comfortable and commodious cottage was built on the site of the Prophet's
birth, on the farm purchased by the Church, in Sharon, Windsor County,
Vermont. The monument is 50 feet and 10 inches high and weighs nearly 100
tons. The shaft is 38-3/4 feet long, each foot corresponding to one year
of the Prophet's life. The cottage is built around the original hearthstone
of the old Smith home. On December 23rd, 1905--the one hundredth
anniversary of the birth of the Prophet--this cottage and monument were
dedicated by President Joseph F. Smith, who, with a number of the leading
brethren of the Church and a few Saints, had gone to Vermont for that
purpose. The monument contains a written description of the Prophet's
testimony and stands as a silent witness of the great work he was called
upon by the Lord to perform.

[Illustration: JOSEPH SMITH MONUMENT AND MEMORIAL COTTAGE.]

For many years past, the Saints had been making settlements in Mexico, and
establishing themselves there in good homes. In the year 1912 the
disturbances in the country broke out into civil war, and because of the
dangers attendant on the fighting between various factions, most of the
Latter-day Saints had to leave the country and their possessions and come
to the United States.

Two new Temples are now being erected, one in Alberta, Canada, and another
at Laie, on the island of Oahu, Hawaiian or Sandwich Islands. Work on the