this summary will serve as a basis for agitation which shall not cease until compulsory education becomes a fact and not a theory.
The association has twenty-five branches and 3,000 members.
The Association for the Advancement of Women was organized in New York in October, 1873, at the very beginning of the club movement, to interest the women of the country in matters of high thought and in all undertakings found to be useful to society, and to promote their efficiency in these through sympathetic acquaintance and co-operation. It had a number of distinguished presidents and held congresses in many States, which almost invariably led to the formation of local clubs for study and mutual improvement, as well as to good works in other lines. Among the cities in which a congress was held were New York, Syracuse, Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, Des Moines, Denver, Madison, St. Paul, Toronto, Baltimore, Memphis, Knoxville, Louisville, Atlanta and New Orleans. Many distinguished women were included in its membership and it had a strong influence in rendering possible the extensive formation of the women's clubs which are now so important a feature in American society. Its work is partly chronicled in two large volumes which give the papers presented and action taken at the meetings. The many great organizations of women in recent years have made further work on the part of the association unnecessary.
The General Federation of Women's Clubs was organized March 20, 1890, to bring into communication the various women's clubs in order that they may compare methods and become mutually helpful. The work is accomplished through three committees — Art, Education and Industries. Those on Art have used their influence toward its study and its application to the home, and also for the quickening of enthusiasm in horticulture and gardening, from which has developed the beautifying of public squares and school yards. In Education some of the most important results are the establishment of hundreds of traveling libraries, assistance in organizing and fostering kindergartens, encouragement of manual training in the public schools, and the formation of Mothers' Clubs for the study of child culture. The federation has worked with other organizations for the appointment of women on school boards and legislation for broader educational advantages for women. In fact, its work has ranged from kindergarten to university.
The Industrial Committee studies conditions surrounding wage-earning women and children and encourages co-operation between the woman of leisure and the one who is self-supporting, and the organization of laboring women in unions and clubs. One principal object is to eliminate the child from the factory and then to educate it. The Civic work has ranged from Health Protective Associations in cities to Village Improvement Societies.
There are thirty-six State Federations, eleven foreign clubs and nearly 700 individual clubs belonging to the federation, representing Over 200,000 members (1900).
