helpful to all the people; prevented and stopped immoral shows and impure exhibitions; clothed the naked, fed the hungry and housed the shelterless.
The League has Hospital Auxiliaries, Social Culture Clubs, Industrial Homes with training for Italians and other foreigners; members in nearly every State and Territory — in Europe, China, Japan, India and South America. It was founded by Mrs. Elizabeth B. Grannis, who has been its president continuously.
The Young Ladies' National Mutual Improvement Association was organized at Salt Lake City in June, 1869. Associations were formed in different States, and these were gradually grouped into "stake" or county societies, each one presided over by a president and her board of workers. On June 19, 1880, an organization of these "stakes" was effected and a general president elected. The object is mutual improvement for all, in spiritual, mental and physical conditions.
It is an educational association and has bettered the condition of thousands of girls, leading them toward the light, cultivating unselfishness, a love of humanity, and a desire to help the world; it has given to all its members a deeper, truer, purer education than they could otherwise have obtained. While not strictly a beneficiary organization, it disburses several thousand dollars a year. It owns considerable property, including houses and libraries.
The association has 507 branches and 22,000 members in ten States and Territories and a number of foreign countries. Mrs. Elmina Shepard Taylor has been president since 1878.
The National Kindergarten Union was organized in July, 1892, to unite kindergarten interests; to promote the establishment of kindergartens, and to elevate the standard of their training and teaching. It has instituted more friendly relations between kindergartners, bringing together the conservative and radical elements upon a common platform. A broader conception of the principles of Froebel and their relation to education in general has been promoted, thus enlarging the scope of the kindergarten idea and widening its influence. There are at present seventy branches with 6,000 members.
The Woman's Prison Association and Isaac T. Hopper Home was organized by Mr. Hopper in 1845 in New York and incorporated in 1854. It was afterwards sustained for many years by his daughter, Mrs. Abby Hopper Gibbons. Its object is the amelioration of the condition of women prisoners, the improvement of prison discipline and the government of prisons in respect to women; also the support and encouragement of women convicts after their release. The association has secured in New York the searching of women prisoners by women; a law requiring police matrons; one providing a Reformatory for Women and Girls, and others of like import. The Home is in a large measure self-supporting. From this first organization a number of similar ones have been established and the condition of women prisoners has been much improved.
