SOCIETIES FOR ETHICAL CUL

TURE, the first of which was formed in New York City by Dr. Felix Adler, then a@ member of the faculty of Cornell University. As set forth by the founder in his speech on the day of organization, his object was to bring together people who desired the best in religion without the dogma of the creeds, to form a church without theology, which should carry on charitable or social work for itself rather than for the glory of a Deity. His call brought into the society people who had reacted against the orthodox churches and synagogues, Hebrews as well as Gentiles. It was the first to establish a school for the manual training of the children of the poor, which later developed into a model institution of its kind. Dr. Adler emphasized strongly the need of a sympathetic view toward labor, though on this point he and his followers have been far from radical. One result of the society’s activity was the formation of the State Tenement House Commi ion, in 1884, of which Dr. Adler was a member, and much was done in the way of bringing about the creation of a system of playgrounds and city parks in New York City. From this developed two permanent institutions, the Hudson Guild, on the lower West Side, and the Downtown Ethical Society, a settlement house on the lower East Side. From this beginning in New York City ethical societies have spread into all the larger cities of the country and abroad, especially in Berlin, London, Paris, Vienna and Switzerland. So numerous had they become in 1896 that in that year the first International Congre of Ethical Societies was held in Zurich, Switzerland.