as Directors for four years, Mrs. Anna Garlin Spencer and Rev. William Sullivan, both of New York, and Mr. Alonzo Rothschild, of East Foxboro, Mass.; the other officers - President, Vice-Presidents, Secretary, Treasurer, and Directors — to remain as before with the exception of those retired. It was voted that the Secretary be empowered to cast one ballot for the entire list, which he did, the officers as nominated being thereupon declared elected. (For list of officers, 19131914, see this pamphlet, page 4.)

The meeting then adjourned.

JAMES H. WEST,

Secretary.

I have examined the foregoing and find it correct and properly vouched.

BOSTON, May 22, 1913.

ALBERT S. PARSONS, Auditor.

SECRETARY'S REPORT, 1913

Mr. President and Members of the Free Religious Association: From the earliest days of this Association, when William J. Potter was the Secretary, the Annual Report of that officer has been looked upon — in the old days was even eagerly looked forward to not simply as a record of the year's business details, but also as a word of attempted lofty counsel, of clarification, of exhortation, and of prophecy; a message profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the members of this Association might be complete, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. The Report therefore, each year, on being read, has perhaps been, not so much formally "accepted" by the Association, as received by it with varying hope and patience as the Secretary's personal word, the Association being responsible only for its commonplaceness, the Secretary alone responsible for its heresies. Moreover, it was usually read, I think, at the public Convention or Festival, where, if it had any value, it might also have some modicum of effect.

The business record of the Association for the year which closes to-day may be briefly presented.

One meeting was held by the Executive Board, on date of February 20, to appropriate funds for a portion of the expenses of the Rochester Convention, and to provide a special Committee to arrange the topic and secure speakers for the Annual Boston Convention in May - the Convention of tomorrow. At that February Directors' Meeting the President briefly recounted the occurrences at the Rochester Convention, which had already been more fully reported by him in print in the Christian Register, Unity, the Universalist Leader, and other periodicals. The report was afterward reproduced in a leaflet. In this place it will suffice to say that the Rochester Convention was organized by the President in accordance with the instructions of the Association at its annual meeting in

May of last year, and was held in the last week in January, 1913, in conjunction with the National Federation of Religious Liberals. The meetings extended through several days, thirtyone addresses being given by men belonging to at least ten different "households of faith," including some that bear the name of "orthodox." The sessions were held in the Universalist, Unitarian, Jewish, Presbyterian, and Baptist temples of Rochester, New York. A Presbyterian clergyman was the Chairman of the local committee. Our Association was immediately represented by its President, Dr. Wendte; by Mr. Edwin D. Mead, Rev. Dr. William C. Gannett, and Rev. Edward Cummings, Vice Presidents; and by Dr. Charles Fleischer, recently a Director. Among the honored guests of the Congress were Rabindranath Tagore, the Oriental poet and philosopher, of Calcutta, and Professor Rudolf Eucken, of Jena, both of whom read papers at the Congress. A number of the addresses at the Convention are to be printed for wider distribution. The question of a union of the three liberal religious associations of America the Congress of Religion, at Chicago, of which Dr. Jenkin Lloyd Jones is the active spirit; the National Federation of Religious Liberals; and our own Free Religious Association of America was discussed

at some length by the members present. No definite conclusion was arrived at, but the matter was left to a committee consisting of the presidents of the three societies for future consideration and report. The total expenses of the Congress were about $600, of which the Free Religious Association contributed $200.

An invitation has been received from prominent clergymen in New York Jews, Universalists, and Unitarians to hold a special session of our Association in that city during the coming autumn or winter. This proposition is presented to the present meeting for its consideration.

At the International Congress of Religious Progress, to be held in Paris in July next, the Association will be represented by its President and by other members.

At our annual meeting in May last year specific Resolutions on various public topics were voted by this Associa

tion. These Resolutions were duly forwarded to the proper authorities at Washington and elsewhere and have received recognition.

A matter of some interest during the year has been the disposal of the accumulated literature of the Association, consisting principally of annual reports stored at the Parker Memorial building. These were carefully examined, and what seemed a sufficient number of copies for future use were preserved, the remainder, which apparently had no farther value, being destroyed. A complete set of annual reports has been bound, in four substantial volumes, with a proper type-written introduction. These will be kept in the office of the President for consultation and record. Quite a correspondence was conducted with various university and public libraries in the vicinity of Boston, to ascertain the state of their files with regard to the reports of the Association. The responses were gratifying, and about 100 copies of reports were sent to libraries, to make possible the completion of their sets of reports, so far as might be.

The year's correspondence in connection with the various foregoing matters, and the personal intercourse of the officers of the Association with the members of various religious bodies, both orthodox and liberal, Christian and non-Christian, in this country, have revealed an increasing friendliness toward and appreciation of our Association. We cannot fail to recall the fact that, thirty or forty years ago, a man of orthodox affiliation who should speak on the platform of the Free Religious Association took, as it were, his ecclesiastical life in his hands, and was often subject to persecution for his daring. To-day men of orthodox as well as men of liberal faith express their satisfaction at being invited to speak at its meetings. This certainly may be deemed deeply significant of the change of tone and temper in religious thought and discussion in the United States at the present day. On the other hand the present writer, with not a few others among the Association's members and friends, is perhaps not unnaturally wondering if it is at the same time deeply significant of the Association's continued value, as of old, in the world's ad