Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 11.djvu/352

 THE MUNICIPAL LEAGUE OF PHILADELPHIA

CLINTON ROGERS WOODRUFF, ESQ. Philadelphia, Pa.

After thirteen years of unceasing activity, the Municipal League of Philadelphia adjourned sine die in the autumn of 1904, after providing, however, that the work in which it had been so long engaged should be carried on by new men with enlarged resources.

The Municipal League of Philadelphia was organized in 1891, and played an important part in municipal affairs, until its activities were definitely suspended on November 28, 1904. There had been numerous reform movements organized in Phila- delphia which in their day and generation had done much for the cause of better municipal administration, and whose work was of great importance and advantage to the city and its citizens. In all these organizations, however, there was wanting that element of representation, in the American and republican sense, and that thorough organization, which experience has proved to be essen- tial to political movements in the United States, and which must of necessity precede permanent reform. Then, again, these movements had made little or no provision for distinctly educa- tional work. Because of these omissions the lack of repre- sentation, thorough organization, and of continued and dis- tinctive educational work many who had been active in behalf of the city's welfare felt that a newer and more comprehensive effort, with adequate provision for party organization, was neces- sary; and in the autumn of 1891, as an outcome of numerous conferences and much discussion, the plan of the Municipal League was evolved.

The league was organized to secure certain definite ends : the practical separation of municipal affairs from state and national

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