Expert

"Any lady who is in good standing with an evangelical church may become an active member by paying one dollar annually in advance." So decided the good Manhattan ladies who in 1858 founded the Ladies' Christian Association, forerunner of the Young Women's Christian Association. Last week the World Council of the Y. W. C. A. elected as its general secretary an able woman who, whatever her standing in church, is far from evangelical. Interviewed after learning of her election, General Secretary Ruth F. Woodsmall spoke proudly of the Mohammedans and Buddhists who are now Y. W. C. A. executives, summed up the Association's present trend by saying: "Girls benefiting from the 'Y' program are not necessarily Christians."

The Y. W. C. A. operates in 50 nations, has 1,000,000 voting members, believes it comes in contact with five times as many young women. For Miss Woodsmall the extensive journeying which will be her lot as general secretary will be no great novelty. She taught school in Nevada and Colorado, became a Wartime hostess behind the French lines and in Coblenz. Doing Y. W. C. A. work for eight years in the Near East, Miss Woodsmall became an expert on the status of Oriental women. She will attend a women's suffrage meeting in Istanbul next April.

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