YOUNGSTOWN 



6401 



YPRES 



United States to be spent in Europe close to 

 the firing lines. E.B.P. 



Consult Doggett's History of the Young Men's 

 Christian Association, and the year books issued 

 by the American and British branches. 



YOUNGS 'TOWN, OHIO, the county seat of 

 Ma honing County and an important center of 

 iron and steel manufacturing, is situated near 

 the eastern boundary, in the northern part of 

 tin- state, midway bet ween Cleveland and Pitts- 

 burgh. The distance to either city is nearly 

 seventy miles. The city occupies a fine site of 

 nearly eleven square miles along both banks 

 of the Mahoning River. It is served by the 

 Baltimore & Ohio, the Erie, the Mahoning Val- 

 1. \. the New York Central, the Pennsylvania 

 and the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie railroads, and 

 by interurban lines. From 1910 to 1916 the 

 population increased from 79,066 to 108,385 

 (Federal estimate). 



Mill Creek, a natural park of 482 acres along 

 both banks of the river, and Crandall, Lincoln 

 and Wick parks are the largest of the city play- 

 grounds. Prominent buildings and institutions 

 are a Federal building, a county courthouse, 

 tli< Reuben McMillan Free Library, Rayen 

 Public School (endowed by the will of Judge 

 William Rayen), a Y. M. C. A. building, the 

 city and Mahoning Valley hospitals and the 

 children's home. The river is crossed on Mar- 

 ket Street by a steel viaduct. Steel plants, blast 

 furnaces and rolling mills are the largest indus- 

 trial establishments, and there are in addition 

 lumber mills and manufactories of automobiles, 

 brass castings, iron and steel pipe and oilcloth. 

 Youngstown was settled in 1796 upon a tract 

 of land bought by John Young from the Con- 

 necticut Land Company. The town was incor- 

 porated in 1848 and received its first city char- 

 trr in 1867. 



YOUNG TURKS, a reform party in Turkey, 

 the members of winch brought about the revolt 

 of 1908-1909 and forced Abd-ul-Hamul to resign, 

 new government, however, showed a dis- 

 position to >tn ni:fln n Turkish rule in all parts 

 of the Krapfre, and the era of democratic re- 

 form expected by many Western nations did 

 not materialize. The history of Turkey undi-r 

 tin Young Turks is given in these volumes in 

 the article on page 5914. 



YOUNG WOMEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSO- 

 CIATION, a world organization for wo: 

 similar in aims and methods to the Y. M 

 C. A.; that is, it has for its purpose the 

 gioup. intellectual, social and physical develop- 

 ment of the young people under its charge. 

 401 



The world organization, formed in 1894, is a 

 league of eighteen national associations, with 

 headquarters in London. The associations have 

 a total membership of nearly 800,000. In De- 

 cember, 1906, the Y. W. C. A. of the United 

 States of America was formed, but the work 

 was really begun in 1858, when the "Ladies 

 Christian Association" was organized in New 

 York. Local societies were established in many 

 other cities during the succeeding half century, 

 and the organization formed in 1906 repre- 

 sented a union of these local bodies for more 

 efficient work. There are now about 1,000 as- 

 sociations in the United States, and the total 

 membership is about 340,000. The work is car- 

 ried on through eight departments: secretarial, 

 finance, conventions and conference, publica- 

 tion, office, foreign, field work and method. In 

 1916 Canada had thirty city and forty-eight 

 college associations, five national secretaries 

 and a membership in all associations of nearly 

 18,000. 



For a summary of the scope of the work carried 

 on by the Y. W. C. A. of the United Stat.-s. 

 suit the annual Year Book, published by the 

 tional Board (New York). Consult, also. Wil- 

 son's Fifty Years of Association Work among 

 Young Women. 



YPRES, c'pf, familiarly known as "wipers" 

 by the British soldiers, is a picturesque city in 

 Belgium, the scene of much of the severest 

 fighting during the War of the Nations. 



The German artillery demolished many hi>- 

 toric buildings and reduced the town to a state 

 of ruin in the first year of the war, and each 

 succeeding year saw some of the war's severest 

 battles fought close to it. It was formerly th< 

 capital of the province of West Flanders, and, 

 before the outbreak of the war. had a popula- 

 tion of 17,000. It is situated thirty-five miles 

 south of Ostend, twelve miles west of Courtrai 

 n the Yperlee, a small stream flowing into th. 

 Yser, whose waters repeatedly ran red with 

 blood during the gigantic struggle for the pos- 

 session of Belgium. 



Thr beautiful cathedral of Saint Martin, dat- 

 ing from tlir thirteenth erntury. the Halle?, or 

 cloth inarkrt. and the Butchers* Hall were 

 among the finest buildings in the city, where 

 also was located the Belgium cavalry training 

 school. The city formerly possessed a good 

 lace and linen trade and a great butter mai 

 It seems almost improbable that Yprcs, which 

 suffered so terribly in the war, will regain for 

 many years its once proud position among con- 

 tinental towns. 



