During this anniversary week, on May 26, 1900, upon the suggestion of Rev. S.A. Eliot, there was organized The International Council of Unitarian and Other Liberal Religious Thinkers and Workers, its object being "to open communication with those in all lands who are striving to unite pure religion and perfect liberty, and to increase fellowship and co-operation among them." Professor J. Estlin Carpenter, of Oxford, England, was selected as the president, and Rev. Charles W. Wendte, who shortly after became the minister of the Parker Memorial in Boston, was made the secretary. The executive committee included representatives from the United States, Great Britain, Japan, Hungary, Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, and Switzerland. The first annual meeting was held in London, May 30 and 31, 1901, with delegates present from the above-named countries, as well as from Holland, Norway, India, Denmark, Australia, and Canada.[14] The anniversary exercises, as well as the organization of the International Council, gave concrete emphasis to the growing interest in Unitarian ideas and principles in many parts of the world. They gave the sense of a large fellowship, and kindled new enthusiasm. As interpreted by these meetings, the Unitarian name has largely ceased to be one of merely theological signification, and has come to mean "an endeavor to unite for common and unselfish endeavors all believers in pure religion and perfect liberty."[15] [1] The Unitarian, June, 1887, II. 156. For historical accounts of this controversy see Mrs. S.C.Ll. Jones's Western Unitarian Conference: Its Work and its Mission, Unity Mission Tract, No. 38; W.C. Gannett's The Flowering of Christianity, Lesson XII., Part IV.; and The Unitarian, II. and III. A Western Unitarian Association was organized in Chicago, June 21, 1886. Some of the older and leading churches were connected with it, including those at Meadville, Ann Arbor, Louisville, Shelbyville, Church of the Messiah and Unity in Chicago, Church of the Messiah in St. Louis, Keokuk, and others. Hon. George W. McCrary was elected the president, and Mrs. Jonathan Slade the recording secretary. In October, 1887, Rev. George Batchelor became the Western agent of the American Unitarian Association. He was succeeded the next year by Rev. George W. Cutter. In September, 1890, Rev. T.B. Forbush was made the Western superintendent of the American Unitarian Association, with headquarters in Chicago; and he held this position until 1896. During the period covered by these dates Rev. J.R. Effinger was the general missionary of the Western Unitarian Conference, and he was succeeded by Rev. F.L. Hosmer and Rev. A.W. Gould. In 1896 the Western churches were reunited in the Western Conference, and its secretary has been the superintendent of the American Unitarian Association. As defining the position of the