N the dark days of 1862, when the government at Washington was facing a succession of military reverses and the fate of the Union seemed to hang in the balance, while a pall of ominous gloom rested upon all the North, the first Union League was organized in New York City. Composed of a large number of the leading business men, firms and corporations of that city, it was alike representative of her commercial strength and her patriotic loyalty to the government. The primary and chief purpose of the organization was to give comfort and aid to the government in carrying on the war; or, as declared by its organizers, "to promote, encourage and sustain by all proper means absolute and unqualified loyalty to the government of the United States; to discountenance and rebuke, by moral and social influences, all disloyalty to said government and every attempt against the integrity of the Union." Secondary purposes of the organization were to minister to the comfort and enjoyment of its members with social, library and kindred privileges. Philadelphia soon followed the example of New York and organized the second Union League; while during the following year, and before the dawn of hope in the Union cause broke over the battlefields of Gettysburg and Vicksburg, similar organizations had been formed in a number of other cities of the North. These clubs exerted a strong influence in "making loyalty effective" in both moral and financial support of the government.

Necessarily, all these clubs were in the beginning fundamentally political, the conditions of membership in them requiring a pledge of adherence to the principles of the Republican party, and absolute loyalty to the government of the Union. Many of the clubs soon incorporated and became established institutions, influential in the political, industrial and social affairs of the cities and states in which they were located.

As time healed the wounds inflicted by the Civil War and substituted other issues for those settled with the sword, political alignments were more and more determined by economic and administrative policies of government. While this change was taking place, the Union League organizations throughout the country, extending from coast to coast, grew gradually, in their activities and ministrations, more social and civic, and less political. As a result, many of them have become non-political as regards partisan politics, dropping from their conditions of membership the pledge of fealty to the Republican party, but retaining the pledge of unqualified loyalty to the government of the United States. Thus, in general, the Union League, which for several decades exerted such a potent political influence in city, state and nation, has evolved into a non-partisan institution, whose influence is exerted chiefly on the civic and social life of the nation.

Such also, in brief, has been the history of the UNION LEAGUE OF LOS ANGELES, organized in the spring of 1888. Whatever vision, if any, its founders may have had of the future mission of the organization, its immediate purpose was declared to be "to promote the success of the Republican party," and "to seek to elevate, purify and improve our local, state and national politics."

On March 22, 1889, the LEAGUE incorporated and enlarged its declaration of principles so as to require as a condition of membership "absolute and unqualified loyalty to the government of the United States, the Republican party thereof, and the interests of this LEAGUE"; and also a pledge to "rebuke by moral and social influence and by all proper means, both in public and in private, any disloyalty to the Federal government, and to resist to the utmost every attempt against the territorial integrity of the Nation." This declaration of principles was as resonant with the war spirit of the '60s, as the previous one had been silent on the subject of patriotism.

Thus organized, the UNION LEAGUE OF LOS ANGELES became a political force of considerable effectiveness and the official head of the Republican party in this city; and it was so recognized in several campaigns. It did not, however, essay to minister to the social life of its members, or to participate actively in the civic affairs of the city. Having no permanent club home, and lacking other essentials to stability and perpetuity, the organization naturally lapsed into a state of more or less suspended vitality in the interims between campaigns, and gradually lost power and prestige, until it became no longer representatives of the political and moral strength of the Republican party in Southern California.

In 1898 a band of active and progressive Republicans, prompted by a desire to enhance the influence and promote the success of the party, undertook the task of reorganizing and revitalizing the UNION LEAGUE. They consolidated with it other Republican organizations under a revised declaration of principles, which prescribed for its members active support of the Republican party, "absolute and unqualified loyalty to the government of the United States," advancement of "the cause of good and wise government," and the preservation of "political equality before the law".

The LEAGUE then entered upon a career of activity and service to the party, the city and the state, which soon commanded a financial and moral support which it had not before enjoyed. Its headquarters became more and more the social, as well as the political, home of its members during their leisure hours, necessitating a corresponding enlargement of its club facilities. It soon became apparent that nothing short of a permanent club home, commodious and attractive, could meet the needs of the organization.

The same men, who had effected the reorganization of the LEAGUE, acquired the building which had been the main offices of the Home Telephone Company at 327 West Second Street,

remodeled the structure and equipped it to furnish the comforts and diversions incident to club life. It was thought the accommodations provided would be sufficient to meet the needs of the LEAGUE for years to come; but so rapid was its growth under the progressive spirit which dominated it, that hardly had the house-warming ceremonies attending the occupation of this, the first home of the LEAGUE, ended, when it was realized that more commodious quarters must soon be provided.

Again the same men, in the same spirit, essayed the larger task of providing a club home that would long be adequate to the needs of a live and progressive league in a rapidly growing city. To this end, the property at the northeast corner of Second and Hill Streets was acquired, the hotel building that occupied the site and also the Union League building adjoining it were torn down (the LEAGUE in the meantime occupying temporary quarters), and on the joint sites was erected the ninestory fire-proof structure shown in the following pages. Sightly in its location, complete and attractive in its appointments, and fully equipped to minister to all the needs of such an organization, the home of the UNION LEAGUE OF LOS ANGELES is a credit to both the organization and the city.

Conforming to the trend of current events and the history of the UNION LEAGUE as an institution, the local league some time ago ceased to be a partisan political organization; but with a large and influential membership, that is representative of the aggressive business and civic life of Los Angeles, it is a potent force in the upbuilding of the city and the state, and in the maintenance of "good and wise government".