handsome block of buildings in Tottenham Court Road, designed to provide, in addition to the usual features, bedrooms at a reasonable rent.
The Young Men's Christian Association is seen at its best in the United States. It is true that Germany has more associations than any other country, but of its 2129 branches only 142 have their own buildings, and the total membership is only 125,000. In America, however, the associations have been built on a broad basis and worked with enterprise and business skill. Thus they have been able to secure the generous support of many of the leaders of commerce. America has over 1900 associations, and the total membership is 456,000. In Greater Britain the associations are numerous and flourishing, and Canada has 35,000 members. There are many active associations in Switzerland, Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands, and indeed the Y.M.C.A. is now well known all over the world. Even in Japan, China and Korea there are 150 branches with a membership of nearly 12,000. The value of association buildings all over the world is £11,940,000 (America, £8,900,000; Greater Britain, £1,912,000; United Kingdom, £1,128,000).
The Young Women's Christian Association was founded in 1855, by two ladies simultaneously. In the south of England Miss Robarts started a Prayer Union with a purely spiritual aim; in London Lady Kinnaird commenced the practical work of opening homes and institutes for young women in business. In 1877 the two branches united in the Young Women's Christian Association, which seeks to promote the all-round welfare of young women by means of residential and holiday homes, club rooms, restaurants, noon rest rooms, classes and lectures, and other useful departments. The Young Women's Christian Association has spread all over the world, and the total membership is about half a million.
YOUNGSTOWN, a city and the county-seat of Mahoning county, Ohio, U.S.A., on the Mahoning river, about 60 m. S.E. of Cleveland. Pop. (1900) 44,885 (12,207 being foreign-born especially English, Irish and German); (1910 census) 79,066. It is served by the Baltimore & Ohio, the Erie, the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern, the Pennsylvania, and the Pittsburg & Lake Erie railways, and by interurban electric lines. The Rayen High School (incorporated 1856) was endowed under the will of Judge William Rayen (1776–1854). The Reuben McMillan Public Library (about 25,000 volumes in 1910) is housed in a building finished in 1910 and is named in honour of Reuben McMillan (1820–1898), formerly superintendent of schools. Among other public buildings are the post office and Federal court house, the county court house, the city and the Mahoning Valley hospitals, and the Y.M.C.A. building. The business district lies in the valley on the N. of the river; the residential districts are chiefly on the neighbouring hills. Youngstown has four parks, including Mill Creek (483 acres), East End (60 acres) and Wick (48 acres), presented to the city by the Wick family, descendants of the merchant Henry Wick (1771–1845). The value of its factory products increased from $33,908,459 in 1900 to $48,126,885 in 1905. The most important establishments are blast-furnaces, iron and steel works (of the U.S. Steel Corporation) and rolling mills.
Youngstown was named in honour of John Young (1763–1825), a native of Petersborough, New Hampshire, who in 1796 bought from the Connecticut Land Company a tract of land upon which the city now stands, and lived there from 1799 until 1803. The first permanent settlement was made probably in 1796 by William Hillman. The tract was set off as a township in 1800, and the first township government was organized in 1802; the town was incorporated in 1848, and was chartered as a city of the second class in 1867. The county-seat of Mahoning county was removed from Canfield to Youngstown in 1876, and after much litigation the legality of this removal was confirmed by the United States Supreme Court in 1879. The first iron-mining in the region was done in 1803 by Daniel Eaton, who in 1804 built the first blast-furnace W. of Pennsylvania and N. of the Ohio river. Eaton also built in 1826 the first blast-furnace within the present limits of Youngstown.
YPRES (Flemish Yperen), a town of Belgium, in the province of West Flanders, of which it was formerly considered the capital. Pop. (1904) 17,073. It is situated 35 m. S. of Ostend and 12 m. W. of Courtrai, on the Yperlee, a small river flowing into the Yser, both of which have been canalized. In the 14th century it ranked with Bruges and Ghent, and its population in its prime reached 200,000. It is remarkable chiefly for its fine Halles or cloth market, with a façade of over 150 yds. in length. The main building was begun in 1201 and completed in 1304. The cathedral of St Martin dates from the 13th century, with a tower of the 15th century. Jansen, bishop of Ypres and the founder of the Jansenist school, is buried in the cathedral. The Butchers' Hall is also of interest and dates from the 15th century. Although Ypres is unlikely to regain the importance it possessed when its "red-coated" contingent turned the day in the great battle of Courtrai (1302), it has an important linen and lace trade and a great butter market. The Belgian cavalry training-school is established at Ypres.
YPSILANTI, or Hypsilanti, the name of a family of Phanariot Greeks claiming descent from the Comneni. Alexander Ypsilanti (1725–1805) was dragoman of the Porte, and from 1774 to 1782 hospodar of Wallachia, during which period he drew up a code for the principality. He was again appointed hospodar just before the outbreak of the war with Austria and Russia in 1790. He allowed himself to be taken prisoner by the Austrians, and was interned at Brünn till 1792. Returning to Constantinople, he fell under the suspicion of the sultan and was executed in 1805. His son Constantine (d. 1816), who had joined in a conspiracy to liberate Greece and, on its discovery, fled to Vienna, had been pardoned by the sultan and in 1799 appointed by him hospodar of Moldavia. Deposed in 1805, he escaped to St Petersburg, and in 1806, at the head of some 20,000 Russians, returned to Bucharest, where he set to work on a fresh attempt to liberate Greece. His plans were ruined by the peace of Tilsit; he retired to Russia, and died at Kiev. He left five sons, of whom two played a conspicuous part in the Greek war of independence.
Alexander Ypsilanti (1792–1828), eldest son of Constantine Ypsilanti, accompanied his father in 1805 to St Petersburg, and in 1809 received a commission in the cavalry of the Imperial Guard. He fought with distinction in 1812 and 1813, losing an arm at the battle of Dresden, and in 1814 was promoted colonel and appointed one of the emperor's adjutants. In this capacity he attended Alexander I. at the congress of Vienna, where he was a popular figure in society (see La Garde-Chambonas, Souvenirs). In 1817 he became major-general and commander of the brigade of hussars. In 1820, on the refusal of Count Capo d'Istria to accept the post of president of the Greek Hetairia Philike, Ypsilanti was elected, and in 1821 he placed himself at the head of the insurrection against the Turks in the Danubian principalities. Accompanied by several other Greek officers in the Russian service he crossed the Pruth on the 6th of March, announcing that he had the support of a "great power." Had he advanced on Ibraila he might have prevented the Turks entering the principalities and so forced Russia to accept the fait accompli. Instead, he remained at Jassy, disgracing his cause by condoning the massacres of Turkish merchants and others. At Bucharest, whither he advanced after some weeks' delay, it became plain that he could not rely on the Vlach peasantry to rise on behalf of the Greeks; even the disconcerting expedient of his Vlach ally Theodore Vladimiresco, who called on the peasants to present a petition to the sultan against Phanariot misrule, failed to stir the people from their apathy. Then, wholly unexpectedly, came a letter from Capo d'Istria upbraiding Ypsilanti for misusing the tsar's name, announcing that his name had been struck off the army list, and commanding him to lay down his arms. Ypsilanti's decision to explain away the tsar's letter could only have been justified by the success of a cause which was now hopeless. There followed a series of humiliating defeats, culminating in that of Dragashan on the 19th of June.
