AMERICAN SETTLEMENT HOUSES CAME INTO BEING AS AN EXPERIMENTAL EFFORT TO SOLVE THE SOCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL PROBLEMS IN A GREAT CITY. THEIR BROAD GOAL WAS TO BRIDGE THE CHASM OF MISUNDERSTANDING BETWEEN THE HAVES AND THE HAVE NOTS BY A 3-FOLD EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM -- (1) RESIDENTS OF THE SETTLEMENTS EDUCATED THEMSELVES ABOUT THE LIVES OF THE POOR BY PERSONAL CONTACT AND BY BROADER STUDIES CONDUCTED BY STATE AND FEDERAL AGENCIES, (2) THEY THEN COMMUNICATED THIS INFORMATION TO THE PUBLIC, BY LECTURES AND ARTICLES, AND ENCOURAGED CONSTRUCTIVE ACTION, AND (3) THEY CONDUCTED EDUCATIONAL WORK WITH THE PEOPLE OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD. THEY STARTED WITH AN AMBITIOUS PROGRAM OF FORMAL ADULT EDUCATION INCLUDING HISTORY, ART, LITERATURE, AND PHILOSOPHY. THIS PROVED INEFFECTIVE WITH THE NEIGHBORHOOD POOR, MANY OF WHOM WERE IMMIGRANTS, AND WAS SUPERSEDED BY MORE PRACTICAL COURSES IN ENGLISH, VOCATIONAL SUBJECTS, HOMEMAKING, CITIZENSHIP, ETC. UNION MEMBERSHIP WAS ENCOURAGED. CIVIC IMPROVEMENT LEAGUES SCORED ONE OF THE SETTLEMENTS' GREATEST VICTORIES IN ACHIEVING EFFICIENT GARBAGE COLLECTION, CLEANING UP OF THE STOCKYARDS, CREATION OF PARKS AND PLAYGROUNDS, AND POLITICAL REFORM. (DOCUMENT INCLUDES 23 REFERENCES.) THIS ARTICLE APPEARED IN "ADULT EDUCATION," VOLUME 17, NUMBER 3, SPRING 1967, QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF THE ADULT EDUCATION ASSOCIATION OF THE U.S.A., 1225 19TH ST., N.W., WASHINGTON, D.C. 20001. (EB)