Einstein's acceptance of the "ether"

Einstein FIRST rejected it then in 1919 realized “space without ether is unthinkable” but, as his Leiden speech, it must be FLUID medium (no ‘absolute’ state but an ‘infinite hierarchy’. (‘52 paper & Appx V). He stated that many times from then on! i.e. “1924…“ we are not going to be able to dispense with the ether in theoretical physics”, also; “It would have been more correct if I had limited myself, in my earlier publications, to emphasizing only the nonexistence of an ether velocity, instead of arguing the total nonexistence of the ether, for I can see that with the word ether, we say nothing else than that space has to be viewed as a carrier of physical qualities.” (Einstein to H.A. Lorentz, November 15, 1919, in Kostro 1992) The ether of the general theory of relativity differs from that of classical me- chanics or from that of the special theory of relativity in so far as it is not ‘absolute’ but its spatial distribution is determined by that of matter... We shall not be able to dispense, in the field of theoretical physics, with the ether, i.e. a medium which possesses physical properties; indeed, the general theory of relativity... excludes any direct distant action. Every theory based on close ac- tion supposes the existence of continuous fields; thus they also presuppose the existence of an ‘ether’. (Einstein 1924, translated in Janossy 1962) From https://www.quora.com/profile/Peter-Jackson-545