Morning journal and courier., 1882-06-09
Christian Association Work.

Christian Association Work. The Twelfth Annual Convention-Geh-
 eral Secretnries-About Two Aundfe"
 Delegates-Discussion Regarding the
 Work - Its Beginning and "hde
 Growth.
 About two hundred general secretaries ot Young Mems Christian associations of thls country and Canada are in the city attending their twelfth annual convention. A happy, useful and important work is being accom- plished by the associations There were about fifty new arrivals yesterday morning. | At the preliminary meeting on the preceding | evening the work of organization was mainly ! completed. Yesterday morning at about 9:3o !
 the first business session was held. The ses- l
 sions, which will last until Sunday evening
 inclusive, are held at the Atheneum Most
 of the secretaries are taking notes during the
 proceedings. The proceedings yesterday
 morning were preceded by half hour of de-
 votional exercises, conducted by Dr. Mun-
 hall, State secretary of Indiana. Mr. IL.
 Deming, secretary of the Boston assoclatlon'
 was chosen presiding officer of the morning S6SS1On. II. bTOWu3 O1 No"DAA6, '"N chosen secretary. Singing and prayer fol- lowed, after which a congratulatory telegram from a St. Paul (Minn. friend was read. member gave the good wishes of Brother Judd, of Springfield, the only railroad secre- tary in New England. He was too i'll to at- tend and therefore sent the message. Among the prominent association men present were the following secretaries of the international committee of the United States and British provinces: 1t. c. Morse' l Thomas K. Cree, Robert Weidensall, E. D. ] IngersoI. l.. D. Wishard, E. W. Watkins H. I E. Brown, Erskin Uhl. These were among l the State secretaries present: 5. M. Saytord, ! Massachusetts; George A. Hall, New York; IL. w. Munhall Indiana; MT. Williams, ! Ohio; I. E. Brown, Illinois W, E. Lewis, 1 Wisconsin Allen Folger, New Hampshire ] w A. aowen, Maine. Among the ordinary secretaries present were: R. R. McBurney, New York M R. Deming Boston, D. A. Budge, Montreal; T. S. Cole, Quebec; J. A. I Gauld, St. John, N. B.; R. A. Orr, Pitts burg; John Squire, Buffalo; H. J. Mccoy, San Francisco; A. T, Hemingway, Chicago; Mir. Olandt New Orleans; John H. Elliott, Albany; w. Douglass, St. Louis.
 | Secretary Brown, of Newburg, delivered l "A Conversation on Association History"
 A series of questions were asked and an- swered. The object of the associations was defined to be ''Undenominational Christian ! work carried out by young men for young men," This particular field of lobor was be \ r hy GaOrOa Will Hams, and the thirty eighth anniversary of ! the starting of the work is near Mr. Brown discussed the work that had been done ! among railroad men, in colleges, among the \ foreign population, among the colored peo' l ple and in the South in general MT. Oakes, of Glasgow, thought perhaps the honor of starting the work belonged to Glasgow as ! against London whereupon MT. Witte, Ger man secretary, put in claim that If the Ger ! man associations were counted in the assump- l ton, then to Germany belonged the pioneer honors. Y M c. A. work was spread to the I continent by visitors to the London exposition in 1851. In 1855 the first European confer ence of special importance to Y. M. c. A. 1 work was held in Paris, which event was one
 
 ! conference, and the first American associ- ation was organized at Montreal December 9, 1851. and f5w weeks after the first associ l ation was organized in the United States in Boston.
 Dr. Munhall, State secretary for Indiana, put in clause for Cincinnati as the birth place of the first United States association, l whereupon MT. MeBirney put in counter claim for New York State for that honor. MT. Brown, continuing, spoke of the cause and origin of the first American association. It was letter which appeared in the Watch- man, from London man, detailing the good done by the association work in that city Father Matthew's work in organizing tenn perance associations was spoken of. Before the war of the rebellion several international association conventions were held The war interfered with these After the war the first convention held was in Albany in 1866, and from that dated the real development of Young Mems Christian association work in the United States. The Executive, now the International committee, was first located in New York by the Albany convention Robert Weidensall was the first paid agent employed by the committee and he engaged in work among the railroad men on the Pacific railroad in 1868. Richard 0. Morse WAS in 1870 engaged to do editorial work, conduct correspondence, attend con- ventions, etc. There were but three associa- \ tions in the South in 1871; there are now about 15O. At the close of the war there were but fifty or sixty associations in the United States. Now there are TAI.
 In the beginning, according to Mir. Brown, ! the sole qualification for Y. M. c. A. mem- Ivy
 the same as that required by liquor seller ! to secure a license. In 1868, however, the ] evangelical test of membership adopted. l Railroad work was begun in Poughkeepsie in l 1872. The first work on German speaking young men was begun in 1870. In 1871 work was begun among colegians. In 1872 work was begun among commercial travellers The l expense of the International committee in 1866 was reported as $521 for the year. Last year it was 1924 ,566.
 After Mir. Browns paper came devotion al meeting conducted by Dr. Munhall, of h. diana. Father Pierce of Brooklyn, l.. l.. an old missionary, was invited to the plat form.
 Association services merely for public ef- fect" was the next paper This was read by W. E. avis, of Wisconsin The practice of giving such services was emphatioally disap- proved. Appreciation of men and nothing more was to be deprecated, The associations were organized to save young men. Popular religious services, which sought no result save entertainment, drove away sincerely in
 quiring young men, caused vacant pews when they were abandoned and pleased the devil at
 the expense of earnestness in Gods work.
 When the associations were in their infancy
 they were poor and subject to criticism, but
 these facts did no injury to them It was the
 present afiuence-elegant buildings and ap-
 point ments-in which the danger lay.
 The discussion was lively. Members ex-
 pressed themselves opposed to religious ser
 vices having in view popular appreciation.
 They were hindrance. One of the New
 York delegates said the Sunday evening pop
 ular meetings there had been abandoned.
 They called out large crowds, and though an
 inquiry and prayer meeting followed, were
 found to be evil. Another delegate said that
 8 singer who was not Christian had been
 engaged to appear at popular meetings. This
 was all wrong At another speaker was
 not Christian. The general opinion seemed
 to be that the meetings should be attractive
 but above everything else there should be
 earnest, unadulterated Christian work to the
 end that young men might be saved. It was the Masters business they were doing, and they neither feared nor favored any man.
 A member raised the point would you take out of the choirs the non Christian members. MT. Brown spoke of big meet ing held, which brought out the enquiry
 were there any converts, the answer being that results were with the Lord. One mem- ! T., . l.s1