Los Angeles daily herald., 1890-01-02
THE Y. M. G. A.

THE Y. M. G. A.
A Plan to Complete the Build.
ing.
In response to call issued by the
directors of the Young Mems Christian
Association, q number of the contributors
to the building now in course of erection
met on Tuesday evening 20 discuss the
practicability of continuing and complet-
ing the same. notwithstanding the
present cry of hard times, great feeling
of hopefulness prevailed, and many of
the gentlemen present spoke earnestly of
the great importance of the early compile
ton OF the building, and expressed firm
conviction that with faithful effort on the
part CT all interested, the thing could be
accomplished.
A statement was submitted by the
Board of Directors showing the exact
present financial condition of the build
ing enterprise, and recommending GER
tain action. The following is the report
in full:
The Board of Directors who now have
in charge the care and completion of the
building feel that the emergency is such
as to demand from them plain state
ment to the contributors of the condition
of the funds, and the danger threatening
the property. The condition in brief is
this: The mortgage debt is $35 900;
floating debt, $1,000, and it will require
500, ,0c0 to complete the building.
The immediate emergency arises from
the fact that on or before April 1st the
following amounts must be raised;
on ON INTEREST," issssssi due and advanced SSoo Soo
On floating debts with interest. ....... 5000
Total amount ....................$ SIC, 100
This money cannot be borrowed on the
building and there are no resources from
which it can come. The Second. street
property is not here accounted as among
the assets, because only part of it can
be wisely sold--probably not more than
enough to pay the mortgage on that
property. There are unpaid pledges of
about So 900 on the books. Of this not
over $1,000 can be collected, and that
will be very slow as great effort has been
made to collect closely during several
months past.
The board has consulted very broadly
with citizens of Los Angeles, and feels
certain that there is no one or more who
are in position and at the same time
willing to advance this $40, 100 needed
this spring. They could scarcely bs
asked to do it. We seem, therefore, to
be driven to the raising of the money by
subscription or the surrender of the
building. To surrender the building is
to sell IL at very low igure-at forced
sale price. The lot is very valuable anu
the building is thoroughly we'll built,
and, under the most unfavorable ci rcum.
stances, it will sell for enough To meet
all liabilities, but not much more. The
sale OF the building would be the death
blow to the Young Mems Christian AS
sociation as an Important factor in Los
Angeles. No proposition to erect another
building by popular subscription could
be made again for many years, and the
work of the association would be, as
it has been, entirely inadequate
to meet the great need. The loss
of the building would be blow to the
credit of the city, as it would be the
most marked instance of loss in the
history of the Young Mems Christian
Association throughout the world, and
it would obtain the widest publicity.
The loss of this building would be
most disastrous precedent for all such
public enterprises for this city and
throughout Southern California.
On the contrary, to raise the debt in
these times would be an expression of
the energy of this city and its proper
faith in it's future. The raising of this
debt means work for young men and
boys in promotion of manhood equal to
that of any city in the country OF equal
size, and worthy of our opportunity here.
The raising of this debt means the re.
moving of this enterprise from the way
of other worthy enterprises for the bene-
fit OF Los Angeles. In ehort, it means
glorious victory in hard times instead
of disastrous and complete defeat.
From these considerations it is
plain that our decision must be
to save the building if pcs.
sible. Some things that are desir-
able are not possible. Is it possible to
save the building? We believe that it is
and that the method can be clearly
outlined.
The mortgage can be carried after the
completion of the building indefinitely,
as the income will be just about equal to
the interest. If, therefore, we can pro-
vide for the final payment of the mort
gage, this will cease to be danger. 1t
is felt that subscription of $50, 900 worth
of clear real estate, estimated conserva-
lively by such q committee as Messrs.
A. E. Pomeroy, L. Bixby and J. S. Slau-
son, would be provision for this
mortgage. Certainly, in these times,
it would not seem an impossi-
bility to secure this amount of
real estate, to be held and sold
as it could be from time to time
to apply upon the mortgage debt. 1t is
proposed as the first step to undertake to
raise that amount of real estate between
January 1st aud February 10th, on con-
dition that $25 900 in cash subscriptions
shall be raised on or before March 18Th.
This second step-the securing of $25 900
in cash subscription in these times--is a
large undertaking, as large as it is prac-
ticable, but 1t is believed not impossible,
provided the real estate shall have been
first secured to care for the mortgage.
Without this first condition met, the sec
ond step is impossible. We have called
this meeting to present the facts and se-
cure your action upon the plans pro-
posed to meet the emergency. We
recommend that, as representatives of
those whose gifts have entsred into this
enterprise, we decide First, to under
take to save the building. Second, in