St. Paul daily globe., 1891-10-24
MINNEAPOLIS.
PRACTICAL RELIGION.

tllC Va. ~. "a. SOlEenItOu. VI
'The Place and Value of the Gymna-
| sium in Association Work. was the
theme of a paper read before the state
Young Mems Christian association con-
vention yesterday morning by l.. r.
Montgomery, of Mankato. The essayist
| is all enthusiastic supporter of the sys-
| tenn, and he asserted that the gymna-
| SUM of to-day is progressive institu-
| ton. The value of physical develop
ment and muscular strength, as an ad
| junct to jealous missionary and evan
| gelical accomplishments, was illus
| trated. and it was claimed that the best
| spiritual workers come from the gym
| naslum. Its attractive features to
| young men were recounted, and at the
| conclusion of the paper spirited dis
| cussi0n occurred, and the opinion
| seemed to prevail that boys under the
| age of sixteen should be forbidden the
gym" after 7:30 in the evening, for
| the reason it too often affords specious
excuses for remaining out late nights.
j. X. Mott, a member of the interna-
| tional committee, followed with paper
| upon rs 1t Incumbent Upon the Asso-
| citation to Promote Foreign MiSsions?"
| Mr.. Mott argued in the affirmative He
| thought there is great need of estaD-
| fishing branches of the association in
all heather countries.
L. A. Hildreth conducted the inSti-
| tute hour, when ten-minute talks upon
different topics were given by the dele
gates. L. G.. Horton conducted the
Bible reading, and J. Z. Mott, of New
York, took charge of the college session.
The state executive committee submit
ted report indicating that the state as
sociation is in prosperous condition
and has experienced q healthy growth
since the last session.
The evening session was devoted to
the presentation of annual reports, and
the discussion of the subject of Y. M.
G. A. work among the railroad men.
The report of the State central commit
| tee, which was read by l. G. Seeley, its
chairman. reviewed the work of the
past year, and contained many sugges-
| tons for the coming years work.
The report of State Treasurer William
| son showed receipts from various
sources during the year of S5. 14S. 70,
and disbursements OF S5,0S9.92. leaving
a balance on hand of $5S.7S. The bills
receivable amount to Sl,200, and bills
| payable to 1900.
The report of State Secretary T. A.
| Lewis showed that there were twenty
| two associations in the state, with
membership of 1900, and an attendance
| of 4,S00 persons: that the work accom-
| pliShed during the year had far exceed
| ed that of any previous year.
| The assistant state secretary also rem
| dered brief but interesting report of
his work for the year.
+. j. Whitney, of st. Paul, general
| passenger agent of the Great Northern
road, was to have read a paper upon
Work for Railroad Men, and How
I5.,I.
| the Greatest Good in Their Behalf,'
but as he was unavoidably detained
| elsewhere, the paper which he had care
| fully prepared was read by James Sny-
| dam, of st. Paul. 1t was replete with
| information of an interesting nature,
| and contained many valuable sugges-
! tion1 upon Christian work among the
| railroad men. qs
| By way of Introduction, Mr.. Whitney
| stated comprehensive statistics to show
| the magnitude of the railroad interests
| Of the United States and the vast extent
| of this field alone. He stated among other
| facts that in the q nited States there were
! 100000 railroad employees and 100000
| dependent upon railroad companies for
| their subsistence, and that in the state
| of Minnesota alone there were -, 900
railroad employees. He then went Oh
TO show that the railroad is the greatest
of all clvilizing agents, affOrding rapid
| and convenient means of communiea-
| ton and travel and building up the
country in all directions. and that the
| past fifty years covers the real existence
| of the railroad.
He made strong argument in favor
| of the abandonment of Sunday work on
the railroad, and urged all earnest and
| continued effort toward this end. He
| said: There can be no queS-
ton as to tile desirability of
doing away with Sunday work. bu
nothing can be done without concerted
effort and without the aid of the public
Therefore it is necessary to cultivate a
| sentiment antagonistic to Sunday work.
Mr.. Judd, of the Minneapolis Rail
| road Mems association. was then called
upon to preside over the meeting dur
| ing discussion of the subject 'Chris-
tian Work Among the Railroad Men,"
! Dir. Dugan, OF the Minneapolis asSoci-
alton, stated many interesting facts
concerning the club rooms at No. 81
| South Second street, among which
were that the railroad companies
contribute So, 100 and railroad officials
$500 annually to its support, and that
last years membership fees amounted
to $3.50 additional, making revenue of
| $3.50. Mr.. Francis stated the work of
the association in visiting and caring
for the sick and injured rail-
road employees. Mr.. Sanders made
brief report as to services
stating that devotional exercises had
been held every Sunday at the club
rooms, and also that cottage meetings
and meetings at the shops had been
held at regular intervals. He said there
were about 5000 railroad employees in
Minneapolis, only one-tenth of whom
were Christians. but that favorable
progress was being made by the asso-
citation.
the subject of the club room.
At the close of the meeting the young
people of Southeast Minneapolis gave "a
reception in the parlors of the church.