The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1892-12-01

THE Y. NJ. c. A.
A Plea for the Business Men to Con
slider its Claims


To the Editor of the Sentinel.
There is probably no town in the
State perhaps very few in the United
States, where there is so large prJ
portion of the population consisting
of young men. OF the large number
of young men in our population, there
are very few idlers. Ali or nearly so,
are employed by the monied men or
capitalists of our towns and it can be
truly said that there are some men of
cap9tal-wh0 are directly interested in
the moral status of nearly every young
man in the two towns.
Every thinking man recognizes the
influence of association upon charac-
ter-either for good or evil, as it may
be. Every observer of the work of
the Young Mems Christian Associa-
in our cities, recognize in this associa-
tion the foremost agent. the most
successful, effective medium through
which the young men can be reached
and influenced for. good. This asser-
tiOn does not in any measure detract
from the value of the church of Christ
as chief promoter of good, but the
Young Mems Christian Association
by means of it's combination of Chris
tian and secular attractions, is ena-
bled to reach a class of men that
flight shy'' of the restrictions of the
church, until by the influence of the
Y. NJ. G. A. they are induced to go
farther in the desired direction, and
put themselves within the influence
of the church. Thus we see that the
Y. NJ. G. A. becomes a most valuable
auxiliary to the church.
Now these things being so, it fol-
lows that every business man or man.
ufacturer in the Twin-Cities, should
consider it his interest to promote the
interest of the Y. NJ. @. A. as mat
ter of business policy.
But there is a greater and much
more binding reason than this. With
few exceptions, our manufacturers
and business men are members of
some evangelical church, the tenets of
which make it the duty of every
member to do all they can to make
men better, and the starting point in
this work is to adopt such measures
as will serve to remove them from
such evil influences as may have a
tendency to vitiate them, and to place
around them instead, such influence
as tends to improve them morally. We
have so far, only treated this subject
from the standpoint of the employer.
Now, however, there is another stand
point from which to cOnSiderer it and
one that should strike closer home, i.
e.: the standpoint of the parent.
The majority of our mOnied men
are parents. The immora atmospner
which cOntaminates other mems sons,
will also cOntaminate yours. The abb
sence of moral influences provided for
the son of others, may bring disas-
trOuS results to your own boy, and
even if not your son, it may to your
brother, or to a near relative.
Every good citizen desires to see his
town moral town. The morals of a
community are based upon or made
up by the morals of individuals.
But few years and the young men
of today will be the ones who will de-
eide by their influence as well as their
Suffrage-the moral status of our COM
munity. 1t will be they who will say
whether the city government shall be
run in the interest of law and order,
SObriety and virtue, or whether bar
rooms and gambling dens shall line
our streets, and debaucbery run riot
inuour Twin-Cities. Now then, let's
do what we can to shape the morals of
the future, by promoting the morals
of today. Let's contribute freely as
God has prOSpered us, and establish
upon a surer and better basis. A Y.
NJ. G. A. with more attractions than
any yet had here, one more cOmmen-
surate with WinstOn-Salem's progress
and prosperity. This is the most de-
serving Object,for which an nappeal has
yet been made to our business men.
Let the business men of Winston re-
spond to this call as promptly as they
have heretofore done to baseball and
such objects, and soon we will have a
flourishing Y. NJ. @. A. j. d. III.