The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1893-03-17

A REVIEW OF THE FIELD.

The army OF young men constitutes
one-siXth of the entire population of the
United States, and while they are the
hope of the city, state and nation, they
are, also, the cause of nine -tenths of the
evil and crime of our land Only five
per cent. of this vast army are Chris
tians, but fifteen per cent attend church
regularly, and seventy-fve per cent. do
not go to church at all. These are ac-
curate statistics. What becomes of the
seventy-hve per cent. who never attend
church? Answer this question by ask
ing from what source do the saloons.
billiard halls, and other places of vice
get their support? All will admit that
young men are the prey for these
enemies of mankind.
Our jails and reformatories are full
of young men. In one house of correc-
ton in western city the record showed
1,773 inmates, of whom 1,172 were
young men between the ages of sixteen
and thirty-two years. In a western
penitentiary, where there were no boys,
the average age of its 900 inmates was
less than twcnty-four. These state
ments are appalling and the wonder is,
after having found out the source of SO
large proportion of the crime Of the
land, there should not be more united
effort to counteract the evil
In the great Boston fire in 1872,
though every effort was made to sup
press the ilames they constantly in
creased -. What did they do? Attention
was turned 70 the source of supply, and
whole blocks were blown up, so when
the fire reached 'shose points it burned
itself out and the 'frH was soon over
Let us take a lesson from lh.. y LTavirr
found the source Of crime, let tly con-
centratc our efforts i'm this direction,
and stop the supply
Do not understand that the seventy
five per cent. of our young men who do
not attend church are all criminals: they
are not; but from this number comes
sevcn-tenths of our criminals.
The Young Mems Christian Assoca-
ton is often regarded rs q sort of re-
formatory institution. Its main object
is precentice rather than curative. Its
main purpose involves the prevention
of young men falling victims to evil,
though we gladly do all that lies in our
power to reclaim young man who has
fallen.
Our purpose is to improve the mental,
social, physical and spiritual condition
of young men. Every young man has
these four sides to his nature that must
be cared for, and not the least is the
social side. Sociability has been the
cause of the downfall of four-ffths of
the young men who have Yielded to
temptation. If twenty young men come
to our city to-day, nineteen of them will
be on the street in the evening, and the
first young man that seeks their COM
pany in most cases, wins their conf
dence and influences their lives A
young man once said: 81 have been on
the pi'airies in the west. with nothing in
sight but the grass under my feet and
the sky overhead, but did not feel so
lonesomesctioEhen ! stood on the streets
ot Boston VI as'r, the TO whom l could
apply the term frienu. - ns2tsapg will,
indeed, must q young man pos. 80.
when so situated if, on having a bright
young man extend an invitation to take
a walk, can say no. His social nature
is crying out for company, and is only
too glad to accept such an invitation.
1t takes young men to win young
men. AS strangers come to the city,
they board with young men, they work
beside young men, and it is the most
natural thing in the world for them to
go where young men congregate. The
live Association of to-day provides the
parlor with a piano, song books, games,
etc. the reception Committee of bright
young men to entertain; the gymnasium,
with two or three fellows on hand to
show the would-be athlete how TO use
the apparatus, and by so doing, his con-
fdence is won and the ultimate victory
is almost certainty.
A worthy Quaker thus wrote; 81 ex-
pect to pass through this world but
once; if, therefore, there be any kind