The times., 1898-01-31
A NEED OF THE Y. M. c. A.
IT Should Have a Quarter OF Mil
lion Dollar Home.
Secretary Multer Gives Some inter-
esting Obs CREATIONS What
Other Cities Have Done

Washington, with more young men
proportionatelyl than any other city
in the country, or anywhere,
has the least adequate building of
all for the Young Mems CHRIS
tian Association work !. The large
cities like New York and Chicago. and
the small towns, too, have all maSnifl-
cent buildings adequate TO thelr W9rh'
with the gymnasiums, auditoriums,
swimming pools. bicycle halls, and
dozens of other modern conveniences
and attractions that make the young
men come into them because they are
the finest places in reach for almost any
kind OF enjoyment and even in some IN
stances for educational purposes.
The average OF money in the build
ings of the associations throughout the
country is a dollar a head for all the
people in the cities where they sue
located. There is 1S,G00,000 invested In
the buildings in the various cities
Washington, as everybody knows, Eas
no building to speak Of. Even before
the old one was burned down IL was
small and not in harmony with the city
in any way 1t was insufficient Tor las
needs almost from the first year of It3
existence, and it was never suitable De-
cause il was built for another Iiur-
pose.
The Washington branch of the as
sociation believes II should nave
building worth $50 900 or $4,000
Secretary MuIter in a conversation
with a Times reporter last night told
something of the work that is being
done in the campaign for the building
Said he:
"A quarter of million
dollars would allow us to erect
On the lot we now own structure
fitted exactly for our work. 1t seems
to me that the public has not yet real
lied what we could do with such
building.
The boarding house inhabitinS
young men, largely from other cities,
mostly unemployed in the evening, are
as a rule at a, loss TO know what to
do with themselves.
II have talked to hundreds Of them
and find that the majority are with
out any family ties here, many from
the country, living now for the first
time in large city.
That an adequate building such as
we have planned would be an attrac-
ton to thousands of the young men
there can be no question The as
sOciation had 200 members before the
old building was burned. The new one
should be Al palace in comparison to il.
Whether q man is a chufchgosr or
not we take him in. and there is moth
ing 10 compel him TO attend any Of the
religious exercises.
He may come to the association for
the gymnasium, or the bowling alleys,
or the classes in shorthand. or book
keeping, ana he has place TO spend his
time rationallv. That is ali it is to him
for a long time. maybe always. But
he is surrounded by good influences and
kept out of temptation.
We went before the Typographical
Union a short time ago and / asked
the audience of 900 men how many Of
them had lived in the District all their
lives. There were not more than fifty.
/ suppose. The others are here largely
without home ties.
L asked them next what was tfe first
place they. visited when they reached
the city. The man who answered men
toned a certain hotel and barroom.
There is another field of practical
usefulness that the association is work
ing in Washington more than any other
city-that Of turning out lawyers and
other professional men. The town is full
of them. There is net room for them. and
with the other walks of life.
The proportion Of professional men
in the world is only 8 per cent. In
Washington 1t is - per cent. Statistics
show, too, that of the men educated
in the grammar schools only per cent
earn their living with their heads. The
other 92 per cent work with their
hands Our associat atiOn wishes to train
men for mercantile and general pur-
suits and help remove the giut in the
professions. 1t can do this work ad-
mirably with its educational classes
in practical business.
We are making good progress with
our fund. We have been before six of
the large churches now, and presented
our plans. We do not take Ip any col
lection or solicit any money from then.
when we talk, but simply ask them to
think the subject over. j believe the
result of this educational campaign
will be excellent. Our. caflvassers are
out. too, talking to business men and
others. Money is constantly coming
in. though not as rapidly as we would
like.
we aren't giving out any figures of
the amount yet. After the next hand
some donation or two we will do so. 1t
will do no harm. however. to say that
no one need hesitate about sending us
a check for fear of running the amount
beyond what we need
The association had one of its church
meetings at the First Congregational
Church last night. There was a. large
audience and the various speakers were
listened to with interest.
Judge Arson s. Taylor talked of the
reasons why there should be new
building. the large amount of crime i'll
the city, the number of saloons and the
number of young men, Mr.. II. o.
Hines, one of the instructors of the
association, took up in detail the edu-
cational work proposed in the rehabii-
tate association, and talked of the over
crowded professions and the need here
for men with business education. Mr..
Charles F. Nesbit also spoke.
Secretary Multer made the principal
address of the evening. It was illus
trated with a large number of stereop-
ticon views of the association buildings
in this and other countries. Chicago
has magnificent structure worth
81, 500. 900 and twelve branch buildings.
New York has a 100000 building. and
intends to build a better one. 1t also
has eighteen branch buildings. From
Portland, Me-, to Portland. Ore. all the
cities have fine structures except
Washington Washington will be be-
hind until it has a structure worth
s25 900.
Mr. Multer also showed pictures of
buildings at Honolulu, Cape Town and
Toxic, Japan.
Tom Linton Arrives From England.