The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1903-04-02
$4,000 MEN IN CONFERENCE.

cuuudJ HlSul dl DtIUy, SOnn. was
closed the last of series of twenty
conventions of the state Young Mems
Christian Associations which have
been meeting during the last two
months from Peterboro, Ont, to
Lampasses, Tex, and from New
Hampshire to California. These
conventions had over 5000 delegates.
There have been present at their
meetings over $4,000 young men. In
these meetings over 1900 addresses,
prepared papers and talks, have been
gwen.
The convention in Georgia was
called to order by Ex-Governor Mort.
hen. Men prominent in all positions
of life took part in the programs.
Governor Cummings of Iowa, speak
ing to the men a t the Minnesota
gathering, said, 81 look upon the
Association as an essential part of the
great events which protect the people
of this and other countries from the
dlsintegration of immortality. 1t is a
great deal cheaper and more effective
to give to the help of the Association
than to employ policemen" Presi-
dent Slocum Of Colorado University,
in speaking to the men of California,
said, Gas you make young men brav-
er, truer and more responsible to all
the higher calls of public and private
life, you serve the state and the ma
| ton"
The themes for discussion which
have elected the largest interest at
these conventions have been, "The
care and culture. of growing boys, of
their bodies and morals" In this
the Associations are seeking the best
men to be found. At nearly every
convention, action leading to the
organizations of new Associations in
the counties, has been taken. The
success OF this work by county groups
has been demonstrated SO that it will,
it is expected, double the number oI
organizations in the country IN five
years. The progress is limited only
by the inability to find trained men
of industrial Associations. These are
being formed in large manufacturing
and other industerial plants, such as
was opened at Proctor. VT. six week:
ago. In Pennsylvania, series of new
Associations formed among the Goa
miners, show remarkable progress
and in the Carolinas the mill operator,
in the new towns are receiving atten
ton. AT nearly every gathering large
sums were raised to extend the Asso
citation work in foreign lands.
| Great evange gellstic meetings for mer
with attendance of 500 to $500, wer,
held on Sunday afternoons, at which
a direct appeal to men to live clean
straight, useful Christian lives and de
vote themselves to service for thei
fellow men were made with remark
able response.
In almost every state large sums O
money were gwen for the State Com
mittee, to whom credit for the remark
able advance in the movement is due
There are now 81 such State Com
|, mittees that employ O. secretaries ant
spend $I65,ooo year IN fosterin
and organizing Associations.
i, | Nearly one-third Of the delegates t.
these gatherings were college mer
prominent among whom were tn
| crack athletes, football and base bal
, The reports presented by Stat'
r Committees at these conventions, sho'
/ that the Association is as attractiv
as clnb, effective as police force
educative as school, and as inspirin!
as a revival to men. Instead of hay
ing fully occupied its field, there ar
yet as many cities without Association
as with; there is demand for sever
thousand county organizations, thre
: or four hundred college Association
i three hundred railroad Association
f scores of organizations IN large indust
= rial plants, and a hundred men al
= called for to man new organizations i
foreign lands.