Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-02-18
Remarkable 6rowtb.
Some Facts About the Young Mems Christian Association in
This and Other Countries-What 1t is Doing in Our
Colleges, Army and Navy-in Mission Fields.

automobile schools Several hundred busl.
ness men are Studying business economy
methods Of Y NJ. q. A. Instructors \
course IN Investments is offered TO capital
lists New ideas IN publishing and printing
are made known to fOremeu and head
printers of the big publishing houses The
Massachusetts legislature has authorized
me Boston \. NJ. .. A to confer degrees
on the graduates Of its Massachusetts, law
schools. Forestry classes re being START
ed up and the Oregon associations arc
giving instruction IN poultry raising.
Bible cducation-the original Y NJ G. A
educational Ideals being extended beyond
the members OF the organization. A decided
Innovation is the organization OF Bible
classes among the members of the college
fraternities. Every frat "a the Univcr-
sly of Missouri has been organized into
Bible class. The movement is meeting with
great success at Harvard TOo OF Yale's stu
dents are studying the Bible under Y NJ
c. A direction The T2J student assecia-
tons throughout the country have A total
membership OF J0On. an increase Of Iii. go
in five years.
The Y. NJ. G. A was i'm Cuba aud Porto
Rico with the vans Of the armies. II got
Its stationery to Santiago when the govern
ment could not, and So the first reports
that the various generals sent 10 the War
Department were written on paper bearing
the \. NJ. G. \. heading. The Y NJ. q. A
secretaries In the Philippines went right to
the front with the soldiers, and that also
served 10 call the governments attention
to the work of the organization Praise
OF II was continually sent in by the com
manding officers and as a result Ii was not
| long before the government was requesting
| the y. N. c. A. TO send out secretary on
each transport ordered 10 the Philippines.
The government had come 70 full cealiza
ton OF the faCt that the work of the Y.
/ NJ. G. a was one OF the chief factors I'm
keeping the average soldier Contented in
strange and msidious surroundings.
BY the close of the war with Spain the
work If the Y. NJ G y had proved OF such
ineStimable value TO the army that Con-
| gress passed a law permitting the erection
| of Y NJ. c. A. buildings on post grounds
| Under the same law the Secretary oS War
| issued an order making IL possible Tor the
Y. NJ. c. A. to be assigned rooms in the
various post exchange buildings. Fortress
Monroe now has fine y. NJ. c. A. building;
d $4,000 one is being erected at Fort
! Leavenworth. and Y. NJ g. A. work has re-
Gently been inauguratcd in the post ex-
change building at Fort Totten.
The navy work began in a rented tobacco
warehouse at Key West. II is now being
pushed at the various navy yards and ma
val centers such as Norfolk, Cavite, New
port and San Juan.
The attendance last year at the home
naval branches was 4tD.367. ten times the
total listment of the navy. In the Brook
Ign navy yard building a biueiacket was
welcomed every two and a half minutes OF
the twenty foGr-hour day over II. 600
men paid for lodging, over 1900 slept or
the floors when beds were not to be had,
1900 were turned away for lack of ac-
commodations. $4,000 meals were served
in the restaurant, and the sailors iutrusted
s445. l52 to the Y. NJ. c. a. Between seven
and eight thousand bluejaCkcts every month
allot to the Y. NJ. c. \. "A portion of their
| pay, and this is turned over 10 the organ
| lZatlOn by the government Then the \. NJ.
c. \. sends the money to the persons desig-
mated. or sees that the installmeuts are
| kept up on homes and real estate, or in
vests it or holds it, as per directions or the
men.
The Y NJ c. A is not a mission to tho
army and navy; il IS an integral part of the
army and navy. This is its status, because
the government has recognized its efficient
work in keeping up the morale of the men
The American Y. NJ c. A. is the chief
support of the movement in the so-caIled
mission lands: this is conceded by the Eu-
ropean branches. The methods that are
applied here are used abroad. In Korea
for the first time in that nations history
the men are being taught the value OF
physical training, with the result that the
Korean man Is fast losing his desire 10
possess long finger nails and hands that
are soft and feminine. For a Korean TO
sweat is no longer to be dIsgraced.
All this and more the American branch
of the Y NJ c. A. has accomplished since
1851, the year of its founding in Montreal
and Boston. A little incident of the y. NJ
c. A work with the japanese army in Man
churia may perhaps give an insight into
the methods by which the organization has
won such wide favor.
One of the secretaries thOughtfully IN
cIuded In the equipment a Yankee hair
clipper. He offered to bare the long. unat-
tended polls Of many Japs cared to
undergo the operation. From the day of
this declaration he was In high favor; on
one day he clipped the heads OF ninety sol
diers; and it is a peculiar fact that after
the clipper was introduced to the army the
rank and file eVinced a keener interest than
before in the Y. NJ. G A. 1t had done some
thing of practical benefit TO the men.
The associations of the United States and
Canada present the picture Of a powerful
active and complete organization, said the
worlds committee at the London conference
in 1894. They are well at the head of the
whole work, and their influence Is felt far
beyond the American continent"
That was said eleven years ago. What
would the same men say now Of the Ameri-
can branch Of the movement