The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-01-01
RAlLR LROAD SHOPS A FACTOR
 IN PROSPERITY OF DECATUR

T. | owners.
 Inhabitants are fsonesuii1ers. ] The railroad engineer. who ftnisl}ed his run, for Decatur is the junction
 point of this division of the Louisville | and Nashville, and took his engine into the huge round house. the biggest in all Alabama, makes what his assocfat-
 es call good money" More than like
 ly one Of the inviting homes on a hand some residence street of New Decatur. with vines on the verandah and . lit-
 tie fountain playing on the lawn be- | longs to the self same engineer. | The man who manages one of the huge electric hammers that weighs over 1900 pounds each. goes to another of l these tasteful and comfortable homes, when he has released his hold on the lever and left behind him the simmer ing glittering light of the red hot steel which his hammer has been battering into shape.
 They make good citizens--these high | priced workmen. @
 No notice of the Decaturs--no arti- l cle on the present strength or future I be complete unless due attention and | regard were paid the Railroad Young ! Mems Christian Association of New l Decatur. It is one of the big institu- tions of the two cities. It Is in fact al-
 most a State institution. no less so | from it's great size than from it's splen- did service to the young men of the | State.
 l There is only one other Railroad | Young Mems Christian Association in
 Alabama, that at Selma. and 1t is not so
 large or so well housed. The Decatur I institution may be the largest Young | hrfc fta.
 State. If there is larger one 1t is the | Young Mems Christian Association of Birmingham. The two are very close | together in membership, and the race | between them is close. The member ship of the Decatur organization at the l close of the year is 1,0S0. The figures | as to the membership of its rival, the 1 Birmingham Association, are not at hand for comparisons. The Decatur Young Mems Christian l Association occupies perhaps the finest natural business site ia New Decatur. It is near the heart of the city. as the
 Gordon Drive curves outward to the residence section of the city. It is
 huge sweeping building, two stories in
 height, with broad verandahs. It rep resents an investment of at least $3O,- 900.
 Railroad and Y. M. C. A. But for the Louisville and Nashville Railroad such an institution would not have been possible. Not that the peo- pie of New Decatur did not take an in-
 terest in it and help in it's establish
 ment, for they dld. But the railroad
 was the bis factor behind it's estab- lishment. The original plan called for an expenditure of $15.000 by the Louis vile and Nashville Railroad and $5,ooO
 by the people of Decatur. Both par ties kept this contract But it was found that $20,000 was not enough to carrx. the plans \into effect. More money, considerably more money. was needed and this was supplied by the , railroad.
 The Louisville and Nashville Rail road. moreover, makes an annual ap- propriation to help in the matter of lights and heat. This Is necessary be- cause of the very low price charged by the Association for its eonveniences and accommodations. For instance, tired railroad man can get a bed for 10 cents-a good bed, too. So the month ly deficit which results from these low charges, is met by the monthly appro-
 priation of the company. ,... v. .,
 The Association has now been at it's
 useful work for two years, having been opened January 1, 1905. The Secretary Is G. H. WinSioW, an expert nlachinlst, who went into Y. NJ. c. A. work for which he has found himself peculiarly fitted. The Decatur institution is the
 third Young Mems Christian Associa-
 tion he has opened in his career.
 He is assisted by F. D. Whitman, formerly of Lawrence County. The doors are never closed, The building is open day and night. quick order
 restaurant supplies the members with lunches at the lowest possible figure. The management only requires of the restaurant that it shall make expenses.
 There are thirty-fye rooms in the building and of these twenty are rent ed to shop men at s4 month. Each room is as neat and clean as the rooms of any first-c1ass hotel Some of them
 have been rented as high as twenty times a day. They were taken at diff
 ferent hours of the day by road men coming in from their runs and resting for their next call. Each man paid 10 cents for his accommodation and in no instance were two men put in the same bed.
 The building is equipped with the other features which have made tue Young Mems Christian Associations so popular throughout the countrywide
 shower baths the library and reading room, the games, the swimming pool, the lectures and educational courses, as well as the regular religious services.