Bisbee daily review., 1908-02-06
STRUGGLE OF Y.M.C.A l
 IN 4 "BAD' TOWN
Place Was Named Hell" and Lined Up To Its Name Until Association Came-Trans- formed in a Year.

We've got a town on our road the boys call Hell If you want real hard thing to try out the r. NJ. c. A. couragng remark made by railroad president to an International Y. M. c. A. secretary ten years or more ago who urged that this organization could better the conditions of living and the service on his road. That suits us" said the secretary. But. replied the president, the men won't stand for it. You will have to take the Christian our of your name and the religion out of your methods. or you won't make 1t go with these men at this division point or anywhere else on railroad"
 The company put up $4500 for an equipment, and the citizens $2,500. At the end of a month saloon men pro tested that the new organization was ruining their business. One of them, who had the best corner saloon in town. said his monthly receipts ,1ad fallen off from over s1,000 to S700, and he or the association had to quit. Now handsome Episcopal church oc- cupies his corner. A brakeman who came back to the town after an ab- sence of two years hunted for his former associates in their accustomed seats in the saloon and found them in the Y. Nj. c. A. building
 The social experiment and others like it lea a southeastern railroad to invest some $10O,00O of the company's funds in Y. M c. A. building and equipment in the past two years at five division points. When the com pany was making plans to establish new division point with shops, round-houses and extensive yards, at a cost of one million dollars, near a town noted as the center of the Hat field and Mccoy feuds, which have been bitterly fought for generations, there went up simultaneously with the erection of the round house, re- pair chops, offices, etc, a railroad Y. NJ. c. A. building. At this terminal were 500 men. Contrary to the usual custom the company paid all the cost of building. Usually the railroad men give 25 per cent Within a year the place was so crowded that the com pany built an addition which cost S4,000. At the end Of the second year there was an addition put up to in crease the provision from forty to eighty beds, and in four years the cn- tire equipment was Ion the scrap heap worn out.s' Then the company found a new site for a building and spent S45,000 for equipment, which it turned over to the Y. NJ c. A. to run. This has 120 beds and dormitories, f@,,s fnh a, night. Two months after opening the president of the road called ana ask ed the secretary if it was big enough. No, often ten to twenty men art sit ting up all night, in the rooms wait ing for bed. Well then" declared the president, we will make it large enough
 At town a mile and half away everything that railroad man mIgnt want and be safer without, including whisky poker chips, is sold. The custom of not a few of the citizens was to carry a gun in one aip pocket and whisky flask in the other, and it was not wholesome place for rail road men. That the men would have no excuse to go to town, everything that a railroad man should want, from a clean shave to a pair of overans or a T. D. pipe, is sold in the Y. NJ. c. 4. building. There are no keys to the building and it is never closed. A business Of $55,00O is handled each year by a force of twenty-nine em- ployes. The restaurant, in whica the men may get a square meal for 20 cents, does a big business ana the beds are used from two to three times within 24 hours and clean linen goes with the ten cent charge. Three pool and billiard tables, two bowl ing alleys, a dozen bath rooms and big library are used so. much during the twenty-four hours that opportu- nifty cannot be found to keep them in repair.
 The religious work director and his daily meetings and bible classes are as popular as any of the features of the outfit
 Conditions have changed on this road since it's $100,000 investment. The men give better service to the public there are fewer wrecks, and with less drinking come better man. ners. as courtesy goes with Christian ity.
 The opening of the second building was an important occasion, com manGing the attendance of the presi- dent of the road, and price president