The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1912-09-24
SPEND $4,000 900 YEARLY
An Immense Enterprise That Rep
rescnts MI Churches In MI
Parts Of the World
SHEPHERD COLLEGE MEN
CBy the Religious Rambler.)

CBy the Religious ~Hambler.)
Of all the religious activities in the
?orld probably the most pictorial and
inherently interesting are those OF the
Young Mems Christian Association AS
eported to the meeting Of the Inter-
national Committee which has been in
ession in Atlantic City during the
past week.
While only two hnudrel men were
resent at this gathering Of leaders,
and the meeting WAS SO small that it
made scarcely a dent on the board
walk, yet the attendants came from
the four quarters of the globe, and
the committee to which they reported
exercises oversight and direction over
2,192 organized associations which re-
port more than half a million paid
members and spent a sum exceeding
eleven million dollars every year for
operating expenses. Everybody knows
the Young Mems Christian Associa-
ton in terms Of a local organization,
but the scope n size of its opera
tons appears only on some such oc-
casion Of review as the present. The
Y. NJ. G. A. is not only interdenomina-
tional, representing all the churches.
but it is also International, having
branches in ali the capitals and large
cities of the earth.
\ Democratic University.
1t takes some imagination to encOm-
pass the Outreach Of the associations
work. It's staff Of employees, for in
stance, aggregates 1858. One must
dip into all the phases Of The Inter-
national Association to perceive what
its activities mean to mankind. There
is the library and reading room, for
example, a popular Y. M. G. A. fea-
ture that holds it's own despite the in
crease Of public libraries throughout
the country. Last yea the associa-
tons spent more than sixty thousand
dollars for forty thousand periodicals,
and they lent more than six hundred
thousand volumes to readers.
h idea of ambitious Young Amer
lea works out most typically in the
Y. Nj. G. A.. The impulse for self
improvement is responsible for the
presence of more than $1,000 students
last year in the classes of the associa.
ton. pursuing almost all imaginable
tUdies, from beginners English tc
advanced economics, mathematirS anC
philosophy. This educational work
stimated by the money standard, cos
nearly a million dollars during tn,
year. In addition to the regula-
classroom work, the associations re
Ort lectures TO the number of 9,42'
upon educational topics, and thi
takes no account Of the entertainment
curses which are still another fea
ure of association activity. Estimat
ne each of these lectures at an aver
age of an hour, they would total in
year one continuous speech, withou
a moments interruption, of NOR
han n years duration.
Religion Pushing Out.
The up~-to-dateneSs of the Y. NJ. {
A. is proverbial. There is scarcely
lass or q condition or a locality {
men or vs. to which it does not mir
ster in some form or other. Thu
has special activities among tn
umbermen, the miners, the worker
in cotton mills, the l~ongshoremen an
sailors, the army and navy, and TT
rural community.
The railroad branches Of the Y. \
c. A. are known to everybody, and
significant development of their lii
was reported at Atlantic City to tt
effect that these associations, whic
have been largely subsidized by II
railroad corporations, are COmi
more and more to stand on the
own feet. Probably they could G
along now without help from Il
railroads. although the latter cou
the investment good business. At Il
railroad mems convention in Chicas
the first week in October, some Of Il
leading railroad magnates Of t
country will be present to attend t
banquet of fifteen hundred men tn
will be held in connection with t
association. The tendency to ma
the railroad associations more dem
cratic and self-suppOrting is also pc
vading the city associations, for t