The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1913-05-30

leading boys and men TO the Good
Now let us turn to report Of the
activities and note the effect Of our
policy.
Our membership shows . total Of
379 distributed % follow: Business
men SO, seniors 1ss, intermediates 70,
juniors 6S. and cadets 40. This is an
increase Of Is per cent over last year.
but IL not what the record should
be, by any means.
The physical department, under the
Of c. @. Conley, chairman,
and e. L. Cochran, director, has q re-
markable report. It is the best show
ing for the size of the town Of any
association in the state. There were
over $1,000 registrations recorded in
to the department and 1882 actual.
ly went to the gymnasium floor and
took some part In the exercises.
There were 764 regular classes held
and 1852 games were played to which
the public were admitted. The mum.
ber of spectators viewing our regular
and exhibition work reached the 49,
900 mark. Forty classes we're held
for training the leaders and these
same boys met every Saturday night
for bean supper and the study Of
life problems.
The work in connection with the
schools has been q feature.
Organising the boys who attended
these various schools into teams. four
leagues and one meet have taken care
Of five kinds of athletics with 1873
games played and one indoor meet.
In succession basketball, volley bali,
indoor track, indoor baseball and
held these boys to the asso-
citation and to the Sunday schools.
The Sunday school superintendents
advise that this feature has built up
their schools.
! The bowling alleys have been kept
warm most of the time as is evidenced
by the number of games, 1910, that
were rolled.
In the summer time the city base
ball league with Sc games played and
1856 men under contract and the ten.
mis- tournamen with 90l games played
kept your secretaries busy.
The success Of the social side Of
our work is best evidenced by the
way our building has been used.
There is no way of placing an accurate
estimate on the number that actually
entered our front door But this we
the building was very
often crowded to its limit. There is
not single room that has not been
used nearly every hour Of the day.
Our quarters instead Of being too
large as has often been predicted are
too small to. take care of the numbers
that come to US. We have been able
to gladly give service to such organ.
izations as the Associated Charities,
Knox County Grange, Wool Growers
Association, Mt. Vernon Ministerial
Knox County Medical As.
Corn Growers Association
and Citizens Association. We have
hoped that all these have felt welcome
and will come again as we'll as others
and use us and the building.
The boys driving In from the sur
districts have had no place
provided for them in which to eat
their lunches or spend the noon hour.
As has been our custom. We have CIV
en- them a place whether members or
not, and an average of about thirty
have been with US each noon. Special
classes in the gymnasium have been
for them.
The dormitories this year have
been the largest source Of income. and
6,605 beds were used. We have now
equipped every room available and
could use many more. as we almost
daily turn applicants away.
The scientific games of billiards and
pocket billiards have been very pOpu-
lar with our members this year. They
are recreative, moral and wholly good
In their influence and have helped us
much in holding the boys to the as
sociation. This years receipts have
been nearly double those of.last year.
Let US turn now to the finances. and
don't let any one turn away for fear
of losing their pocket book. We are
going to surprise you. Previous years
we have had deficit Of from $4,000
to $4,000. This year we have added
to our Indebtedness only $SS9.25 more
than at the same time last year. Next
May we must report decreased In
debtedness.
Our advance this year over the rec
ord 0f nrevi0ua years YOU can see has