New Britain herald., 1919-09-16

board Of directors last evening Sec retary Barnes read his monthly re port showing the "" to have been a center of activity. during the past month much more so than in past years. Tine cause of this was the in creased memb bership brought about by the.sfree memltership given ex- service men and the many activities tlanned% for the service men.
 The report shows a nem bership of 560 in the mems department, 1S0 sustaining members and S10 in the boys department, a total m membership of t,050. The Coping three months are expected to be the most active fin the associations year, and the@vari ous departments are planning their work in accordance with this ex- pectation, the secretry reports
 The report foloWss
 September marks what is usually re- garded as the beginning of the years program for the assoclation, but that does not imply that activities have been at low ebb during the summer. AS a matter of fact the past three months have marked the participation un the privileges of the,Y Y. M. c. A. by more young men than any equal length of time in the history of the association. This unusual situation has come about through the very wise decision of our directors to give, free of cost, a membership to each ex- service man who would apply for 1t. The first association to do asthis and the only Y, M. C, A. giving such a mem bership on as liberal a basis we have the further satisfactio of having given more of them than any association in. the state. Beginning in December with small number of soldiers, sailors and marines, the number has steadily increased, reach ing it's greatest number at the season of the year when we could best ac- cOmmodate them, Over 1000 ex- service men are now with us, duly appreciative of this generous policy. But without the increased capacity of the physical department we .*would have been hope}essly swamped, Add ed to our normal mem bership of about 1,10o, over 2,000 men and boys have been served during the summer
 At the same time this mem bership plan was put into operation, an Army and Navy club was organized, for the purpose of promoting actiVi- ties among eX-service men until such time as an official organization was perfected Now after several months activity 1t will become inaetive in favor of military and navy clubs be- ing organized with national affilia- tionS, The club has fulfilled it's pur- pose and justified it's organization, and it's last activity will be an open house affair conducted in the Y. M. c, A, during the present celebration.
 The Y. Me c, A. will be represent ed by a float in the parade and the building will, of course, be decorated for the occasion. '.r
 Industrial Activities
 Three representative attended ethe conference held at Lake George over Labor Day for manufa cturers and Y. M. C. A, secretaries More and more the association is being called upon, by industrial concerns to give of it's re- sources in the welfare plans being developed We are moulding our pol icy in this line to meet the desires of the local manufa cturers. In one large factory we have co-operated with its welfare department in putting on noon singing. It is planned to con tinue the factory nights, setting aside ehe night a week for the use of the local industrial concerns.
 Educational Program.
 The educational work is being plan- ned by MT Bruemmer, advised by a committee of manufacturers, and will conform to. the policy adopted three years ago, of conducting only such courses as are not given. by the public night schools. AmeTicanization work will be condmcted in cooperation wfth the ,Ameri ricanization comp1ittee. .
 Foreign Work #5 ...
 The.5 dinner held at / the Shuttle Meadow club the latter part of June in. the interest of the foreign work produced good results and over $2, 900 was subscribed It was generally agreed that New Britain should have a share p promoting T. M C. A. work in foreign countries. Mr. Hum 6 and MT Brown, formerly on the staff of this association and now doing sas- sociation work in India and Japan. gave interesting reports of their work
 The employed staff is complete and with experienced men as heads of the