Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 20.djvu/876

* Y. M. C. Ai- 740 Y. M. C. A. national Railroad Conference at Topeka, !May, 1003, was attended by 1476 delegates, together with representatives from three foreign nations. Several European governments have investigated this work, with relation to starting it in their own countries. Work Among Industrial Men. The methods and spirit of the railroad associations are also being extended to other large bodies of employed men and their employers. Several manufactur- ing corporations have recently aided in estab- lishing similar work among their men, sometimes in expensive buildings erected for the purpose. An international secretary has been designated for this field of efi'ort. YoKK Among Students. The first student associations were organized in the University of Michigan and the University of Virginia in 1S58. In 1S77 the thirty scattered societies became united in an Intercollegiate Movement, for which a secretary was secured by the International Committee. Nine men now prosecute this work. A body of literature has been created, and The IntrrcoJIcriiaii is published monthly. In large cities the students of various institutions are afliliated through an intercollegiate organization, which is a department of the city association. As a result of this work over 10.000 students are enlisted in private and voluntary Bible study, and a strong impetus has lieen given to the study of the Bible in the curriculum. With the aid of the Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions, which is an outgrowth of the student associations, mission study classes have been formed with an annual enrollment of 5000. and over 2000 stiidents. of whom about two-thirds are men. have already become missionaries. Smnmer conferences for the study of the Bible and for the promotion of the religious life of students commencing in 1886, have spread from Northfield to all sections of the United States, and to so many other lands that in 1895 these societies were federated by the organization under American leadership into the World's Student Christian Federation, which is now made up of eleven national or international movements, with a total of 1600 societies and a membership of 82,000 students. WoRic IN THE Army and Navy. About 1880 some State and provincial committees established association tents in summer militia encamp- ments. This effort is .still growing in extent and usefulness. Three days after llie first call for volunteers for the Spanish-American War, the International Committee decided to under- take a similar work in the regular army and navy. Under Government authorization l.S.S tents, generally 40 by 60 feet in size, equipped with, facilities for the comfort and welfare! of the soldiers, were maintained l)y international. State, and local committees in the United States, Cuba, Porto Rico, and the I'hilippines. In charge of the work 22.3 trained secretaries were employed. At least fifty per cent, of the men who had ac- cess to the tents visited them daily. Similar work was carried on for sailors from Key West. The co-it of this widespread work during 1808 was $135,225. At the close of the war, the President, Govern- ment ofllcials, army and navy officers, and sol- diers and sailors requesting the contintiancc of this work, the International Committee began to form associations wherever the number of sol- diers or sailors warranted. The first army as- sociation building, dedicated in 1900, was the gift of Mr. William E. Dodge to the New York City association for the work on Governor's Island. Two other buildings have since been erected. Army work is now carried on at thirty points in America, and at 200 elsewhere. At each centre the practicable features of associa- tion work are maintained, also extensive distribu- tion of reading and writing materials, and a sys- tem of traveling libraries. The Soldiers' Bible and Prayer League is based upon a promise of daily prayer and Bible reading; the Army Tem- perance Union, upon a pledge of total abstinence. In 1901 the provincial committee of Ontario and Quebec, with some aid from the international committee, sent secretaries and equipment with the Canadian contingents to South Africa. The effort was highly successful. In the navy ( 1 ) associations in coast cities have extended their privileges to sailors. (2) Branches of the naval associations have been formed on warships. A Naval Temperance League has been organized. (3) A house rented in 1899 near the New York Navy Y'ard and fitted tip as a resort for enlisted men was superseded in 1002 by a seven-story building. 75 by 100 feet in size, and costing .$415,000. It was the gift of Miss Helen jNIiller Gould through the Women's Auxiliary of the International Committee. Smaller i>ujldings are in use near the Norfolk and Newport navy yards. Work Among Negro and Indian Y'oung Men. A few scattered associations of colored young men were formed prior to 1875, but systematic effort among them began at the international con- vention of that year, and a visiting secretary was put in this field soon after. Two competent colored men are now utterly unable to meet its calls. LTnlike the other departments, it has had the great advantage of a beginning among the student class. Student associations are now or- ganized in 69 educational institutions, includ- ing nearly every important school for colored young men in the South. The first fully or- ganized city association, with a general secre- tary, was started in Norfolk, Va., in 1888. Since 1890 several valuable interstate conferences have been held each year, at the call of the International Committee. Christian young men of the Sioux tribe spon- taneously formed what were practically Young Men's Christian Associations as early as 1881. Since 1894 the International Committee has em- ployed one of their own number, specially trained for the service, to develop this work. Under this guidance there are now 47 associations, with over 2000 members, and 14 small association buildings have been erected by the gratuitous labor of the men themselves. The Ftei.d Work. This department seeks to start effective organizations in cities and villages wherever pracficable. and to promote the sym- metrical dcA'clopmeiit of each association in all phases of its life; and then to croup these as- sociations by commonwealths and by counties for closer supervision, and to build up and sup- idcmcnt these Slate, provincial, and county or- ganizations. The State and provincial organiza- tions long ago undertook most of this closer supervisorj' effort and are doing it with steadily