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What is Back of It All? 
 
 “What is back of it all?” was the 
 question of a guardsman on the Mexi¬ 
 can border the other day as he saw 
 the prompt, efficient and comprehen¬ 
 sive way in which the Young Men’s 
 Christian Association had risen to its 
 opportunity and had planted a chain 
 of forty buildings along more than 
 one thousand miles of the boundary, 
 equipped them with facilities for minis¬ 
 tering to the comfort and profit of the 
 troops, and manned the enterprise with 
 one hundred and fifty capable workers. 
 The same question arises in the minds 
 of others when first confronted with 
 this Movement which is manifesting it¬ 
 self in so many different forms and 
 adaptations in its service for men and 
 boys the world over. At the beginning 
 of a new year, with its limitless pos¬ 
 sibilities for larger and better things in 
 the life of the Associations, it is well 
 that we, its members and friends, make 
 this guardman’s question our own. As 
 we apply and press the question with 
 
reference to the past and the present, 
 may it not reveal the secret of a far 
 richer, more productive, and more help¬ 
 ful future? 
 
 Why have Young Men’s Christian 
 Associations been planted in nearly 
 3,000 centers in North America? Why 
 have over 700,000 young men rallied 
 to their membership? What has made 
 these societies a principal factor in in¬ 
 fluencing for good the ideals and habits 
 of millions of the youth of the present 
 and the preceding generation? Why 
 has the Association become one of the 
 recognized educational movements of 
 our day? Why has it won a unique 
 place in the development of the physi¬ 
 cal life and efficiency of boys, young 
 men, and women of middle age? 
 
 What has led discerning men and 
 women of means to invest in Associa¬ 
 tion buildings and building funds in 
 North America alone $100,000,000, 
 and why have these sums increased 
 decade by decade almost at a geometri¬ 
 cal rate? Why have the rich, and those 
 of small income as well, come to the 
 support of this institution with increas¬ 
 ing sums from year to year until they 
 now supply annually for current ex¬ 
 penses over $14,000,000? What ex- 
 
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plains the fact that railroad companies 
 and industrial corporations have de¬ 
 voted over $6,000,000 from their regu¬ 
 lar funds for permanent equipment for 
 these Associations at work among their 
 employes? Why do the workingmen 
 themselves give to the same cause out 
 of all proportion to their relative 
 ability ? 
 
 What is there about this Movement 
 which has attracted more than 125,000 
 railway men into its ranks? What has 
 attached 75,000 students and profes¬ 
 sors to the Association and made this 
 organization the great fact in the relig¬ 
 ious life of our colleges and universi¬ 
 ties? What has made the Association 
 such a power among negro young men 
 in the shaping of character, in the rais¬ 
 ing up of leaders for the colored people, 
 and in promoting right race relation¬ 
 ships that one of the most eminent 
 Hebrew citizens of the nation has de¬ 
 voted hundreds of thousands of dollars 
 to providing buildings for negro young 
 men in connection with this Christian 
 institution in our principal cities? 
 Why have the War and Navy Depart¬ 
 ments of the Government and the mili¬ 
 tary and naval officers of our forces 
 given every facility for furthering this 
 
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work among the men in both arms of 
 the service? 
 
 Why have the leaders of virtually 
 every nation now at war welcomed the 
 cooperation of the North American 
 Associations on behalf of the tens of 
 millions of men in the training camps, 
 in the reserve camps, in the trenches, in 
 the hospitals and in the prisoner-of- 
 war camps ? What led the mission¬ 
 aries, the civilians, and the government 
 officials throughout the non-Christian 
 world to appeal for the help of this 
 particular organization, so that as a 
 result it has within less than a genera¬ 
 tion been transplanted from our shores 
 to nineteen countries in Asia, Africa, 
 and Latin America ? Why in the path¬ 
 way of the work of the Associations 
 has the Christward movement among 
 young men and boys increased in vol¬ 
 ume? Why do the leaders of the 
 churches regard the Young Men’s 
 Christian Association as such an in¬ 
 dispensable servant ? Again in the 
 words of the guardsman, “What is 
 back of it all?” 
 
 Back of this wonderful progress and 
 achievement lies the deep and clear con¬ 
 viction of men who have studied the 
 
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 facts about the life of young men, that 
 
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the Young Men’s Christian Association 
 is peculiarly fitted to meet their needs 
 and to develop, conserve, and call into 
 helpful action their powers. 
 
 The careful thought and attention of 
 thousands of the ablest laymen have 
 been devoted through the various local, 
 state, and national boards and commit¬ 
 tees to the supervision of these Associa¬ 
 tions. No organization of modern 
 times has so pooled the leading and 
 productive brains of the day for the 
 study of its problems and the guidance 
 of its affairs. What does it not owe to 
 the counsel and suggestion of men of 
 organizing and administrative genius 
 and skill? 
 
 The Association, as its name implies 
 and as its history shows, is a product 
 of team work and team play. Its mem¬ 
 bers have exemplified a rare power 
 to cooperate. The Association has 
 blended in common effort the most 
 active, progressive, and fraternal men 
 of all the churches. There is no team 
 work like that of a group or a body of 
 men who have lost themselves in some 
 great cause. This makes possible re¬ 
 sults in the influencing of a community 
 or a nation which would be absolutely 
 impossible were these men to confine 
 
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themselves to working in separate 
 detachments. 
 
 The unselfish use of money has been 
 a potent factor in the achievement of 
 the Association Movement. What is 
 money? It is stored up personality. 
 Think of what a force has been released 
 and put to work through the many mil¬ 
 lions devoted to this object. What use 
 of money could be more productive 
 than that of relating it to the plans 
 which have to do with determining the 
 character, activity, and destiny of the 
 young men of a nation. Can we'won¬ 
 der that men and women have been 
 willing to give Association buildings 
 for this work at home and abroad, and 
 to assume the support of secretaries 
 to plant and extend the Movement. 
 
 “What is back of it all?” The 
 visions, the enthusiasms, the spirit of 
 adventure, the readiness to attack hard 
 things which characterize boyhood and 
 young manhood. Their responsiveness 
 to high duty, their invariable willing¬ 
 ness to undertake large projects, and 
 their ability to rise up under the weight 
 of great responsibility, explain why 
 this Movement has been helped rather 
 than hindered by its chief difficulties 
 and its most baffling situations. 
 
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The explanation of the achieving 
 power of the Association lies further 
 back than has been thus far indicated. 
 Its unselfish motive and its passion for 
 helpfulness go far to explain the won¬ 
 derful results. President Wilson, in 
 laying the corner stone of the Associa¬ 
 tion building at Atlantic City, empha¬ 
 sized this principle, “Nothing is more 
 vital to this country than the associa¬ 
 tion of men together in things that are 
 not for private interests. No man ever 
 organized a Young Men’s Christian 
 Association for his own benefit. No 
 man ever expected, if he were a true 
 man, to make a spiritual profit out of 
 it. Because if you try to do good to 
 other men for your own sake, you don’t 
 do it for them. The only thing that 
 can vitalize a great association like this 
 is for men to forget themselves and try 
 to serve others.” It has been the work¬ 
 ing of this vital principle which ex¬ 
 plains the great creative power of the 
 men who have most influenced the char¬ 
 acter and spirit of the Movement. 
 
 “What is back of it all?” The 
 Christian Church. It should ever be 
 held in prominence that the springs of 
 the Young Men’s Christian Association 
 are in the churches. 
 
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Back, back of all stands the Lord 
 Jesus Christ—the Fountain Head of 
 all vital or life-giving energy. All in 
 the Young Men’s Christian Association 
 that is enduring, all that is truly mul¬ 
 tiplying, all that has had or still has 
 transforming and world-conquering 
 power is traceable to Him. Back of 
 the vast numbers and the mighty or¬ 
 ganization, back of the money power 
 and the power of human personality, 
 back of gifts of leadership of commit¬ 
 tees and secretaries, back of the strat¬ 
 egy and the statesmanship, back of the 
 wonderful volume of human devotion 
 and activity—in its true relation to the 
 Living Christ is the secret of all that is 
 best in the life of the Young Men’s 
 Christian Association. As we face the 
 coming years, we do well to remember 
 that He is the same yesterday, today, 
 and forever. In proportion to the 
 reality and intimacy of the relation 
 existing between the leaders and mem¬ 
 bers of the Associations and their 
 Divine Lord will be the productive 
 power and spiritual outreach and in¬ 
 fluence of the Association Movement. 
 
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