The 
 
 Student Christian Movement 
 and a New Christian World 
 
 i f/i -7 7 
 

 ; 
 
THE STUDENT CHRISTIAN MOVE¬ 
 MENT AND A NEW CHRISTIAN 
 
 WORLD 
 
 A Survey of Progress in the Work of the 
 Student Young Men’s Christian Associations 
 for the Year 1916-1917 
 
 During the past year the Student Association Move¬ 
 ment has had to prove itself adaptable to times of uncer¬ 
 tainty and confusion. The Mexican crisis came upon us 
 a year ago in the midst of most of the summer confer¬ 
 ences and in time to decimate Northficld. From that time, 
 even prior to the actual declaration of war with Germany 
 in April, the colleges, far more than any other section of 
 national life, were drawn upon for all kinds of volun¬ 
 tary service—enlistments in Canadian and foreign armies, 
 national service in the army, navy, and air, as well as for 
 Red Cross, Belgian and Syrian Relief, and Young Men’s 
 Christian Association work. All this has been a severe 
 strain upon the leadership of the Student Young Men’s 
 Christian Associations, for a larger proportion of the 
 Christian leaders have responded to these calls than of 
 the general student bodies. Yet the situation has called 
 for an even more vigorous Christian work in the colleges, 
 because men are far more serious-minded than for¬ 
 merly and more open to conclusive consideration of the 
 claims of Christ upon their lives. The following pages 
 will show that the movement has not been held back by 
 either the confusion or loss of leadership; it has not been 
 unblessed by the Holy Spirit in its service for needy col- 
 
 1 
 
lege men. The significance of such work among college 
 men stands out in unique relief to any one who retains 
 his sense of balanced judgment and perspective. These 
 men must see visions now and be trained in leadership 
 now if a new world is to be builded according to the mind 
 of Christ. 
 
 A National Movement 
 
 The movement is a national movement. While its 
 usefulness is more readily appreciated as it helps tempted 
 or perplexed individual students, or aids in making the 
 life of a campus clean and brotherly, it has a unique con¬ 
 tribution to make to the life of the nation. It is organ¬ 
 ized in practically all of the leading institutions of the 
 United States and Canada and includes in its membership 
 a large proportion of the students of serious purpose. 
 The final test of its usefulness therefore is the impact 
 made by the movement in its corporate life. 
 
 The past year has seen an encouraging development 
 of this corporate consciousness, unity and service. Na¬ 
 tional unity is always a difficult thing in a country of 
 such vast distances and such keen sectional sympathies. 
 It is cause for gratitude therefore that the movement is 
 coming to have so much cohesion and united vigor with¬ 
 out sacrificing the individuality and spontaneity of differ¬ 
 ent units and sections. During the past year several 
 things have contributed to this, such as the interchange 
 of speakers and visitors at the summer conferences, the 
 increasing influence of The North American Student, the 
 wider use of prayer cycles, the remarkable and spon¬ 
 taneous participation in the Friendship Fund for the 
 men in the European prison camps, the more carefully 
 arranged visits of International Committee Secretaries 
 in all sections, and the creation and work of the Com- 
 
 2 
 
mittee of Counsel. The Committee of Counsel, elected 
 at the International Convention at Cleveland and com¬ 
 posed of students, professors and secretaries from differ¬ 
 ent sections, has been a most useful means of expression 
 of undergraduate sentiment. 
 
 War conditions have clearly revealed some of the 
 services to the nation; for example, the contribution of 
 i trained workers from the student Christian ranks for 
 
 such work as the Red Cross, ambulances, and work in 
 army camps. The pioneer work done in the colleges in 
 the field of sex education has been turned in a remark¬ 
 able way to the salvation of the whole body of men in the 
 army and navy. The close student of the work of this 
 movement realizes that it furnishes to the national life 
 many other streams of helpful influence, some of which 
 ' cannot be so easily tabulated and measured. It would 
 
 1 be surprising if a movement so high in purpose and with 
 
 so many world implications, including so many men who 
 are to be leaders in the future, did not in the days imme- 
 I diately ahead come to a realization of far greater national 
 
 and international destiny. 
 
 An Interdenominational Movement 
 
 In many ways the primary loyalty of this Movement to 
 the Church has, during the past year, been recognized. 
 Just what ‘‘the Church” is, the average student finds con¬ 
 siderable difficulty in understanding when he sees “the 
 body of Christ” rent into so many divisions. To such 
 students this Movement comes as irrefutable evidence 
 that the things which unite men in Christ are more potent 
 than those which divide. It works with increasing zeal 
 for a close unity among the denominations, yet stands for 
 a loyalty which deepens during student days to that 
 branch of the organized Church of Christ to which each 
 
 i 3 
 
 
belongs. As each member of the Association grows in 
 depth and fibre of Christian life through fellowship in 
 the worship and common life of his own 'denomination 
 he may bring its wealth of truth into the common life of 
 the Movement. He is not asked to sacrifice any convic¬ 
 tion based on truth which his church has given him. 
 Thus it is an interdenominational, not an undenomina¬ 
 tional Movement. Its spiritual life is far richer so than 
 if it strove to repress all its membership into one narrow 
 mould where only one ‘‘type” of Christian experience and 
 conviction could find room. 
 
 The following incident is an illustration of the interde¬ 
 nominational emphasis in the present life of the Move¬ 
 ment. At one of the last series of summer conferences, 
 the usual meetings were held by denominations for con¬ 
 sideration of denominational life and work. The larger 
 denominations of that section had sent officials of their 
 Boards to guide these sessions. The executive of the 
 conference met in one meeting those of smaller bodies 
 who were not able to have separate meetings. The fol¬ 
 lowing were represented: Christian, 4; Church of Christ 
 in Japan, i; Disciples, i; Gregorian, i; German Evangel¬ 
 ical Protestant, i; Friends, 3; Mennonite, 2; London Mis¬ 
 sion Church, 2; Moravian, 2; Shin-Shu Sect of Bud¬ 
 dhism, i; Reformed, 12; Unitarian, 2; Universalist, 2; 
 Swedenborgian, i; Zions Lutheran, i; Evangelical Asso¬ 
 ciation, I; United Brethren, 6; United Evangelical, 2; In¬ 
 terdenominational, I; Protestant, i. Each was asked to 
 speak briefly to this question, “What is the most distinc¬ 
 tive value in my denomination?” At the end there was 
 need of no argument that each had much to learn from 
 the other and that a movement which comprehended such 
 diverse ecclesiastical organizations gave unique promise 
 of that day when we are to be all one in Christ. 
 
 4 
 
The V^oluntary Study Committee of the Council of 
 North American Student Movements has continued its 
 cooperative work with a similar Committee of the Sun¬ 
 day-school Council of Evangelical Denominations. These 
 Committees are organised with Rev. George T. Webb, 
 D.D., of the American Baptist Publication Society as 
 Chairman. 
 
 During the past year a somewhat similar committee on 
 Evangelism has been created by the Council of North 
 American Student Movements which cooperates with a 
 committee of the Council of Church Boards of Educa¬ 
 tion, of which Rev. Frank M. Sheldon of the Congrega¬ 
 tional Education Society is Chairman. The purpose of 
 these committees is to standardise, stimulate, and counsel 
 the efforts of different constituent bodies in a vigorous 
 evangelistic effort in the colleges. The administration of 
 plans for evangelism is left in the hands of the constitu¬ 
 ent movement as each local situation may determine. 
 The Joint Committees on Evangelism have issued a call 
 for a comprehensive emphasis on evangelism to cover the 
 next student generation; a sustained emphasis, in which 
 a series of meetings or campaigns shall take their proper 
 place in the normal program of the Associations. 
 
 In November, 1916, there was held at Cleveland a sig¬ 
 nificant conference of leading representatives from the 
 Council of Church Boards of Education, the Conference 
 of Church Workers in State Universities, the Student 
 Young Women’s Christian Association and the Student 
 Young Men’s Christian Association. Several important 
 commissions reported at this conference, one on evangel¬ 
 ism presenting a report which has practically become the 
 charter of the significant service to the Church rendered 
 by the joint committees referred to above. The conclu¬ 
 sions of the commission on ‘‘An Adequate Religious Pro- 
 
 5 
 
gram for State Universities,” adopted without dissent 
 after full discussion by this representative conference, . 
 have been the basis of most encouraging cooperative ac¬ 
 tion. Visits have been made by groups of denominational 
 and Association leaders to no less than seven of the lead¬ 
 ing state universities for purposes of frank and thorough 
 conference with all the local workers and of drawing up 
 a united program on the part of all the agencies working 
 in the university field. 
 
 These are but typical of the ways in which the student 
 Association is realizing its ideal of serving to the full the 
 denominations from which its leaders have drawn their 
 best life and to which the loyalty of the Movement is 
 irrevocably committed. 
 
 Conferences 
 
 The following table shows vividly the loss in attend¬ 
 ance at the summer conferences. To anyone who knows 
 what an important place the conferences have always 
 held in this movement, this will indicate how war condi¬ 
 tions, by cutting down the delegations, have caused a loss 
 of trained leaders in the local work. It will be noted that 
 the Middle Atlantic Conference was, on account of the 
 war, combined with Northfield. The Northwestern Con- 
 
 ference also had to be abandoned. 
 
 Visitors 
 
 
 
 
 Conference 
 
 Place 
 
 Delegates 
 (1916) 1917 
 
 AND 
 
 Leaders 
 
 Foreign Total 
 
 Students (1916)1917 
 
 Northfield. 
 
 .E. Northfield, Mass.. 
 
 . (409) 
 
 240 
 
 75 
 
 167 
 
 (607) 
 
 482 
 
 Middle Atlantic. 
 
 Eagles Mere, Pa. 
 
 . (287) 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 (357) 
 
 
 Southern. 
 
 .Blue Ridge, N. C.... 
 
 . (380) 
 
 287 
 
 29 
 
 8 
 
 (458) 
 
 324 
 
 Middle West. 
 
 .Lake Geneva, Wis... 
 
 . (594) 
 
 350 
 
 88 
 
 105 
 
 (827) 
 
 543 
 
 Rocky Mountain.... 
 
 .Estes Park, Col. 
 
 . (222) 
 
 84 
 
 24 
 
 8 
 
 (263) 
 
 116 
 
 Asilomar. 
 
 .Asilomar, Cal. 
 
 . (137) 
 
 125 
 
 15 
 
 35 
 
 (191) 
 
 175 
 
 Pacific Northwest.... 
 
 .Seabeck, Wash. 
 
 . (110) 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • » 
 
 (141) 
 
 
 Southwest. 
 
 Hollister, Mo. 
 
 . (...) 
 
 106 
 
 19 
 
 3 
 
 (...) 
 
 128 
 
 Preparatory Schools.. 
 
 .Blairstown, N. J.... 
 
 • (210) 
 
 279 
 
 73 
 
 • • • 
 
 (272) 
 
 352 
 
 Kings Mt. (Colored). 
 
 .Kings Mt., N. C.... 
 
 . ( 98) 
 
 no 
 
 15 
 
 # • • 
 
 (113) 
 
 125 
 
 Eastern Canada. 
 
 .Knowlton, Que. 
 
 . (...) 
 6 
 
 60 
 
 15 
 
 ... 
 
 (...) 
 
 75 
 
It is most enheartening that in spite of almost insuper¬ 
 able difficulties new conferences were started in Eastern 
 Canada at Knowlton, Quebec, and also in the Southwest¬ 
 ern Territory. The absence of the Canadian delegates 
 from Northfield was seriously felt, but all rejoice in the 
 promise of the new conference with its fine location and 
 in the growing spirit of unity in the Canadian colleges, 
 which makes this advance possible. The new conference 
 in the Southwest has been created by the growing import¬ 
 ance of student work in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, 
 Arkansas and Missouri. Few, if any, new conferences 
 have started in more beautiful locations and with greater 
 stability. 
 
 The conferences have never been marked by more 
 earnestness than this year. With so many college men 
 called to give their lives for the nation, the missionary 
 emphasis was natural and vital. Because of the large 
 number of representatives of the different mission boards 
 home on furlough the leadership of the mission study 
 classes was unusually strong. At Geneva not less than 
 thirty decided during the conference to give their lives 
 to foreign mission service. In most of the conferences 
 the plan of presenting a series of apologetic addresses was 
 continued under the leadership of such men as Dean 
 Charles R. Brown, Dr. James A. Francis, President E. M. 
 Poteat and Dr. Henry Sloane Coffin. 
 
 The presence of an unusually large number of foreign 
 students made it easy to see even through the clouds of 
 war the glory of the coming Kingdom. Among the 292 
 present at all the conferences this year were no Chinese, 
 67 Japanese, 83 Latin Americans, 5 Armenians, 3 Greeks, 
 2 Hungarians, 2 Koreans, 3 Indians, 2 Russians, 2 
 Siamese, 2 South Africans, i Syrian, i Turk, i Dutch, i 
 Austrian, i Bohemian, i Egyptian, i English, i Italian, 
 
 7 
 
I Icelander, i Burmese, i Smyrnan. No more romantic 
 work lies before the student Association than cultivating 
 the stimulating fellowship thus made possible with these 
 delegates from other lands. 
 
 A continental Summer School of student secretaries, 
 according to the established precedent of meeting on al¬ 
 ternate years, was planned to assemble at Hotchkiss 
 School, Lakeville, Conn., early in July. At the last 
 moment, however, the need of these secretaries throwing 
 themselves into the army work made the holding of the 
 school at that time impossible. Secretaries of the South 
 met at Blue Ridge during July for a sectional summer 
 school. A postponed gathering of leaders from all parts 
 of the continent was held at Niagara Falls, September 
 19-21, which was attended by seventy-two representa¬ 
 tive student leaders from all sections of the United States 
 and Canada. This conference was marked by a spirit of 
 earnest friendliness and a growing sense of unity which 
 has meant so much in the student field in recent years. 
 Several decisions reached marked great steps in advance 
 in the policy of the movement, particularly the decision 
 arrived at after much prayer to ask the students of the 
 United States to raise this year a fund of at least 
 $1,000,000 for the work in the armies and the relief of 
 their fellow students in the prisoner-of-war camps. 
 
 The Field 
 
 The field of our movement includes institutions of 
 various types: (a) Universities on private or corporate 
 foundations; such as Harvard, Yale, University of Chi¬ 
 cago, and others; (b) state universities; that is, those 
 under the direction of many of the different common¬ 
 wealths, for example, the University of Wisconsin, Uni¬ 
 versity of Illinois, etc.; (c) municipal universities, by 
 
 8 
 
which an increasing number of our larger cities, like 
 New York and Cincinnati, are providing a free univers¬ 
 ity course for their students; (d) denominational col¬ 
 leges; these are mostly small but in many cases of high 
 intellectual and religious standards; (e) professional 
 schools; many of these are connected with universities. 
 The theological seminaries are of particular importance; 
 (f) secondary schools; these include both private pre¬ 
 paratory schools, public high schools, and evening 
 schools. There are at least 12,000 of these schools, 
 mostly of municipal foundation; (g) Normal schools; 
 most of the students in these are trained for teaching in 
 the elementary and secondary grades, while most of the 
 colleges and university instructors are trained in the uni¬ 
 versities. According to the last available government 
 reports, there are 1,000 institutions of higher learning in 
 the United States, enrolling 272,038 men students. The 
 number this year will be about one fourth or one third 
 smaller. The number of private secondary schools is 
 2,248, enrolling 73,208 students. 
 
 The student Association Movement on the men’s side 
 at present consists of 798 Associations: 453 of these re¬ 
 port 62,889 members. The total number of organizations 
 includes 18 Canadian, 104 colored, 14 Indian, 41 theolog¬ 
 ical and about 160 school Associations. 
 
 Evangelism 
 
 It has been a year of great and enheartening victory in 
 the evangelistic emphasis of the movement. This is true 
 not so much because of the large number of evangelistic 
 campaigns that have been held in different institutions in 
 all sections of the country, but even more because of 
 the growth of certain tendencies which are hard to tabu¬ 
 late in a report, but promise much for the future. These 
 
 9 
 
tendencies include such things as the deepening of the 
 evangelistic emphasis in Bible classes and the friendly 
 personal effort of one student for another. .Some of the 
 more important campaigns were those led by Dr. Mott at 
 Dartmouth and the University of Wisconsin, by Mr. 
 Brockman at the University of Georgia. There probably 
 never has been a year when such a large proportion of 
 the traveling secretaries of the movement have led evan¬ 
 gelistic campaigns, the efforts of several of these secre¬ 
 taries being signally blessed. Mr. Raymond Robins spent 
 several weeks in a chain of colleges on the Pacific Coast 
 where a remarkable interest was shown and permanent 
 results were evident. A typical campaign was held at the 
 University of California where approximately 4,000 stu¬ 
 dents came to the two general meetings and an average 
 of 2,000 attended the four special men’s meetings. 2,374 
 men and women indicated in written form their decision 
 to yield their lives to Christ and His service, and these 
 decisions were the beginning of an unprecedented move¬ 
 ment for Christian social service and church membership. 
 
 During the months ahead this opportunity for evangel¬ 
 istic work will be vigorously pressed. Students who have 
 never been thoughtful before are deeply thoughtful now. 
 A burden rests upon the leaders of this movement to 
 lead these restless minds to that rest and foundation 
 which is found in Christ alone. 
 
 Bible Study 
 
 Bible study continues to be the pivotal point in the col¬ 
 lege Association program. 30,050 men are reported as in 
 classes promoted directly by the Association and upwards 
 of 8,000 men were enrolled in other classes in which the 
 Association cooperated, chiefly in nearby Sunday schools. 
 A slight falling off in this figure from last year would 
 
 10 
 
be very disquieting were it not for the realization 
 that even more emphasis than usual has been put upon 
 quality of work done and particularly in training leaders 
 for the future. The emphasis upon personal Bible study 
 and the Morning Watch has been as strong as in any year, 
 and a continued effort has been made to have Bible study 
 result in Christian decision and in lives of service. 
 
 After a careful scrutiny of the cases of failure of not 
 a few Bible study classes, there has been found to be a 
 clear need of strengthening the classes for training stu¬ 
 dent leaders. We have been obliged frankly to face the 
 fact that a large proportion of the leaders’ training classes 
 in the past have not succeeded. The conviction has been 
 established that the director of the leaders’ training class 
 must simply be the chairman of a discussion; that the 
 group leaders must work out in common their lesson 
 plans including the points of contact, questions, and 
 topics of special emphasis. This method marks a great 
 advance over the usual plan of a normal training class 
 conducted practically in the lecture, or ‘‘phonograph” 
 method. At the Presidents’ Conference in Iowa twelve 
 college professors spent a whole day on the question of 
 normal training. Fourteen members of the student con¬ 
 ference were selected as members of a sample Bible 
 group; the professors met in an actual normal training 
 class, planned out the lesson, phrased the questions, and 
 elected one to lead the group. The rest of them formed 
 an audience and afterwards gave suggestions and criti¬ 
 cism. It is not surprising that in that state there have 
 been a large number of successful leaders’ training 
 classes this year. In several of the summer conferences 
 also special attention has been given to training leaders 
 who in turn may become directors of normal groups. 
 
 A new course on “Christianizing Community Life” by 
 
 II 
 
Professor Harry F. Ward and Mr. R. H. Edwards makes 
 possible the completion of the fourth year course of 
 study, supplementing “The Social Principles of Jesus,” 
 by Professor Walter Rauschenbusch, which was widely 
 used during the first half of the year. This brings us to 
 the year 1917 with books ready in all four years of the 
 proposed College Voluntary Study series, as follows: 
 
 First Year —College Problems. (How can I follow 
 Jesus’ standards in college and help make the campus 
 Christian?) “Student Standards of Action”—Harrison 
 S. Elliott and Ethel Cutler. “Christian Standards in 
 Life”—J. Lovell Murray and Frederick M. Harris. A 
 third book on the Life of Christ according to Mark is 
 being prepared by Professor Cleland B. McAfee. 
 
 Second Year —Life Choices. (How can I find the life 
 work in which I can best serve the world?) “A Life at 
 Its Best”—Richard H. Edwards and Ethel Cutler. “A 
 Challenge to Life Service”—Frederick M. Harris and 
 Joseph C. Robbins. 
 
 Third Year —Questions of Belief. (What can a col¬ 
 lege student believe?) Christian Fundamentals (To be 
 prepared). Christianity and Other Religions (In course 
 of preparation). 
 
 Fourth Year —Social and World Problems. (Can we 
 rebuild the world on Jesus’ plan?) “Social Principles of 
 Jesus”—Walter Rauschenbusch. “Christianizing Com¬ 
 munity Life”—Harry F. Ward and Richard H. Edwards. 
 
 In addition to this series of books, which have been 
 widely used, there has been even more emphasis than 
 usual upon the available courses on sections of the Bible. 
 The courses by Professor Bosworth and Professor Fos- 
 dick have been most helpful. It is encouraging to know 
 that we have available for the new year a new synoptic 
 record of Jesus’ life by Dr. H. B. Sharman, the first Bible 
 
 12 
 
study secretary among the student Associations, and 
 author of its first and widely used course, “Studies in the 
 Life of Christ.” It is hoped that we may soon have a 
 course of study based upon this new harmony. 
 
 The Missionary Emphasis 
 
 It is easy to be provincial in the United States, but the 
 world war has made students think in world terms. A 
 surprisingly large number of^ missionary courses have 
 been placed in the curricula of many of the leading insti¬ 
 tutions. It is not too much to say that this is one of the 
 indirect results of this Movement’s work. 15,959 men 
 students have enrolled in 923 classes. While this figure 
 compares favorably with the results in recent years, no 
 one would dare say that it is a result as commendable as 
 we can wish or as the present world situation surely de¬ 
 mands. No phase of the work is harder to report statis¬ 
 tically because several of the new courses, “A Challenge 
 to Life Service” for example, have the whole world rather 
 than the foreign world in their view and are based upon 
 daily Bible study. While there are advantages in having 
 certain courses of this nature, the men who make out 
 statistical reports may report such a course as either 
 Bible, mission, or social study. The plan has been widely 
 tried in recent years of stressing Bible study during the 
 first semester and mission study during the second 
 semester. It is clear that during the year upon which we 
 are just entering special effort must be made to start mis¬ 
 sion groups at the very beginning of the second semester. 
 
 There has been a commendable sense of urgency in 
 securing missionary recruits. While according to the 
 wise policy of the Student Volunteer Movement no 
 records are published of the number of students signing 
 Volunteer cards, it is interesting to know that during the 
 
 13 
 
past year the boards and societies sending out mission¬ 
 aries report the names of 444 Student Volunteers who 
 have reached the foreign mission field since the last an¬ 
 nual report. There are few more inspiring chapters in 
 the story of the modern Church than the helpful min¬ 
 istry of this Movement in raising up leaders for the 
 Church abroad. Since the origin of the Volunteer Move¬ 
 ment at the first student conference at Mt. Hermon, 
 Mass., in 1886, not less than 6,934 Student Volunteers 
 have actually reached the foreign mission field. 'All these 
 recruits have, of course, been sent out through the mis¬ 
 sion boards, for which the Student Movement attempts 
 to be a recruiting agency as it is for the ministry at home. 
 
 The latest reports, covering missionary giving by stu¬ 
 dents for the year 1915-16, show that 679 institutions se¬ 
 cured $247,424 for foreign mission enterprises. $128,846 
 of this amount was given by students and the balance, 
 $118,559, has been given by faculty, alumni, and other 
 friends. The total number contributing was 68,574. 
 Among the larger sums reported are: Yale $33,378 of 
 which $3,878 was contributed by students; University of 
 Pennsylvania $30,353 of which $2,233 was contributed 
 by students; Princeton $24,433 of which $3,172 was con¬ 
 tributed by students; St. Paul’s School $4,550 of which 
 the students contributed $3,950; The Hill School $2,875, 
 wholly contributed by students. 
 
 The Social Emphasis 
 
 While the war dragged along and up until our nation 
 entered into the conflict, thoughtful students were irresist¬ 
 ibly led to a study of the underlying social conditions 
 which make war possible in our modern life. It is in¬ 
 creasingly difficult to separate, at least as far as essential 
 spirit goes, international warfare from that kind of con- 
 
 14 
 
flict of which we see so much in our present national life, 
 particularly in industry and commerce. And who of us 
 shall say that in our college life and home life the spirit of 
 war—that is, the spirit of selfishness, greed, suspicion, and 
 hate—has been wholly absent? It is not surprising that 
 such lines of thinking have led many men to put a new 
 valuation upon the social emphasis in student work. 
 Whence are leaders to come for the new day which must 
 dawn, a day of Christian brotherhood for the whole 
 world ? Who if not many from the present generation of 
 students shall be raised up to lead the Church in the great 
 new tasks of reconstruction? While there has been no 
 relaxation in getting individual students to throw them¬ 
 selves during free hours into various forms of local social 
 service, it is not surprising that there has been a growth 
 of conviction that the chief burden upon students is in the 
 realm of thought, discussion, and the making of convic¬ 
 tion. Such foundations are necessary if immediate social 
 service and lives of service are to give highest results. 
 The new study course of Professor Rauschenbusch on 
 “The Social Principles of Jesus’’ has helped greatly in 
 giving students this Christian foundation. 
 
 In addition to this consideration of the foundation for 
 social thinking and social action there has been wide 
 use of particular studies such as Richardson’s “The 
 Liquor Problem,” and Weatherford’s “Negro Life in the 
 South.” It is estimated that over three thousand students 
 were engaged in the group study of these and other 
 voluntary study courses of North American problems. 
 
 The work of representatives of the movement in regard 
 to the race problem is of great promise. In addition to 
 a large number of white college men being enrolled in 
 groups studying negro life, there have been many oppor¬ 
 tunities for helpful service in the general cause of creat- 
 
 15 
 
ing a spirit of brotherhood between races, not only be¬ 
 tween white and Negro, but also Mexican, Italian, Jap¬ 
 anese, and any others who, in our arrogant selfishness, 
 are regarded with prejudice and antagonism. 
 
 Recruiting Christian Workers 
 
 The following chart, based upon a study of 311 Asso¬ 
 ciations of different types, shows graphically the constant 
 emphasis of the movement upon life work guidance with 
 a view to strengthening the leadership of the Church. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 No. Students ! 
 
 Reported as 
 
 
 
 s 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 decided 
 
 on— 
 
 
 
 § 
 
 bO 
 
 bO 
 
 bO 
 
 bd 
 
 bO 
 
 
 - ■ . . ^ 
 
 
 -, 
 
 
 .2 
 
 
 
 0 
 
 .g o. 
 
 .g 
 
 •J2 
 
 
 o. 
 
 
 
 
 0 0 
 
 
 0 
 
 
 0 ^ 
 
 
 
 S' 
 
 -id 
 
 
 bO 
 
 ^.g 
 
 0 
 
 S.2 
 
 O) CQ 
 
 ta 
 
 o a 
 ^1 
 
 <D 
 
 QQ >. 
 
 <D ^ 
 
 U4 ^ 
 
 Pn-g 
 
 a> o 
 
 0 
 
 'm 
 
 O 
 
 O 
 
 c3 
 
 
 d S* 
 
 ^ 0 
 
 
 d-a 
 
 d fe 
 
 . • 
 
 ill 
 
 QQ 
 
 0 
 
 o 
 
 Of 
 
 CQ 
 
 •3 
 
 o 
 
 OT 
 
 Canada. 
 
 . 8 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 3 
 
 0 
 
 1 
 
 28 
 
 47 
 
 3 
 
 0 
 
 New England. 
 
 21 
 
 10 
 
 12 
 
 10 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 76 
 
 154 
 
 48 
 
 26 
 
 Middle Atlantic. 
 
 . 87 
 
 46 
 
 56 
 
 48 
 
 22 
 
 18 
 
 356 
 
 1063 
 
 102 
 
 116 
 
 South. 
 
 . 46 
 
 25 
 
 28 
 
 25 
 
 10 
 
 12 
 
 118 
 
 637 
 
 36 
 
 13 
 
 Southwest. 
 
 18 
 
 10 
 
 12 
 
 10 
 
 5 
 
 2 
 
 79 
 
 279 
 
 4 
 
 8 
 
 Middle West. 
 
 80 
 
 49 
 
 51 
 
 40 
 
 34 
 
 21 
 
 243 
 
 769 
 
 75 
 
 103 
 
 Rocky Mountain_ 
 
 . 31 
 
 17 
 
 17 
 
 18 
 
 8 
 
 7 
 
 102 
 
 163 
 
 29 
 
 12 
 
 Pacific Coast.. 
 
 . 20 
 
 9 
 
 11 
 
 12 
 
 10 
 
 7 
 
 146 
 
 140 
 
 37 
 
 4 
 
 Total. 
 
 Percentage. 
 
 . 311 
 
 168 193 166 96 76 
 
 54% 62% 53% 31% 24% 
 
 1148 
 
 23% 
 
 3252 
 
 65% 
 
 334 
 
 7% 
 
 282 
 
 5% 
 
 A careful study has been made of the problem of 
 presentation of the ministry to college men, using among 
 other means a careful questionnaire which was answered 
 by representative leaders of the Boards of Education of 
 various churches and seminaries. Among the chief con¬ 
 clusions drawn up on the basis of this study are (i) that 
 in recruiting for the Christian ministry the emphasis 
 should be at the present time not so much upon the need 
 for more men as the need for a higher grade of men; (2) 
 that public addresses on the ministry or any other line 
 of Christian calling are of little worth unless they are 
 
 16 
 
followed by careful personal interviews and a campaign 
 for selecting one by one some of the outstanding students 
 for this high calling. 
 
 A representative conference was held at Auburn Theo¬ 
 logical Seminary, February 9-11, 1917, attended by fifty- 
 one students and professors from twenty-four seminaries. 
 Such a conference does much to bind together the future 
 leaders of the different denominations and also to show 
 the seminary students their relation to and responsibility 
 for the deeper life of the Student Movement in the col¬ 
 leges. One literary result of this conference is a reprint, 
 under the title of “Worship,” of an address by Professor 
 William Adams Brown. Representatives of the Move¬ 
 ment have participated in various conferences having to 
 do with recruiting the future leadership of the Church. 
 The most important of these have been a special confer¬ 
 ence called by representatives of the Missionary Educa¬ 
 tion Movement and of the various church bodies being 
 responsible for recruiting and the Conference on the 
 Association Profession. 
 
 A continued use has been made of the card to record 
 decisions for a commitment to Christian service. This 
 card reads as follows: 
 
 A CHRISTIAN MAN'S FUNDAMENTAL LIFE WORK 
 
 DECISION 
 
 I will live my life under God for others rather than for myself, 
 for the advancement of the Kingdom of God rather than my per¬ 
 sonal success. 
 
 I will not drift into my life work, but I will do my utmost 
 by prayer, investigation, meditation and service to discover that 
 form and place of life work in which I can become of the largest 
 use to the Kingdom of God. 
 
 As I find it I will follow it under the leadership of Jesus 
 Christ wheresoever it may take me, cost what it may. 
 
 Sex Education 
 
 For five years the Student Department has given defi- 
 
 17 
 
nite attention to the study and promotion of sex educa¬ 
 tion in the colleges and universities. The objectives of 
 this work have been: first, to furnish students with such 
 knowledge of sex and such understanding of its meaning 
 in human life as would help them to direct this most 
 powerful human instinct into character-making and life- 
 enriching channels; second, to help in making sex educa¬ 
 tion a coordinate feature of the educational program of 
 the colleges and universities. 
 
 Gratifying progress has been made toward the attain¬ 
 ment of these objectives. There has come to be a more 
 respectful attitude among students toward the whole 
 subject of sex and a deeper appreciation of its finer pos¬ 
 sibilities and deep responsibilities. Intelligent discussion 
 of the subject on a high level in place of vulgar conver¬ 
 sation has come to be more frequent in student groups, 
 and careful investigation has shown that large numbers 
 have received that knowledge, vision and inspiration 
 which has helped them to lead a manly life of self- 
 mastery and of loyalty to high ideals of love and sex. 
 
 Much has been accomplished in bringing sex educa¬ 
 tion into its place in higher education. The majority of 
 institutions of any note are already giving some attention 
 to it and a considerable proportion have required courses 
 in this subject. Striking advance has been made in the 
 character of general teaching on this subject. Depressing 
 portrayals of abnormalities and perversions and a too 
 exclusively physical emphasis have been largely replaced 
 by teaching in which the major emphasis is upon high 
 ideals, spiritual values and social responsibilities. This 
 advance is clearly manifest in the growing literature on 
 the subject. The stream of mediocre material is lessen¬ 
 ing and literature of a higher order is increasing. 
 
 The program of lectures to students by specially 
 
 i8 
 
qualified lecturers, under the auspices of the Association, 
 has been continued. In a considerable number of insti¬ 
 tutions our speakers were asked to deliver the re¬ 
 quired lectures in the established courses in this subject. 
 Nearly 100,000 students were last year influenced in 
 this way. 
 
 Dr. AI. J. Exner, who is directing this work of sex 
 education, was called to spend nearly two months among 
 the troops on the Mexican border and in Mexico. He 
 was ably assisted by Mr. H. L. Heinzman. Both spoke 
 to great audiences of soldiers in nearly all of the military 
 camps. Dr. Exner also made a careful study of the seri¬ 
 ous vice conditions which existed on the border and his 
 reports aided greatly in the inauguration of the construc¬ 
 tive program for moral conservation in the army mobil¬ 
 ized for war in Europe. As a result of his work on the 
 border he was summoned by the Government Commis¬ 
 sion on Training Camp Activities to carry out a program 
 of sex education for the entire American army. 800,000 
 copies of Dr. Exner’s pamphlet “Friend or Enemy” have 
 already been circulated among the soldiers. 
 
 State Universities 
 
 For the first time a special secretary has been employed 
 to give all his time to work in state universities. In co¬ 
 operative effort between the Young Women’s and Young 
 Men’s Christian Associations and the representatives of 
 the various church bodies there are many signs of ad¬ 
 vance. The main points of the report of the Commission 
 on “An Adequate Religious Program for State Univer¬ 
 sities” presented at the Second Cleveland Conference of 
 Association and church workers was of so much im¬ 
 portance that its main conclusions should be printed in 
 such a report as this. 
 
 19 
 
Purpose of Work in State Universities 
 
 The Commission believes the following to be the purpose of 
 our common enterprise: 
 
 (a) To lead every man and woman in a university com¬ 
 munity into faith in God through Jesus Christ as Divine 
 Lord and Savior. 
 
 (b) To unite them in membership and service in the Christian 
 Church. 
 
 (c) To promote their growth in Christian faith and character. 
 
 (d) To prepare them for world-wide service in the Kingdom 
 of God. 
 
 Indispensable Activities 
 
 The Commission considers the following activities indispens¬ 
 able to an adequate program, (a) Evangelism of students, (b) 
 Church relationships, (c) Pastoral care and preaching, (d) Bible 
 study, (e) Mission study, (f) Social study, (g) Social service, 
 (h) Promotion of Christian benevolence, (i) Recruiting. 
 
 The Expansion of These Activities into a 
 Comprehensive University-Wide Program 
 
 The Commission believes that the number of activities at 
 present promoted in state universities is, as a rule, sufficient. 
 The surveys of the local situations, however, lead to the convic¬ 
 tion that sufficient attention has not been given to the size of the 
 task to be performed. Considerable groups of students are 
 largely unreached, and present plans do not give promise of 
 remedying the situation. Therefore, it seems essential that all 
 of the religious forces now operating should be so correlated 
 and unified as to put into effect a program that shall bring home 
 to every student the complete message of Christianity. This 
 result can never be achieved by the mere federation of small 
 plans which already may be in existence, as, for example, by 
 bringing both Association and church Bible groups under some 
 common direction, but it calls for a comprehensive and thorough 
 survey of the whole field, together with the training of a suffi¬ 
 cient leadership from both graduate and undergraduate sources 
 to meet the total need discovered, and then such a division of 
 labor as to make it certain that each line of activity shall be w^ell 
 understood and vigorously pressed. 
 
 Principles Involved 
 
 In view of the situation as outlined, the Commission presents 
 the following principles which it believes to be essential to an 
 adequate religious program for state universities: 
 
 20 
 
(1) We recognize the university as a community with a uni¬ 
 fied community life; and, therefore, that our task is not only 
 the development of individual Christians, but also the creation 
 and maintenance of a university community consciousness favor¬ 
 able to the Christian life. 
 
 (2) We recognize the opportunity and the responsibility of the 
 Church to cooperate with the university in the development of 
 this moral and religious life. 
 
 (3) We recognize that while students are members of a uni¬ 
 versity community, they should be kept loyal to the church of 
 their preference; and, therefore, we urge the identification of 
 each student with a local church, and we further urge the faith¬ 
 ful performance of all the duties of membership in that church. 
 
 (4) We recognize that in order to reach the entire university 
 and especially the non-Christians and indifferent Christians, and 
 in order to cooperate more effectively with those Christian com¬ 
 munions not included in the organized local work among stu¬ 
 dents, it is essential that the denominations work together 
 through some interdenominational movement. In the light of 
 history and experience it is recognized that the Young Men’s 
 and Young Women’s Christian Associations constitute this In¬ 
 terdenominational Movement. 
 
 (5) We recognize the religious work in the university as the 
 common task of the churches and the Associations, but there is 
 no clear division of interests. We recommend, therefore, that 
 while some functions may be more particularly those of the 
 churches and others of the Associations, each should feel its re¬ 
 sponsibility for cooperation in the work of the others. 
 
 (6) We recognize that in carrying out this common task for 
 the entire university, the best results can never be secured by a 
 federation of individual plans worked out independently by the 
 respective church and Association agencies. We recommend, 
 therefore, that a united and thorough study be made of the needs 
 of the entire university and that in any particular activity, Bible 
 study or social service for example, the Christian forces work 
 out together a unified program, planned with reference to the 
 entire university. 
 
 (7) We recognize in the organization both of the churches’ 
 and Associations’ work, that student initiative and control, both 
 in forming and in carrying out plans, should be encouraged and 
 utilized. 
 
 (8) We recognize that neither the Associations nor the 
 churches can render their full service without effective student 
 workers. We, therefore, recommend that there be frank consul¬ 
 tation between these agencies to ensure that the local student 
 forces are distributed for the most effective manning of all work. 
 
 (9) We recognize that the Associations shall have the right of 
 initiative, and that they shall be held responsible for carrying 
 out the joint plans of the churches as far as practicable; but they 
 should be so constituted that the churches cooperate in forming 
 
 21 
 
their policies. (See Finding IV of Cleveland Conference.)* 
 
 (10) We recognize that there must be the fullest opportunity 
 for the expression of initiative by the churches; but that in all 
 such plans the ultimate test should be not only its effectiveness 
 to the individual churches, but also its relation to and its effect 
 upon the cooperative plans. 
 
 (11) We recognize that there can be no assurance of effective 
 cooperation without regular, thorough, and timely consultation 
 upon the part of all the Christian workers concerned. 
 
 (12) We recommend that any agency initiating religious work 
 at the university make special effort to secure the support and 
 cooperation of all agencies concerned with the religious life of 
 the university. 
 
 (13) We recognize the very great importance of using as secre¬ 
 taries and pastors, and as members of advisory and consulting 
 boards, only such men and women as have both the willingness 
 and the ability to work cooperatively. 
 
 (14) We recognize that in enterprises which concern both the 
 churches and the Associations effective cooperation can be ob¬ 
 tained only when each organization is willing to favor move¬ 
 ments of obvious good to the whole, even though unable for 
 any reason to give the same individual support. 
 
 (15) We recognize that cooperation in each local field will be 
 greatly increased if the traveling secretaries or other officers 
 of the various national organizations endeavor to meet with 
 all local Christian workers in the state universities they visit 
 whenever such conference can be made conducive to the spirit of 
 general cooperation or whenever such a visit is aimed to change 
 or extend plans in which all are concerned. Such a meeting 
 should give opportunity for frank and full discussion in open 
 conference of whatever plans and suggestions they may have in 
 mind. 
 
 (16) We recognize as supplementary to the coordination of 
 the agencies at the university center the great advantage which 
 would accrue from consultation and conference between repre¬ 
 sentatives of the national student and church agencies regarding 
 the work that is being planned for university centers. 
 
 In line with these important conclusions a series of 
 visits were made during the year to local university fields 
 jointly by representatives of the International Committee, 
 
 *“IV. On the supervisory or advisory bodies of the Associations, both local 
 and national, should be, so far as is consistent with efficiency, representatives of 
 the various Christian communions, which representatives shall be nominated, by 
 the Association’s supervisory or advisory body concerned, approved by the proper 
 ecclesiastical authority of the Christian communions concerned, and, in the case of 
 local Associations, elected by the Association. It is understood that in the case of 
 the Young Women’s Christian Association their supervisory or advisory bodies 
 will be composed of women. It is also understood that persons elected to these 
 supervisory or advisory bodies shall have qualifications which agree with the 
 membership of the Association Movement.” 
 
 22 
 
the National Board and several of the Church Boards of 
 Education, which are doing work in the university field. 
 These visits were for the purpose of thorough conference 
 with all local workers in regard to meeting more ade¬ 
 quately the religious needs of all the students in these dif¬ 
 ferent institutions. Such visits resulted in the draw¬ 
 ing up of progressive, cooperative plans at such univer¬ 
 sities as Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, 
 Oklahoma, Michigan, and Ohio State. 
 
 Preparatory Schools 
 
 The second separate Preparatory School Conference 
 was held at Blairstown, N. J., with an attendance of 352, 
 which is 80 more than at the first conference last year. 
 In addition to this there was a representative group of 
 masters present at the conference, and special meetings 
 were held each day for a discussion of their particular 
 interests. Several of the schools participated in a special 
 Friendship Fund for the relief of prisoners-of-war, some 
 of the largest gifts being St. Paul’s School $5,805, 
 Phillips Andover $3,382, Groton $843.61, Exeter $1,449, 
 St. Mark’s $2,199.98, The Hill $2,625. A renewed effort 
 has been made to connect the university with the school 
 work. Deputations from the larger universities have 
 visited the preparatory schools to help in any way pos¬ 
 sible in the voluntary religious life of the school. Record 
 of senior boys has been kept with a view to furnishing 
 college secretaries information concerning the possibil¬ 
 ities of religious leadership on the part of incoming fresh¬ 
 men. In this way most encouraging results have been 
 secured in avoiding the too frequent loss resulting from 
 freshmen not being linked immediately to the organized 
 religious life of the college. If no other of the many 
 helpful results of the school work were to be mentioned, 
 
 23 
 
this feature alone would justify all the effort of the Stu¬ 
 dent Movement in this important field. In the schools 
 themselves unusual emphasis has been put upon an in¬ 
 tensified and simple program of Bible study, a weekly 
 meeting, and personal friendly influence. In several 
 schools evangelistic campaigns were held. 
 
 Foreign Students 
 
 Helpful contact has been maintained with six thousand 
 foreign students enrolled in different American' colleges. 
 The Committee on Friendly Relations with Foreign 
 Students, under whose leadership much of this work is 
 done, has published and distributed a directory giving the 
 name, nationality, and university location of over four 
 thousand of these students; an Educational Guide has 
 also been published in English, Spanish and Japanese, 
 and presented to educators and prospective students. 
 
 Chinese, Japanese, and Latin American traveling secre¬ 
 taries have rendered valuable service to students of their 
 own nationalities. Committees meet all new students 
 upon their arrival in this country and assist them in reach¬ 
 ing their destination, where their needs are looked after by 
 representatives of the local student Christian Association. 
 Hundreds of letters of introduction to professors, pastors 
 and secretaries are given to foreign students. Nearly 
 three hundred students from thirty-seven different coun¬ 
 tries were entertained as our guests at the Summer Con¬ 
 ferences. It would be difficult to overstate the signifi¬ 
 cance of the international fellowship thus afforded. 
 Gratitude is given for the decisions for the Christian life 
 announced by forty foreign students. Chinese, Japanese, 
 and Indian students continue the publication of maga¬ 
 zines and bulletins which are a positive factor in unifying 
 and stimulating the life of their students. Progress has 
 
 24 
 
been made in discovering positions for graduate students 
 who desire practical experience in some industry before 
 returning home. Through the visits of our Chinese and 
 Japanese secretaries to their home countries, a great ad¬ 
 vance has been made in plans for receiving and directing 
 the returned students. 
 
 Indian Students 
 
 Five new school Associations have been organized this 
 year, bringing the total to twenty-two student Associa¬ 
 tions with a membership of over 1,300. This is an in¬ 
 crease in membership of 246 over last year. A second 
 secretary has been employed for part time especially to 
 work among some of the Indian tribes of the Middle 
 West. Membership in the Indian Associations includes 
 a pledge of daily Bible study and prayer, and attendance 
 upon the weekly prayer meeting of the school Associa¬ 
 tion. One of the most encouraging results of the year’s 
 work has been the proof that many members of the 
 school Associations are going back to the reservations to 
 become active leaders in the religious life. There is an 
 encouraging evidence of benevolent giving by the Indian 
 Associations. In addition to a larger amount of money 
 being given for the support of the local work, the Haskell 
 School Association gave $66.62 to the Friendship War 
 Fund and the Dakota Associations have continued to sup¬ 
 port John Devadas as their representative in India. 
 
 Negro Students 
 
 One of the ablest workers in the Negro schools has 
 been called to take up Association work among the Negro 
 troops in German East Africa. Two secretaries of the 
 Colored Men’s Department have been employed in this 
 field this year. There are now 104 Associations with 
 
 25 
 
4,656 members, representing an increase in membership 
 of 242 over last year. One of the outstanding advances 
 of the year has been in the larger attendance and deep¬ 
 ened interest in the Kings Mountain Student Conference, 
 which was attended this year by 125, an increase of 
 twelve over last year. Special attention at this confer¬ 
 ence was given to training leaders for Bible group work 
 and plans are being made to promote vigorously the vol¬ 
 untary study program throughout the year. 
 
 V 
 
 The North American Student 
 
 In a country of such vast geographical distances there 
 are always difficulties in the way of unity and cohesion in 
 the Movement. One of the best means of promoting 
 helpful unity has been the magazine. It is encouraging 
 to note by the lengthening subscription list evidence of 
 increased loyalty to our common enterprise. The make¬ 
 up has been changed to make possible the publication of 
 much more material with the same number of pages. 
 A special campaign for subscriptions in the early spring 
 brought most encouraging response. A special issue of 
 the magazine in June was published for special circula¬ 
 tion among the 40,000 officers in the training camps, most 
 of these men being students. 
 
 Literature 
 
 No phase of the movement’s life is of more impor¬ 
 tance than the preparation, publication and use of liter¬ 
 ature. Through a cooperative arrangement with Associa¬ 
 tion Press there is a reciprocal use of publications of the 
 Student Department and those of other departments in 
 the Association movement. Several of the best Bible 
 study courses are published in cooperation with the 
 publishing houses of the leading denominations. 
 
 26 
 
It may not be out of place to call special attention to 
 the remarkable success with which several books origi¬ 
 nally published by this Department have been received. 
 No less than 152,952 copies of Professor Fosdick’s book 
 on “The Meaning of Prayer” have been published, and 
 108,956 copies of “The Manhood of the Master.” 
 
 In addition to the two text books “Social Principles 
 of Jesus” and “Christianizing Community Life” the fol¬ 
 lowing new books and pamphlets have been issued during 
 the year. 
 
 Worship.William Adams Brown 
 
 Records of the Life of Jesus.H. B. Sharman 
 
 The Jesus of History.T. R, Glover 
 
 Christian Life, A Normal Experience.W. D. Weatherford 
 
 Personal Elements in Religious Life.W. D. Weatherford 
 
 The Dynamic of Manhood.L. H. Gulick 
 
 Life’s Clinic.E. H. Hooker 
 
 The Effective Force.F. P. Miller 
 
 America’s Experience in Student Young Men’s Christian 
 
 Association Buildings.Neil McMillan, Jr. 
 
 The Beloved Captain (reprinted).Donald Hankey 
 
 How to Use the Morning Quiet Time.R. P. Wilder 
 
 United Intercession.R. P. Wilder 
 
 Christian Work Among American Students (A Report).... 
 Report of the Theological Section of the Student Department 
 
 Paul Micou 
 
 Guide to Voluntary Bible Study Books.H. S. Elliott 
 
 A Monthly Prayer Cycle 
 
 The North American Student (published in cooperation with the 
 Student Volunteer Movement and the Young Women’s 
 Christian Association.) 
 
 Besides these, new editions of the following have been 
 printed. 
 
 The Future Leadership of the Church.J. R. Mott 
 
 Personal Economy and Social Reform.H. G. Wood 
 
 Modern Discipleship and What it Means.E. S. Woods 
 
 The Life and Works of Jesus...W. D. Murray 
 
 Studies in the Life of Jesus Christ..’.E. I. Bosworth 
 
 The Teachings of Jesus and His Apostles.E. I. Bosworth 
 
 The Campaign of Friendship.F. M. Harris 
 
 The Manhood of the Master.H. E. Fosdick 
 
 The Meaning of Prayer..H. E. Fosdick 
 
 The Will of God and a Man’s Life Work.H. B. Wright 
 
 27 
 
Leadership of Bible Study Groups.H. H. Horne 
 
 Christianity and Amusements.R. H. Edwards 
 
 A Life at Its Best.R. H. Edwards-E. Cutler 
 
 Student Standards of Action.H. S. Elliott-E, Cutler 
 
 The Work and Teachings of the Earlier Prophets. 
 
 C. F. Kent-R. S. Smith 
 
 Christian Standards in Life.J. L. Murray-F. M. Harris 
 
 A Challenge to Life Service.J. C. Robbins-F. M. Harris 
 
 Studies in the Life of Christ.H. B. Sharman 
 
 The Rational Sex Life for Men.M. J. Exner 
 
 A Call for Character.E. L Bosworth 
 
 Temptation and How to Meet it.G. S. Eddy 
 
 The Fight for Character.H. C. King 
 
 Bible Study for Personal Spiritual Growth.J; R, Mott. 
 
 How to Make Jesus Christ Real.J. R. Mott 
 
 Intercessors—The Primary Need.J, R. Mott 
 
 The Morning Watch.J. R. Mott 
 
 How to Deal with Temptation.R. E. Speer 
 
 Bible Study, the Great Way Into Life’s Values.H. C. King 
 
 Allocation of Staff 
 
 During the past year the work of the Department has 
 been divided as follows: 
 
 Gale Seaman, the Pacific Coast and Idaho, Utah, Ari¬ 
 zona and New Mexico; H. L. Heinzman, Rocky Moun¬ 
 tain Territory (Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, Kansas 
 and Nebraska) ; A. J. Elliott, the Middle West, and 
 Evangelism and Finance; W. W. Crutchfield, the South¬ 
 west (Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas and Mis¬ 
 souri) ; W. D, Weatherford, the South; F. P. Miller, 
 Preparatory Schools and New England; William McE. 
 Miller, Middle Atlantic States. The services of a group 
 of specializing secretaries have been at the disposal of all 
 territorial secretaries; H. S. Elliott for Bible study work; 
 R. H. Edwards and A. M. Trawick for social service and 
 social study; Dr. M. J. Exner, for sex education; Rev. 
 Paul Micou for the theological seminaries and recruiting 
 for the ministry; W. H. Tinker for state university work; . 
 E. H. Kelsey for headquarters duties. David R. Porter 
 has acted as executive secretary of the Department. 
 
 28 
 
The work in Canada is in charge of E. H. Clarke under 
 the direction of the Canadian National Council. The 
 secretaries of the Department cooperate for mission 
 study and missionary recruiting with the Student Volun¬ 
 teer Movement, of which F. P. Turner is General Secre¬ 
 tary, and J. L. Murray is Educational Secretary. The 
 Indian School work has been under the direction of R. D. 
 Hall, who has had associated with him this year Mc¬ 
 Kinley H. Warren as part-time assistant. The work in 
 Negro schools and colleges is under the Colored Men’s 
 Department, with which the Student Department is glad 
 to cooperate. We regret to report the death of W. A. 
 Hunton, senior secretary of the Colored Men’s Depart¬ 
 ment. Mr. Hunton had always maintained a close rela¬ 
 tionship with student work and had made his friendly 
 influence and consecrated personality felt by all who 
 knew him. The secretaries of this Department for stu¬ 
 dent work have been C. H. Tobias and M. W. Johnson. 
 
 The Committee on Friendly Relations with Foreign 
 Students continues to be guided by Charles D. Hurrey, as 
 General Secretary. George Irving is editor of “The 
 North American Student,” the joint publication of the 
 men’s and women’s movements and of the Student Vol¬ 
 unteer Movement. 
 
 War conditions have made necessary several adjust¬ 
 ments. W. H. Morgan has resigned from the Depart¬ 
 ment to take up army Y. M. C. A. work in Mesapotamia; 
 F. P. Miller has enlisted for military service; H. S. 
 Elliott and R. H. Edwards have been released for tem¬ 
 porary service in the Bureau of Personnel of the National 
 War Work Council; Dr. M. J. Exner is leading in a 
 special campaign of sex education in the army camps in 
 which he is being assisted by A. M. Trawick. Practically 
 all the secretaries of this Department have given some 
 
 29 
 
time at least to work in various relationships to the Asso¬ 
 ciation work in the army camps, several of them giving 
 their entire vacation for this purpose. 
 
 After several years of helpful service to this move¬ 
 ment in various capacities, the Rev. Paul Micou has re¬ 
 signed to take the important position of secretary of the 
 Collegiate Department of the General Board of Religious 
 Education of the Protestant Episcopal Church. 
 
 Financial Support 
 
 The financial contributors to this movement are as a 
 rule silent partners. Without their constant sympathy 
 and support, however, none of the accomplishments here 
 reported, nor the many others which do not lend them¬ 
 selves to tabulation and report, would be possible. 
 Through their vision and sacrifice they are really partners 
 in this significant undertaking. The expenditures for the 
 year 1916 provided for the salaries and traveling ex¬ 
 penses of sixteen secretaries, the expense of the New 
 York headquarters and branch offices in Kankakee (Ill.)> 
 Nashville (Tenn.), Los Angeles (Cal.), Denver (Colo.), 
 and Oklahoma City (Okla.) as follows: 
 
 TABLE I 
 
 Secretaries’ Salaries . $39,098.04 
 
 Traveling Expenses . 14,736.93 
 
 Stenographers and Clerks. 9,014.09 
 
 Printing and Stationery and Cultivation. 1,389.46 
 
 Postage and Express. 2,169.27 
 
 Telephone and Telegraph. 1,060.26 
 
 Office Rent. 819.00 
 
 Office Equipment . 386.42 
 
 Office Supplies . 1,134.79 
 
 Special Agents. 701.58 
 
 Magazine . 2,110.71 
 
 Sex Education Lectures. i,577-05 
 
 Special Conferences . 889.56 
 
 Totals . $75,087.16 
 
 30 
 
The following table is an analysis of the sources of the 
 income to meet the expenses of the Department. 
 
 TABLE II 
 
 Interest . $1,674.48 
 
 Subscriptions of Conference delegates. 11,097.05 
 
 Subscriptions of other friends. 57,316.46 
 
 Subscriptions of College Associations . 4,319.30 
 
 Miscellaneous (Literature, etc.). 986.72 
 
 $75>394*oi 
 
 The World’s Student Christian Feder¬ 
 ation 
 
 The relation between the Student Movement in this 
 country and the Federation has never meant so much to 
 us as this year. In the first place there has been a grow¬ 
 ing recognition of the rare significance of the fact that 
 the ties of the Federation have not been broken by the 
 strain of the war. It is the more significant when we 
 realize that this can be said of no other movement except 
 possibly the foreign mission movement. The special 
 campaign to secure the Friendship Fund for the prison¬ 
 ers-of-war has been wonderfully used to make vivid our 
 obligation to and dependence upon the student move¬ 
 ments in other nations. The amount of money raised for 
 this fund, small as it is compared with the need, is in a 
 real sense a testimonial to the appreciation of American 
 students of the Federation. 
 
 We have been glad to have messages from other move¬ 
 ments brought by Robert P. Wilder, who has come to this 
 country after several years’ service as one of the secre¬ 
 taries of the British Movement; Frank V. Slack, who has 
 been on furlough from his work among Indian students; 
 Dr. Mott, who had an opportunity during the summer of 
 1916 to have personal conferences with the leaders of the 
 Movements in several of the European countries; and S. 
 
 31 
 
J. Chuaii, Secretary of the Chinese Christian Association, 
 who has returned to us after several months’ work in 
 China. One of the few good results of the'war has been 
 the increased number of visitors from Mexico and Latin 
 America, C. J. Ewald, the National Secretary of South 
 America, having been in the country part of the year. It 
 was our privilege to have not less than eighty-three 
 Latin-American delegates in the summer conferences this 
 year. 
 
 Effects of the War on the Year’s Work 
 
 This report could not be completed without further 
 reference to the effect of the war upon the Christian life 
 and work in the American colleges. The most obvious 
 effect has been, of course, the gradual drawing away of 
 many of our leading workers. Since America’s decision 
 to enter the war in April fully seventy per cent of our 
 secretaries have left for some kind of war service. 
 
 The Friendship Fund has been one of the most stim¬ 
 ulating and inspiring experiences in the life of the 
 Movement. It owed its original impulse to a small group 
 of secretaries who were considering their need of having 
 some fellowship with the sufferings across the sea. A 
 tangible result of their meeting was the gift from a 
 score of men, amounting to about $2,500, for the relief of 
 prisoners-of-war. Following this it was decided to try 
 to secure $100,000 for the prisoners and especially for 
 those camps which included students. The response was 
 so spontaneous that the goal was raised to $150,000. Be¬ 
 fore the year was over it was found that actually over 
 $200,000 had been paid in for this and kindred needs by 
 the men and women students of the United States. Not 
 only did participation in this fund give many a chance 
 to share in meeting the needs of our brothers in Europe 
 
 32 
 
and make the Federation a reality in our thinking, but in 
 many places it resulted in kindling evangelistic fires and 
 giving a marked impetus to missionary zeal. On the basis 
 of this experience and in spite of depleted forces'the stu¬ 
 dent leaders at the recent Niagara Falls Conference de¬ 
 cided to attempt this year a much larger sum. 
 
 In many Associations there has been a marked tendency 
 to simplify and intensify the work. This can be directly 
 traced to processes of thinking connected with the war, 
 its causes and probable results. The Association leaders 
 have seen the necessity of abandoning secondary activities 
 and with great urgency stressing the essentials of the 
 Christian life. 
 
 Students have never been so thoughtful as now. They 
 are realizing that the supposed foundations of society 
 have been shifting sands. They are discovering that 
 formal religion is in no way able to combat selfishness 
 and greed, suspicion and hate. They have come to see 
 how many seeds of war there are in modern social life. 
 They recognize that as long as the spirit of redemptive 
 love is not more actively and powerfully at work in 
 American colleges, in industry, and commerce, they have 
 little right to sit in judgment upon those who are respon¬ 
 sible for the spirit of war in the relations of diplomacy 
 and international affairs. To render the highest service to 
 the nation now, and to prepare now for service in the 
 even more searching days ahead when this nation must 
 lead in the reconstruction of a new world brotherhood 
 according to the mind of Christ; such tasks call the men 
 of our American colleges to clear thinking and the most 
 unselfish devotion. 
 
The International Committee of 
 
 YOUNG MEN’S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS 
 
 124 East 28th Street, New York 
 
 Alfred E. Marling, Chairman 
 John R. Mott, General Secretary 
 B. H. Fancher, Treasurer 
 
 STUDENT DEPARTMENT COMMITTEE 
 
 Roger H. Williams, Chairman 
 William D. Murray 
 William M. Birks 
 Bishop William F. McDowell 
 Charles W. McAlpin 
 
 President J. Ross Stevenson 
 Pres. W. Douglas Mackenzie 
 Prof. G. A. Johnston Ross 
 Bishop Thomas Nicholson 
 Burke Baker 
 
 ADVISORY COMMITTEE 
 
 President R. A. Falconer 
 Robert H. Gardiner 
 Chancellor J. H. Kirkland 
 Professor J. W. Roe 
 W. E. Sweet 
 Rev. H. W. Bell 
 
 Rt. Rev. P. M. Rhinelander 
 President J. W. Singmaster 
 President C. A. Barbour 
 Professor N. E. Richardson 
 William F. Snow, M.D. 
 Professor M. A. Bigelow