9 
 

 learning anb ^abor. 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 University of Illinois 
 
 CLASS. 
 
 BOOK. 
 
 VOLUME. 
 
 j,a^ lit 
 
 Accession No. 
 
 1 
 
Compliments of 
 
 ♦ ♦ 
 
 State ||yecutive (Committee. 
 
 Illinois i?ouna /ihen’s Christian associations. 
 
 State Secretary. 
 

LIBRARY 
 
 ^ers?ty THe 
 
 of ILLINOIS 
 
 Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2017 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Alternates 
 
 https ://arch i ve . o rg/detai Is/twentyyearssketcOOyo u n 
 
CHAIRMEN OF STATE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. 
 L. A. Trowbridge. 
 
 Watts DeGolyer. 
 
 W. A. Douglass 
 
 Willis S. Herrick 
 
LIBRARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY of ILLINOIS, 
 
 Twenty 
 
 Years. 
 
 A sketch of the work of the State 
 Executive Committee of Illinois Young 
 Men’s Christian Associations, from 1880 
 to 1900. 
 
 STATE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, 
 
 ILLINOIS YOUNG MEN’S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 1900. 
 
"te e*. com. 
 
 ir 
 
 fi 
 
 \ 
 
 cXL 
 
 i 
 
 H 
 
 T WENTY YEARS of organized work for the 
 young men of the State has been done, under 
 the leadership of Mr. I. E. Brown, by the 
 State Executive Committee of Illinois Young 
 Men’s Christian Associations. 
 
 The January (1900) meeting of the State Com- 
 mittee decided to issue an account of this work. 
 The Committee appointed for that purpose has 
 prepared this book, which it invites all the friends 
 of the Association movement and of young men 
 to study. 
 
 A more consistent and perhaps a stronger pre- 
 sentation could have been made by one man, par- 
 ticularly by the one man who has been most active 
 in all this. But the committee has planned to have 
 most of the State Secretaries and several members 
 of the Committee bear a hand. Some advantage of 
 diversity of view and style may have resulted from 
 this manner of composition, which also accounts for 
 some personalities, and other impersonalities. Per- 
 haps it may as well be said that the chapters on 
 Beginnings, Secretaries and Endowment were 
 neither written nor “ inspired ” by State Secretaries. 
 
 The chapter on Endowment was prepared by 
 Dr. Jonn M. Coulter of the University of Chicago. 
 
 It is a great and a blessed work in which we 
 are all permitted to share. Let us make it greater 
 and more blessed, in so far as we can, for the next 
 twenty years. 
 
 Franklin W. Ganse, 
 
 L. Wilbur Messer. 
 
 >3 
 
 4 
 
BEGINNINGS. 
 
 THE Young Men’s Christian Association move- 
 * ment was born in London in 1844. In 1851 it 
 
 crossed the Atlantic and the Boston and Mont- 
 real Associations were started. In 1858 the work 
 began in Illinois by the organization of the Chicago 
 Association. 
 
 A few words are needed to connect these 
 beginnings with the organized work for the whole 
 state of Illinois which may properly be said to have 
 commenced in 1880. 
 
 The Association movement has been more suc- 
 cessful in America than in the land of its birth, so 
 that the “ American type of work ” which is the same 
 as the “ Illinois type,” is its highest achievement. 
 Three characteristic principles account largely for 
 this success of the movement here. 
 
 1. It convened. In 1854 the American Asso- 
 ciations met in the first of those international con- 
 ventions which to this day establish harmony of 
 principles and of methods all over the continent. 
 
 2 These conventions secured supervision and 
 guidance for the new Associations which were 
 rapidly springing up. This supervision, the need of 
 which might not occur to a superficial observer, is 
 vital to the movement; in proportion to its wisdom 
 and closeness is the success of the work in the terri- 
 tory supervised. International supervision was loose 
 until after the civil war, and consequently the work 
 of the Associations was diverse and indefinite. 
 
 9 
 
During that war most of the energy of the members 
 went into the work of the Christian Commission. 
 
 3. Having come together and established at 
 least a measure of harmony and of supervision, the 
 third characteristic principle was soon adopted — 
 that of special work by young men for young men. 
 
 1866 is a historic year in the Association move- 
 ment in America, because at the Albany international 
 convention of that year it was decided to strengthen 
 the International Committee, to give it a fixed 
 location, and to instruct its corresponding members 
 to call the first State Conventions in their respective 
 
 states. The idea 
 of specialized work 
 for the salvation of 
 young men, and of 
 those distinctive 
 forms of activity 
 which have proved 
 so popular and 
 effective, was also 
 a prominent fea- 
 ture of the Albany 
 convention. 
 
 These principles 
 traveled slowly on 
 their trip to Illi- 
 nois. They began 
 to reach us when Robert Weidensall, Secretary of 
 the International Committee, made his first brief 
 visits in 1869 and 1870. In 1873 he called the first 
 State Convention. There was no corresponding 
 
 10 
 
member of the International Committee to do it. 
 It met at Bloomington, November 6-9, 1873, when 
 fourteen Associations were represented by seventy- 
 five delegates. In 1875 another State Convention, 
 worked up by Mr. Weidensall, was held at Jackson- 
 ville, when a State Executive Committee was 
 appointed, with John V. Farwell as Chairman, a 
 position he occupied for the next three years, as he 
 had already for one year. This convention and the 
 one held at Springfield in 1876, acting under Mr. 
 Weidensall’s advice tried to secure Mr. Charles M. 
 Morton as State Secretary and finally succeeded. 
 The Illinois Asso- 
 ciations, under Mr. 
 
 Weidensall’s wise 
 nursinghad learned 
 to come together 
 in harmony, and 
 had seen the wis- 
 dom of definite 
 supervision clearly 
 enough to estab- 
 lish their State 
 Executive Com- 
 mittee, and to em- 
 ploy a State Sec- 
 retary. 
 
 Charles M. Morton. 
 
 But as yet there was almost no distinctive, all 
 around work, devoted to the modern purposes of a 
 Young Men’s Christian Association. Many of the 
 organizations were mere rallying places for the 
 Christian young men and women of the community, 
 
 11 
 
for promoting evangelistic meetings. In this they 
 gained great success and did much good. The idea 
 of a special work for the salvation and strengthening 
 of young men in soul, brain and body, which may be 
 said to have well begun in the East by the erection 
 of the New York building in 1869, had not yet 
 arrived here, and Mr. Morton was selected for his 
 abilities as an evangelist, which he well proved 
 throughout the length and breadth of the State up to 
 the time, in the fall of 1877, when he resigned the 
 secretaryship to enter the evangelistic field. 
 
 By the time of the 1879 convention at Decatur, 
 the Associations of the State and their State Execu- 
 tive Committee were thoroughly converted to the 
 modern Association idea. They wanted the state 
 work to be established and supervised in harmony 
 with that idea. Plans were formed at that conven- 
 tion for the selection and support of a State Secre- 
 tary who could see to the execution of this great 
 task. It required a man consecrated to the salvation 
 of his fellow men throughout the great common- 
 wealth, in sympathy with a special work which had 
 not entirely proved its right to continue, able to 
 guide that special work as it should grow and con- 
 ditions should change, competent to influence men 
 of means and of character to lend their strength to 
 the institution, successful in raising the money to 
 keep the work moving, and ever ready to counsel 
 and guide the different Associations in their difficul- 
 ties. In short, the Young Men’s Christian Associa- 
 tion movement in Illinois in 1880 needed the man 
 
 12 
 
who could develop the work which is described in 
 this little book. 
 
 This man was in Decatur. He was a prominent 
 member of the convention which was searching for 
 him. His name was I. E. Brown. Mr. Weidensall 
 crowned his preliminary work by pointing out Mr. 
 Brown as the right man for State Secretary and- by 
 inducing him to accept the position. Mr. Brown 
 entered upon the duties of his office in June, 1880 
 and has proved not only the right leader for Illinois, 
 but one of the most influential among the men who, 
 with God’s blessing, have brought the Young Men s 
 Christian Associations of America to their present 
 standard of efficiency. 
 
 
GROWTH. 
 
 f N the spring of 1880, W. W. Vanarsdale, at that 
 1 time Secretary of the State Executive Com- 
 mittee, put into the hands of the new State Sec- 
 retary a list of the Associations known to exist in 
 Illinois. Tearing off a piece of manila paper from 
 a sheet on his desk, he wrote with his stylographic 
 
 pen sixteen names. This was the 
 beginning of the State list of Asso- 
 ciations. Investigation showed 
 that one of the sixteen Associa- 
 tions had never been organized, 
 that a second was not properly a 
 Young Men's Christian Associa- 
 tion, and that a third was near 
 dissolution. 
 
 Those of the sixteen Associa- 
 tions reporting to the Convention 
 of 1880 showed a membership of 
 2,393. Buildings were owned and 
 occupied by the Associations in Chicago and Aurora, 
 and a small chapel about to be sold was also held 
 by the Association at Mason City which was plan- 
 ing to give up its work. The total value of real 
 estate reported was $122,500, of which $110,000 was 
 in Chicago and $12,500 outside. On the latter, 
 however, there was an indebtedness of $2,950, leav- 
 ing the total real estate outside Chicago with a net 
 value of $9,550. 
 
 Today the total number of Associations is 115, 
 
 14 
 
exclusive of six organized bands. The reported 
 membership in October, 1899, was 17,121. 
 
 Twenty-two buildings are now occupied by the 
 Associations, the total value of which is reported as 
 $2,574,005, on which there is an indebtedness of 
 $875,730, leaving the net property in buildings 
 $1,698,275. To this, however, must be added other 
 property reported, amounting to $143,000, making 
 the net property of the Associations in Illinois, 
 exclusive of the furnishings of rooms and buildings, 
 $1,841,275, as contrasted with net property twenty 
 years ago of $119,550. 
 
 This property statement is perhaps emphasized 
 when we recall the fact that outside our great metro- 
 politan city of Chicago, the net property has grown 
 from $9,550 in 1880 to $474,170 in 1900. 
 
 In 1880, thirteen men were employed by the 
 Associations, nine of these being in Chicago and 
 four outside. 
 
 So far as could be discovered, in 1880, the only 
 records were the minutes of the preceding seven 
 conventions, two of these being in manuscript and 
 five printed in pamphlet form. There were no sys- 
 tematic records of the local Associations, no official 
 list even, no recorded minutes of meetings of State 
 Executive Committee, no lists of contributors, no 
 records of visitation, no plan for systematic reports. 
 Today in the central office all these are supplied, 
 together with all other records which the experience 
 of years have shown to be of real value. 
 
 Not only has there been development along the 
 lines already indicated, but new lines of work have 
 
 15 
 
been opened up in Illinois as indicated in another 
 chapter of this book. The Corresponding Member- 
 ship has been inaugurated, has grown to large pro- 
 portions, and has proved its use- 
 fulness. The secretarial organi- 
 zation has been brought to an 
 efficient working basis. The 
 Association has been introduced 
 into the State Reformatory and 
 has begun a work among the 
 miners. The enlistment of col- 
 Jacksonville. lege men i n deputation work has 
 been inaugurated. 
 
 In the internal development of the Associations 
 marked progress has been made. Twenty years ago 
 the physical work was represented by one small 
 gymnasium in the city of Chicago. The latest report 
 shows 38 of these “halls of health,” a number of 
 them being in permanent Association buildings and 
 splendidly equipped. 
 
 The educational work, of which there was but 
 an embryo in 1880, represented by five educational 
 classes reported, has made rapid progress, especially 
 within the last two or three years. Two years ago, 
 five Associations reported to the International Com- 
 mittee that they conducted evening class work. In 
 1900 this number had increased to 14, conducting 
 1 12 classes. Five of these Associations — four of 
 which were in cities of less than 40,000 population — 
 took part in the International examinations and 
 secured International certificates. 
 
 16 
 
In the encouragement of Bible study good pro- 
 gress has been made. In the Student Associations 
 over 1,200 men were enrolled in voluntary Bible 
 classes during the last school year. In the Railroad 
 and City Associations 836 different men were en- 
 rolled in similar classes, a gain of 50 per cent, over 
 the preceding year. The Town Associations are 
 also making progress in this line, 80 men being en- 
 rolled in Iroquois County alone. 
 
 The full significance of the present work and of 
 the growth of the twenty years can scarcely be 
 realized without a vivid understanding of the chaotic 
 condition of the Associations in this State twenty 
 years ago. With differing local plans of work, with 
 indefiniteness of aim, with poor material facilities, 
 with little to bind the organizations together, there 
 was little to suggest the compact organization of 
 today. Perhaps in nothing was this more marked 
 than in the lack of definite aim to reach young men 
 and to cultivate the entire man, body, soul and spirit. 
 This is indicated in the fact that the Associations of 
 the State reported but five religious gatherings per 
 week for young men only. That this direct religious 
 work for a definite class has grown from five gather- 
 ings per week to 258 per week indicates that the 
 Association has held fast to the central purpose of 
 the organization. 
 
 Perhaps no change has been more striking than 
 the general sentiment regarding the Association 
 work in the minds of the ministry and of the churches 
 generally. Possibly no state today has wider Asso- 
 ciation information or a broader sympathy with the 
 
 1 7 
 
Association movement than Illinois. With organized 
 work — either Association or Band — at 121 points, 
 with our Corresponding Membership reaching 737 
 additional communities, with our financial constit- 
 uency extending into more than 800 towns, with our 
 literature as widely diffused as our constituency, the 
 Illinois work is built upon a broad basis of intel- 
 ligence regarding its aims, methods and results. 
 
 Some lines of growth of the past twenty years 
 are indicated in the accompanying table which in 
 graphic form shows something of the progress of 
 this period. 
 
 18 
 
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DEPARTMENTS. 
 
 THE existing plan of Departmental organization 
 1 in Illinois is the result of fourteen years of 
 growth. It dates its beginning at the call of 
 W. F. Levings to the position of Office Secretary, 
 April 17, 1886. At the present time it includes five 
 
 departments, each with its secre- 
 tary in charge, and with a clearly 
 defined field of effort. 
 
 Of these five departments, 
 three, the Railroad and City, the 
 Student, and the County and 
 Town, are known as the field 
 departments, each having in 
 direct charge of its work a Sub- 
 Committee of the State Executive Committee, made 
 up, in each case, of representative men from Asso- 
 ciations in the department. The Secretary in charge 
 of the Correspondence Department reports directly 
 to the State Executive Committee. The State Sec- 
 retary and Assistant State Secretary are most closely 
 identified with the department of General Adminis- 
 tration. They report directly to the State Executive 
 Committee, but in their work co-operate with the 
 different regular and special Sub-Committees. 
 
 The Railroad and City Department. — In- 
 cluded in this department are the six Railroad and 
 twenty-nine City Associations of Illinois outside of 
 Chicago, together with the work for the boys of the 
 
 Springfield. 
 
 20 
 
Illinois State Reformatory at Pontiac and the Miner’s 
 Association at Carbon Hill. 
 
 The attention of the department Sub-Committee 
 and Secretary are given chiefly (a) To counsel and 
 co-operation with the Associations of the department 
 in their business interests, and in the formation and 
 development of their general polices of work, (b) 
 To the recommendation of General Secretaries to 
 Boards of Directors, as such recommendations are 
 needed, (c) To the reorganization, in emergencies, 
 of the entire work and policies of particular Asso- 
 ciations. 
 
 It also includes the study of the field at such 
 railroad centers or cities of the state as may desire 
 Association work, the recommendation of plans and 
 policies for the inauguration of such work, and the 
 supervision of its establishment. 
 
 Student Department. The Student Depart- 
 ment includes the Associations of the State which 
 are organized in institutions of higher learning. 
 
 Of the 52 Associations now enrolled in the 
 department, five are in State Universities; 19 are in 
 professional schools of Chicago; 17 are in additional 
 universities and colleges; 6 are in preparatory 
 schools; 3 in normal and scientific schools; 2 are in 
 schools of technology and manual training schools. 
 
 It is the effort of the department Sub-Com- 
 mittee and Secretary to so effectively organize and 
 develop the organized Christian work in these insti- 
 tutions of higher learning as to secure for the Chris- 
 tian organization its rightful place and power in the 
 student life and to enable it to make to the life both 
 
of the individual student and of the student body 
 the largest and most helpful contribution possible. 
 
 County and Town Department. The work of 
 this department is two-fold. There are many com- 
 munities in the State where it is impracticable to 
 organize an Association employing a General Sec- 
 retary, yet in many of these communities there are 
 
 groups of young men 
 desiring to unite 
 their efforts in behalf 
 of their fellow young 
 men. There are at 
 present 16 Associa- 
 tions and 6 Associa 
 tion Bands in the 
 Department. 
 
 It is the effort of the department to so co- 
 operate, counsel with, and guide the efforts of such 
 groups of young men as to secure the best possible 
 results in the work they may undertake. 
 
 It is the further effort of the department to 
 organize work for young men in a selected number 
 of counties of the State, the work in each county 
 being in charge of a County Committee and County 
 Secretary, whose duty it shall be to promote work 
 for young men in the towns, villages and country 
 places of the county. 
 
 Correspondence Department. In 737 com- 
 munities of the state where there is no definitely 
 organized Christian work for men the State Com- 
 mittee has appointed Corresponding Members. It 
 is the duty of each Corresponding Member to notify 
 
 Joliet. 
 
 22 
 
the Secretary in charge of this department of the 
 names and addresses of young men leaving the com- 
 munity to make their permanent residence else- 
 where. Upon receipt of such information, corres- 
 pondence is at once begun with leaders of Christian 
 work in the community to which the young man 
 goes, and effort is made to give to him at once 
 Christian acquaintances and friends. 
 
 General Administration. Within the field of 
 the department of General Administration are 
 included, (a) The supervision of the educational and 
 religious work of the Railroad and City Department, 
 (b) The regular and special conventions, confer- 
 ences and “Young Men’s Sundays” held from time 
 to time, (c) The necessary book keeping, account- 
 ing and general office work connected with the 
 administration of all departments, (d) The collec- 
 tion, classification and issuing of Association statis- 
 tics, reports, etc. (e) The preparation and publi- 
 cation of printed matter of the Committee, (f) The 
 supervision of Association building movements, 
 (g) Advisory relations with the Chicago Association 
 and its Railroad and City Departments. (h) 
 Responsibility for the general business interests of 
 the Committee, with close co-operation with the 
 Department Sub-Committees and Secretaries in the 
 business interests of the different Departments, (i) 
 Close supervisory and unifying relations with all 
 departments. 
 
 23 
 
DISCOVERIES. 
 
 TN view of the agricultural, industrial, commercial, 
 A and educational supremacy of the Prairie State, 
 it is not to be wondered that Illinois should have 
 made large and important contributions in men and 
 ideas to the general cause of the work among young 
 men throughout the country. It has been the 
 privilege of our State to take the lead not only in 
 many important details of administration, but also 
 in founding and developing some permanent phases 
 of the Association work. 
 
 1. OFFICE AND SECRETARIAL ORGANIZATION. 
 
 Every well organized enterprise needs a well 
 equipped office, with facilities for permanently 
 recording the facts incidental to the organization 
 and development of its work. The Illinois State 
 Committee was the first one in the country to give 
 special attention to the equipment of adequate 
 offices. Its suite of offices at 609 Association Build- 
 ing is a place of constant consultation regarding all 
 phases of the work. Its records are constantly in 
 demand for different purposes. Here the entire 
 time of an office secretary, a book-keeper and two 
 stenographers is constantly occupied, while addi- 
 tional help is frequently needed. 
 
 With the various lines of work, each requiring 
 peculiar skill and efficiency, the Committee early 
 recognized that the principle of division of labor, 
 applied to its work, would bring the best results. 
 
 24 
 
Accordingly the department plan of organization 
 was established, with a skilled secretary in charge of 
 each department and responsible for its develop- 
 ment. But, in order that the 
 different departments might 
 work together with the fullest 
 degree of harmony and with 
 the work of the entire field 
 constantly before each depart- 
 ment, stated conferences of the 
 different secretaries were inau- 
 gurated, first quarterly and 
 then, with the growth of the 
 work, monthly. At these meet- 
 ings the condition of the whole field comes in review, 
 weak points are brought to light, and the combined 
 experience of the whole force is brought to bear on 
 problems of special difficulty and upon pressing 
 emergencies. Special topics bearing on the internal 
 development and on the extension of the work 
 throughout the State are presented in carefully 
 prepared papers and are thoroughly discussed. 
 
 II. CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 Illinois was the first State to give particular 
 attention to the young men in villages and country 
 districts. As a starting point in bringing the young 
 men in the rural communities into contact with the 
 Association work, the office of Corresponding 
 Member was created in 1886. The plan provided 
 for the selection and appointment, in every village, 
 
 Chicago 
 
 Pennsylvania Lines 
 R. R. 
 
 25 
 
of one earnest Christian young man whose special 
 duty it shall be to inform the State Committee of 
 every young man who leaves his community to enter 
 school or business in another locality. During the 
 next five years, two hundred of the towns in the 
 State were supplied with these Corresponding 
 Members. In 1891, it was made one of the Depart- 
 ments of the work, and a secretary placed in charge, 
 giving a small portion of his time to the develop- 
 ment of the plan. In 1897, on the recommendation 
 of the secretary in charge, an important modification 
 was made in the plan of the work, and a central 
 bureau of correspondence was established at the 
 State office. This bureau has since been maintained, 
 with much additional work, and has very greatly 
 increased the efficiency of the plan of work. The 
 letters regarding removals are registered at the state 
 office, and correspondence is immediately opened 
 with the Young Men’s Christian Association or with 
 pastors or other Christian workers, asking special 
 attention to, and interest in the young man who has 
 just arrived in their community. The letters fill a 
 twofold purpose. First : They are a means of 
 information; without them in most cases, the Chris- 
 tian people would know nothing of a stranger within 
 their gates. Second : They serve as a stimulus to 
 earnest and thorough work in his behalf. Some 
 pastors have driven miles out into the country to 
 meet and invite to church the young man concerning 
 whom word has been received from the Correspond- 
 ing Member through the State Committee. 
 
 26 
 
During the first year of the work on this plan, 
 two hundred young men were followed by these 
 letters; the second year, three hundred; and the 
 
 third year, 575 young men leav- 
 ing Illinois homes were fol- 
 lowed by the letters of the cor- 
 respondence bureau. They went 
 to twenty-five different states 
 and territories, and to three 
 foreign countries. The letters 
 on file at the office show some- 
 thing of the efforts put forth 
 and of the real good accom- 
 plished. None of these hundreds of young men 
 who have been met by Christian people and invited 
 to Association and church can ever say “ No man 
 cared for my soul.” 
 
 To June I, 1900, the system was extended to 
 737 towns. 
 
 This plan of work has spread into many other 
 states of the Union. 
 
 Freeport. 
 
 III. STATE REFORMATORY. 
 
 On March 24, 1898, a very unusual request came 
 to the State Committee. It was from the President 
 of the Board of Managers of the Illinois State Re- 
 formatory, calling attention to the 1,400 boys between 
 the ages of ten and twenty-one, confined in the 
 Institution, and requesting the organization of a 
 Young Men’s Christian Association among them. 
 Later on the request was repeated. Seriously ques- 
 tioning the possibility of any permanent Asso- 
 
 27 
 
ciation among the boys, a secretary was assigned to 
 investigate the conditions. After several visits, on 
 October 30, 1898, a Young Men’s Christian Associa- 
 tion was organized, with 16 of the Christian teachers 
 as active members, and several hundred of the “ first 
 grade ” boys as associate members. Devotional 
 meetings, planned and conducted by the boys them- 
 selves, have been held regularly ever since, with an 
 attendance averaging more than 300, and at times 
 reaching 600. That these meetings have been a 
 source of inspiration and helpfulness to the boys, no 
 one who has attended one of their Sunday morning 
 meetings could question. In May 1899, the Asso- 
 ciation Literary Society was formed and meetings 
 have been held regularly since. These have also 
 been of inestimable benefit to the boys. The volun- 
 tary expressions of the officers of the Institution 
 show conclusively the usefulness of this unique 
 organization. Chaplain Boiler says, “ Our boys, as 
 well as the officers, give frequent testimony that 
 nothing in the history of this Institution has to them 
 ever availed for so much in lasting and substantial 
 good as the influence of our Association. It has 
 opened to them a new world of light and hope, and 
 dispelled the darkness from the heart and life of many 
 a one who came here disheartened and friendless.” 
 
 IV. THE KNOX COLLEGE BOYS. 
 
 In 1889 there started in Knox College a move- 
 ment to send out in the summer vacation a group 
 of volunteers for evangelistic work among young 
 men in some of the smaller places. A number of 
 
 28 
 
summers since have seen a similar band of students 
 engaged in this work, Illinois College joining Knox 
 for one or two summers. The leader of this move- 
 ment was Geo. N. Taylor, who afterwards became 
 one of the Assistant State Secretaries in Illinois. 
 He went from that position to the general secretary- 
 ship at Decatur, from which he was called to the 
 general secretaryship of the old city of Mexico. 
 While attending the General Secretaries’ Conference 
 at Louisville, Ky., in 1893 he was stricken down with 
 fever resulting from overwork and died in that city 
 May 26, 1893. 
 
 The Knox College Boys. 
 
 The illustration shows the original band. The 
 first man on the reader’s left, standing, is Matt Gon- 
 terman who was in Knox Academy when the first 
 band was formed. After finishing his course at 
 
 29 
 
 
Knox he became a student at Harvard where he 
 was a leader in athletics. He is now in charge of 
 the physical work at Knox College. 
 
 Ralph B. Larkin stands next to him. After 
 completing his college and seminary course he 
 became a missionary of the American Board at 
 Mardin, Turkey. Returning to this country in 1898 
 on account of the health of his wife, he became 
 pastor of the Congregational church at Buena Vista, 
 Colorado. 
 
 Grove F. Ekins, standing at the right of the 
 picture, was in ’89 a student in the Academy. He 
 completed the full course at Knox, after which he 
 was engaged in the Association work at Sacramento 
 and San Francisco, California, He is now General 
 Secretary of the Association at Galesburg. 
 
 The first man sitting, at the left of the picture, 
 is J. Philip Read, who was the organist of the band. 
 George Taylor, the founder of the band sits next to 
 him, followed by Thad Stephens who had just been 
 graduated in the class of ’89. His work in the band 
 led him into the Association secretaryship. After 
 two years as General Secretary at Geneseo, 111 ., he 
 spent three years as one of the Assistant State Secre- 
 taries in Illinois; following which he was General 
 Secretary at Kankakee, 111 ., and at Anderson, Ind. 
 He is now a student in the Chicago Theological 
 Seminary, and at the same time is serving as pastor 
 of the Congregational church at Morton Park, 111 . 
 
 Sitting at the right of the group is L. Burt Crane 
 who in 1889 was a Sophomore at Knox. Since com- 
 pleting his college course and theological course at 
 
 30 
 
Princeton he has served for several years as an 
 instructor of the English Bible in Princeton, at the 
 time being assistant pastor of one of the churches. 
 He is now pastor of the Calvary Presbyterian church, 
 Buffalo, N. Y. 
 
 Besides those whose pictures are shown, three 
 others spent some time with the band; Frank M. 
 Lay, who is now engaged in business at Kewanee, 
 111.; E. E. Working, now a dentist at Tiskilwa, 111.; 
 and E. B. Cushing, who since completing his college 
 course and his theological seminary course, has been 
 a professor in Yankton College, S. D. 
 
 These are some of the most interesting and 
 important features of Association work which have 
 been developed in Illinois under the direction of the 
 State Executive Committee. Some of them have 
 proved important contributions to the cause through- 
 out the country, in addition to their primary success 
 in helping to reach and save the young men of 
 Illinois. 
 
 3i 
 
CHAIRMEN. 
 
 J N the twenty years under consideration the State 
 1 Executive Committee has had but four chair- 
 men. In 1880 Mr. Watts DeGolyer of the Watts 
 DeGolyer Varnish Co., Chicago, was chosen to that 
 position. His interest was especially marked in the 
 religious work of the Association. 
 
 In 1882, Mr. W. A. 
 Douglass, at that time 
 Assistant Manager of 
 R. G. Dun & Co., was 
 chosen chairman of the 
 Committee. This posi- 
 tion he held until 1891. 
 
 Mr. L. A. Trowbridge 
 assumed the duties of 
 chairman in that year. 
 Mr Trowbridge brought to the Committee experience 
 gained in a long term of service as a member of the 
 Board of Directors of the Rockford Association. 
 The position of chairman he held for four years. 
 
 Mr. Douglass still remains a member of the 
 Executive Committee and Mr. Trowbridge is a 
 member of the Advisory Committee, both continuing 
 their interest in the state work and being closely 
 identified with it. 
 
 In 1895, Mr. Willis S. Herrick of the insurance 
 firm of Lyman & Herrick became chairman of the 
 Committee, and has continued in that position to 
 the present time. He has given much of time and 
 
 Monmouth. 
 
effort to the work of the Committee and has put 
 himself in touch with the Association work at large 
 through attendance at International Conventions. 
 His sound business judgment has always been avail 
 able in the work of the Committee. 
 
 The frontispiece of this volume shows the faces 
 of the four men who have been at the head of this 
 work during these years. 
 
 CHAIRMEN. 
 
 A. B. Wicker, 1873-1874. 
 
 John V. Farwell, 1874-1878. 
 
 R. D. Russell, 1878-1879. 
 
 E. S. Albro, 1879-1880. 
 
 Watts DeGolyer. 1880-1882. 
 
 W. A. Douglass, 1882-1891. 
 
 L. A. Trowbridge, 1891-1895. 
 
 Willis S. Herrick, 1895-1900. 
 
 « * 
 
 33 
 
SECRETARIES. 
 
 HE rapid evolution of the Young Men’s Christian 
 
 1 Association movement has developed a new 
 profession. The large property interests, the 
 improved type of men composing the managing 
 boards and committees, an increasing and represen- 
 tative membership and the important relationships 
 with religious, educational, social and civic move- 
 ments has demanded executive leaders of special 
 training and ability. These salaried executive 
 officers in 1871 were given the title of “General 
 Secretary ” at which time there were less than twenty 
 such officers in the entire country. The present 
 number, including Physical Directors and Educa- 
 tional Directors and secretaries of supervisory and 
 training agencies is 1,442, and most Associations 
 even in towns of 3,000 population now employ a 
 General Secretary. 
 
 As the Directors of local Associations have found 
 it necessary to secure a trained Association specialist 
 in developing their work, still more have the State 
 Committees required similar officers. The first State 
 Secretary was engaged by the Pennsylvania State 
 Committee in 1871. The requisite qualifications for 
 this position are a manly Christian character, a cor- 
 rect and intelligent conception of religious beliefs 
 and relationships, social attractiveness, a broad 
 general education, business ability, executive leader- 
 ship, knowledge of the history and methods of the 
 Association movement and the gift of acceptable 
 
 34 
 
SECRETARIES EMPLOYED DURING THE TWENTY YEARS, 1880-1900. 
 
 R. H. Shanks. E. T. Colton. G. N Taylor. B. R. Barber. 
 
 S. F. Wishard. A. M. Bruner. J. V. Read. G. B. Smith. 
 
 E E. Brown. I E. Brown. A. T. Stephens. 
 
 F. H. Jacobs. E. C. Anderson. L. A. Bowman. W. H. Gebhardt. 
 
 F. H. Burt. A. G. Copeland. W. F. Levings. K. A. Shumaker. 
 
public speaking. The duties of the State Secretary 
 will include office work, which implies a voluminous 
 correspondence; extension, in investigating and 
 organizing new fields; finance work in securing 
 support for the State Committee and assisting Asso- 
 ciations in current and building problems; securing 
 and training secretaries for the 
 local fields; arranging for state 
 and district conventions; and the 
 development of the State Execu- 
 tive Committee in volunteer 
 service in these departments of 
 effort throughout the state. 
 
 The rapid growth of City, 
 Student, Railroad, County and 
 other departments of Association work has required 
 special State Secretaries for these important fields. 
 
 The State Executive Committee is. a purely 
 advisory agency created by and responsible to the 
 local Associations. Without authority, this com- 
 mittee seeks to unify, inspire, instruct, supervise and 
 extend the Association movement throughout the 
 state. 
 
 It has been truly said that the Young Men’s 
 Christian Association is more comprehensive and 
 broad in its membership than any other organization 
 which can be suggested. Not only church members 
 but young men of good moral character without 
 regard to religious belief are invited to enjoy the 
 advantages and privileges of the organization. Class 
 barriers are unknown and the undisputed fact is 
 evident to all familiar with the Association that 
 
 37 
 
withirfit'is found the capitalist, the clerk, the college 
 student, the railroad official and his employe, the 
 colored man, men of foreign races, the Indian, the 
 clergyman, the manufacturer, the mechanic and 
 representatives of every trade and calling, condition 
 and class. The executive officer of a committee 
 charged with the supervision and extension of a 
 movement with such important functions and delicate 
 relationships must possess a rare personality to 
 accomplish his work. 
 
 The chief executive of the State Committee of 
 the Illinois Young Men’s Christian Associations is 
 Mr. Isaac E. Brown. For the entire period of 
 twenty years covered by this historical statement 
 this wise, able and honored man of God has devoted 
 his life to the young manhood of this state. For 
 these twenty years he has prayed, traveled and 
 labored in promoting this work. The word “ govern- 
 ments ” in the scriptural classification of God’s work- 
 men literally should read — guiding the helm of 
 affairs. This is the chief function of our State Sec- 
 retary. Loyal to the evangelical basis, magnifying 
 the study of God’s word as suited to Association 
 ideals, emphasizing the great fundamentals of the 
 Christian life, in love with definite work by young 
 men for young men, standing for symmetrical devel- 
 opment of the Association as a physical, religious, 
 educational and social agency, with rare tact and 
 organizing power, Mr. Brown has ever sought to 
 come up to the level of his best, making the most of 
 his opportunities, thus acquiring the truest success. 
 
 38 
 
From the chaotic conditions of the Association 
 movement as found at the beginning of his work 
 when Association aims were vague and indefinite, 
 methods crude and equipment primitive, with little 
 financial support and few efficient helpers, the Illinois 
 state work has developed to the strength and 
 efficiency now so generally recog- 
 nized throughout the country. To 
 our veteran and pioneer Interna- 
 tional Secretary, Robert Weiden- 
 sall, we are indebted for the dis- 
 covery of this man who was turned 
 from the career of a professional 
 teacher (in which calling he was 
 successfully engaged) to the Asso- 
 ciation movement. 
 
 Mr. F. H. Burt began his work with the Com- 
 mittee June 15, 1889, and closes his successful labors 
 in this state in December 1900, to enter upon his 
 duties as State Secretary of Missouri. Mr. Burt has 
 proven himself a man of all around development, 
 with marked administrative power and deep religious 
 experience. He largely effected the organization of 
 the College Department in the state, placing this 
 work upon a strong and permanent basis, doubling 
 the number of Associations and more than doubling 
 their efficiency. In later years with equal success he 
 has been associated directly with the work of general 
 administration. 
 
 Mr. A. M. Bruner entered the service of the 
 Committee January 1, 1887. His first work was in 
 the Business Department, also devoting considerable 
 
 39 
 
time to emergency work. His positive, forceful, 
 untiring effort, with deep devotion to the Associa- 
 tion cause, his absolute hopefulness in the face of 
 discouragement have resulted in heroic work often 
 amid discouraging financial conditions in the City 
 and Railroad Associations 
 
 Mr. L. A. Bowman was engaged as Office Sec- 
 retary March 6, 1890, and still remains with the Com- 
 mittee in this important position. His work has 
 been characterized by absolute faithfulness in the 
 development of approved business methods in office 
 and correspondence work. A special feature in 
 charge of Mr. Bowman is the Correspondence 
 Department which has shown a marvelous increase. 
 
 Mr. Karl A. Shumaker, a graduate of the Sec- 
 retarial Institute and Training School, assumed 
 charge of the work in small towns September I, 1899. 
 This department also includes the County work 
 which is having a successful development. 
 
 The following additional persons have been 
 identified with the State work in Illinois as Assistant 
 State Secretaries : 
 
 Mr. F. H. Jacobs, now an assistant pastor in 
 Brooklyn, N. Y., for a short time assisted in general 
 work. He was the first Assistant Secretary but held 
 the office only two months. 
 
 Mr. E. E. Brown, a brother of our State Secre- 
 tary, served the Committee from September 15, 1884, 
 to September 15, 1887, as a general assistant. His 
 rare qualifications made him a valued helper in the 
 formation and permanent development of state work 
 
 40 
 
i 
 
 SECRETARIES OF THE COMMITTEE, JUNE, 1900. 
 
 F. H. Burt. E. T. Colton. 
 
 K A. Shumaker. I. E. Brown. 
 
 41 
 
 A. M. Bruner. 
 L. A. Bowman. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNlVERsny of ILLINOIS, 
 
 
 
 
in these earlier years. He suggested the correspond- 
 ing membership, the observance of the “ Young 
 Men’s Sunday,” and the regular conference of State 
 Secretaries. Mr. Brown is now professor of Peda- 
 gogy at the University of California. 
 
 Mr. W. F. Levings rendered most valuable service 
 to the Committee from May 15, 1886 to September 
 30, 1894 as Office Secretary. He created the office, 
 and as a master of detail, with a devoted Christian 
 life, intense enthusiasm and loyalty to Association 
 service, became a most efficient and valued worker. 
 
 Mr. S. F. Wishard, now engaged in evangelistic 
 work in Minnesota, served the Committee in 1888 
 and 1889 chiefly in promoting religious work among 
 the Associations of the state, 
 
 Mr. R. H. Shanks, now engaged in business in 
 Winnipeg, Manitoba, was an Assistant Secretary for 
 a short time in 1888. 
 
 Mr. W. H. Gebhardt, now in business in Racine, 
 Wis., was engaged in the Office Department from 
 February 15, 1889 to March 4, 1890. 
 
 Mr. Geo. N. Taylor who entered the service of 
 the Committee September 5, 1889, came to the atten- 
 tion of the State Committee through his ability in 
 organizing the Knox College students for their first 
 campaign in the state. Mr. Taylor’s time with the 
 Committee was devoted to the work in small towns. 
 He died May 26, 1893, being at that time Secre- 
 tary of the Association in the City of Mexico. 
 
 Mr. J. V. Read, now State Secretary of Georgia, 
 rendered special assistance in the Financial Depart- 
 ment from September 24, 1890 to March 31, 1895. 
 
 43 
 
Mr. Read possessed rare business qualities and 
 materially strengthened the business standing of the 
 State Committee. 
 
 Mr. A. T. Stephens was Secretary of the Town 
 
 Department from October 
 24, 1891 to September 1, 
 
 1894. He is now a student 
 in the Chicago Theological 
 Seminary and is at the same 
 time acting as pastor of a 
 church. 
 
 Mr. A. G. Copeland, now 
 Chicago, West Side. General Secretary at Kala- 
 mazoo, Mich., after success- 
 ful service as General Secretary at Aurora, 111 , was 
 called to the Town Department of the State Com- 
 mittee September 1, 1895, occupying that position 
 until November 1, 1898. Mr Copeland’s ability as 
 a Bible teacher and his strength as an organizer made 
 him specially efficient in his work, 
 
 Mr. Geo. B. Smith followed Mr. F. H. Burt as 
 Student Secretary from September 1, 1895 to Octo- 
 ber 31, 1897. The student work developed strongly 
 during this period and the work of Mr. Smith was 
 so efficient and fruitful as to result in a call to the 
 position of General Secretary at Madras, India. 
 
 Mr. B. R. Barber followed Mr. Smith in the 
 Student Department, conducting the work during 
 the following College year. He was equally suc- 
 cessful among the Student Associations and while 
 occupying this position was called to the College 
 Secretaryship at Calcutta, India. 
 
 44 
 
Mr. E. C. Anderson was engaged with the Com- 
 mittee as Assistant Office Secretary for one year. 
 He is now a student at the North-Western Univer- 
 sity at Evanston. 
 
 Mr. E. T. Colton conducted the Student work 
 with marked success during the college year 1899- 
 1900 at the end of which he accepted a position as a 
 Student Secretary of the International Committee. 
 
 The secretarial force engaged in the State work 
 of the Illinois Associations has always labored as 
 men who were divinely called to this special work. 
 This conviction has resulted in a holy enthusiasm 
 leading to heroic endeavor. Not always conspicuous 
 but ever active, their abilities never fully recognized, 
 always courageous and forceful, they have shown a 
 power to unify and inspire the entire Association 
 movement in this state. The Association work in 
 Illinois has been blessed with unity and progress. 
 The State Secretaries, who are traveling sermons 
 throughout the year in all parts of the state, have 
 largely contributed to the general success of the 
 entire movement. 
 
 45 
 
LIST OF STATE SECRETARIES AND ASSISTANTS. 
 
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 46 
 
BUILDINGS. 
 
 THE progress made in the past twenty years in 
 * securing homes for the Associations of Illinois 
 has been marked. In the year 1880 there were 
 two Association buildings in the State. One of 
 these was the building of the Chicago Association 
 with its entrance at 148 Madison 
 street. The total value of the 
 property was given as $100,000. 
 A large part of the building was 
 rented for various purposes. 
 Through a book store, entrance 
 was secured by a 12-foot passage 
 way to a few rooms in the rear 
 which were devoted to the Asso- 
 ciation. These consisted of a 
 general reading room in which the 
 office was located, a parlor and a 
 lecture hall in which the noon 
 meetings and other religious 
 Chicago Central. gatherings were held. In the base- 
 ment were located a few poorly constructed bath 
 rooms and the toilet rooms. A room, with entrance 
 from Arcade court, was devoted to the Employment 
 Bureau, while on the fourth floor a small room was 
 fitted up for the gymnasium. On the second floor 
 with separate entrance from Madison street was the 
 large Farwell Hall capable of seating some 1 ,700 
 people. 
 
 47 
 
The second building, at Aurora, valued at 
 $10,000, with an indebtedness of $2,950, practically 
 had no facilities for Association work. The base- 
 ment was occupied by a Chinese laundry, the gilded 
 sign of a pawnbroker swung above the first floor 
 entrance, while a photographer occupied the second 
 floor. The rear room on the first floor was used by 
 various philanthropic societies, and once a year was 
 
 taken possession of by the 
 Young Men’s Christian Associ- 
 ation for its annual election of 
 officers. On May 10, 1880, the 
 Association was reported by 
 one of its former officers as 
 “dead.” 
 
 The total value of real estate 
 reported in 1880 was $122,500 
 with an indebtedness of $2,950 
 leaving a net property of $1 19,550. 
 
 The last state report, 1899, shows the value of 
 22 buildings to be $2,574,005, and other property is 
 also reported, amounting to $143,000. Subtracting 
 an indebtedness of $875,730, there is shown to be a 
 net property value of $1,841,275. 
 
 There is appended a table showing the value of 
 buildings, real estate, etc., as reported to the State 
 Executive Committee, in October, 1899. This table 
 also indicates the date when each building was 
 dedicated or occupied. There are also inserted 
 small half-tones of every Association building in the 
 State at the close of the twenty years. 
 
 48 
 
It is impossible, however, either by table or 
 by illustration to indicate the prayer, effort and self 
 sacrifice which have gone into the building move- 
 ment in this state. In connection with almost every 
 building enterprise, incidents have occurred which 
 might well find record here were there space to 
 record them. 
 
 The building fund at Jacksonville, where was 
 erected the first building during the twenty years, 
 was begun by subscrip- 
 tions of $500 each from a 
 young lawyer and two young 
 physicians. The foundation 
 of the building fund of the 
 Central Department in Chi- 
 cago was laid through a 
 bequest of $50,000 from Mr. 
 
 John Crerar. The West Side 
 Department building was 
 made possible through a single gift of one-third of 
 the $50,000 necessary. The splendid canvass at 
 Freeport in 1894, when $16,500 was raised in three 
 weeks to save the building, is worthy of special note. 
 At Galesburg, Jacksonville and Monmouth, the lot 
 was the gift of a single individual, while at Rockford, 
 a part of the present site was similarly donated. 
 
 The building movement has but just begun. As 
 the twenty years close, Elgin is in the midst of a 
 building canvass; Decatur is agitating the matter of 
 a new building; while generous offers have been 
 made by three railroad companies for as many 
 buildings for their employes. 
 
 49 
 
BUILDINGS, REAL ESTATE, ENDOWMENT FUNDS, ETC. 
 
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 Name of 
 Association. 
 
 Macomb 
 
 Monmouth 
 
 |Mt. Carmel ( R.R.) 
 
 Pana 
 
 Peoria 
 
 Quincy 
 
 Rockford 
 
 Rock Island 
 
 Springfield 
 
 University of 111 . . . 
 
 PQ 
 
 51 
 
ACTUALITIES. 
 
 CIELD. The Old Prairie State is not exceeded 
 A by any in the Union for magnificent resources, 
 with its mighty fields of cereals waving for the 
 harvest, vast bodies of coal and mineral wealth wait- 
 ing to be converted from raw material into finished 
 
 product and sent to every part of 
 the world. We realize that in 
 bringing about this transformation 
 the greatest factor is man. Turn- 
 ing to investigate, we see nearly 
 one million young men within our 
 borders and appreciate that the 
 field is one calling for courage, 
 faith and sacrifice. 
 
 Need. With the saloon, gamb- 
 ling house and brothel, triumvirate 
 of the powers of darkness on every 
 hand to rob us of our heritage, 
 municipal depravity and misrule, 
 with a mighty conflict raging between capital and 
 labor, and the church pleading with outstretched 
 hands for men to carry forward the work in home 
 and foreign fields, we must, concede that at no time 
 in the world’s history has greater need existed than 
 at present. 
 
 Responsibility. Flocking by thousands into 
 the cities, mingling with the discordant element in 
 the industrial world, crowding into colleges and 
 professional schools, ready to be moulded into loyal 
 
 Chicago, 
 
 Englewood. 
 
 5 2 
 
citizens or carping demagogues, the Association 
 holds men for a day in its hands in their onward 
 march to destiny. This responsibility must be met 
 with promptness and fidelity. 
 
 Organization. Twenty years of conservative, 
 active effort in Illinois have developed an agency 
 for the extension of an aggressive work among 
 young men unsurpassed by any in the Association 
 world. With a well organized State Executive Com- 
 mittee, composed of prominent business men iden- 
 tified with the work, well organized Sub-Committees 
 actually engaged in working out the problems, and 
 experienced secretaries in charge of Railroad and 
 City, Student, County and Town, Business and 
 Correspondence Departments, its utility and com- 
 prehensiveness is unequalled, while a successful 
 record of twenty years stands behind it like a granite 
 wall indicating solidity and strength. 
 
 Office. Among the facilities for handling this 
 vigorous work is a well equipped office, containing 
 accurate records of statistics, meetings of Com- 
 mittees and secretaries, state gatherings, conven- 
 tions, policies, emergencies and detail work; the 
 value of which can hardly be estimated in dealing 
 with problems constantly arising for adjustment 
 and solution. 
 
 Associations. One hundred and fifteen Asso- 
 ciations with a membership of 17,121 are touching 
 young men in cities, towns, colleges and professional 
 schools, railroad centers, mining districts, military 
 camp and State Reformatory; and over 700 Corres- 
 ponding Members are following by letter hundreds 
 
 53 
 
of young men who are constantly moving from place 
 to place. 
 
 Secretaries. A body of loyal General Secre- 
 taries are serving as executive officers of the Asso- 
 ciations. Not only are these men efficient officers 
 and leaders, but they stand as one man, representa- 
 tives of the united work in closest bonds of Christian 
 brotherhood. 
 
 Constituency. The kind and 
 friendly spirit in which the work 
 is held is evidenced as follows: 
 In 1880 there were enrolled on the 
 books of the Committee 44 per- 
 sonal subscriptions aggregating 
 $1,500; while in 1899, 4,700 sub- 
 scriptions aggregating $18,171.00 
 were recorded. 
 
 Recognition. The work of 
 twenty years ago would scarcely 
 be recognized in the growing 
 organization of today. With the 
 personnel of strong Christian business men has come 
 recognition from individuals, railroads, state institu- 
 tions, military authorities and corporations, that 
 means wider influence and larger returns for the 
 investment of money and effort. 
 
 Pana. 
 
 Property and Favor. The number and value 
 of the buildings owned throughout the state gives 
 the work stability and power, while the manifest 
 favor of God is evidenced in thousands of lives 
 transformed by the power of the Gospel, hundreds 
 
 54 
 
more aroused to Christian activity and scores of 
 others sent to carry the Gospel to the ends of the 
 earth. Onward, upward and forward the forces are 
 moving, and catching a glimpse of morning sunlight 
 on the far away heights, sing with Longfellow : 
 
 “Out of the shadow of night, 
 
 The world rolls into light, 
 
 ’Tis daybreak everywhere.” 
 
 55 
 
OPPORTUNITIES. 
 
 Mt. Carmel 
 R. R. 
 
 |Yj OTWITHSTANDING al! that has been accom- 
 * plished in the last twenty years, the unorganized 
 communities far outnumber those which today have 
 the helpful influence of the Young Men’s Christian 
 Association. To many of these unorganized com- 
 munities the doors are now wide open. With 
 
 adequate support and an adequate 
 
 force of secretaries, much of the 
 unoccupied territory could be 
 speedily taken for the Association 
 cause. 
 
 I. The Cities. Illinois con- 
 tains 44 cities above 5,000 popu- 
 lation. In these there were 
 gathered at the time of the census 
 of 1890, a population of 1,595,678, 
 about one-fifth of whom were young men. 
 
 Let us use our imagination if we can to get 
 before us the picture of what it would mean if in 
 these 44 cities there were not opened a single door 
 of the Young Men’s Christian Association; thousands 
 upon thousands of saloon doors wide open, doors 
 leading to every form of vice and debauchery, but 
 not one door where one of the half million of young 
 men might find a hand of Christian welcome, a place 
 of refuge, influences buttressing faith and virtue. If 
 such a condition could be brought vividly before the 
 united Christian church it would indeed arouse an 
 enthusiasm by the side of which the enthusiasm of 
 
 56 
 
the First Crusade would pale. Peter the Hermit 
 preached his Crusade to rescue an empty tomb from 
 the hands of the Saracens, but this Crusade is for 
 living men, made in the image of God, but degrading 
 that image all too often to the level of the beasts. 
 
 But something has been done in providing the 
 open doors. In 1880 there were organizations — the 
 most of them very limited in the scope of their work 
 — in nine of the 44 cities. At present, organizations 
 exist in 30 cities above 5,000 population. Not only 
 have the nine been gradually strengthened in their 
 work, but 21 new points have been opened. We 
 must remember, however, that fourteen cities above 
 5,000 population, nearly one-third the whole number 
 in the state, are still without organized Christian 
 work among young men. 
 
 If we take a little lower limit, namely 3,000 
 population, we shall find that 85 cities of that class 
 are found within our Commonwealth. Organizations 
 exist in 39. We immediately realize that the number 
 of communities exceeding 3,000 population which 
 still have no Christian Associations reaches 46, or 
 more than half the whole number. 
 
 Is the Young Men’s Christian Association in our 
 community of value ? Has it furnished a rallying 
 point for Christian work ? Has it given an open 
 door of refuge to tempted and tried young men ? 
 Has it increased the love for the Word of God? 
 Has it quickened the spiritual nature ? Then does 
 there not sound out a call to those who have been 
 thus favored that they should remember the less 
 
 57 
 
favored, and see that the agency of the united work 
 is strengthened so that it may extend this net work 
 of influence until it shall reach every city within the 
 borders of Illinois. 
 
 II. Railroad Communities. There are within 
 the borders of Illinois 80,000 railroad men. Recently 
 a great advance has been made in the establishment 
 
 of Railroad Associa- 
 tions, but as yet, not 
 one-half of the stra- 
 tegic points for 
 reaching railroad 
 men are touched by 
 our Associations. 
 With the strengthen- 
 ing of our state work 
 this Department 
 It seems worthy the 
 ambition of man to make the extension of this work 
 possible through larger gifts. 
 
 III. Town and Country. There are in Illinois 
 2,5 77 post offices. There are 85 cities and towns 
 above 3,000 population. This leaves the number of 
 communities with less than 3,000 population at 2,492; 
 twenty-five hundred, in round numbers, in which 
 the population is small, and often the moral and 
 religious influences very weak. In 1890 more than 
 half the population of the state was in such commu- 
 nities. 
 
 Total population, - - 3,826,351 
 
 In cities above 3,000, - - 1,744,316 
 
 In communities not exceeding 3,000, 2,082,035 
 
 58 
 
 Chicago, C, & N.-W. R. R. 
 might be greatly extended. 
 
Of the 102 counties in Illinois, 69 counties have 
 no community exceeding 5,000 population and 40 
 of these counties have no community exceeding 
 3000. 
 
 Those who have investigated the conditions of 
 these smaller communities are made painfully aware 
 by observation and by conversation with the pastors, 
 of the utter lack of interest in anything relating to 
 church work on the part of most young men. One 
 writes concerning it, “There is nothing like actual 
 contact with conditions to impress one with the 
 need.” 
 
 IV. Institutions of Learning. As we turn 
 to our colleges and institutions of higher learning, we 
 are almost appalled by the tremendous possibilities 
 which are ours in touching the very springs of 
 influence for Jesus Christ. In one hundred institutions 
 of Illinois, there were during the academic year of 
 1897-8 more than 17,000 young men. The Young 
 Men’s Christian Association was organized in insti- 
 tutions containing 11,700 of this number. But per- 
 haps the most striking fact is this that more than 
 6,000 of these young men were in schools where the 
 only direct religious influence was that exerted by 
 the Association. The most of the college work of 
 the state has been brought into existence through 
 the co-operation, and kept in good condition through 
 the supervision, of the State Executive Committee. 
 While we have reached institutions containing two- 
 thirds of the young men, it still remains true that 
 more than half of the institutions are yet without 
 the Young Men’s Christian Association. 
 
 59 
 
If this Department of work were the only one 
 conducted by the State Executive Committee, would 
 it not be a privilege to have a part in it, and a large 
 part, too; realizing the tremendous sweep of the 
 influences which center in college life ? 
 
 V. Miners’ Work. Besides these well recog- 
 nized fields of labor, there are 
 others, not so prominent perhaps 
 in thought, but needing most 
 careful attention. In Illinois there 
 are 35,000 miners, half as many as 
 the number of railroad men, more 
 than twice as many as the number 
 of college boys. But a glance at 
 the actual conditions under which 
 these miners work will give con- 
 vincing argument of the need of 
 special religious work among them. 
 
 In one town where this work has been begun, a 
 town of perhaps 900 population, eleven saloons were 
 found doing their work vigorously and successfully. 
 There was no resident pastor in the town, and there 
 was no door constantly open for the young man 
 except the saloon door. Now in the midst of this 
 community a good strong Association work has been 
 undertaken with a building rented and fitted for this 
 work. But this work has been started in but one of 
 the many mining communities of the state. 
 
 VI. Corresponding Membership. As we have 
 already said there are nearly 2,500 communities in 
 Illinois, in none of which there are over 3,000 popu- 
 lation. Some day it may be that Associations will 
 
 Galesburg. 
 
 60 
 
be organized very extensively in these smaller com- 
 munities, but in the meantime tides of young men 
 are setting out from these smaller places toward the 
 great city centers. We cannot wait for organization. 
 We must not allow these thousands upon thousands 
 of young men to leave their country homes with no 
 effort on our part to bring them into contact with 
 warm and earnest Christian life. 
 
 Fourteen years ago last Spring, the plan was 
 inaugurated of securing a Corresponding Member in 
 each unorganized field. This Corresponding Mem- 
 bership gradually grew until in 1892 these represen- 
 tatives of the Association were found in 326 com- 
 munities. Since that time enlargement has continued 
 until today over 700 of these agents of the Young 
 Men’s Christian Associations have been appointed 
 in as many towns in Illinois. 
 
 Now suppose this whole system were blotted 
 out. It is already apparent that hundreds of young 
 men who are now brought into touch with Christian 
 influence at the very beginning of their life away 
 from home would be left to drift into idle and hurt- 
 ful companionships. 
 
 It seems a blessed co-partnership into which 
 some thousands of Illinois men and women have 
 entered; a co-partnership the object of which is to 
 save the young manhood of this state; a co-partner- 
 ship in which the Lord Himself has an interest. We 
 are co-workers with Him, by prayer and effort, by 
 gift and sacrifice. 
 
 Some sweet day, someone to whom the Lord 
 has given large means will count it a joy to make 
 
 61 
 
this work a permanent feature of our activities, and 
 to put it beyond the possibility of being crippled, 
 but until that glad day, the work must be carried on 
 by the subscriptions of many friends who want some 
 small investment in this work of the King. 
 
 We have now glanced at some of the things that 
 have been done and some that remain to be done. 
 There is needed for the proper prosecution of the 
 work, $17,000 a year. 
 
 62 
 
MAINTENANCE. 
 
 HTHE annual expense budget made necessary in 
 A the maintenance of the comprehensive work 
 entrusted to the Committee has increased from 
 $2,300 in 1880 to $17,100 in 1900. The money 
 necessary to meet this budget comes to the Com- 
 mittee’s Treasury from two sources. 
 
 1. The appropriations 
 of local Associations to- 
 ward the maintenance of 
 the united work. Such 
 appropriations, where 
 made, are voluntary, but 
 nearly all of the local 
 Associations recognize the 
 propriety of financial co- 
 operation in the work 
 which they have brought into being, and which 
 exists largely in their interests. These appropria- 
 tions range from $5 to $600, and the aggregate 
 amount for the fiscal year ending December 31, 1900 
 is $1,769.50. 
 
 2. The only other source of the Committee’s 
 income is found in the voluntary subscriptions of 
 the friends of Christian manhood in Illinois. These 
 subscriptions range from $1 to $500 each, there being 
 many of the former, and but one of the last men- 
 tioned amount. Without question the financial 
 strength of the Illinois work is found in the large 
 number of people in all parts of the state, who have 
 
 63 
 
 Chicago, Grand Trunk, 
 R. R. 
 
many of them during an uninterrupted series of years 
 helped through their financial support to make 
 possible the growth and attainment of these years. 
 Other states and other agencies of Christian effort 
 have larger subscriptions and more large subscrip- 
 tions. No State Committee of Young Men’s Chris- 
 tian Associations and few other forms of Christian 
 work in Illinois have a larger number of interested 
 and helping friends than the “Illinois State Work.” 
 
 Notwithstanding this, the securing of adequate 
 financial support requires far too large a proportion 
 of the time and strength of the secretarial force, and 
 is made possible only by continued prayer and 
 effort. The need of increased support in caring for 
 the annual current expenses of the Committee is 
 immediate and pressing. 
 
 64 
 
ENDOWMENT. 
 
 HAT close supervision of State Work is neces- 
 
 1 sary is no longer an open question. It is not 
 merely essential from a theoretical point of view, 
 but years of practical experience have demonstrated 
 that it is of vital importance. The proper financial 
 support of supervision has always been a serious 
 problem, and has taken much of the time and energy 
 of the State Committee, and of the Secretaries. 
 
 Under the present 
 methods the work 
 secures a bare 
 
 secures a bare 
 h a n d - t o - mouth 
 existence, which 
 handicaps it in 
 every direction, 
 and induces 
 timidity and uncer- 
 
 Evanston. 
 
 tainty where there ought to be aggressiveness and 
 confidence. 
 
 The present publication indicates the great 
 interests involved in the State Work. Probably no 
 other single enterprise means so much to the State 
 in Christian manhood. And yet the work is not in 
 proportion to the greatness of the state. The present 
 state force is working up to its limit, and the 
 unoccupied territory must be a region of hope, rather 
 than cultivation. The reasons why money for super- 
 vision is difficult to obtain are evident. Supervision 
 is ageneral, impersonal thing, which lacks the appeal 
 
to local pride and to the desire to do good at home, 
 which is so effective in most good enterprises. It is 
 work which is pervasive rather than evident, working 
 through men rather than before men. It takes 
 intelligence to see that money for supervision works 
 in every locality; and it takes unselfishness to give 
 money which works behind the scenes rather than 
 upon the stage. 
 
 It seems certain that the work ol supervision 
 
 cannot be maintained and 
 developed properly with- 
 out an endowment which 
 will secure a reasonable 
 income. What an endow- 
 ment will do for super- 
 vision may be summarized 
 as follows : 
 
 i. It Will Liberate 
 Energy for Legitimate Work. What has im- 
 presed me more than anything else in connection 
 with the State Work is our waste of energy. We 
 engage efficient secretaries to supervise, and then 
 compel them to divert their energies from the work 
 of supervision to the raising of money for their own 
 support. I venture to say that although the amount 
 of time given to money raising may not be equal to 
 that given to the real work, the amount of nerve 
 tissue used up is greater. The work of supervision 
 is a joy, but the raising of the budget is an unmiti- 
 gated evil. I am not asking that men shall be 
 relieved from work, but that they may be free to 
 work less for means and more for results. 
 
 Decatur R. R. 
 
 66 
 
2. It Helps in Securing and Retaining 
 Strong Men as Secretaries. It is necessary to 
 develop men through years of service in order to 
 secure the greatest efficiency. Illinois has been 
 wonderfully fortunate in securing and retaining 
 strong men, but it has not been because of their love 
 for their annual budget experience. To abandon 
 other plans, and to enter 
 upon secretarial work for 
 life, is a decision which 
 demands something defi- 
 nite as to the future, and 
 it is no wonder that strong 
 men are induced against 
 their real desires to refuse 
 or abandon such a life 
 work. 
 
 3. It Will Permit Plans Which Look to 
 the Future. At present the only plan possible is 
 one which looks to holding on to the work for one 
 year. In a business sense the years which follow are 
 blanks. The State Committee needs to be free to 
 plan a campaign which looks far enough ahead to 
 include the complete occupation of the State of 
 Illinois with aggressive work. No one is interested 
 in planning, no one can plan a campaign whose 
 future is indefinite. It is the certainty of the future 
 which makes possible work of dignity and force, of 
 increasing comprehensiveness and attainments. 
 
 The time has certainly come when those who 
 seek largest returns from their gifts in the name of 
 
 University of Illinois. 
 
 67 
 
the Master should join in providing an endowment 
 for the work of supervision. 
 
 ENDOWMENT NEEDED. 
 
 General Administration, - 
 
 $200,000 
 
 Railroad and City. 
 
 100,000 
 
 Student, - - 
 
 40,000 
 
 County and Town, 
 
 40,000 
 
 Correspondence, 
 
 20,000 
 
 Total, - 
 
 $400,000 
 
 68 
 
FORM OF BEQUEST FOR STATE WORK. 
 
 I give, devise and bequeath to the “State Execu- 
 tive Committee, Illinois Young Men’s Christian 
 Associations,” the sum of Dollars. 
 
 Signed by the said 
 
 as and for his last will and testament, in the pre- 
 sence of us, who, at his request, in his presence, and 
 in the presence of each other, have hereunto sub- 
 scribed our names as witnesses. 
 
 (To be signed by not less than two witnesses). 
 

 
 
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