People's Pilot, Volume 3, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 June 1894 — ITS JUBILEE CELEBRATION. [ARTICLE]

ITS JUBILEE CELEBRATION.

The Y. M. C. A. of All Land* Observe* It* Fiftieth Birthday. London, June 4.—The thirteenth international conference of the Young Men’s Christian associations of all lands has begun here. Entertainment has been provided for all the delegates, of whom about 2,000 are expected. There are about 200 delegates from America. Nearly every civilized country in the world will be represented. By r special permission of the council of the city of London a large pavilion has been erected on the Thames embankment. It seats 21,0C0 people, and in it all the delegates will be served each day with lunch and tea. It is handsomely decorated with the flags of all nations. This conference is called the jubilee celebra tion because it commemorates the fiftieth anniversary of the organization of the first Young Men's Christian association by George Williams June (5, 1844. The present gathering, besides being the jubilee of the association, is the thirteenth universal conference. These international conventions have been held every three years since 1855. The first universal conference was held in Pa’-is. To appreciate the brevity of the existence of the Y. M. C. A., while contemplating its remarkable growth, one needs only to reflect that its founder, George Williams, is still in active business life as senior partner of the great dry goods

house of Hitchcock & Co., of London, of which he was in 1844, when he established the nucleus of this immense religious organization, only one of the clerks. On June 6 of the year named he called a meeting of the eighty young men who were his fellow clerks, in an upper room of the store of their employers, and there organized the first “Young Men’s Christian association.” In the brief space of forty-eight years Mr. Williams has seen the work which he started extend throughout the whole Christian world. At this time there are 4.416 associations in forty-six different nations. There are 350 college associations in America alone, with a membership of 22,000, which makes the largest college fraternity in the world. In all the leading colleges of the United States, and in most of the lesser ones, the Young Men’s Christian association is impressing its deep religious convictions upon the students. The railroad branches are also doing a great work, the highest possible indorsement of which is found in the fact that $140,000 annually is expended in this branch of the work. London, June 6. —The reception tendered at the Guldhall at 4 p. m. to the delegates in attendance upon the international conference of Young Men’s Christian associations was a magnificent event. The lord mayor, on behalf of the city corporation, conferred the freedom of the city on George Williams, the founder of the Young Men’s Christian association, in testimony of the appreciation of the council of his long services in the cause of philanthropy and his especial effort for the welfare of the young men of the city.