Fifty years of federation of the Young Men's Christian Associations of North America

Front matter

LARS

.MO

Fifty Years of Federation

Contents

Page Introduction. — The Meaning and Mission of Christian

Federation 5

I. The First Convention, 1854 7

Chapter I. The First Convention

Its Author and Object. The Call and the Response. The Confederation and How It was Formed. The Value and Spirit of the Convention. The Central Committee, Its Work and General Secretary. The Early Associations.

1. Its Author and Object — the Obstacles

More than fifty years ago, when the number of Young Men's Christian Associations on this continent was less than thirty, a young man, twenty-two years of age, residing in the capital of the United States and a member of the Washington association, became possessed with a conviction of the great value of an alliance of North American Young Men's Christian Associations, conceiving of such an alliance <(asa union of independent, equal but cooperating societies." He corresponded with the stronger organizations in New York and Boston and with older associations across the Atlantic. His foreign correspondence at this time was an influential factor in calling later, in 1855, the first "General or World's Conference " at Paris, above referred to.

This young man received no sympathy from the stronger American associations when he earnestly urged them to take the leadership in this movement. He was, however, one of those who in a good cause are possessed by an enthusiasm which obstacles stimulate rather than discourage. He was content to go forward without the sympathy of the four societies in Boston and New York, Brooklyn and Baltimore, which then contained more than half the membership of the North American associations. Among the objections which prevailed with these dissenting associations was the belief that conventions and a general organization would draw off attention from local work, would foster a centralizing spirit at war with the independent action of local associations, would involve financial expenditure unauthorized by the main object of the society, and would tend to produce unpleasant scenes and ruptures on the subject of negro slavery — then a topic of heated discussion, public and private, political and ecclesiastical, reaching all communities and households with its agitation. The successful federation of the association brotherhood, therefore, owes its origin to sympathy and cooperation from the smaller associations of fifty years ago. This young man, William Chauncy Langdon, also encouraged himself in his disappointment by the consideration that it was, for many reasons, very fitting that this movement for federation should proceed from such a federal and federating city as the capital of the republic.

2. The Call and the Response to It

Under his leadership, and as a result of his visitation and correspondence, the Washington association received favorable replies from Buffalo, Cincinnati and seventeen other cities. The Buffalo association offered to entertain the delegations and joined Washington in issuing the call for the first international convention of Young Men's Christian Associations ever held on this or any continent. For Washington and the other favoring associations the call was signed by Mr. Langdon. For the Buffalo association, as host, it was signed by an older young man, Oscar Cobb, who, while his younger companion had passed away, was graciously spared to sign — at the age of eighty-three years — the call to the jubilee convention of 1904.

In response to this call to ' ' form an American Young Men's Christian Association Alliance, " thirty-seven delegates, all young men, from nineteen associations, met in Buffalo, June 7, 1854. Of the seventeen cities represented, besides Buffalo and Washington, five were in New England: Boston, Worcester, Springfield, Portsmouth and Portland; one on the Pacific Coast : San Francisco ; one on the Gulf: New Orleans; two in Kentucky: Louisville and Lexington ; two in Ohio : Cincinnati and Cleveland; three in Illinois : Chicago, Peoria and Quincy ; one in Missouri : St. Louis ; and one in Pennsylvania : Pittsburg. Few of these associations have since maintained an uninterrupted existence. Only six now report their present organization as existing in 1854.

Of the thirty-seven delegates, seven beside Mr. Cobb survive, and four of these were present at the Jubilee Convention, May, 1904: Oscar Cobb of Buffalo; Professor W. J. Rhees of Washington; Rev.

Samuel T. Lowrie, D. D., of Philadelphia, then of Pittsburg; and J. L. Eldridge of Topeka, then of Boston. The four who could not attend were: Samuel Lowry of St. Louis, then of Cincinnati; Rev. J. H. Marshall of Lincoln, Nebraska, then of Cincinnati; H. A. Robinson of Springfield, and E. A. Swan of Toledo, Oregon, then of Buffalo.

3. The Object Achieved — a Confederation Formed

The lively interest and enthusiasm characteristic of association conventions were happily realized in this first meeting. Any fear concerning agitation of the slavery question was removed at the outset by the election, as president, of George W. Helme of New Orleans, and by a refusal to take action upon the subject as irrelevant.

The most stirring question before the convention naturally related to what the call had proposed : ' ' the formation of an American Young Men's Christian Association Alliance. " Delayed on his way to Buffalo, Mr. Langdon did not reach there until the second day of the meeting. On the first day, owing in part to his absence, a proposition prevailed which provided only for the call of a second convention. This action was deemed inadequate by the friends of federation who had called the convention, and an adjournment without forming the desired alliance was only prevented by a reconsideration, accomplished through the vigorous exertions of the Cincinnati delegation.

4. The Story of William H. Neff

A member of this delegation, William H. Neff, gives the following graphic account of this historic incident : —

" My knowledge of the Young Men's Christian Associations dates from the spring of 1854, when I united with the Society of Religious Inquiry of Cincinnati. It was composed of about twenty-five members of various denominations and met in the second story of the Bible Depository.

"Soon after I joined, we received a communication from William Chauncy Langdon, secretary of the Washington association, informing us that a convention of associations would be held in Buffalo, to consider closer union or interchange of thought among the associations, especially through an annual convention and perhaps some kind of Confederation for mutual support and sympathy. He asked us to appoint delegates to represent us if we entertained the idea favorably. We were pleased with the suggestion and three delegates were appointed— Samuel Lowry, Joseph H. Marshall and myself. We arranged to divide among us the topics suggested — Samuel Lowry to represent us in reference to an annual convention, Joseph Marshall to present the mission Sunday-school work in which our association was greatly interested, having charge at this time of seven schools, and the topic of the Confederation was given to me.

11 We were very kindly received in Buffalo, found over thirty delegates in attendance, and made George W. Helme, of New Orleans, who had come the greatest distance, president of the conference. That afternoon, while I was absent in a committee meeting, the business committee reported unfavorably on the subject of a Confederation, and the report was adopted. Lowry had been outvoted. Nothing remained but to accept the minutes and say good-by to each other, and this was to be done the next morning.

"To say that the Cincinnati delegation was disappointed would be a very mild expression. What was to be done? What could be done? The first thing was to get the decision of the convention reconsidered. Who would move the reconsideration? The matter of the Confederation had been assigned to me in our delegation, but I had not voted for the report or even been present when the vote was taken. Would the president entertain a motion to reconsider from a member who had not been present? Mr. Helme said that as I had been absent on work for the convention, and from no fault of my own, he would entertain the motion if made promptly before the minutes were approved. Then we went to work. Lowry and Marshall buttonholed the delegates. I began work on the resolutions. That night I spent in prayer and preparation. When the resolutions and the address to support them were ready, the gray dawn of the morning was appearing in the east. A short rest, a hurried breakfast, and we were ready for the battle. Langdon had arrived early in the morning of this second day. He approved heartily of the resolutions and promised to second them. As soon as the convention was called to order I moved the reconsideration. It was not debatable, but curiosity, love of fair play and the labors of Lowry and Marshall gave us a majority. Then I introduced my resolutions as an amendment to the report of the business committee, and advocated their adoption. Langdon handsomely supported me. The resolutions were recommitted along with the report to the committee, and Langdon and myself were added to it in place of two members who had left the city. As soon as we entered the committee room I proposed that we should recommend nothing on which we were not unanimous. This gave each one a veto power and disarmed opposition. In two hours we had agreed to recommend a Confederation, an annual convention and a Central Committee of correspondence. The convention adopted our report with but one dissenting vote, and then, on the motion of that delegate, the action was made unanimous."

5. The Value and Spirit of the Convention

Thus a confederation of "independent, equal but cooperating associations " was formed, subject to a ratification of this action by twenty- two associations. Any authority over the local organization was explicitly guarded against. The equality of the individual associations also was guaranteed, each one, however large or small its membership or delegation, being entitled to but one vote in the convention. The proposal to make the evangelical church test of membership, which was already in force in many of the associations, a test of membership in the Confederation was rejected as threatening the independence of the local association.

What chiefly impressed the delegates with the value of the convention was the reports made concerning the work of the various societies represented. This gave to each a knowledge of the work all were doing, a knowledge full of lively suggestion and exciting useful discussion. Both report and discussion revealed above all else to the delegates the unity of their faith in Christ, their loyalty to His church, and their unanimous central purpose to bring young men and all others whom they could influence into His kingdom. Congenial personal intercourse also began the formation of lifelong friendships. Deep spiritual feeling characterized the farewell meeting and established conviction of the great value of this federation and of what might grow out of it.

6. The Committee of the First Convention ; Its Location, Work and General Secretary

A second agency of federation was created by the

convention to act between its meetings. This consisted of the Executive or Central Committee, composed of five members resident in Washington and five in as many other cities, each of the five to represent and care for a specified district or section of the continent.

The Committee was instructed to canvass for and complete the organization of the Confederation. Of the beginning of this effort Mr. Neff writes :

' ' The Confederation was to go into operation when two-thirds (twenty-two) of the associations in the United States and the British Provinces ratified the action at Buffalo. There was then a race to see which would first ratify. A meeting of our association was called for the evening after our return, and the Buffalo action was unanimously approved. Cincinnati was thus the first to ratify." Washington and some ten associations speedily followed. But it was only after seven months of wise effort by Secretary Langdon in correspondence, consultation and visitation that ratification by the desired twenty-two associations, including that of New York City, was happily secured. Of these critical negotiations Mr. Langdon modestly writes : " As Mr. McBurney says: ' To overcome such prejudices and objections as yet remained was no easy task. ' I did indeed ' conduct the negotiations,' yet the ultimate success of these and the first triumph of the plan matured at Buffalo was largely due to the hearty cooperation of Messrs. Neff and Helme, and so far as New York was concerned, of Mr. McCartee. " But the writer of these lines was the responsible leader wisely and effectively uniting the efforts of his associates.*

The Central Committee was also instructed to call the next convention, correspond with American and foreign associations, form new associations, and recommend new measures to existing associations. But in the first year of its existence it was carefully defined as ' ' not a governing function or agency authorized to assume any control, but rather a creature of the confederated associations for certain definite and limited purposes."

The committee upon its appointment chose Mr. Langdon as its executive officer. It is interesting to note that this first executive officer of the federation committee was also the first to bear the name of general secretary, though he did so as a volunteer worker and not as an employed officer. The call to the first convention he had signed as corre-

*The action of the Buffalo convention favoring the forming of the Confederation was ratified by the associations in the following order :

(1) Cincinnati. (.13) Alexandria.

(2) Washington. (14) New York.

(3) St. Louis. (15) Concord, N. H.

(4) Buffalo. (16) Rochester.

(5) Louisville. (17) Cleveland.

(6) Toronto. (18) Harrisburg.

(7) New Orleans. (19) Richmond.

(9) Quincy. (21) Lexington, Ky.

(10) Charlestown, Mass. (22) Charleston.

(11) Philadelphia. (23) San Francisco.

(12) Georgetown, D. C (24) Montreal.

On February 20, 1855, a circular was issued by the Central Committee, through General Secretary Langdon, announcing the completed organization of the Confederation.

sponding secretary of the Washington association. But it is as general secretary of the Central Committee of the Confederation that he signs his name to the call for the second convention in 1855. For when the committee met for organization in Washington, in view of the fact that the Washington association had both a corresponding and recording secretary, the term general secretary was employed to designate the executive officer of the Central Committee of the Confederation. This title was used only of and by Mr. Langdon during the single year (1854-55) in which he held the office. It was not adopted by his successors.*

7. The Constituency of the Convention — the Early Associations

These associations of fifty years ago thus happily confederated were composed wholly of laymen as

♦Fourteen years later, when the Washington association, in 1868, called George A. Hall to become its employed executive officer, it had need of a new title for the new office, and again in Washington there was resort to the name of general secretary. Three years later, in 1871, was held in Washington, after the adjournment there of the international convention of that year, the first meeting of the salaried officers of the North American associations. No two of the thirteen who then met were called by the same name. The title of the Washington member, general secretary, seemed to all the preferable one and was adopted. It slowly commended itself to the choice of the associations. In the Year Book of 1873 is given the first list of employed officers under this title. The name being not yet generally applied it seemed at that date needful to put in a foot note the following statement : " By this name is intended the officer of the association who is salaried to give all or a specified portion of his time to the work of the society."

Gradually the name commended itself to the associations of this and other continents. In 1882 the New York association changed the official title of Mr. McBurney from corresponding secretary of the board of directors to general secretary. In 1878 the committee of the World's Conference gave the name to the first officer employed by it. This also helped to give to the title its present world currency.

volunteers. The place of the trained employed officer or general secretary was not yet filled. No association building had been or for more than ten years was to be secured. ' ' The Boston association, " writes Mr. Langdon, "is the first, the largest and the most prosperous in the United States." It reported in 1854, a membership of 2,500, fine rooms in Tremont Temple, and large meetings of young men. Its committee on visitation of the sick numbered 150. It had formed plans to engage in the work of home missions and mission Sunday-schools, after the example of the London society. Later, on Boston Common, it held large "out-door services " — evangelistic meetings for all classes — occupying a mammoth tent for the purpose.

To the convention of 1854 the Cincinnati association reported seventy active members, beside honorary and associate, "rooms handsomely furnished, open every evening. The library contains 400 volumes of select works, and the reading room forty papers and magazines. " The association was conducting seven Sunday-schools attended by five hundred children. A strong emphasis was placed upon the self -improvement of active members.

Toronto reported 120 members, weekly meetings and tract distribution.

The reports of this work so impressed Mr. Langdon that on the floor of the convention he eulogized Toronto and Cincinnati as the two associations most worthy of imitation.

New Orleans reported a ministry to sufferers from the plague of yellow fever, so courageous, wide and effective that it had commended the association to strong popular approval.

The New York City association — the fourteenth in the list forming the Confederation — was not represented at the convention. It had, in 1854, 1,600 members. Its work was wholly by and for young men, with reading room, library, parlors, prayer meetings, Bible classes, lectures and committee work, calling for an annual expenditure of $2,100. This concentration upon work by and for young men was from the beginning the marked characteristic of this association.

The Montreal association, the first organized in North America, and the host of the third convention, in 1856, was not represented at Buffalo, but was among the most vigorous and active of the early associations. It was the twenty-fourth on the list of those joining the Confederation.

Of the association in Richmond, Virginia, formed a few months after the convention, the following account appeared in the Richmond Central Presbyterian in 1857, when the association was three years old, and entertained the convention of that year :

"One of the noblest institutions in this city is the Young Men's Christian Association. . . . It has its committees for seeking out and relieving the destitute, for visiting the inmates of poor-houses and hospitals, for making the acquaintance of young men on their first arrival in the city, for the purpose of aiding them in finding employment and surrounding them with moral and religious influences; it furnishes teachers to Sabbathschools, it conducts strangers to the house of God. . . . For the entertainment and profit of its members, it has established a library and reading room ; it has its meetings for friendly intercourse, its rhetorical society for literary exercises and forensic discussions, its meetings for business and its meetings for prayer; and, in addition to these means of mental and spiritual improvement, it has formed another circle for the study of the Holy Scriptures. On every Thursday night, the hall of the association is thrown open to all who are willing to attend informal lectures and examinations on portions of Scripture selected for the occasion. This Bible class is under the direction of one of the pastors of the city ; and any young man who desires to become a member of it is at liberty to do so, whether he is a member of any church or not, and whether he is a member of the association or not. "

In all the work of this period, in every description and advocacy of it, the dominant note is religious, with an emphasis on loyalty to the church of Christ.

From Charleston comes to us the most enthusiastic description and advocacy in literary form of the associations of this period. It appears in a volume of 123 pages entitled "Young Men's Christian Associations," and published in 1858. Its author was an eminent minister, Dr. Thomas Smyth, of Charleston, South Carolina, who writes:

"Already these associations have done much, and have devised many hitherto unpractised, if not unthoughtof, ways and walks of usefulness. They are now found in the lanes and streets and thoroughfares of our cities, gathering the outcast, ragged children into schools, visiting the sick and the dying, the fatherless and the widow, and, by tracts and books and lectures, carrying the gospel to every house and hovel and garret and chamber. 'Like a sunbeam passing undefiled through the foulest atmosphere,' they are seen laboring in Christian purity and love where the basest of the race are perishing, not shrinking from their loathsome guilt, but, with Jesus' pity and Jesus' tears, offering to the very chief of sinners the cup of salvation, the bread of life, the manna of heaven, the living water, and the healing balm.

" Under their auspices, we find outdoor preaching in the streets or parks or commons of some of our large cities. They have given rise also to many valuable series of public lectures to young men. And by their annual conferences they are now converging into one center the light and heat, the enterprise and experience, of all the affiliated societies, and giving the best opportunity for awakening and diffusing the spirit of everwidening charity."

After an eloquent description of association agencies of hospitality, Dr. Smyth says as to the future of this work :

• ' Every association ought to have a very comfortable, spacious, well-aired and well-situated house — A Home. This building should be so arranged as to provide a convenient reading room, well supplied with papers and one or more periodicals ; a sitting room, commodiously furnished and suitably aired and warmed; a library supplied with fresh, attractive and profitable books ; and a hall for social meetings, private lectures, essays and debates, Bible classes, and for whatever other exercises may be suggested by a wise experience.

' * Every association should have the means also of providing lectures from distinguished men in all parts of the country, and of publishing and circulating such lectures, addresses, or tracts as would be found useful to young men.

' ' There is thus a necessity for means far beyond those hitherto provided, both for making such associations what they have not yet been, and for opening to them ways of usefulness and sources of attraction not yet contemplated.

11 1 appeal, then, on behalf of the Young Men's Christian Association among you, to every merchant and man of business in the community. Here is a way in which you may greatly benefit the young men of your adopted and cherished city. "

Nearly fifty years have passed away since these words were written, but they give a bright and accurate forecast of scores of association buildings now to be found in ''adopted and cherished cities" of the donors, who have in this way generously acknowledged their obligation to promote the best welfare of the young men of these cities.

The convention of 1854 opened before these young associations the first period of their federation.

Chapter II. The Three Periods Of Association Federation, 1854-1904

For the purposes of this narrative the fifty years of federation commemorated in the Jubilee convention of 1904 may be divided into three periods.

The first, 1854-1866, lasting twelve years, including the period of the Civil War and the United States Christian Commission, was a time of testing and experiment for both the associations and their agencies of federation. It terminated at the opening of the era-making convention of 1866, which might be termed the convention of new departures.

The second period, from 1866 to 1883, was one of consolidation — during which both associations and federation agencies gradually grasped more fully their distinctive mission as a work by young men of many classes for young men of many classes. It was also the period of the employed officer, the building and the group or class organization.

The third and latest period, from 1883 to 1904, comprises twenty-one years of rapid growth visible in the internal development both of the individual associations and of the agencies of supervision they had created.

Chapter III. The First Period Of

FEDERATION, 1854-1866. THE CIVIL

WAR EPISODE

The Ten Conventions and Their Conception of Association Work. The Career of Mr. Langdon. The Seven Central Committees. World Federation, World Conferences and European Visitation by R. C. McCormick, W. C. Langdon and W. H. Neff. The United States Christian Commission. The Conventions of 1863 and 1864.

(1) The Ten Conventions and Their Conception of Association Work

During the twelve years of the first period, ten conventions, including the first, met in ten different cities — three in the South, at Richmond, Charleston and New Orleans ; two in the West, at Cincinnati and Chicago; two in the state of New York, at Buffalo and Troy; one at Boston, one at Philadelphia, and one in Canada, at Montreal. More than 200 associations were organized during these years, but so many of them ceased to exist during the Civil War that not over sixty survived that struggle and were reported at the Albany convention of 1866 as still in existence. The three associations in Washington, Buffalo and Cincinnati were the only ones represented at all these ten conventions.

(2) Story of the Second, Third and Fourth Conventions (/<?55-57)

Of the second and third conventions Mr. Neff writes : —

"The next year (1855) the convention was held in Cincinnati, with about sixty delegates in attendance, and was a great success. The best private houses in Cincinnati were thrown open to the delegates. Langdon was chosen president. Captain (afterwards General) W. Hatt Noble, of the Royal Engineers, was chairman of the Montreal delegation and attracted great attention by his manly bearing and interest in the cause. Montreal was selected as the next place of meeting and the Central Committee was located at Cincinnati. H. Thane Miller was chairman of the Committee, Lowry and myself were members, and Langdon and Rhees were among the corresponding members, Langdon being made the foreign secretary. That was a memorable year in the history of the Young Men's Christian Associations. Many new associations were organized, largely through the exertions of the Central Committee. A paper was published, edited by Samuel Lowry, and had a wide circulation."

The transfer of the Central Committee from Washington was due to the determination reached during the previous winter by Mr. Langdon "to withdraw from further official work." In his Story of the Confederation he writes : —

"My motives in all I had so far done and tried to do had been

severely characterized in certain societies It had been

publicly charged that there was little real object in the scheme but my own personal aim to open an arena for my own ambition. To Mr. Helme I wrote (February, 1855) : 'I have thought my continuance as general secretary was, perhaps, positively detrimental to our dear cause, and the removal of the Central Committee from Washington and the appointment of some one else as general secretary would free the Confedaration from many disagreeable and serious drawbacks upon its unanimity and strength.' My wish and purpose, however, to retire were most earnestly resisted. Messrs. Neff, Helme and Lowry combated my intention. The last named wrote: 'I could not but consider it fatal to the union of our associations.' Mr. Neff visited me and I consented to write the report for the Paris Conference (the first General Conference, August, 1855), and to retain the general secretaryship until the next convention (September, 1855), on the understanding that the Central Committee should then be removed from Washington and I be permitted to retire from official position and duty."

The story of Mr. Neff continues : —

"To the convention of 1856 at Montreal, New York, Philadelphia, Boston and Brooklyn sent representatives, though all did not become full members of the Confederation. The people of Montreal gave us a hearty welcome. Three hundred delegates were in attendance. Among the vice presidents were George H. Stuart of Philadelphia, R. C. McCormick of New York (afterward governor of Arizona), who in the previous year had been welcomed in a tour among the European societies as the first representative among them of the associations on this continent, and Major R. C. Gilchrist of Charleston. Our meetings were held in the largest church in Montreal, and the evening audiences numbered fifteen hundred people. Lord Frederick Bruce, the brother and representative of the Earl of Elgin, then governor-general of Canada, gave us a reception at the viceroy's residence on Montreal Mountain. The Confederation was now a success, and from that day went on increasing in power, influence and usefulness.

"An amusing incident shows the spirit of the convention. The Cincinnati delegates, with those from Cleveland and several other Ohio cities, went by boat down the St. Lawrence river. A fog detained the steamer and, instead of arriving early in the morning in time for the first session, we did not reach Montreal until late in the afternoon. A reception committee met us at the gangway, and much to my surprise, informed me that I had been elected president of the convention and was expected to take charge of the public meeting in the American church that evening. The church was filled with a large audience. I gave out the hymn 'Blest be the tie that binds.' Immediately there was a titter in the audience. But everything seemed right and I read the twelfth chapter of Romans. The titter had now broadened almost into a laugh, but the audience seemed in a very good humor and there were unmistakable symptoms of suppressed applause. After prayer the meeting was thrown open. Immediately Jeremiah Clements of Buffalo, the oldest delegate present, arose and said: 'Mr. President, I came to this convention with grave misgivings. I thought that three hundred young men, gathered from all parts of the country, quick-tempered and hot-headed, would certainly quarrel and the convention would break up in a row, but when the first vice-president from Charleston, S. C, gave out a hymn and read a chapter, and in the evening of the same day the president of the convention, residing in Cincinnati, O., a thousand miles away, not knowing what had been done before his arrival, gave out the same hymn and read the same chapter, I saw that my fears were groundless, and that we were of one heart. I predict a harmonious and successful convention.' "