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Show I great pay for great factor in christIan cgvILg H:! i' i -gPOCH-MAKING In their character Hi L will "be the proceedings scheduled I (j Iv for today at tho corner of State M (' '! and First South streets, when the rl 1 cornor-Btone or tho splendid new bulld- , t ins of tho Young Men's Christian aso-,j aso-,j i elation of gait L'aUo City Will bo laid 3 I' 1 with tho pomp and ceremony befitting ' the occasion. This building, to cost Hf ' S125.000 when completed, and considerable considera-ble ! '! Wy more thtfh half of which omoui .has y already been subscribed may be said to , bo the result of lndcfatlgab e work on 1 I . tho pnrt of a few men. backed ! f 1 ' generous spirit of n. number of otters. , chief among whom is George Fostei Peabody of Brooklyn. 1 (: The Young wren's Christian associa-.j associa-.j ' Hon of this city has. since lis orgonlza-J orgonlza-J Hon. met Blorma of adversity. While Ii 7 " 1 Georfto Foster Peabody, WTio Con- tributed $25,000 to tlic Building :' Fund. I'. periods of its history are net devoid of , tho good results which hcvve attended ' the efforts of this association In all parte of the world, yet the local organl-, organl-, ration has never yet had facilities for doing tho real aseociatlon work. But j these will have been acquired with the completion of the new building, and it 1 in not 10 be wondered that those who are best acquainted with tho work pos-I pos-I slblo to bo accomplished by this great I institution, In the way of making young men better citizens, are exceedingly jubilant ju-bilant over the prospect, i 1 Work Done in tho Past. For several year3 following tho organization or-ganization of the association in this city 'it steadily advanced in mombor-nhlp mombor-nhlp and power far good, although al-' al-' ways laeklng the financial bupport re-niifrorl re-niifrorl fnr thn host results. While quar-' Ii , icrs provided with reading-rooms, gym nasium and othor adjuncts were maintained main-tained In rented quarters, the equlp-( equlp-( ment became worn out more rapidly than it was replaced and Interest diminished, di-minished, until, in the fall of IS92, tho (is question was seriously contemplated by H the management of closing the rooms, ! 1 with the understanding that they i should iiovcr bfe reopened until suitable , i quarters for doing: the as-' " -mtlon's work were secured. General rotary Oscar L.. Co:; felt, however. t..ut as he ' was but newly on tho ground, uuch a course might lead to loss of conlldencc I by the public. Hor.cc, $300 was spent In I . making the rooms more cheery and 'j ' ' somewhat improving the batha for the winter's run. 1 Largo Deficit to Most. 1 The condition of the equipment was 1 not the most serious of the association's , dilncultles. Through its moves and i running expenses the association's 1 finances had run behind from year to j year until ai this time they presented a I net dellclt of J5530.35. A considerable j. part of thiH was In uncared-for bills f '" j outstanding among the business men ') ; of the city. These wore funded and all ' i the debt carried at Interest until last 1 1 month, when the last of It was wiped '! Oscar I. Cor, Goneral Secretary of ,1 Y. M. C. A. H ' out. The winter's work was as succcss- H ful as could be expected and did not re- H 1 suit in Increasing the association's debt. H The directorate recognized that this Hl was only a temporary effort and that In H the spring heroic measures must be re- HT sorted to cither to pay tho debt and H, leave the association with a clean rec- Hi ord or to do this and also secure funds H 1 for the erection of a building. H , A Strong Friend Appears. H I It had been known for some time that H V George Foster Peabody of Brooklyn, N. H'f 'i "Z-t had been very largely Interested in M . j the work of ( the local association; In Hi j fact, he at one time offered to buy tho K ; city hall corner, but had felt that the Hl! f price asked was excessive and wlth- H' drew the negotiations. A meeting was '.; held early in November, 1902, at which Hi It . B were present Frank B. Stephens, Frank Hh ' i i Pierce, William F. Coleton, C. K. Ober H , ,J and Oscar L. Cox. It was decided that i the city hall corner was by all odds the r most desirable location for the assocla- H'l tlon, and a telegram was cent In the H i' hope that Mr. Peabody might still be- Hu 1 prevailed upon to open negotiations for Hjjl the property. This resulted In Mr, Pea- HN ' ' body's subscribing $25,000 Upon tho con- Hl ' dltion that $50,000 additional was raised ;! In Bait Lake City by May 1, 1003. That Hf ' date was later extended to June 1st. H , A Large Undertaking. H;( ii It was the well-nigh universal opln- Hli ' In ion that the $50,000 could never be raised H' 'i In Salt Lake City. In fact, a rcsolu- H ' rri'l tlon was introduced In the meeting of .l,f tho board of directors in December of that year looking toward the abandonment abandon-ment of the project. In the January mooting, however, the feeling had grown that the matter, whether possible possi-ble or not, should at least be attempted, and on March SSth the formal resolution of tho board wa3 pansed authorizing tho canvass to ocourc funds to comply with Mr. Peabody'o offer; to Gccure what-ovcr what-ovcr additional might be necessary to erect an association building and purchase pur-chase lis site. On May 1. 1003. the association's as-sociation's rooms wore closod with tho understanding that it would never reopen re-open in rented quarters. Scouring a Site. It was felt that the Blto for the building build-ing must be secured, at lonat by option, In order to give some deflnltcness to tho proposed canvass-. Many of the prominent promi-nent buslncea men of the city were asked to purchase the city hall corner and hold It Bubject to purchase by the association at tho cnir.e prlco within a given length of time. Two or three of them very kindly exprened themselves as entirely willing to accommodate the movement by advancing this money, but. an (hey oxprcSEed It. did not care to have the property left on their hands, as they were very aure that the fund would never be rnlaod. However, Just as all these effnrtn flcemcd to b? futile, an agreement was reached with the Utah Independent Telephone company by which they should purchase the lot, giving tho cieeirid option on the north part of it. an option which was finally taken up on August Sth of the same year for $32,292 Boy Gives First Dollar. The first subscription came In voluntarily volun-tarily Jun after the tlrst of April, when little CharlCH Lennon-. 10 years old, brought to tho general secretary a bright silver dollar to help- put up the building, as he paid.. On the !Uh of April, however, the canvass was for-mallv for-mallv launched by subscriptions of $1000 oarh from three of the directors and of lesser amounts by two others, and five days later M. H. Walker odd-3 $5000 to tho oubscrlptlon list sis It then stood. Two days later S. V. Slulp accepted ac-cepted tho chairmanship of the finnnce commlttete. which he has since retained, re-tained, having done u large amount of the nctual work himself, and with untiring un-tiring energy seeking to develop new friends and bring before the business men of the community the real value of the association's Work. How well he haB succeeded the results show for themselves. Citizens Came to Rescue. Tho canvass progrenntd so slowly, however, that on May 30lh but $27,000 of the 550.000 needed was subscribed. Juno let wa.i the day oet by Mr. Pea-body's Pea-body's offer Cor the completion of tho canvass, und thlng3 did not look very favorable for Its success. Prospecto rose, however, on that evening. Mrs. Mary Eev. Elmer I. Goshen, Speaker of the Day, Judge added to her already large list of philanthropies in Salt Lake City by mnklng the handsome subscription of $10,000. The canvass then went forward for-ward with vigor, Mr. Peabody having very generously extended his orfer un-tirJunc un-tirJunc 15th. Many generous subscriptions subscrip-tions were received In amounts of $500 and $1000 Two subscriptions were received re-ceived from Col. ID. A. Wall and Frank Knox, while Senator Kearns subscribed $2000. and David Keith duplicated Mr. Walker's subscription with JS5000 more. Subscrlplon8 of $500 were received from half a dozen of the leading business houses and a many more prominent Individuals, until, on June 15th, the chairman of the Finance commltttoe was able to certify that tho entire amount was subscribed, and the following follow-ing telegrams were sent and received. "George Foster Peabody, N. Y. . Have $50,000 subscribed locally on Association As-sociation building, OSCAR L. COX." "Oscar L. Cox, Salt Lake City. Congratulations to you and to Salt Lake. You have done splendidly. Hope you will Increase it to make building worthy of the metropolis which your city Is destined to become, "GEORGE FOSTER PEABODY." binco mac ume yimia .nave ueen going go-ing rapidly ahead for the building, and funds have been secured for paying off all the association's debts. The total cost of zhe building will bo 5125,000. The canvass for the lemalnder of this fund Is now under way, though In accordance ac-cordance with the policy of the canvass no funds will be In any way solicited in today's public meetings. ' Some Early History. The first steps toward the organization organiza-tion of the Y. M. C. A. in thiB city were taken in the early part of 1890, tho first the Issuing of tho following call ftr a meeting: Salt Lake City Fob. 24, 1S90. You are cordially Invited to bo present nt a meeting to bo hold at tho Federal courtroom Sunday afternoon at 4 p. "m March 2, 10, for tho purposo of conier-ring conier-ring with all who ai'o interested In Y. M. C. A. work for Salt Lako City. No city In tho Union has greator need of such an association. Hundreds of young men are coming in and wo must do something ror them In this lino. C. H. PARSONS. R. J. CASK El Y, FRANK PIERCE, L, C. MILLER, And Others. In response to this appeal in behalf of tho young men a"bout 125 persons met at tho appointed time and effected a temporary organization, with Dr. J. 'F. Millspaugh president" and C. H. Parsons Par-sons secretary. One hundred signers wcro secured to the roll of membership ana committees were appointed on nominations and on constitution and by-laws. Another meotlng was ap-polntcd ap-polntcd for March 0th, when the aeso- S125,00O Y. M. C. A. Building Going Up on Cornor of State and First South. elation was permanently organized, with C. E. Allen, president. The nams of tho svfial presidents of the nsror-lHton to the present tlmo President Frank - Stephens. and their terms af service, are as follows: fol-lows: C. E. All?n. from M'ireh 9, 1S90, o J.i-.uy i V ri.f. from January, liJ. to ..:iU-.. l Frank. Grant, from January. 1535. to January, S9G; Dr. E. V- Silver, from January, 1806. to January. 1S99; E. P. Rogiion. from January, 1699. to January, 1900; Dr. E. V. Silver, from January. 1900, to March 28, 1901: F. W. Hlllr, and W. C. Lyne (vice-president), from Maroh 3, 1901, to January 20. 1903; Frank B. Stephens, from January L0, 1903. Secretaries Employed Wlldman Murphy, Mur-phy, from September 21, 1890, to January Janu-ary L 1SS3; C. H, Mooreman, from Jan- i uary 1. 1S93, to March 1. 1894; John T. Axton. from Maroh 1, 1S94, to August 19, 1902; Oscar L. Cox, from September 1, 1902. For a time after the organization only gospel meetings were held on Sunday Sun-day afternoons, but tho large number of young men pouring Into the city mado Imperative the establishment of quarters. Rooms at 61, East Second South street were secured and soon the association was provided with readlng-ico:ii, readlng-ico:ii, parlor, gymnasium and bathrooms. bath-rooms. Following this the association's quarters wore maintained successively, with some Improvements gained with each removal, in the following locations: In the Holmes building from AUgUBt 1, 193. to October 1. 1S95; in the D. F. Walker building from October 1, 195, to July, 1S9S; In the Utah National bank building from July, 1S98, to May, 1903. An Era of Progvcso. It wan during the period of Dr. E, V. S. V. Shelp, Chairman Finance Committee. Sllvr'3 preoidency of the ad'rfbclatlon that a night eohool wao eitfibllohod to. give young men the opportunity to acquire ac-quire an education after working r.oura, Dr, Sliver took CBpeclal Internet in the nljcht cchool department and in the religious re-ligious work of the organlnatlon, although al-though athletlco and other temporal affairs were by no ir.oanu neglected under un-der his administration The report of Secretary A:;lcn r.t th anniversary meotlng In loi0 rhowfd that tho receipts for 1S9S were SCOiAV In exce&s of those of 1S97, the current expenses ex-penses of the year were $3281.15, and tho cost of moving tho headquarters of the association from the D. F. Walker building on Second South street to the Utah National Bank building at the corner of Main and First South streets, and fitting up the new quarters, was 5542.50. There were at this tlmo 306 members in good standing, of whom forty-rfx were serving their country in the Philippines. The attendance during this year was 25 per cent In excess of that of any previous year, the average attendance having been 200, and there were 100 students In the night echool. The association gave' an "at home" reception on January 2, 1880, in celebration celebra-tion of Its seventh anniversary, which proved an event of considerable Importance. Im-portance. An attractive programme was presented, which Included an address ad-dress by President Silver, In which ha spoke of the help of the night school to young men In making them competent to fill position9 of trust and the eervlce rendered business men In providing them with competent and faithful employees. em-ployees. ECort Brings Success. When Oscar L. Cox, In September, 1902, took charge of the affairs of tho association ao Its general secretary, many of Its best friends were discouraged, dis-couraged, and when he undertook the Hon. Clarence E. Allen j cf : task of inducing wealthy cltlzena h! provide the association with the 2 f important essential to succcs3-ap? w able home of Its own many prtiiiBP that nothing but failure could aluP1 the effort. Undaunted, however, by dXl seeming Impossibility of the une.rfilw1 lng, the young ma'ii wtnt ahwdViP though he were sure of suewta, aafii lr has found It the building 13 well ?MW way, a building that will be a CndjOJ the city, a monument to (he progrKijv"r Chrlctian spirit of the ago nnd ia tfjp valuable agency for the upiirtfcr 7m' many generations of young men, p The osercl3S3 attending the kjttt of T the corner stone will be held at 'Co fc i1 tcday, and the features wU fce nn'.nftt dress by President Frank B. SU;v3k and nvuylc by Held's band. ImtieafB ly following the laying of the tttP stone tho aoocclatlon'o anniversary bratlon will be held In the Thaieffl where the Eev. Elmer I, GoshtaK-deliver GoshtaK-deliver the principal addre3e, and vuS among the musical numbers of ibK gramme rendered will bo BOloabyKjJB Charles G Plummer and MIm AftajB Berkhoel. |
