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Show Young' Men's Institute. The past year has been a very prosperous pros-perous one for the Y. M. I. In many sections of the country councils have been formed and old ones rejuvenated. On the coast the members have shown an increase. Although numerically that Increase has not been so large as it ought, yet the character of membership in the Y. M. I. at present has never been excelled. The growth for the past few years has been solid, reliable improvement, im-provement, that insures the future of the society. The order has become J more Catholic in its work and it is doubtful if today, as a society of Catholic Cath-olic men, the institute has an equal. Certainly it has no superior. All this gives the officers and members real cause for rejoicing, but in our joy, it should not be forgotten that there is yet much to improve and accomplish. The federation movement is on the road to success. The Cincinnati meeting meet-ing gives hopes that something practical prac-tical will come of all the writing and talking that has been going on for the past year upon the need of unions of Catholic societies. The Y. M. I. did not take any part in the meeting, and unless un-less the constitution of the federated societies is changed it is not likely that any society west of the Rockies will enter into the movement. By some political po-litical maneuver, the work of a gang who were thrown out of office at Cincinnati, Cin-cinnati, every parish society and every subordinate council of large societies were entitled to two delegates. That provision is too absurd to be countenanced counte-nanced by men who are honest in the cause of federation. To thus represent the Pacific jurisdiction of the Y. M. I. w-ould mean an annual expenditure of thousands of dollars. It also means that the convention hall could be easily packed and controlled by the district in which the annual meeting is held. Unless Un-less some fairer method of electing delegates is provided the co-operation of far away societies cannot be ex-f ex-f pected. Institute Journal. |