Little Property to be Owned 135 



of the boys that the new movement will most cer- 

 tainly increase general property values and bring 

 up the price of land. 



4. Little property ownership. While new, the 

 county organization should guard against attempting 

 to own and control any considerable amount of 

 property or equipment. Not the material goods 

 possessed, but the strength and force of the spiritual 

 enthusiasm will have greatest value in carrying on 

 the work. It will be found quite satisfactory in 

 nearly every case to have the boys meet in some 

 farm home, village club room, or country school- 

 house. And then, there is always danger of develop- 

 ing a Y.M.C.A. too exclusively as a business organi- 

 zation. There are many instances in the towns 

 and cities where this is deplorably true. The best 

 spirit of the work is submerged by the continuous 

 hounding of the people in the skirmish for funds to 

 keep going the over-heavy business machinery of 

 the institution. There often develops, in such 

 cases, a large body of men who regard the Y.M.C.A. 

 as an organization of loafers and easy-going money 

 spenders. Once such sentiment develops, it is des- 

 perately difficult to eradicate it. So the country 

 Y.M.C.A. should preserve the semblance of humility, 

 and that partly by getting along with almost no prop- 

 erty or equipment other than what its own members 

 may provide in a crude fashion and what may be 

 necessary to furnish the office of the general secretary. 



