YOUNG MEN'S CHEISTIAN ASSOCIATION. 



YUKON TERRITORY. 



843 



convention of 1902 mentioned 325 such classes 

 with 4,797 students. It is intended to hold the 

 general conventions of the Student Volunteers 

 about every four years, so that the terms shall cor- 

 respond with the ordinary length of a " college 

 generation." A convention held at Chicago in 

 1891 was attended by 680 delegates, representing 

 151 institutions, the principal mission bands of 

 North America, and most of the foreign mission 

 fields. At the convention of 1899 in Detroit, 

 Mich., 1,300 delegates from 294 institutions were 

 present, and at the convention of 1898, in Cleve- 

 land, Ohio, out of 1,991 delegates, 1,598 were stu- 

 dents and 119 professors representing 401 institu- 

 tions of learning, the others representing mission 

 boards and missions and Young Men's and Young 

 Women's Christian Associations. A convention 

 attended by 1,000 delegates was held at Liverpool, 

 England, in 1896, and more than 1,600 delegates 

 were present at a meeting held in London in 1900. 

 The fourth general convention in America met in 

 Toronto, Ontario, Feb. 26, 1902, and included 2,955 

 delegates from 22 countries, among whom 357 col- 

 leges were represented by 1,616 students and 121 

 members of faculties, 51 medical schools by 151 

 students and 26 professors, and 507 theological 

 schools by 478 students and 65 teachers 2,296 

 students and 212 professors in all. Mr. John R. 

 Mott, chairman of the Executive Committee of the 

 movement, and presiding officer of the convention, 

 who had just returned from an official visit to the 

 foreign mission-fields for the organization of the 

 movement in them, spoke of its activity in Great 

 Britain, Scandinavia, France, and Holland, and 

 stated reasons why the missionary work should be 

 prosecuted with the greatest energy. The ad- 

 dresses, delivered in general and sectional meet- 

 ings, related to such subjects as the missionary 

 education of the young, the systematic study of 

 missions in Sunday-schools, the place of mission- 

 ary study in colleges and theological schools, The 

 Printed Page as a Missionary Force, the office of 

 the pastor in promoting interest in missions, etc. 

 Mr. John R. Mott spoke of the need of the foreign 

 evangelization movement in the non-Christian 

 world ; Prebendary F. H. Forp, honorary secretary 

 of the Church Missionary Society, of the increas- 

 ing openings and opportunities for missionary 

 effort as challenging the present generation of 

 Christians; and Mr. Robert S. Spear, of the Pres- 

 byterian Board of Foreign Missions, described 

 The Abounding Resources of the Christian 

 World. Nine sectional conferences were held 

 for the consideration of matters relating to differ- 

 ent parts of the mission-field, and 27 denomina- 

 tional conferences. About $15,000 were sub- 

 scribed for carrying on the work of the movement 

 for the next four years. A report was made that 

 the names were known of 1,953 volunteers who 

 had sailed, up to the present year, to enter the 

 mission service, going out in connection with 

 about 50 different societies and taking posts of 

 labor in all parts of the non-Christian world; and 

 that 60 per cent, more had gone out since the 

 convention of 1898 at Cleveland, Ohio, than dur- 

 ing the four years preceding. Of the 46 volunteers 

 who had served as members of the Executive Com- 

 mittee. 27 had sailed and 9 others were under ap- 

 pointment or had applied for appointment. 



At a conference of Young Men's Christian As- 

 sociations of theological seminaries in the West, 

 held in Dayton, Ohio, the preparation of a text- 

 book was proposed for use in voluntary classes 

 among theological students having especially in 

 view qualification for personal Christian work for 

 individuals. The seminaries were urged to de- 

 spatch evangelistic bands in term time as well as 



in vacation, to reach neglected districts within 

 range of the influence of the institution. Facul- 

 ties and associations in the seminary were asked 

 to devise means for increasing the number of 

 well-qualified volunteers. 



World's Student Federation. At the fifth 

 convention of the World's Student Federation, held 

 at Soroe, Denmark, in August, General Secretary- 

 John R. Mott reported that the federation now 

 embraced within the 11 national and international 

 movements of which it is composed 1,540 associa- 

 tions with an aggregate of more than 82,000 mem- 

 bers. It was reported two years previously that 

 there were 39 buildings devoted to the student- 

 movement in different lands, and that their com- 

 bined value was fully $1,000,000. Since then 11 

 other buildings had been erected or provided for 

 financially, having a total valuation of $425,000 r 

 of which 6 were in America, 2 in India, 1 in Nor- 

 way, 1 in Japan, and 1 in China. At the conven- 

 tion in Soroe, 90 college men, representing the stu- 

 dents of 27 different countries, took part; Dr. Karl 

 Fries, of Stockholm, presided. The federation 

 had been formed seven years previously at a meet- 

 ing held in Waldstena Castle, Sweden; and since 

 then it had been effective in creating auxiliary 

 national federations in Australia, South Africa r 

 India, China, and Japan. Of the 6 other national 

 federations, 3 had been helped through times of 

 dangerous crises by the support of the interna- 

 tional fellowship. The number of students pur- 

 suing the systematic study of the Bible had in- 

 creased 20 per cent, in the last two years, and now 

 aggregated 30,000 in the whole world. There were 

 more than 500 Student Volunteers in the colleges- 

 of India, China, and Egypt. Interest in mission- 

 ary studies had notably increased in all lands, but 

 nowhere quite so remarkably as in South Africa. 



Young Women's Christian Associations. 

 General conferences of Young Women's Christian 

 Associations in the United States were held during 

 the year at Asheville, N. C.; Capitpla, Cal.; Silver 

 Bay, N-. Y., and Geneva Lake, Wis. The confer- 

 ence at Geneva Lake, in August, was especially 

 devoted to methods of work for young women in 

 colleges and cities, and was attended by 600 young^ 

 women from 22 States, representing 165 educa- 

 tional institutions and several cities. Discussion* 

 on Bible study, a missionary institution, student 

 conferences, and conferences on spiritual life were 

 special features of the meeting. Besides these 

 general conferences an institute for the instruction 

 of secretaries was held at Milwaukee, Wis. Paid 

 local secretaries for young women's work exclu- 

 sively had been appointed in 15 colleges. 



At the second world's conference of Young 

 Women's Christian Associations, held at Geneva, 

 Switzerland, in August, 17 nationalities were rep- 

 resented and 60 delegates were present from the 

 United States. The chief interest of the meeting 

 centered in the religious activities and possibili- 

 ties of the association's work rather than in its. 

 social, physical, and economic features. The Swed- 

 ish section reported 12 fields of missionary activ- 

 ity, extending from Paris to Pekin. 



YUKON TERRITORY. British Alaska, or 

 the Klondike country, as it is commonly called, is 

 a territorv under the control of the Canadian De- 

 partment" of the Interior: area, 198.300 square 

 miles : population about 20,000. Capital, Dawson 

 City. 



Government and Politics. The Commission- 

 er at the beginning of 1902 was the Hon. J. H. 

 Ross, formerly a member of the Government of the 

 Northwest Territories. Toward the close of the 

 year he resigned to contest the new seat in the 

 Dominion Parliament and was elected by a large 



