specific work is done for railroad men. They own seven
buildings, valued at thirty-three thousand two hundred and fifty
dollars. The expense of maintaining these reading-rooms is over eighty
thousand dollars, and more than two thirds of this is paid by the
corporations themselves; most of the secretaries are on the regular
pay-rolls of the companies. How can this be done? Simply because the
officers see such a return from this expenditure in the morals and
efficiency of their men that they have no doubt as to the propriety of
the investment.

Mr. William Thaw, vice-president of the Pennsylvania Company, writes:
"This work is wholly good, both for the men and the roads which they
serve." Mr. C. Vanderbilt, first vice-president of the New York Central
and Hudson River Railroad, writes: "Few things about railroad affairs
afford more satisfactory returns than these reading-rooms." Mr. J.H.
Devereux, of Cleveland, president of the Cleveland, Columbus,
Cincinnati, and Indianapolis Railway, writes: "The association work has
from the beginning (now ten years ago) been prosecuted at Cleveland
satisfactorily and with good results. The conviction of the board of
superintendents is that the influence of the room and the work in
connection with it has been of great value to both the employer and the
employed, and that the instrumentalities in question should not only be
encouraged but further strengthened." Mr. John W. Garrett, president of
the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, says: "A secretary of the Young
Men's Christian Association, for the service of the Baltimore and Ohio
Railroad Company, was appointed in 1879, and I am gratified to be able
to say that the officers under whose observation his efforts have been
conducted informed me that this work has been fruitful of good results."
Mr. Thomas Dickson, president of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company,
writes: "This company takes an active interest in the prosperity of the
association, and will cheerfully co-operate in all proper methods for
the extension of its usefulness." Mr. H.B. Ledyard, general manager of
the Michigan Central Railroad Company, writes: "I have taken a deep
interest in the work of the Young Men's Christian Association among
railroad men, and believe that, leaving out all other questions, it is a
paying investment for a railroad company."

[Illustration: BUILDING OF THE Y.M.C.A. IN CHICAGO.]

These are a few out of a great number of assurances from r