The people of the Philippines, their religious progress and preparation for spiritual leadership in the Far East,

THE COMING OF AMERICAN MISSIONARIES 179

program into the Philippines. Developments have been rapid
since that time. In I9I I the International Committee granted
the Philippines ~230,000 and in a remarkable campaign
~I48,000 were added to this by people of the Philippines.
Honorable Teodoro R. Yangco and Mr. Antonio R. Roxas
each gave ~20,000. The City "Y" was opened in August,
1914, and the Student Branch in July of the following year.
The American City, and Student buildings, located in the
strategic center of Manila, with 36,000 square meters of land,
constitute "one of the finest plants possessed by any city in
the world for the physical, intellectual, and spiritual development of young men and boys." A Chinese branch of the
Association was started in I92I and a new branch was opened
in Binondo in I923 for that thickly congested district. A
campaign was successfully waged in the same year for the
erection of a Student Association building for the agricultural
college at Los Bafios.
The success of the Association in enlisting the support of
the prominent leaders of the Philippines, Catholic and
Protestant, has been as conspicuous as its success in raising
money. It is wholly non-sectarian, admitting Roman Catholics as well as Protestants, which gives it a strategic position
not enjoyed by other religious organizations; and its social
service appeals even to men who have no religious interest.
The following paragraph is from an article on "The
Y. M. C. A. and the Filipino People" which appeared in one
of the leading Filipino magazines:
"No single non-governmental and non-sectarian institution
at present is doing so much for the Filipino youth as the
Y. M. C. A. Freed from the necessity of preaching the dogmas
of any particular denomination; unhampered by that narrow
outlook which is so often the cause of bickerings between
sects; based solely on the broad, general principles of the
Christian faith; the Y. M. C. A. bids fair to become the most
important single factor in the upbuilding of a race of men
characterized by deep religious feeling and the presence of the
spirit of charity, helpfulness and social service."
The buildings buzz with activities. Several thousand