As regards the second reason, that of undue expense, Mr. Haggard in 1905, found a loss to the Army of $50,000. While, since that time, in the case of the California Colony, there has been no further loss, yet in the case of the colony in Colorado, there has been much expenditure which should be added to the original loss. The Army states that it has been too liberal in its dealings with its colonists, but we note that, in spite of its liberality, there has been a constant tendency for the colonists to leave, hoping to do better elsewhere.[79] The Army might reply that this is no argument, and that the fact that they were able to leave with funds on hand was in itself a proof of liberality on the Army's part, but to prove the success of its experiment, it must show that those who have left have done better elsewhere, and not drifted back once more to the city. The Army might further state that in future a better selection of land might be made, and that other unfavorable things might be avoided, but we are dealing here with these two colonies and not future experiments. As regards such, there would always be unforeseen difficulties of every kind.[80]

Coming to the third reason for our conclusion, the reason that money might be expended in other ways with greater advantage to the unemployed, and with greater relief to the congestion of cities, we refer again to the recommendations of the Departmental Committee appointed by the English government to consider Commissioner Haggard's report.[81] In their report they recommend a system of emigration from the city to the English possessions, such as Canada, aided by the government, in preference to the system of colonization. With this we agree. A man once transported from the city and then thrown on his own resources in a favorable rural environment, will be more likely to succeed than a man who is taken out with a number of others to form a colony. The man left to his own resources will rise to the occasion, as so many have done in both Canada and the United States, who have migrated from city to country and made successful farmers and citizens, while, on the other hand, the man who feels dependent on an organization, which is responsible to the public for his success, and its own, will blame it for his own lack of efficiency. The Army itself claims a successful work done along the lines of emigration. In 1905, through the agency of the Army, 2,500 men were sent out from London to Canada. This number has since increased every year until in 1907 over 15,000 men were sent out. Many other emigration societies have been very successful in this work.[82] The emigrants sent out with some assistance, in many cases, gain new ambitions in life and make pronounced successes on the new soil. As regards the cost, the following quotation may be submitted. "The cost of emigration to Canada from England does not amount to more than L10 a head, and some of the societies, especially those maintained by women, seem to be successful in securing repayment of at least a part of the money advanced. In other words, $300,000.00, which Mr. Rider Haggard assumes as a necessary sum for forming a colony of 1,500 families, would enable at least 6,000 families to go out as emigrants."[83] With regard to conditions in the large cities of the United States and other countries, we believe that the same arguments would apply, and that, in every case, assisted emigration will be found far more feasible and beneficial than any system of colonization. Again, for reasons already given, in addition to there being six thousand families aided by emigration, for the same sum as fifteen hundred families could be by colonization, the relief given would be far preferable. In other words, emigration has been proved successful, while colonization has not.

Coming back to the conclusions reached by Mr. Haggard on his recommendations to the English government: Mr. Haggard, after stating that the two experiments, outside of a slight failure of finance, seemed to him to be eminently successful, says that, given certain requisites,

"It will, I consider, be strange if success is not attained even in the case of poor persons taken from the cities, provided that they are suited in character, the victims of misfortune and circumstances rather than of vice, having had some acquaintance or connection with the land in their past life, and having also an earnest desire to raise themselves and their children in the world."

Now two of the "requisites" he mentions are, "that the land should be cheap as well as suitable" and "that markets also with accessibility and convenience of location should be borne in mind," two rather difficult requisites to be found together. Again, in the above quotation he lays down other provisos; among these being one that the people selected should have had some acquaintance or connection with the land in their past lives, a rather indefinite proviso in itself, but, from a list of poor men out of work or in irregular or casual employment in London and the other large cities in England in 1901 and 1906, compiled by Mr. Wilson Fox, we find that out of a total of 8,793 such men, ninety per cent were town born.[84] We also find in New York City in the spring of 1908, that out of a total of 185 destitute men, about eighty per cent were town born.[85] That then leaves ten per cent in the case of England and twenty per cent in the case of New York City from which to select or choose the ones needed for a colonizing enterprise.

Mr. Fox has also shown in his investigations:

1. That the countrymen who migrate to London are mainly the best youth of the villages.

2. That the incomers usually get the pick of the posts, especially outdoor trades.

3. Country immigrants do not to any considerable extent directly recruit the town unemployed who are, in the main, the sediment deposited at the bottom of the scale, as the physique and power of application of the town population tends to deteriorate.[86]

The conclusion is then, that it would be difficult to get the men according to Mr. Haggard's requirements, and difficult to get the land according to his requirements, and even if such were obtained, for reasons already stated there is no justification for a large colonizing enterprise in the two experiments described in this chapter.

Examples of Colonists taken from Ft. Amity by the author in January, 1908.

No. 1.

Elderly man. Widower. Had three grown-up children in the Colony at various times. Had one son a colonist with farm of his own. Was not a Salvationist. Came from Chicago where he was a tailor. Had a farm near the railroad depot which he considered valuable. Had two small houses. Rented one. Raised alfalfa. Was sole agent for a coal company. Claimed he made $1,500.00 last year, mostly in the coal business. Said draining now being done on the Colony was very expensive. Considered the Colony a good thing.

No. 2.

Middle aged man. Married. One child. Had experience in the country before coming to the Colony. Had forty acres of Colony land which he had rented, and which he wished to sell at $106.00 per acre. Had mostly worked for the railroad in the station office. Wished to leave the Colony. Said he could not raise a vegetable garden owing to alkali and insect pests.

No. 3.

A new man. About thirty years old. One year out from Chicago, where he worked at different trades. Had wife and one child. Rented a house on the Colony and worked in one of the Colony stores. Had no money saved and saw no immediate chance of betterment. Liked the country better than the city, because his wife had better health.

No. 4.

Young married man. No children. Son of a Colonist and married to a daughter of a Colonist, whose father was sheriff of the County. Had good looking cottage and barns. Was doing well.

No. 5.

About fifty years old. Salvation Army officer. In the Colony six years. Had son twenty-one, and together they worked a farm of sixty acres. He owned twenty and rented forty. His life was despaired of by the doctors, but he was enjoying good health at time of interview. Doing well financially.

No. 6.

About forty-five. Original Colonist. Married. Had four children. Came from Chicago, where he was a carpenter. Owned land in the Colony which he rented out. Ran a hardware store in the Colony and was partner in the Colony bank. Had property valued at $5,000.00. Had no capital when he came to the Colony.

No. 7.

About forty-eight years old. Original Colonist. Married and had nine children. Was railroad clerk in Chicago at $12.00 per week. Owned a corner lot on the town site where he ran a grocery store. Had property in Chicago worth $1,000.00 when he came to the Colony. Was worth $8,000.00 at time of interview.

No. 8.

A farmer, from surrounding country, induced by Colony management to invest in Colony land and tract as a "pace-setter" to the other colonists. Thus secured forty acres at $70.00 per acre. Had introduced the sheep industry. Bought up young lambs in Mexico, fattened them, and sold at a profit. Had been two years on the Colony. Made $5,000.00 net, per year. Had four thousand sheep.

No. 9.

Middle aged man. Married. Original colonist. Was expressman in Chicago, but previous to coming to the Colony had to leave family and go to work in the woods while the wife worked. Had taken out a government homestead outside of the Colony. Gave up his holdings on the Colony and was working as farm boss for a neighboring farmer while his wife ran a boarding house.

No. 10.

Scotchman. About fifty years old. Married. Had five children. In the Colony for six years. Arrived there with $25.00. Was carpenter in Chicago. Was worth $1,000.00 when interviewed. Was arranging to sell his holdings and go away, as he thought he could do better elsewhere.

No. 11.

About forty-five years old. Belonged to the Army. Married. One child. Came from Baltimore, Md., where he worked as a teamster. The Army paid family's fare to the Colony. Made a failure of his holding on the Colony and was making a bare living by running the Colony hotel and doing teaming. His failure was due to alkali and insect pests. His wife was sick before coming, but became better and was evidently the more efficient member of the partnership.

No. 12.

Thirty-five years old. Married. Two children. Brother of Army officer and son of example No. 1. In the Colony eight years. Used to be street-car conductor in Chicago. Gave up one holding in the Colony on account of alkali and took another, where he was doing well at time of interview.

No. 13.

About forty years old. Married. Came from the country. Rented a house on the Colony and worked as a section-hand on the railroad.

FOOTNOTES:

[57] "The Poor and the Land." Introduction, p. VI.

[58] "Report of Departmental Committee," pp. 8, 9, 10.

[59] "William Booth," p. 83.

[60] "The S. A. in the U. S.," p. 15.

[61] See Giddings' "Principles of Sociology," p. 291.

[62] "The Poor and the Land," p. 75.

[63] See example No. 8 at the end of the chapter, p. 115.

[64] About this time, Mr. Curtis, describing the colony in the Chicago Record, said "There is no neater group of houses in Colorado, and no more contented community in the world. Nearly every one has written to friends urging them to join the next colony that comes out, and thus I judge they are enthusiastic over their success and the pleasures they enjoy."

[65] See principle No. 2, p. 101.

[66] "The Poor and the Land," p. 78.

[67] See principle No. 5, p. 101.

[68] See several examples at the end of this chapter, p. 137.

[69] "The Poor and the Land," p. 82.

[70] See principle No. 1, p. 101.

[71] "The Poor and the Land," p. 39.

[72] See Pamphlet, "Review of Salvation Army Land Colony in California."

[73] The price of land at Ft. Amity would be different, and there, too, the Army sometimes rents to the colonists an additional acreage.

[74] "Memorandum of Information Respecting the Salvation Army Colony at Ft. Romie, California."

[75] For these principles see p. 101 of this chapter.

[76] See "The Poor and the Land," p. 40 and fl.

[77] See examples at end of chapter.

[78] See "The Poor and the Land," p. 47.

[79] See the "Poor and the Land," p. 82.

[80] See "Report of Departmental Committee," p. 14 and fl.

[81] Ibid.

[82] Mr. John Manson in his book "The Salvation Army and the Public," p. 133 and following, states that in this work the Army has merely acted the part of a business agency. We think that he has ground for this statement, but we also think that the Army would be far more useful along these lines than an ordinary business agency.

[83] See Report of Departmental Committee, p. 6.

[84] See Report of Departmental Committee, p. 3.

[85] See tables p. 98 of this book.

[86] See Report of Departmental Committee, p. 30.



CHAPTER IV.

THE SALVATION ARMY SLUM DEPARTMENT.

So much has been written on the question of the slums in the past few years; so many settlements, evening recreation centers, summer playgrounds, clubs, visiting nurses' associations, and kindergarten associations have been organized; so much has been done by tenement house commissions and tenement laws; so many churches have turned from their original efforts to the slums; that we wonder why so little is heard of what the Army, the organization supposed especially to represent the poor, is doing in this direction. To tell the truth, if we go down into the slums, either those of Deptford, Whitechapel, or of Westminster, in London; or those of the Jewish, the Italian, the Negro, or the Irish quarters in New York, or those of the Slav or Jewish quarters in Chicago, expecting to find there the work of the Army much in evidence, we shall be disappointed. What slum work is done by the Army in these densely populated corners is done with love and earnest hearts, with sacrifice and the best of intentions; but apparently it does not bear fruit in the same proportion as does the work of the settlement, whether church settlement or secular, or in the same proportion as many of the kindergartens, summer playgrounds and evening recreation centers. Nevertheless, the slum post of the Army is doing valuable work and should be supported.

A sweeping tenement house reform can do more than any number of settlements; a settlement can do more than the Army slum post; but neither the tenement reform nor the settlement does the work that a slum post does. Probably the work done by other organizations most nearly allied to that of the Army slum post is that done by the various organizations of church deaconesses, which have been growing rapidly in late years, in which women are employed by the churches to visit the poor in their homes, and nurse the sick, besides other duties. If we depend or count largely on the Army slum work to reform the slums, we shall be disappointed in learning that, after years of successful growth in the Industrial and Social Departments, the Army has but twenty slum posts in the United States[87], some of these being very small, and that it has no large number in other countries. Such as it is, the work is well worth while. But let us examine its origin, present status and the reason for its relatively small growth.

In the beginning of the Army movement, Mrs. Booth, the late wife of General Booth, supplemented her husband's work by a personal visitation of the people in their homes. She proved the utility of this work and also its place among the works of women. From her early efforts has sprung the more widely organized department of slum work.

The slum work may be divided into three divisions: visitation work, the slum nursery, and the maintenance of the slum post. Wearing a humbler garb, even, than the regular Army uniform, the lassies start out on their daily tours of visitation. They take care of the sick, and at the same time, they clean the home and put everything in order. Often they come upon cases of need and of want, and then they provide the little necessaries: a sack of coal, a supply of food, or some needed clothing. They take the children from the worn-out woman and amuse and instruct them, while the mother does her work; and, wherever they go, although most plainly dressed, they are clean and neat, and they strive to make everything else clean and neat.

While this visitation work is going on, another most urgent need is being supplied by the slum nursery. Here the mother can leave her children in the morning, when she goes to her work, and find them safely waiting for her in the evening, clean and happy. A charge of five cents per day is made to cover the expense of feeding the children. During the day they are well cared for, the younger ones properly nursed, and the older ones taught simple little kindergarten games and songs. Sometimes children are brought here and never called for again, in which case the Army lassies in charge must find some permanent home for them, but this does not often happen, as the mothers of the children are usually known by the Army workers. At the slum nursery in Cincinnati there is also a free clinic, where sick women and children go for treatment. Two of the most efficient physicians of the city furnish free aid, and the medicines necessary are provided.

In addition to the visitation work and the nursery, the maintenance of the slum post means the keeping of slum quarters and a slum hall. The "quarters" are the two or more rooms where the lassies live, and they are located where most can be accomplished in the way of example and influence. The hall is for the carrying on of slum meetings, for these are regularly held. In these meetings the roughest crowd of men, women and children is awed into respect and reverence by the simple slum lassies with their songs and music. Again, in this little hall, the children of the neighborhood are gathered in a Sunday School and taught by the slum officers. It is a most interesting spectacle to watch these children. Many different nationalities are represented, the dark races and the light. As children, these nationalities mingle together more freely than in adult life.

A special aspect of the slum post is the distribution of charitable relief to the needy. It is specially situated, and has advantages for this purpose; hence it becomes the distributing depot for bread, soup and coal in winter, and ice in summer. For instance, from one slum post in New York during the winter of 1907-8, 2,800 loaves of bread were given out in one week, and for some months, an average of from 300 to 1,000 loaves, besides an average of two tons of coal per week. Some of this, naturally, would go to the undeserving, but the slum officers, as a rule, know the people of their immediate neighborhood, and can exercise due discretion.

The failure of the Army slum work to increase in the same proportion as its other branches of the social work, and its non-existence in many quarters of our cities where it is most needed, is due to two causes. One is the fact that the Army slum post, more than the Army industrial home or the Army hotel, is a religious institution, and is continually advertising and pressing on the public its peculiar doctrines. The slum officers are imbued with the idea that personal salvation according to the doctrines of the Army is the all-essential need. They would not be engaged in this work themselves were it not for the hold these doctrines have upon them. The slum post holds its regular meetings, exhorting its hearers to get "saved," in its own original way. At Sunday School, the children are taught that certain things are wrong and sinful, and these very things are common-place in their own homes though, possibly some of them of not much detriment. But, in a community almost entirely Catholic or Jewish, such aggressive evangelism is not likely to increase the influence of its advocates. Many settlements have learned with grief, this very same lesson. Another reason for the lack of success is the mental calibre of those engaged in the work. However, the devotion and self-sacrifice of the Army slum sisters is one of the most touching and sublime elements of the slums, and it is all the more touching when it is to some extent misdirected and misplaced. To see the tact, patience and perseverance of these "Slum Angels" as they are often called, is a divine object lesson in itself, and much of their work is not done in vain, as many would testify.

A useful experiment is under way at one former slum post, 94 Cherry Street, New York City. In place of the old building formerly rented by the Army here and used as a slum post, the Army has built a commodious six-story building, which it calls a settlement. One floor is given to a hall and parlor. Two floors are given over to rooms to be used as class, club and kindergarten rooms. One floor is fitted up with a dining room and kitchen, and another with a large dormitory and living room, to be used as a Girls' Home. On the roof, preparations are under way for a roof garden and play-ground, while washing facilities are provided in the basement, where poor mothers can bring their clothes and wash them. Already the New York Kindergarten Association has two kindergartners busy here. Two sewing classes, averaging thirty-five members, are organized. Mother's meetings are held, and a regular Army Corps is organized, consisting of sixty members. This settlement may prove an auspicious advance of the Army along these lines.

To sum up, the Army Slum Department is doing valuable work in the slums, tending the sick, exercising and bringing out some of the better traits of humanity, and offering relief in times of need; but it suffers from an over-desire to spread its own peculiar doctrines of salvation, and from the lack of grasping the whole situation which is characteristic of its workers.

FOOTNOTES:

[87] This number has continued the same for five years.



CHAPTER V.

THE SALVATION ARMY RESCUE DEPARTMENT.

In the United States and Great Britain, the question of the social evil has never been thoroughly investigated and faced systematically as a whole. In some of the large cities in the United States, notably in Chicago and New York, the question has been taken up in various ways by different reform societies. Probably the best investigation made thus far has been the work of the Committee of Fifteen, in New York City, which issued its report in the year 1902, but the problem does not appear to have been faced by us as a nation as it might have been. Other countries, especially France, have paid a great deal of attention to this form of vice. Nearly every phase of the question has been examined by some French investigator and reported on, but when we look for reports or investigations on the part of American or English students, we find very little of value.

As regards the United States, all attempts at reaching a true estimate of the extent of this evil have failed. Apparently, there is no way of obtaining such information. We have seen estimates regarding some of the cities in past years, and such estimates are given as 40,000 prostitutes for New York City,[88] 30,000 for Chicago and 35,000 for San Francisco. But these figures have evidently been derived in a very unscientific way. The evil is probably worse in the Western states than in the Eastern, but we are not satisfied of the accuracy of such estimates as 35,000 for San Francisco and only 30,000 for Chicago.

The work known as the Rescue Work of the Salvation Army is, to a certain extent, related to the Slum Work. The slum officers can often work hand-in-hand with the Rescue officers, inasmuch as their field is often on the same or adjoining territory. At the same time, it is essential that the Rescue officer be more highly specialized than the slum worker. During the past few years the percentage of successful cases of reform brought about by the Army Rescue Homes has reached as high as 80 or 85%, according to the Army's statistics. They, however, are unable to keep in touch with all the girls sent out, and hence this percentage would not be final, but even allowing 25% off for failures not known to the Army, it is doubtful if there is any other reform agency along this line which is as successful as is this force of trained rescue workers.[89] In the United States this force works in conjunction with twenty-two Rescue Homes scattered throughout the States. These homes are especially fitted for the work, some having been built for the purpose. There are work rooms for the girls, where they can do sewing and laundry work. There is a reading room and sitting room, dining room, and different dormitories and sleeping apartments. Then special facilities are provided for the care of babies in the way of proper nurseries.

There are two ways in which these girls come under the influence of the Homes and Rescue workers: either the girls come voluntarily to the Homes, expressing their desire to leave this form of life for a better one, or they are brought to the Home by the direct influence and touch of the Rescue officer. These Rescue officers make regular tours through the districts where the girls are to be found. They watch their opportunities, and whenever they think it wise, they speak to the girls personally. When this is not possible, they make an advance by way of literature. One method is to open up a conversation by means of a little card, upon which is printed the address of the Rescue Home, and the offer of help to any girl who is in trouble of any sort. Some of the officers tell us that they get to know the faces of the girls through their regular tours, and whenever a new girl comes they are able to recognize her at once, both by her features and her actions. In this way there have been some instances of real prevention without the need of any curative means whatever; instances where young girls have been rescued from the very brink of their evil fate. One way of reaching the girls is visitation and nursing when they are sick. Another way is through the police courts. In some of the latter a woman Army officer is in regular attendance, and the judge frequently hands certain cases over to her charge.

Many of the girls received into the Home have had no practical training in life; many, very little moral training, and in the case of those who have had good training in earlier years, the life they have been leading has so undermined their old ideals, that the training must be repeated. Hence, the aim of the Home is two-fold. First, the aim is to lay a strong foundation morally. When the girls reach the Home, in most cases they are already penitent, and ready for a change, but to make such a complete change as is necessary to lead them back to a normal life means the individual revolution of desire and interest. Here is where the importance of the moral influence of the Home is realized. Step by step the girl is led on by the simple teaching of Christian and social ideals, until in reality she is a changed individual. Often she looks back on her past life with such repugnance and shrinking, that her only desire becomes that of doing something to retrieve her past, and she becomes an active agent in the betterment of the conditions of other girls around her.

Meanwhile, the second aim of the Rescue Home is being realized. The girls are taught the means of practical livelihood. They are instructed in cooking, the care of the kitchen and nursery, and general housekeeping. Sewing is made a prominent feature, and in every Home a laundry is maintained, where the girls do their own washing and sometimes outside washing. In some Homes the fund realized from the laundry and from the sale of clothing made by the girls is quite a help toward defraying the general expenses. Again, at some of the Homes, such work as book binding and chicken raising has been successfully carried on. Independence is encouraged, and as soon as possible the girl is made to feel that, by aiding in the work of the Home, she can help meet the expense which she caused.

To the girl who has possibly never done sewing, never known anything about proper cooking or the care of a home, there is much that is new in this training, and, on the other hand, great patience is required on the part of her instructors. A fit of anger or despondency, and in a very short time she has left the Home and its care, and returned to her old life. Some do this even more than once and again return, having, upon reflection, realized the force of its love and shelter. Others, of course, leave and never return, but a large number are sent back to their own homes or out to fill situations of various kinds.

A great difference is found between one girl and another, due to the different status of life and surroundings from which they originally fell; hence, some girls are reformed with greater ease and in a shorter time than are others. The average time that a girl is retained in the Home is about four months. The Army aims at keeping in touch with them afterwards.

"Personally," says one of the leading Rescue officers writing on this point, "I attach by far the greatest importance to the work done with our girls after they leave the Home. If we ceased our care for them when they went out to service, we should have, I fear, many failures. I have by my elbow, as I write to you, a current record of 120 girls, not picked out but taken just as they come, which tells just where each one is, what she is doing, what was her spiritual condition when last seen or heard from, what day visited, etc. That list is taken from a record kept of every girl who passes through our hands. On one page is her previous life story; on the other, her career after leaving the Home. It is the most important record we keep."[90]

Along with other departments of social service in the Army, this department has been considerably extended during the past few years. Figures are at hand for the United States only. In 1896 there were five Rescue Homes with a total accommodation for 100 girls, and there were, in the Rescue Work, 24 officers. In 1904 we found twenty-two homes, with a total accommodation for 500 girls, and there were 110 specialized officers engaged in the Rescue Work. During the eight years prior to 1907 15,000 girls were helped.[91] Speaking of the year 1903-4, Commander Booth-Tucker says: "More than 1,800 girls passed through the homes during the year, and of these 93% were satisfactory cases, being restored to lives of virtue, while some 500 babies were cared for."[92] During the past few years, also, some valuable properties have been acquired for the purposes of Rescue Homes. Among these are two Homes in Philadelphia worth $20,000.00; the Home in Manhattan, New York City, valued at $35,000.00; the Home in Buffalo, costing nearly $40,000.00; the Home in Los Angeles, worth more than $15,000.00, and others.

In conclusion it may be said that although this great social question presents almost overwhelming problems for solution, yet there is no agency that deals with the evil in a curative way so successfully, and on such a scale, as does the Rescue Department of the Army. One difficulty of the work is that, while so many departments of the Army work are self-supporting, this work cannot be made so. Another difficulty is the lack of those who are willing to sacrifice their lives to such noble effort. Mrs. Catherine Higgins, former Secretary for this department, in her report, said that she had a great need of 100 more workers, and that she could use many times that number in the furtherance of the work.

While it is rather the part of society to strike at the very causes of this social evil and root it out entirely, still, such successful combating with the evil itself, right on the battle-field of flagrant vice, should receive the hearty support of all.

FOOTNOTES:

[88] Mentioned in Josiah Strong's Social Progress, 1906, p. 243.

[89] In Great Britain in 1903, the proportion of re-admissions in the Rescue Homes was about one in seven. In that year, about one-sixth of the new cases were unsatisfactory. (The S. A. and the Public, p. 131.)

[90] "Social Service in the Salvation Army," p. 71.

[91] Pamphlet "S. A. in the U. S."

[92] Ibid., p. 26.



CHAPTER VI.

SOME MINOR FEATURES OF THE SALVATION ARMY SOCIAL WORK.

There are a number of features of the Salvation Army Social Work, which for the sake of brevity we shall group together in one final chapter. These are, (1): Christmas dinners, (2): prison work, (3): the employment bureau, and (4): work among the children. Taking up the subject of Christmas dinners, we find here what seems to be an advertising scheme more than a systematic form of relief. Sentiment, doubtless, has its place, even with the masses, and yet, in this great winter feast, there is more sentiment than there is real practical good accomplished. To the quiet, calculating student the question arises whether it would not be far better to utilize the vast amount of energy and financial outlay, which it gives to gorging the multitude for one day, in a better and more lasting way; the question whether there is not, in these Christmas feasts, a likeness to the old time feast of pagan Rome. In every city of any size throughout the country the pots and kettles on the street corner are familiar objects. At each Corps or other location of the Army, tickets are given out entitling the bearer to a Christmas dinner, or, in certain cases, to a basket with a dinner for a family. A good deal of trickery is indulged in by the professional beggars, by means of which it often happens that several dinners go to the same person. And yet, as we have watched those 5,000 baskets containing food for 25,000 persons go out, to bring cheer and comfort to the hungry in their homes, and as we have gazed on that vast banquet of 3,000 guests seated at one sitting, we could not but feel glad that these poor brothers and sisters of ours might realize the force of human sympathy for once in the year at least.[93]

Another minor feature of the Salvation Army work is the prison work. The majority of the jails, local, county and state, are visited at intervals by certain members of the Army set aside for that purpose in each community. In one State's prison there is a regularly organized corps of Salvation Army soldiers, who are all prisoners, some of them for a life term. In most prisons the Army provides literature, sees to the correspondence of the prisoners and holds meetings with them. But it is not so much the work with the prisoners in the jail that counts, as it is the influence gained over them, which leads them to come to the Army and make a new start in life when they get out. Many who find themselves behind the prison bars are not to be classed as regular criminals. A man is often classed as a criminal who is a victim of misfortune only, and has no inherent criminal instincts. It is with the criminal "by occasion," as Lombroso puts it,[94] that much successful work can be done in the way of reform. The Army has a regular organization known as the Prison Gate League. When a prisoner is discharged he is met by one of this league and invited to go to work at one of the Army's institutions. After being influenced and helped in this institution for a certain length of time, if he seems to justify it, he is sent out to work in some position. There are no definite statistics recorded of those of this class who have been permanently bettered.

Still another minor feature is the employment bureau system. While mentioned here as merely one of a group of minor features, this system is one of great importance to the industrial world. It is being taken into consideration in many places by thoughtful men, and there is promise of its assuming national, if not international proportions. The general term, employment bureau, serves to bring to our recollection the accompanying evils of the contract wage system and industrial slavery, against which there has been agitation in the past, but it is because of these accompaniments that the importance arises of securing a system which shall be free from them. In Germany considerable work has been done along these lines, municipalities and provinces have taken up the work, and an all-round effort is being made to place labor in the right position for work at the proper time.[95] New York City is to-day swarming with many agencies, which are conducted by men and women, who may rightly be classed as extortioners. In spite of the rigid rules on the subject, the ignorance and poverty of their victims makes evasion of the law comparatively easy. Jacob A. Riis, speaking of this subject, says:

"It is estimated that New York spends in public and private charity every year around eight millions. A small part of this sum intelligently invested in a great labor bureau that would bring the seeker of work and the man with work together, under auspices offering some degree of mutual security, would certainly repay the amount of the investment in the saving of much capital now much worse than wasted, and would be prolific of the best results."[96]

In regard to the work of the Army in this field every large city contains an employment bureau conducted by it and maintained for the free use of the unemployed. Some of the men, who secure positions have been in one of its own institutions, and the Army workers know whether or not to recommend them for a certain position. Outside of giving men work in its own institutions, the Army, during the year 1907, found employment for 55,621 persons in the United States alone.

Contrary to expectation, the children's work of the Army has not attained a magnitude in proportion to the other lines of work which have been developed. This may be accounted for in part by the fact that there are more institutions open for children to which the Army can turn for help than there are institutions of other types. Thus, while the Army can often get a child taken into some orphanage already existing, either public or private, in the case of the drunkard, the unemployed or the fallen woman, the Army finds it necessary to furnish its own institutions. Again, the Army states that wherever possible, some friend is found who is willing to adopt a child. Of course, this is far preferable to placing the child in some institution, inasmuch as adoption restores the home in a real sense.

The work among the children may be divided into temporary work and permanent work. By temporary work we do not mean work that is superficial, for it may be the most permanent and lasting in its results, but we mean work that is undertaken which influences the children for a limited amount of time only. The slum nursery or kindergarten is of this type, but as we have already described it in connection with the Slum Department, it needs only mention here. Another line of temporary work is the Sunday School work of the Army, but that comes under the religious work and not the social.

An important line of temporary work, however, is the summer outing for the poor children. In each of our large cities these excursions for the poor children have been carried out on a large scale. Arrangements are made with a railroad or a steamboat company; the children are collected, hundreds at a time, and cared for by parties of Salvationists, they are taken out to the country for the day. Children who have never seen the country, and who do not know what a tree, a green hill, or the running water looks like, are thus given an entirely new outlook upon the world, and a lasting impression is made on their minds. In Kansas City, this line of work has been developed still further. One of the large parks has been handed over to the Army by the city authorities, and in it has been established a summer camp. Tents are pitched on the grass under the trees, and poor families are brought out here for a week at a time. In this way hundreds of families have experienced a little of summer vacation who otherwise would never have left their slum dwellings.

The permanent handling of the children as opposed to the temporary, begins with the Maternity Homes which are managed in connection with the Rescue Homes, and continues on through the Orphanages. The children cared for in this permanent way are the babies from the Maternity Homes and orphans. From this it must not be supposed, with regard to the Maternity Homes, that there is any intentional separation or even a suggested separation of the child from the mother, but in many cases, after a time, a partial separation is necessary. The mother is influenced and taught to care for and love her offspring, but after spending some months in the Home, she may take a situation of some sort, often as a domestic servant, and here she cannot take her baby. Hence, in such cases, the mother is expected to visit her child frequently, and to provide for its support.

The other class of children dealt with in a permanent way are those who are picked up from the street, or who otherwise fall into the hands of the Army, often after being deserted by their parents. While Orphanages, as already stated, are not an important item in the Army's work, there are several in England and four in the United States. For the situation of an Orphanage, a country location is sought. For instance, one near New York City is located on a beautiful piece of property at Spring Valley. Another is at Rutherford, N. J. One of the largest is situated near San Francisco, California, and one of the latest additions for this purpose has been the securing of a fine piece of property at Lytton Springs, Cal. In all, there is accommodation for two hundred and twenty-five children in the United States.

FOOTNOTES:

[93] The author refers here to the annual Christmas dinner given in New York.

[94] "The Criminal," p. 208.

[95] "The German Workman," ch. XVII

[96] "How the Other Half Lives," p. 253.



CHAPTER VII.

CONCLUSION.

We have now covered the work of the Salvation Army social movement in its different branches. We have described the work, the extent and the management of each department. We have also considered the criticisms and objections to which each department is open, and we have attempted to estimate the value of each department to society. We have arrived at the conclusion that the work of the Industrial Department, leaving out the Industrial Colony, is a practical, deserving and successful effort to put unfortunate men once more on their feet, at no expense to the public, saving a slight embarrassment to those already engaged in the salvage and second hand business; that the Army lodging house is the best so far offered for the housing of the lower homeless class, although not entirely satisfactory; that the Slum Work is good, but limited in its scope, owing to the religious sentiment attached, and the mental inferiority of its workers; that the Rescue Work is about the best of its kind; and that good work is being done in other directions, such as the prison work, the employment bureaux and the children's work. On the other hand, we have found that the two Industrial Colonies and three Farm Colonies are not successful enough to warrant any additional expenditure on them or on any new colonies. This is due to the fact that the class most needing help in the cities is not the class to succeed on the land, and to the fact that men are more successful as pioneers on the land, when they are scattered and left to rely on themselves, having experienced farmers as neighbors, than when they are grouped closely together in one colony. Also there is nothing in favor of heavy expenditure for Christmas dinners, since the same amount of money can be put to better advantage in other ways.

But, having reached these conclusions regarding the separate departments of the Army social work, what about the movement as a whole? The critics have advanced a good many objections against the Army. Some of these objections relating to special departments and not to the Army as a whole, we have already dealt with in our discussion of those separate departments. There remain six principal objections:

1. That the organization is narrow and not willing to cooperate with other organizations.

2. That the highly centralized military form of government is likely to lead to disastrous consequences.

3. That the Army, in its financial dealings, does not take the public sufficiently into its confidence.

4. That the Army collects funds, on the strength of its social work, and applies these funds to religious propaganda.

5. That there is a lack of accuracy in its reports of work accomplished.

6. That the Army, as an organization, has become more of an end in itself, than a means to an end.

Regarding the first objection, the narrowness and lack of cooperation, we think there is a good deal of truth in it. The Army has made a great success as an organization, and the work of its founder and his assistants is one of the most remarkable achievements of the age. Things apparently impossible have been accomplished, and obstacles apparently unsurmountable have been overcome. The result is a self-confidence and assurance, amounting in many cases to bigotry. The members of the organization look upon it as especially favored by God, and as above any other organization. Hence, we find many of the leaders far from humble in their bearings, whatever their profession may be, and entirely uninclined to cooperate with other organizations. This fact has been brought to the foreground of late years in England and America by a certain amount of antagonism between the Army and the Charity Organization Society, the Army claiming that it can do its work along its own lines and get along without any alliance with the Society, and the latter claiming that much economy would result if the Army would unite its efforts along social lines with the Charity Organization Society. The controversy cannot be discussed here, but it seems a pity that some sort of union cannot be entered into in which both organizations would be represented in a manner satisfactory to both. One great difficulty, evidently, is the religious element in the social work of the Army, which tends to prejudice the Charity Organization Society in some degree against the Army, and tends to keep the Army aloof from any organization considered secular. However, we find many leading officers in both organizations with friendly feeling, and there is hope that the time will come, when the controversy will be at an end.

Coming to the second objection, that the highly centralized military form of government of the Army is likely to lead to disastrous consequences, we think that, if continued, this form of government must indeed lead to disaster. It is evident that this might happen in different ways. In an organization held together by one man or by one idea, disintegration would tend to take place in the one case by the failure or death of the leader, and in the other case by the expansion of the idea. The Army is held together by both the man and the idea, and we need not turn away from its own history to get examples of this disintegration in both ways. Take the first bond of union, the man of striking, hypnotic personality. Since the very inception of the movement, time after time, men who have gained influence in the Army, have separated from its ranks and started a movement of their own of more or less formidable dimensions. The instance most applicable here is that of the division which took place a few years ago in the United States. At that time the Army in this country had been very successful under the leadership of one of General Booth's sons, Ballington Booth and his wife, Maud, the latter especially being a most attractive and talented personality and gifted, persuasive speaker. Mr. and Mrs. Ballington Booth were flattered by attention from all sides, and by the worship of the soldiers and officers under them. Orders came from General William Booth, commanding them to give up their leadership in the United States and take control of some other country. But they had no idea of giving up their position in this country, and, elated by success, confidently announced their leadership of a new movement, the Volunteers of America, which is still in existence. While the other element, that of the expansion of the idea, showed itself at this time in a revolt against the narrow, despotic methods of General William Booth, the main element in this division was that of personality. Taking up the second bond of union, that of the central, controlling idea and purpose, we find the whole movement at the present time is tending to disintegrate through the expansion of this idea. This is shown by the continual departure of men from the ranks of the Army, who see that its methods and machinery are too cramped for their efforts, and also by the different attitude of the remaining members towards the movement itself and its leader General William Booth.

It is possible, however, that there will gradually be effected a change in the form of government of the army which will allow for enlargement and differentiation within the movement itself. General Booth, the sole head of the movement, cannot live much longer, and at his death, changes already threatening will demand attention. He has maintained a remarkable control over his world-wide following, in spite of numerous outbreaks and dangerous splits, and has legally arranged with great care, we are told, the succession to follow him. But that there will ever be a second General Booth, or that there could be a series of General Booths, able to hold the organization as he has, is incredible. We have talked with leading officers of his Army on this subject and find that they too, are looking for changes. The fact that the social work is having such a remarkable growth, while the spiritual work is apparently unable to hold its own, is in itself a feature demanding a change. The Army of industrial and social officers and employees will not be bound by the same ties to the General as his former Army of spiritual officers and soldiers. The latter were possessed with an emotional, fanatical enthusiasm which blinded them to everything save the service of their much adored General. The former have a different outlook on life. They are the new Army, a result of tendencies inherent in the growth of the movement. They look at humanity and individuals from other standpoints than that of the salvation of the soul. The material side of society, with its institutions of business, and practical forms of charitable relief, occupies a large amount of their attention. This has already led to considerable differentiation of government and control. Take, for example, the corporation, "The Industrial Homes Company" controlling eighty-four industrial institutions in the United States, and managed by a board of directors in New York City. This example is opening the way toward a future government by a board of some sort for other departments of the Army, and in time for the spiritual department, and then the further step of representation of members on these boards will not be far distant. At any rate we see reason for hoping that, while other improvements are taking place, the government of the Army will not be a handicap to the movement.

By the third objection, that the Army in its financial dealings does not take the public sufficiently into its confidence, is meant that complete records of detailed expenditure are not issued. The public provides for a large part of the income of the Army, and it has a right to know just how and where that income is spent. The man and woman who is being continually confronted by a lassie on the street with a little box for the receipt of contributions, after contributing again and again, is likely to ask the question, just where is this money going; and it would be of advantage to the Army itself, if it would issue a more definite statement of the use to which it puts public money. Some people are satisfied with the general report that "the Army is doing good," but there are many who would contribute more largely, if they knew directly for what they were contributing. In reply to this criticism, the Army states that it deposits regularly with the state authorities a statement showing the disposition and state of the finances of its corporations, such as "The Reliance Trading Company" and "The Salvation Army Industrial Homes Company."

The Army also issues every year a balance sheet which shows its assets and liabilities on a large scale. But this is not sufficient. The ordinary person can receive no light from either the statement deposited with the state authorities or the yearly balance sheet published by the Army. In fact, although the Army uses the services of an expert accountant in getting out this balance sheet, for all that the public knows, it may be using the funds entrusted to it in any way it wishes. This should be remedied by a regular statement, clearly revealing the disposition of every cent donated.

A discussion of the preceding objection leads us to the fourth objection, that the Army collects funds on the strength of its social work, and applies these funds to the carrying on of its religious propaganda.[97] The Army denies this, but admits that there is a good deal of money collected for the general work, there being no specific object implied when it is collected, other than a statement of the various departments in which the Army is working, and of their extent. Of course, the social work comes in for strong presentation on the statement, but the money not being collected for any one object, the Army is at liberty to apply it to any branch of its work whether spiritual or social. This again shows the need of greater definiteness and accuracy in the Army's report to the public.

A fifth objection is the lack of accuracy shown by the Army in its reports of work accomplished.[98] This has special reference to the statistics published by the Army, and is a good criticism. At different times and in different parts of the world, statistics are given out, which seems to emanate from no one authority, which are often contradictory, and which create confusion in the mind of the person wishing to get at the facts. As a result of a good deal of recent criticism on this point, all future statistics of the Army in the United States are to come from one point only, are to be in charge of an expert, and no publication of statistics is to be allowed without the consent of the National Headquarters.

The sixth and last objection is a very important one and one which has been seen in the history of organizations without number, viz: that the organization tends to become an end in itself, instead of a means to an end. This objection is also allied to a former one regarding a lack of cooperation on the part of the Army with other organizations. More and more an organization, formed as is the Army, feels complete in itself, and works continually for its own interests and its own glory. In a large number of instances the objective point that was once humanity and the glory of God tends to become the advancement of the Army. While feeling that this objection is a serious one, it still cannot be considered as anything but unavoidable, considering the government and general character of the movement. If it were possible for the Army to be governed locally, and to some extent, nationally by boards, a part of whose membership represented the public, we believe that the tendency to advance its own interest would be diminished. Study out the workings and control of this organization, and it is found a machine, ever seeking to increase its power and field of work. If this machine could be controlled to some extent by the public which feeds it, it might be kept as a useful servant, but otherwise, in spite of the great service which it does society to-day, the tendency to get away from its object and to become an object itself, will be more and more dangerous.

In conclusion, then, we find that these objections advanced by the critics are not without foundation, and while some may be more tendencies than actualities, it lies with the organization to guard itself from them. We have found the Army an efficient worker along several lines, and society owes it a considerable debt for past service and lessons learned from it. Hence it would be a great pity for its efficiency as a great public servant to be lessened by a lack of publicity regarding its finance, or by a narrow, self-centered policy, or by a too centralized form of government. Some of the Army leaders are men of great hearts and strong minds, and it is to be hoped that, whenever in the future, the opportunity offers to make a beneficial change of policy in its duty toward the public or toward its sister organizations engaged in charitable work or in its own internal administration, that these leaders will stand firmly for what they believe, and demand the necessary change.

FOOTNOTES:

[97] See the "S. A. and the Public," Ch. 5.

[98] See the "Social Relief Work of the S. A.," p. 4.



BIBLIOGRAPHY.

American Journal of Sociology, Volume III.

Besant, Sir Walter, The Farm and the City, Contemporary Review, 72-792.

Booth, Bramwell, I. A Day with the Salvation Army, S. A. Press, London, 1904.

II. Illustrated Interviews, S. A. Press, London, 1905.

Booth, Charles, Life and Labor of the People, The Macmillan Co., New York, 1899.

Booth, Commander Eva, Where Shadows Lengthen, S. A. Press, New York, 1906.

Booth, Florence E. A Peep into My Letter Bag, S. A. Press, London, 1905.

Booth, William, I. In Darkest England, and the Way Out, S. A. Press, London, 1890.

II. Social Service in the Salvation Army, S. A. Press, London, 1903.

III. The Doctrines of the Salvation Army, S. A. Press, London.

IV. The Why and Wherefore of the Rules and Regulations of the Salvation Army, S. A. Press, London.

V. Orders and Regulations for Field Officers, S. A. Press, London.

Booth-Tucker, Commander, I. William Booth, Life of S. A. Press, New York, 1898.

II. The Salvation Army in the United States, S. A. Press, New York, 1899.

III. Social Relief Work of the Salvation Army in the United States, S. A. Press, New York, 1900.

IV. Our Future Pauper Policy in America, S. A. Press, New York, 1898.

V. Prairie Homes for City Poor, S. A. Press, New York, 1899.

VI. A Review of the Salvation Army Land Colony in California, S. A. Press, New York, 1903.

Coates, Thomas F. G. The Prophet of the Poor, E. P. Dutton & Co., New York, 1906.

Dawson, William Harbutt, The German Workman, Chas. Scribner's Sons, New York, 1906.

Devine, Edward T., The Principles of Relief, The Macmillan Co., New York, 1905.

Hadleigh, The Salvation Army Colony, S. A. Press, London, 1904.

Haggard, H. Rider, The Poor and the Land, Longmans, Green & Co., New York, 1905.

Higgins, Mrs. Catherine, Love's Laborings in Sorrow's Soil, S. A. Press, New York, 1904.

Huxley, T. H., Social Diseases and Worse Remedies, The Macmillan Co., New York, 1891.

Manson, John, The Salvation Army and the Public, E. P. Dutton & Co., New York, 1906.

Precipices: A Sketch of Salvation Army Social Work, S. A. Press, London, 1904.

Report of Committee of Fifteen, The Social Evil, G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1902.

Report of the Departmental Committee, Appointed to Consider Mr. Rider Haggard's Report on Agricultural Settlements in British Colonies. Wyman & Sons, London, 1906.

Riis, Jacob A., I. How the Other Half Lives, Chas. Scribner's Sons, New York, 1902.

II. The Children of the Poor, Chas. Scribner's Sons, New York, 1902.

III. A Ten Years' War, Houghton, Mifflin & Co., New York, 1900.

IV. The Peril and Preservation of the Home, Geo. W. Jacobs' & Co., Philadelphia, 1903.

Ruskin, John, Sesame and Lillies, Donohue, Hernneberry and Co., Chicago.

Seager, Henry Rogers, Introduction to Economics, Henry Holt and Co., New York, 1908.

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Solenberger, Edwin D., The Social Relief Work of the Salvation Army, Byron & Willard Co., Minneapolis, 1906.

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VITA.

The author of this dissertation, Edwin Gifford Lamb, was born in London, England, December 22, 1878. He attended private schools in that city and then spent three years in Northwestern Canada without schooling. After this he went to California where he prepared for college in the preparatory department of the University of the Pacific. He became a citizen of the United States as soon as eligible and graduated from Leland Stanford Junior University in 1904, with the degree of A. B. In the year 1904-'05, he was a student at Union Theological Seminary and Columbia University. During the year 1905-'06, he held a scholarship in Sociology at Columbia University. At this institution he studied under Professors F. H. Giddings, John B. Clark, H. R. Seager, H. L. Moore, J. Dewey, F. J. E. Woodbridge and W. P. Montague. Since that time he has been an instructor in the Harstroem School, Norwalk, Connecticut.



Transcriber's Note:

Inconsistent hyphenation and capitalization have been left as in the original text. The same is true for inconsistent abbreviations for U. S. states and inconsistent placement of footnote markers.

CHAP. III. (in the original text) has been changed to CHAPTER III. for consistency.

Punctuation has been standardized. Spelling mistakes have been corrected, except for the items listed below, which have not been changed.

The book seems to use fl., rather than ff., as an abbreviation that refers to the pages following a number.

This book refers twice to the title "Sesame and Lillies." In other sources, that title is sometimes spelled as "Sesame and Lilies."

On the list of "Examples of Salvation Army Hotel Lodgers," under No. 3, the city name Pittsburgh is misspelled as Pittsburg in the original text.

THE END