The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-10-20
BOOTHS SALVATION ARMY
Operations of the Much-Abused Or
ganizarion in England.
Their Eccentric Methods and Modes of Sc
curing Converts-Choice Selections
from Official Reports.


| LONDON, Oct. 6.-The best-p praised and the
worst abused of the religious organizations
| of England is that strange body of people
| who call themselves the Salvation Army.
Probably, too, this body is, in its rough and
ready way, doing more good than any other.
Certainly it shows more vigor and aggressive
ness in its attacks upon the strongholds of
SIM OF what the army is here no adequate
opinion can be formed from the little success
that has attended its operations IN the United
States This is its birthplace, and for the
eighteen years of its existence has been its
headquarters. Among the lower classes of
English society it has found from the first
not only the strongest incentives to effort,
but an apparently inexhaustible supply of
suitable material. Naturally, therefore, it
has reached in this country its fullest de-
velopment Its strong points and its weak
ones are seen in England in their strongest
light and just as you must go to Rome to
form proper judgment of Catholicism, so
must you come here if you would get an
adequate idea of what the Salyationists are
doing. For better or for worse, the army
here is constantly before the public. 1t will
not down. People are compelled to hear
about it, to talk about it, to see it, and to
take a position with reference to it. 1t
! breaches to them in the parks, parades
| before them on the streets, and makes
prominent place for itself in the daily press.
Not always does it appear in the columns of
the latter in the most desirable form, but it
does always appear in some form. Now the
story of it's zeal is told in a police court re-
port some of the soldiers having taken up
carnal weapons, as in case of recent occur
renee, in which the captain held the head of
an obtruding cab-horse while female lieu
| tenant belabored the animal with a tambor-
ine Anon, the higher courts furnish the
| sensation, General Booth being called to ac-
count for breach of contract in failing to
keep open certain house for the sale of
liquors, and being ordered in consequence to
relinquish his claim to the lease, and pay
damages. On another occasion, the bishops
of the church take the salvationists in hand
and the papers inform us that their lordships
are down on the movement because they
have found that it promotes illegitimacy,
and we have hints of sudden turning off of
| BILE carvings on afterward among the young
people present Still later the Generals
daughter gets expelled from one of the can
tons of Switzerland, and not satisfied with
this distinction, she finally achieves a glor-
Gus, though brief, Imprisonment. The pa
pers are full of the details of this episode and
the name of Miss Booth, coupled with that
of the Salvation Army, is, for the time, on
everybody's lips. Frequently, too, much
that is creditable to the army finds its way
into the press, the public being kept in
ures, but of its virtues and triumphs. Thus
the battle goes on, the salvationists having
many enemies and also many friends, and
their cause, though falling at times in popu-
lar esteem yet invariably rising again, like
the truth which will not remain crushed to
the earth, until to-day it claims recognition
as the most vigorous and successful evangel-
! izing agency since the days of Wesley.
STRENGTH OF THE ARMY.
The army has now in Great Britain and
Ireland 500 corps and 241 outposts The for
mer operate in the populous centers and the
latter carry on the warfare in villages. in
barns stables, cellars and the back parlors
of pawn shops" The total number of COM
missioned officers is about 1900. Abroad
they have 70 corps and ia officers. l am
told that they have in course of erection in
England alone fifteen halls whose total
seating capacity will accommodate
| 25,0 900 people, and which will
cost more than $780, 900. Those in authority
| will give no estimate of the number of their
| followers. This, they say, would be impossi-
| BILE; they can only tell the number of officers
they have. General Booth stated recently
! that should the latter increase during the
next twenty years in the same ratio in which
| they had in the last two years they would
| then have a staff of over two million. Their
many halls in this city are crowded to
OVERLOOKING at every public service, and on
! Sunday nights hundreds have to be turned
| away. The exercises are of the most free
and easy kind. Short speeches are made, the
| band plays and the sisters sing solos. The
| latter part of the performance is done in
regular music-hall style. When the chorus
| is reached the soloist gesticulates significant
! ly and the audience catches on, accompany
| ing the singing with a rythmatc stamping
of feet The members of the army appear in
| uniform. They are mostly of the working
| class, though here and there one sees those
! whose delicate features and refined manners
mark them as belonging to the higher Or
ders Among those present as listeners you
| will see many roughs, and some again who
| are obviously respectable and well to do in
the world. The latter form the special OBJ
| jects of assault when the collection
| is taken, which always occurs,
by the way, when the interest is at full tide
Let brother move the audience by par
| ticularly pathetic appeal to sinners, or
sister awaken enthusiasm by the telling lines
of some favorite hymn, and at that point
you can look for the money boxes to be
| passed around as confidently as for roses in
June and not always does one passing suffice.
1t is a misfortune of the army that it has
few OF the wealthy connected with it, and
has no way of raising the needful funds ex.
cept by public appeals, made mostly on the
Sabbath day. This fact puts a weapon into
, the hands of its enemies and tries the pa
tience sometimes of its best friends General
Booth is the greatest beggar in Christendom.
To his great Exeter Hall meetings he always