The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1896-04-09
WHAT HE HAS DONE IN INDIA
Commander BOOth-Tucker Tells of tn
Work With the Eastern People.


Work With the Eastern People.
New York, April 8.-Commander
Booth-Tucker (als head of the American
division of the Salvation Army, his title
is no longer commissioner was asked
today for a history of the work done
by the Army in India, in which he was
THE pioneer. The commander has lived
so much among the Hindus that his
language is even more symbolic than
st would naturally be in a man of his
poetic instincts.
The new commanders manner is quiet
and runs constantly from the sober 10
the humorous He refuses to take any
thing very hard. His confidence that
things are going along all right in this
country and elsewhere is expressed by
him less in words than in the playful
ness with which he meets all reference
10 the recent troubles. AS he remarked
he does not feel much frightened by
the stories he has heard that the Ameri-
can people have raised a gibbet fifty
cubdts high for the Salvation Army. He
thinks that If il has been erected it will
be taken down again. 1t does not seem
TO require any effort for him to refer
to the secession without bitterness. He
takes the situation happily and frankly
and has set to work promptly to or
ganfze the work in this country accord
ing to a plan intended to ch those
who are lost in the most real sense.
He evidently believes that the greatest
spiritual need is in that class which is
also lowest in material situation, and
it will be TO them that the attention
of the Army in this country will now
be given, as it is given in other coun-
tries.
Commander Booth-Tucker said: "I
have spent the last twenty years, off
and on, in India, and think 1 know the
country as well as a native. Our work
there has gone on lines entirely differ
ent from those Of the ordinary mission
aries, and IN consequence of that we
have had a pretty stiff battle to fight.
In fact, / am very doubtful whether, il
we had not had a perfect organization
like the army to use, it would have
been possible to do anything on the lines
we struck out, even experimentally.
/ was a government official for some
time in India, and as a Christian I
wished TO help the people. l felt that
The ordinary missionary methods. which
may have been good as far as they
went, were very insufficient. What i'm |
pressed me most was the enormous gulf !
fixed between the natives of the coun- |
try and their European rulers. You can /
imagine what the feeling would be in 1
America if France or Germany (please !
do not say England were TO conaIIor /
the country and settle a garrison on il |
and rule it with an absolutely beauro- |
cratic government Well. the feeling |
that would exist here actually exists in /
India Human nature is a general quail |
'ty. This enormous gulf. then, was the |
great thing ITO reckon with. For a gem
tleman to sit down on one side of the |
gulf, comfortable, and throw his Bibles.
prayer books, and sermons across the
gulf TO the natives may have beer. q
good thing, but it was not enough. fl
Should stand on that tower and talk AZ
the crowd in Fourteenth street II vy,,uId
be good, If I had a good message. and
the air would be fresh. and I might he
very comfortable. But | said To myself
National aRSipathies are human ma
ture. believed in the government OF
INDIA by the English, for believed that
the natives if left to themselves now
would cut one another'S threats. Al
any rate. that was not our business. and
the government was Il help 70 US in got
ting at them. / said. Now | will iumn
tie gulf, get on the other side. mn on |
their clothes. make myself an Indian
Then, Of course. all the people on IN.
European side said. Horrible, Such a
hing has never been done. You VIII
over our prestige. You will diminish
he respect Of the natives for the s1Inar-
or race. You VIII cause the work Of
Sod to be hurt aud all kinds of stur
IND nonsense. Well I replied. .tba-A
IRE thousands or missionaries doing the
,ther Vhing- They don't need II iunD |
They might break their neckS. s,oUis
Ike no take the risk. Fiat experiment
UNI in corpore viii. l will have &, ~
on go your Way and I will so MINI,
That was just fourteen years 40, |
nd I have not the least hesitation 3, |
aging that our action placed Christian
" in India on different footing. N0- |
My did il have the effscs Of nurrin.-
Is in uhe midst OF the native life am
making the Indians love Us and dol
very-thing for Us. but il changed their
rtftude toward all Christians A W.
a'd won their confidence. they thought
he other Christians who threw IN, I
Sfbles and a sermon from the tower
night also have something TO say
Veil. You might imagine that the r,,,io
n the tower would think the man who
ad jumped into the street for getting
i'm bearing. but Of course the natural
uestion Of the audience was .XYbv
ont you jump down. too?' Then The
ian in the ttowe- begins TO say. 'Yo1
ught 10 come back here. You have
cen a failure and a fraud. and have
cen sent back 10 England. and have
IN away 10 America, such a perfec. i
allure are YOU
But seriously, take an Illustration OF
n : = q
YES. l have been on both sides Of Tho
edge. l have lived as the ordinary En-
'pean lives in India, in a bungalow
nth dfteen servants, cut of from the |