The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-09-20
OF AMERICA REACHES 81. PAUL
FROM CHICAGO
ON HIS WAY TO THE COAST.
WILL ORGY UP THEIR WORK IN
soAfE tOF THE WESTERN
STATES.
FIGURES ON ORDERS GROWTH.
Movement4W Which Is Distinctly
American Has Met with Phe-
nomenaI Success.

Dazzling TON Boom, CO1lH1dliQef-lU-Cll
of the Volunteers of America, arrived
in ST. Paul yesterday, from Chicago
over the Northwestern. Commander
Booth is on his way to the Pacific
coast, accompanied by his secretary,
Maj. Fred Gardner, and will stop ell
route at number of points, including
Butte, Helena, Spokane, Tacoma,
Portland, Seattle, Los Angeles, San
Diego and San Francisco, for the pur-
pose of holding meetings. He went
through to Minneapolis, where he spent
the day.
- Commander Booth was seen in the
sleeper at the union depot
II am on my way West in the inter
ests of our organization, and expect
to hold over fifty meetings before my
return, about a month hence said he.
Il have undertaken the trip because
of the fact that we have for some time
been fairly inundated with appeals to
open UP cur work in the West, and L
feel that the people are at length rec
ognizing the radical points of differ
ence between the Volunteers and the
Salvation Army Briefly summarized,
some of these points of difference are:
The government of the old organize
ton is an autecracy, or one-man pow
er General Booth elects himself and
his successor and the movement in
the United States is under his control,
with headquarters in London. In the
new movement the commander-in-
chief was elected by a council of Of
ficers, and will in the future be elected
by the votes of all the soldiers.
I'm the old movement the sacrament
tai and baptismal rites were not adopt
ed, while in the Volunteers they have
been introduced. In the Salvation
Army the principal officers are not or.
dained but every officer of the Volur-
teers of or above the rank of major
is ordained in accordance with the
rules of the church of God in general.
[ am myself presbyter and hold an
ordination certificate Endorsed by clEr-
gymen of almost every denomination.
The old organization was not affiliated
with the churches, but ours is strong
auxiliary OF the churches.
'Then,tOo the uniform of the Saliva
ton Army is patterned after that of a
foreign army, while ours is similar to
that of the United States army. All
the property OF the Salvation Army
Is nelQ III the name OF one man. IBc
property of the Volunteers of America
is vested in representative board of
trustees, themselves American citi-
zenS.'
Asked as t6-'the practical work of
the Volunteers, the comparative
growth and the actual increase since
the beginning, Commander Booth
made the following precise statement,
which is very interesting and conf
plete and accurate:
1T is now about seventeen months since
God, in His Providence, revealed it to be
His will. and the American public made
known their desire that we should inauguTate
churches, and distinctly American in char
acter.
Its growth has been truly phenomenal and
remarkable. Though we have scrupulously
avoided any display of figures, believing them
to be inadequate in setting forth the great
good done, yet, as they are perhaps the most
concise method Of conveying our growth to
the public | may mention that the Volun-
teers OF America have now eight regiments,
their centers being located in New
York city, Philadelphia Boston, Buffa-
10, Chicago, Grand Rapids, Minneap
oils and San Francisco. These are
subdivided into sixteen battalons and detach-
ments, III addition to our national headquar-
tiers, in which we publish THE Volunteer
Gazette" and employ some forty people
There already 90 staff officers, and over
SEQ commanding officers, whose whole time is
used in fuIthering the interests of phil
anthropic work, by far the larger majority
OF whom have been raised in our own ranks.
As a further instance of the manner in which
the movement has taken hold of the public
may state that have Just received through
our reports information that during a
recent month Pip open air meetings were
he'd, reaching about 100000 people while
about 900 attended our week-niSnt SER
vices, exclusive of the coo attending our
Sunday services in the armories throughout
the states
ION an average 10000 people year arc
protesting conversion in our meetings, and
we have every reason to believe that it is
only question Of a short time until we shall
be able to raise force of consecrated evan
gelists from our own ranks, enabling to
mere effectually reach the unreached.
The Defenders league is thoroughly
representative group of all evangelical de-
nominations, and includes some OF the fore
most citizens of the Observation-Disclosures min
isters lawyers physicians. literary men and
merchants who subscribe s. per annum to-
wards the support of the movement There
are several thousands of such permanent
friends at the present time. By no means least
in Our work is the prison branch. The Volun-
teers have nearly l 500 members in their pris-
on league with the state prisons, and are in
touch with nearly 5000 prisoners by CORE
spondence Surely those figures at this stage
of our work are sufficient proof OF its sue
cess and of the vast good produced by its
existence, to say nothing of their promise for
its future advance