Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1903-01-08
LESSONS OF BOOTHS LIFE
Founder Of the Salvation Army Tells Of Its
Great Achiev ments.
ORGANIZED TO AID SINFUL HUMANITY
Thirty-Seven Years of struggle in an
Effort to Lessen Human Misery
and Reduce the sum
of Crime.

What Commander Booth Tucker called "a
blizzard proc; congregation" gathered in
the First Methodist church last night to
hear General William Booth, founder and
supreme officer Of the Salvation Army, tell
The Lessons Of My Life" Despite the iras-
chile weather the church was comfortably
well filled and the keenest interest in the
exercises Of the evening was manifested
The music was in charge Of Bandmaster
Dove, and Commander Booth Tucker
opened the program by leading a hymn,
Love so Amazing, so Divine" Then fol-
lowed Captain Rawley of General Booths
stan with a solo, Till His Kingdom Come"
In which the congregation shared the
chorus
Commander Booth-Tucker then intro
duced H. H. Baldrige, chairman OF the
meeting, who In turn eulogized the speaker
OF the evening Mr.. Bald ige ou in ID
briefly the history of the Salvation Army,
and indicated its wonderful growth from
scorned handful Of human helpers -
an army Of blue-coated, blue frocked men
and women who are going into the haunts
Of sin and fighting evil and misery, and
who are carrying the gospel into the unseen
corners Of the great cities.
General Booth himself speaks in some
Il
manner He is much given to wit and
anecdote, his talk being honeycombed with
both. Despite his great age he is active
in gesture anG accentuated in the phrasing
Of his oratory. Said he:
II appreciate this hearty welcome, and
l understand that the greeting is intended
more for the organization than for m.
In that light / may say that II is we'll
deserved, for has not the Salvation Army
done great work? l ask you to Judge Of
this, all Of you, but judge not with public
opinion as a guide, nor yet take our own
estimate of ourselves. Judge by the
fruits alone. This is the standard by which
men measure things in the commercial
world.
What the Army Has Done.
Remember further in arriving at your
verdict that the army Is only n child yet,
so do not expect too much. When we have
lived as long as Methodism or as the
Episcopalians, or the rest of them, we will
have accomplished as much as they.
But we are strongly orthodox. We be-
lieve in sin as being all evil. We believe
in final judgment. We believe in the
everlasting destinies of heaven and hell We
believe in the crucifXioa of Christ, in God
and man and in that sacrifice by which
SUFFICIENT saving grace was born to meet the
wants of fate.
Yet we do not ask for sympathy on the
grounds Of our orthodoxy. We stand solely
on our work. hold that one ounce Of fact
is worth a ton Of theory. SO. What have we
doheY
Our work lies in the great highways of
suffering and destitution and drunkenness
and harlotry and crime. 1t is two old. We
hot
we also prevent evil.
I'VE ell a great field. In the big cities
there is not church accommodation for
one-twentieth of the inhabitants. So while
the small fraction is in church what's to
be done with the rest? Are they to be left
drifting? This was the problem which con-
fronted me thirtyseven years ago. My So
luton was to train an army OF men and
women to follow these great crowds into
the haunts OF sin and crime and compel
them-yes, that's the word-and compel
them to believe with us and live as we
teach. We started with little bands in
London, small companies, and have since
grown into battalions, regiments, brigades.
divisions and vast army.
Extent of the Forces.
From that small beginning we have ex-
tended till now we are in forty-nine coun-
tries and colonies in the world. Our forces
speak altogether thirty-one different lang
uages, which would make us out not so ig-
norant as some suppose. Indeed, in some
countries our officers are compelled to use
nve or six languages each constantly.
We have alltold 74O0 societies over the
world, and 15,600 officers and others con-
stantly employed in our service. Then
there are $4,000 other local officers who live
by the sweat Of their brows. In addition
there are 1900 bandsmen.
In a literary way our contributions are
not small. We have sixty-one publications
issued and twenty-seven newspapers. which
are printed in twenty-three languages and
aggregate circulation Of 1000, 900 copies.
our social side is also of great import
ance and extent, though 1t really differs
not at all from our spiritual side To dis
criminate between the two is to make dis
unction without a difference. We have 6l5
social institutions, and we house II 900 un.
fortunates every night. We feed 10000
every meal Of every day.
"a great feature is our homes for lost
women During the last year we took ooO
women through these and the total thu,
helped in the last seven years is 3S.311
Then we have sixteen homes for ex
criminals, and since their installation we
have received 14,172 of these. At present
we have 1,5OO OF them.
Lesson of His Life.
And this has been my life work. had
no early prediction for such. | was
brought up Ia a worldly home, where my
father spent all his tims making a fortune.
But at. the age of 10. when l was well
started toward a wicked youth, l altered.
The spirit of God seized me, and from the
sacrifice then made sprang the Salvation
Army. That's what l have done with my
life. What are you doing with yours 90
At the close OF the address F. A. Benson
extended vote OF thanks to "the general
Of the army Of peace" Others on the plat
form were Rev. e. Combie Smith OF the
First Methodist church and Secretary Will
lis OF the Young Mems Christian associa-
tion.
why He Came to Omaha.
I'VE come here to arouse public SYM
pathy for my scheme to civilize, humanize,
Christianize, utilize, the criminal classes"
said General Booth TO a party Of news
paper men in his private car "Wanderer'
at the Union station yesterday afternoon.
"Our work is with the paupers, criminals.
drunkards and fallen women-thOse people
Vybo Drodupa uothinp and ara cbargo 49,,