Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1903-02-14
"a H1xht With the Salvation Army.
& The Homeless, Hungry Horde Must
e he Fed Before They Will Consider
e:z Political Economy.

sbeneficial effect, if give an account in
splain terms Of a night spent with 9TH
-sc1als of the Salvation Army, in the
accompany of friend watching in detail
rthe operations which they have under
taken to meet some of the most press
ing cases in an immense accumulation
aof misery. 1t is also fair to the Saliva
etlon Army to say, by way of preface.
that am constjtutionally averse to
S@sc0rybantic Christia nifty" that l detest
many Of their methods and that l am
sconvinced of the unsoundness OF many
s0f their social principles. For that rea-
son my praise is the better worth hav-
ting.
At a quarter to 1 yesterday made
my way with friend by appointment
to the Salvation Army establishment
an Stanhope street, Drury Lane, OF
which Colonel Sturgess is the presiding
sofhcial. There, waiting in cue, like
those who desire to enter the pit of
popular theater, were some hundreds
a0f men and women who were unQues-
aHonably destitute and homeless. They
were of all ages. Plenty of them were
*ablebodied, few of them were very bad
1y dressed, although practically none
were adequately protected against the
weather. To each in turn were given
"a bowl of soup and a hunk of bread.
Zach then took spoon from basket
lying on the pavement, pinch of
ssalt from a bowl, and passed into side
aBtreet to consume his meal. The wo-
men were allowed to sit and eat inside
THE building.
The order maintained was perfect,
and each man when he had finished re-
turned his bowl and spoon and passed
away out of sight, lost in the damp
darkness of the night 1t speaks vol
sumes for the recipients of this simple
but satisfying meal (Which costs about
three-quarters of penny head that
$50 far not a single bowl or spoon has
been lost AS for the spectacle, it was,
without any affectation, one upon
which it was simply impossible for an
Englishman to look without deep sor-
row. had, as others have, often read
OF the homeless and destitute. But
gsegnius irritant is always true. 1t was
appalling to see them filing away in an
apparently endless procession into the
ss1ush and the darkness, with no hope
OF adequate shelter, yet with all the
logged patience of despair. But was
glad to learn that on the afternoon Of
the preceding day the authorities of the
Salvation Army had resolved to open
all their halls and barracks as gratui-
tous night shelters.
So to Whitechapel, where the story
was the same, save that the individu-
ais were other men and other women.
There we consumed some of the soup,
which was excellent stuff, with some
heart in it, as country folk say, and
very welcome in the raw morning, and
inspected the accommodation provided
for and crammed with those who could
afford the princely sum Of threepence.
1T Is, Of course, of the plainest, but the
men were sleeping soundly in the rows
sof oblong frames, not unlike orange
boxes, which, with mattress, a pill
low, blanket and quilt of American
cloth, are the beds of Salvation Army
shelter. Everything was spotlessly
aclean, but it must be confessed that on
sonce called ''the very distressing smell
OF humanity" was distinctly apparent.
It should be added that the sanitary
and washing arrangements appeared
TO be excellent. They included baths
and pans for washing clothes and an
owen for baking infested garments, as
well as the more obvious requisites
aColonel Sturgess had also collected sta
>t1stics showing the immensely varied
character of the recipients of this real
scharity and the very large number of
them who had been many nights with
out shelter With these it is needless
to burden the text. Ships stewards,
zstokers, grocers' employees, laborers,
zmasons Photographic artists, doctors
.sof medicine, mechanics Of all kinds,
= have been saved from imminent risk of
starvation by the prompt charity Of the
salvation Army.
3 am, abundantly convinced that the
work done cannot go far in the direc.
ton of redeeming the positions of men
$and women who are submerged often
( through their own faults, but quite Of
ten from sheer misfortune, l cannot
deny that the work which is being
done Is distinctly good. The pauperiz
ing tendency of a bowl of soup and 9
hunk of bread between 2 and 4 in the
smorn.ng cannot be very strong, and h
must be a bold man and stern wht
holds that it is absolutely wrong t.
feed the hungry and the starving. Ger
thin It is at any rate that they canno
be restored to the position Of usefu
citizens unless they are first fed
London Times. Oh. 4 .lss s 81. I'd
Erie Enlployees' Federation
Erie railroad employees are now unit
az a in onfederation embracing al
the organizat tons ON the system u,
.l - N IL