Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-09-17
THE SALVATION ARMY
Commander Booth Tucker
Talks of Its Future.
TRAINED MEN TO LEAD
FINANCIAL SIDE is SAID TO BE
WELL ORGANIZED.
Has Several Leaders Who Could
Be Given the Supreme
Command.
TRAINED MEN TO LEAD

Written for The Evening Star by Guy 7. viskniskki
What will become of the Salvation
Army?'
Commander Booth-Tucker, who Is soon tC
turn over the work in America to sue
cessor not yet named in order to take up q
position on the international staff in Lon
don, smiled.
THAT question has girdled the globe with
the army itself. We meet it at every turn
1 am daily asked the question, and daily
see 1t seriously discussed In the public
prints. We Of the army can't get away
from it.. We don't want to. We consider
that every time the query Is propounded g
high compliment is paid us. 1t is proof
positive that the world at large no longer
regards us with utter Indifference, to say
the least, but now takes seriously and
realizes that we are social and economic
factor that has to be5reckoned with In the
general scheme of things. 1t recognizes
that If we were to dissolve upon the death
of our beloved leader there would neces-
sarily have to be a readjustment, socially
and economically, in the forty-nine coun-
tries and colonies in which we are estaD'
lished. Hence, the constant reiterat1on OF
the query, What Will become OF the SdlVa'
ton Army?'
But no readjustment will be necessary
1t took a genius to invent and manufac-
ture the locomotive; it takes only an en-
gineer to run it. Fulton was needed tc
build the first steamboat; a licensed pllo,
can run one. So with the Salvation Army
Gen Booth is the genius that brought II
into being; he has spent ms hfetime organ
izing, vitalizing and improving 1t. Just as
Fulton taught his helpers to run stea N
boat, so the general has trained his neli-
tenants in the work of the army ana tners
is more reason why me @ aa1t hna "a #
10 wi
of the general than there was Tor Methoo'
ism to die with John Wesley.
.syVas1ev not only enunciated strong re-
upious principle he organized it thorough
I've from ton to bottom so that the work
he believed in could be carried on AFTER ne
had laid it down: he vitalized a movement
that only Providence can Vltlate. w hite
field was different. He recruited ms 1oi-
lowers from the various existing religious
bodies of the time: he made no, or little,
effort to perfect an organization that
would carry on his work. AS result
when he passed off the stage his following
usious bodies such as Wesley's, that had
heen built I'D to live beyond their founders
Is Well Organized.
.'The Salvation Army has been thorough
Nv organized from top to bottom; 1t no
longer depends on the guidance of this man
or that to keep 1t alive. The whole scheme
for its perpetuation has been worked out
TO the slightest detail. Every man ana
woman in 1t knows his or her work ana
lust what to do in this or that emergency.
When a member Is promoted he does not
and cannot set about revolutioniZing his
denartment. he can only bring novelty to
the nosition The entire army Is like
weI,-oIled machine, with each part doing
its own particular duty. 1t can be left
In charge of ieutenanas TOT an 1nde9 ernne
a two months trip to Europe to find that
the army in America had run along as
smoothly during that time as If had been
here. l hardly ever visit or personally
direct the work Of any Of our social insti-
tutions. vet they are getting along SWIM
minely. What is true Of America is equally
true Of the army in the various countries.
II was in India ten years, leaving there
nrobahly understood the Indian work better
than any other member of the army. Yet
such is the army's organization that the
work there has gone on without hitch;
indeed, the Indian army during my absence
mower In other words, the Salvation Army
now runs on Its own feet everywhere, and
rs not dependent on any one man to keep
it erect and sturdy of nmo.
The Management.
.aThe general has worked in numerous
ways that this might be brought about.
The army in each country has its own
board of trustees, who are solely RESPONSE
BILE for the financial condition Of the army
therein, and are subject to the laws OF the
country respecting Incorporated bodies. The
army in America is Incorporated under the
laws of the state Of New York. The sec
retarv of state must have yearly account
ing OF the army's business, and permission
mist first be obtained of the supreme court
to sell or mortgage any property whatso-
ever The trustees pass on the expenditure
of any sum of money above $500 and
general finance board on sums less than this
amount / could not get piece Of blot
ting paper without the nnance boards %.
X &c. you see. the financial side Of the
army is as carefully organized as that Of a
big railroad, and it tends every bit as much
to develop financial acumen. Indeed, the
army has any number or tip-top business
men, There is one at the elbow OF every
commissioner He is known officially as a
chief secretary and 1t is largely due to my
chief secretary-Colonel Higgins-that the
property of the army In America in the
last eight and hall years has increased
last two and a half years eighty-sx prop
critics, valued at $7S5,OOO, have been added.
What is true Of America on the financial
side holds good elsewhere. says Sir John
"T have had no small insight during
some years into the weightler matters con-
nected with the government and policy of
the Salvation Army Tin England). In all
that I have seen of the conduct of the vast
affairs undertaken by them they have in
my judgment, shown not only zeal, but also
a sober and steady determination to adj
minister their funds in a strictly legal and
business-lke manner.
There need be no fear that the Salvation
Army will go to pieces Tor lack of f1nan-
cier when 1t has so many already taking
good care of its funds.
Neither are we who know the army best
concerned over the frequently repeated as
sertion that only the personality of our be-
loved general holds the component parts
of the army together, and that sooner or
| later they must split up.
There Is no more reason for such fore
| cast than there is for one to the effect that