Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-12-24

| right of voice and vote in their respective
| councils and sessions
"All our financial affairs are in the hands
| of elected directors, while in the Salvation
Army the general as appontor, has full
| control over all funds and property. Gen.
| William Booth has the power to appoint his
| successor. Gen. Ballington Booth has not
| Like all our officers, he is elected by popu-
| lar vote. He will come up for reelection
| two years hence if he chooses TODD so.
With Less Noise.
$50 much for organization. AS to
| methods. the main difference is that we do
| not believe in the big DRUM, and we con-
| duct our meetings with less noise than our
| friends of the Salvation Army. Here and
! there some of our members may use the
! big drum, but they do so without authority
They are mostly persons VINO used to be In
| the ranks of the Salvation Army, and have
| not yet got rid of the idea that the big
| drum has immense amount of saving
grace.
BY the way there is a popular miscon
| ception that most of our members formerly
| belonged to the Salvation Army. As mat
| ter of fact less than one-tlfth or them
| have been Salvationists. Neither is 1t cor
| rect to suppose as most people do, that we
have split off from the Salvation Army.
Mr. Ballington Booth was out of the Army
| and had made up his mind to retire INTO
private life, when number OF friends VINO
anpreciated his work prevailed upon him to
start the Volunteers as new and dlstlnct
orga nization.
I'VE observe the sacraments of baptism
and the Lords Supper and have made pro-
vision for their observance at our stations
The Salvation Army does not Gen. VIII
liam Booth has frequently been urged to
| make an explicit declaration on this SUP
iect but he has always avoided doing So
The Salvation Army strongly discourages
its adherents from attending other
| churches We urge our members to attend
| tair hn
ment at an open table. if there Is not
regtTIarly-ordained officer OF our deholnlnd-
| ton within easy reach.
",These are the main differences between
the two bodies There are minor matters
| in which we give discretion to our local
| posts, whereas the Salvation Army has
| hard and fast rules. For example, no Sal
vationist must touch alcohol or tobacco.
| We are equally rigid against strong drink,
| but we leave the question of tobacco for
| the local post to decide. So it is with some
| other indulgences to the harmfulness OF
which all Christians are not agreed
Mrs. Booths Prison Work.
OF all the good work of the Volunteers,
| that which has attracted most public no.
tice and admiration is Mrs. Maud Balling-
| ton Booths prison work. Her lately pub
| ushed book, After Prison-What? is a
wonderful revelation, but Mrs. Booth was
too modest to give herself the credit which
| Is her due. You only find out what
marvellous things she has done by speaking
with her fellow workers and hearing her
praise sung by the men whom she has res
| cued from life of shame and crime.
Mr. W. M. F. Round for many years the
| president of the Prison Association of New
| York. is associated with a line OF prison
work quite different in idea. from that of
Mrs. Booth. His association works on the
| lines of a charity organization society. Its
| energies mainly devoted to cross-ques-
tioning men and investigating their state
ments when they are, perhaps, almost
| starving and sorely in need of a job. 1t is
! decidedly official and bureaucratic. Mr..
Round said the other day:
II have for quarter of a century been
protesting against the insufferable, senti-
| mental patronizing twaddle of those who,
| for want of a better place to hear their
! own voices, have chosen for listeners, with
out any feeling of pity, the forced audiences
| of prison chapels.''
| Yet Mr.. Round has felt constrained to
make some exceptions, and the greatest
| exception he makes is in the case of Mrs.
Booth.
Positive Uplifting.
"Of all who have carried new possibility
| into stricken lives. not one has done it
with such prophetic radiance as Maud Bal
| lington Booth, before whose work for God
| and humanity take off my hat in humble
reverence" he said, the other day. Il
know about prisons, l know about prison
| erS, l Know every one VINO mas UOne con-
| spicuous work among prisoners for their
uplifting. l unhesitatingly say that have
| known no work done which is SO far-reach-
| ing, SO lasting, SO real as that done by Mrs
| Booth. In Mrs. Booths work there has
| been quality of positive uplifting such as
| no other has impaired. 1t is no exaggera-
| ton to say that her presence has been an
angel presence, and that the wisdom of her
| methods has been of diviner quality than
| in most cases of similar effort.
| "And still one would not recommend such
| work and such methods to very many
| There are few, indeed who could do the
| work with such high common sense. such
| ready submission to the discipline and other
! peculiar conditions of penal establishments.
| such steadfast adherence to the one idea
| that no man has SO sinned but there Is u
| possibility of his return to God"
/ That Is the position in nutshell. The
| Volunteer Prison League is not an organi-
| cation in the ordinary sense Of the term. 1t
| Is merely the expression of Mrs. Booths
! nature and wonderful power for work. The
/ league without Mrs Booth would be worse
/ than Hamlet" with the Prince of Denmark
/ left out. By giving lectures all over the
/ country, she raises every year the greater
/ part of the funds necessary to support the
i work of the league, about $4,000. She col
| lects most of the remainder from her