Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-03-10
GEN. WILLIAM BOOTH TO BID
FAREWELL UNITED STATES

The arrival in New York the other day OF
Gen. William Booth. the Grand Old Man
of the Salvation Army. was the beginning
of his last tour of the United States. he
comes to use his own expression, as
harbinger Of peace" and in his talks 10 vast
audiences he will tell of his successes Ill
Norway, Sweden. Denmark and other couh-'
tries in the old world.
He will also tell of his plans for an IN
ternational University of Humanity where
men and women will be trained 10 oeai
with the sorrows, sins and miseries Oh man
kind Gen. Booth is said TO be prlrnmihs
over with goodly schemes for the oeltel-
ment of humanity and he will request the
American people to assist him In their con-
summation.
Seven thousand corps. This Is the gwen
strength of the Salvation Army IN us
warfare against wrongdoing. Campaigns
against Satan are being planned In coun-
tries in which no barracks have been estap-
lished and where there are no advance
guards of Salvationists. Lieut.. Col. WIZ
liam H. Cox, who is taking an actlVe inter-
est in Gen. Booths American tour, says
the active membership Of the army Is con-
fined to the real workers, leaving out TIE
tens of thousands Of adherents, those VINO
know no other religious body but the Sal
walton Army, yet have not their names IN
scribed upon its official roll; also the thou
sands of auxiliaries. principally men and
women of culture who link themselves TO
this body of militant Christians for sym
pathetic reasons; also the vast multitude
of beneficiaries of its rescue homes. WORK
ingmen's hotels. prison gate brigades, 1arm
colonies hospitals and industrial homes
And ali this accomplished in forty years!
Had this occurred in the dark ages,
he added well, those ages would nave oeeh
no longer dark. But that is not my point;
Did the spirit of mysticism that preValed
then still WELD potent force-were the wand
of the magicion today the open sesame to
things difficult to comprehend-peopie Woulo
suspect General Booth Of possessing super
natural powers. 1t would not be surprls-
ing today if the peoples OF the oriental
lands entertained suspicion that he Is the
possessor of some occult force by means
Of which a more or less compietes .et gu
great body of them reformed hoertnes-
has by his direction and power oeen
brought into existence.
but the reason must be sought else
where Christians Of the old evangelical
school will have no hesitation In ascrioing
it to a Divine source. Great religious move
ments have come periodically. from the
time Of Sayonarola, Huss, Melancthon and
Martin Luther. Evangelists and doctors Of
the church have frequently been piueked
from their cures like picture from It's
setting, and sent forth, frequently III SON,
tude, to become the evangel OF a revived
Christianity. The need has always round
the man ready for the work. At time
when the Christian Church was cmeny
known for it's spiritual deafness John Wes-
lev and Whitefield were inspired TO thunder
forth to the world an almost forgotten
truth-the need of personal religion. inese
men passed away after seeing their work
accomplished In other days, when apathy
like a bird Of i'll omen had spread It's chilly
xuinoe over the churches, William BOOM
heard his call and being. even In that day.
an advocate and exemplifcation OF what
Theodore Roosevelt today terms the strenu-
Gus Iife'-for William Booth has always act
ed on the principal. All or nothing'-he
proceeded at once to sever denominational
ties, and, with scarcely threepenny DIT IN
his nocket and growing family to pro-
vide for, launch out upon the New CRU
SADIE"
Born In Nottingham, England. in the year
1929, Gen. Booth is now seventy-seven