The Montgomery tribune. (Montgomery City, Mo.) 1892-1910, 1909-04-16

as planned by the ~patriarchal evangel-
such an organization will be-.
or the generals plan for the uni.
versity he himself said recently: y
want to train men and women to deal
with misfortune. / want them in
structed to combat with the weak
nesses and sins of the drunkard, the
criminal. the pauper and the would-be
suicide" q
At 80 years Of age the head of the
Salvation Army, after more than half n
century of almost ~unceasing activity,
is as vigorous and untiring as at any
time in his career. The inexhaustible
vitality and intellectual and physical
activity of this social reformer, philan-
%thropist. preacher, author and traveller
are marvellous. At fourscore he Is
travelling many thousands Of miles
over the world every year, controlling
the destinies of his more than 1000
corps of Salvation soldiery with their
$4,000 commissioned officers, distribu-
ted among every civilized country,
preaching constantly to vast audiences
and doing an amount of literary work
that would be a factor to many q pro-
fessional author with no other occupa-
ton.
William Booth was born on April 10,
1929, in Nottingham, England, and was
trained for the Methodist ministry,
which he entered and became n Of
the strongest e~vangelistic forces in
that church. He grew dissatisfied,
however, at reaching only those with
some religious training and convic-
ton. He felt that there were thou
sands whose need was far greater and
he gravitated to the East end of Lon
don where Indebtedness of all kinds
was the rule.
In a disused burial ground on Mile
End road he pitched an old tent and
the first Salvationist meeting was
held in that tent in 1861. The fiery
%eloquence Of the earnest young
preacher caught the attention of a
crowd of poor Whitechapelers and be-
fore that first meeting vas over he had
made several conversions, a perform.
ance that he has been repeating
throughout the world for AZ years.
How He Started the Army.
This first meeting resulted in the
formation of the Christian mission,
from which 1t IVES the ~evangelist's
custom to send his converts to the ex-
listing churches Of the locality, but
finding that they were not welcomed
and were in danger of slipping back
from sheer want of comradeship and
oversight, he set about forming So
cieties of the converted. These he
found to be a potent agency for bring
ing in more, as the needless East
ender could be impressed by the
words of a former pal when he
would not listen to a minister. So was
created the central idea of the Saliva
ton Army.
The need of organization became
apparent, but several methods were
tried with little success before Gen.
Booth hit upon the military idea and
named his organization the Salvation
Army. From that time on the move
ment grew amazingly and it has con.
tinued to grow without ceasing to
this day.
Spread Over the World.
The movement began spreading to
other countries of the world in 1881
when it first reached the United
States through the influence of a silk.
who had emigrated from Gov.
entry, England, bringing with him the
Salvation Army idea and a strong de-
sire to continue in the work. 1t
reached Australia in the same year
through a milk dealer from Stepney,
and soc afterwards the first Canadian
corps was organized in a similar
fashion.
Five years later, In 1886, the gen.
eral made the first Of many visits to
the American branches of the army
and he has seen them grow from a
few small corps into a veritable army
of tremendous influence and unsur
passed efficiency. His first grea:
world-tour was made in 1891, when he
visited South Africa, Australia and
India. Since then he has visited the
United States, Canada, Australia, New
Zealand and India four times, South
Africa twice and Japan and the Holy
Land each once.