The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1909-04-16

| $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 facer to many
professional author with no other &C.
cupation.
William Booth was born on April
10. 1929. in Nottingham, England, and
was trained for the Methodist minis.
try which he entered and became one
Of the strongest evangelistic forces in
that church. He grew dissatisfied.
however. at reaching only those with
some religious training and convic-
ton. lie felt that there were thous-
ands whose need was far greater and
don where Indebtedness Of all kinda
was the rule.
In a disused burial ground on Mile
End road he pitched an old tent and
the first Salvatiouis; meeting was
held in that tent in 1861. The fiery
eloquence OF the earnest young
preacher caught the attention of
crowd OF poor Whitechapelers and be-
fore that first meeting was over he
had made several conversions. a per
Torrance that he mas been, repeating
throughout the world for AZ years.
How he Started the Army.
This first meeting resulted In the
formation OF the Christian mission,
| usag AVnnpRiigf' <
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 anu
oversight, he set about forming 30
cieties Of tho converted. These ne
found to be potent agency for bring
ing in more. as the needless East
ender could be impressed by the
words OF n former pal when he
would not listen to minister. so
was created the central idea OF the
Salvation Army.
The need of organization becomes
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 1t 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 Il first reached the United
States through the influence OF Il silk.
weaver who had omigrated from Gov.
entry. England, bringing with him the
Salvation Army idea and strong de.
sire to continue in the work 1t
reached Australia in tho same year
through q milk dealer from Stepney,
and soon afterwards the first Canadian
corpg 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 n
few small corps into veritable army
OF tremendous influence and unsur-
passed efficiency. His first great
world.tour was made In 1891. when he
visited South Africa, Australia and
India. Since then he has visited tho
: United States, Canada, Australia, New
Zealand and India four times, South
Africa twice and Japan and the Holy
Land each once.
During all these travels the actual
executive responsibility for the gov
crumcnt Of the army has never been
, lifted from his shoulders. Even on
, shipboard he is an indefatigable work.
? err. planning and writing through the
/ days.
, Gen. Booth Honored.
one of the most remarkable OF the
many tributes paid to the general by
the great OF the world was that OF the
mlkado of Japan during the visit to
that country. The mikado personally
received the general with great
warmth and he was accorded remark.
able ovations in Yokohama, Tokyo.
,, Sendai and Kyoto, a circumstance of
strange import when II is realized
, that Japan is not Christian country.
Another interesting distinction given
, Gen. Booth was the comforting on him
Of the degree OF doctor of civil law by
, oxford university. The significance
I. of this honor will be better under
, stood when 1t is stated those who re-
? ceived university honors with him at
= the time were Prince Arthur OF Con
naught. the prime minister OF Eng
A land, the lord chancellor. the speaker,
= Sir T.. Grey. the archbishop OF
3 Armagh. Sir Evelyn Wood, the AmerI
!. can ambassador, Mark Twain and
b. Rudyard Kipling.
Y As a writer Gen. Booth is remark
] able, both as n stylist, as a thinker
S and as q producer. He has written In
0 all 81 volumes, besides innumerable
Y articles for the army publications
Q His best known book is I'm Darkest
t England and the Way Out" In which
he outlined his scheme for social re