Evening star., 1919-03-01
SALVATION ARMY WAS
. READY FOR WAR WORK
That Is Secret of Its Success, Com.
mander Evangeline Booth
f. Tells Audience.

What is the secret of the Salvation
Army's success in the war;
Declaring that she is confronted on
all sides with that question, Com
mander-in-chi Evangeiine Booth
speaking yesterday afternoon and
evening before the National Geo
graphic Society at the New Masonic
Temple. said:
when the war bolt fell it found the
Salvation Army ready. Ready, not
only with our material machinery, but
with the right caliber of men and
women.
Tn France our numbers have been
few. But this is because 1 have felt it
was better to fall short in quantity
than to run the risk of falling short
in quality"
Trained first of all. she said, in the
art Of dealing ably with human life" ;
trained to meet emergencies of every
ohara cter, and even trained in the
art of making the winsome attrac-
tive coquetries of the round, brown
doughnut, the Salvation Army worker
went forth fully equipped for the trv-
ing wartime tasks.
strangers to suffering. The biting cold
winds that swept the fields of Elan :
ders were not the first to lash our
faces The sunless cellars, with their
moldy walls and water-seeped floors.
where our women sought refuge from
shell fire through the hours of the
night. contributed no new or untried
experience In such cellars as these in
their home cities they have blessed
the sick and dying" the speaker con-
tinued.
wet feet, lack of sleep, being often
without food. finding things different
from what we had planned, hoped and
expected. were frequent experiences
with us"
Speaking of the hardships of woman
workers, successfully endured, Com
n1ander Booth pointed out that such
hardships were part and parcel of the
peace-time experiences of the Salvation
Army workers.
''This explains why their dear forms
loomed up in the fog and rain, in the
hours of night, on the roads, under shell
fire, serving coffee and doughnuts," she
said.
= This is how it was they were with
the men on long, dreary marches with a
smile and song and word of cheer. =
'This is how it is that the Salvation
Army has no closing hours. Taps sound
for US when the need is relieved.
Commander Booth said that Col.
Theodore Roosevelt told her only Few
days before he went to the hospital that
his son wrote him of one Salvation
Army officer. fifty-three years old, who
went over the top 'in the whirlwind of
the charge. amid the shrek of she'll and
the burst of shrapnel. and picked up the
American boys left for dead. in no mans
land carrying them safely on his back
over the shell-torn fields to safety"
Few have even a remote idea of
the extensive training given to all
Salvation Army officers by our mill
fary system of education that covers
all the tactics of that particular war;
fare to which they have aconsecreated
their lives-the service of humanity
Commander Booth went on.
I'VE have in the Salvation Army
sthirty-nine training schools"
She said the Salvation Army flag
had been carried into sixty-three diff
ferent countries. and. despite the bft-
ferest opposition, has been given
financial support of twenty-one gov-
ernments. II has grown from a hand
full of workers to an organization Of
II, 900 officers, preaching the gospel
in thirty-nfne tongues. with a circu-
iation for its publications. printed in
thirty-seven languages. of million
and a half weekly.