{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_39120/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_39120","id":"gutenberg_39120","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39120","summary":null,"tags":["Booth, William, 1829-1912. In darkest England, and the way out","Category: British Literature","Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Category: Sociology","Salvation Army -- Great Britain"],"text":"*SALVATION SYRUP; OR, LIGHT ON DARKEST ENGLAND*\n\n                                  _By_\n\n                             *G. W. Foote*\n\n                       _A REPLY TO GENERAL BOOTH_\n\n\n                                 _1891_\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n    SALVATION SYRUP; OR, LIGHT ON DARKEST ENGLAND\n    POSTSCRIPTS TO SECOND EDITION\n\n\n\n\nSALVATION SYRUP; OR, LIGHT ON DARKEST ENGLAND\n\n\nTwenty years ago the Hallelujah Band spread itself far and wide, but\nsoon spent itself like a straw fire. Then arose the Salvation Army,\ndoing the same kind of work, and indulging in the same vagaries. These\nwere imitations of the antics of the cruder forms of Methodism. Even the\nall-night meetings of the Whitechapel Salvationists, ten years ago, were\nfaint copies of earlier Methodist gatherings, especially of those in\nCornwall, which were described by the Rev. Richard Polwhele.(1) \u201cAt. St.\nAgnes,\u201d said this writer, \u201cthe Society stays up the whole night, when\ngirls of twelve and fourteen years of age ran about the streets, calling\nout that they are possessed.\u201d At Probus \u201cthe preacher at a late hour of\nthe night, after all but the higher classes left the room, would order\nthe candles to be put out, and the saints fall down and kneel on their\nnaked knees; when he would go round and thrust his hand under every knee\nto feel if it were bare.\u201d The Salvationists never went so far as this.\nFreaks of such description are left, in this age, to the followers of\nKing Solomon in the Brighton Glory Hole. But a friend of ours, who\nvisited an all-night Salvation meeting at Whitechapel in 1882, told us\nthat the light was very dim, the voices were low, cheeks came perilously\nclose in prayer, and at one moment the proceedings threatened to\ndevelope into a thoroughgoing love-feast.\n\n      1. Anecdotes of Methodism.\n\nAs far as a more cultivated age would allow, the Salvation Army\nadvertised and recruited itself by the familiar practices of what\nProfessor Huxley calls \u201ccorybantic Christianity.\u201d During the last six or\nseven years it has grown more decorous, but prior to that time its\nvulgarity was excessive. Its songs, its rowdy meetings, its coarse,\nimbecile language, its ludicrous street processions, were enough to\nfurnish a Swift with fresh material for his indictment of mankind. The\nnames of its officers, as reported in its journal, were curiosities to\nthe student of human aberration. There was the \u201cHallelujah Fishmonger,\u201d\nthe \u201cBlood-washed Miner,\u201d the \u201cDevil Dodger,\u201d the \u201cDevil Walloper,\u201d and\n\u201cGypsy Sal.\u201d Many of the worshippers of success who are now flocking\naround General Booth as a new Savior of Society, would be astonished if\nthey were to turn over the old pages of the _War Cry_.\n\nNo one can pretend that \u201cGeneral,\u201d Booth is a man of spiritual genius.\nHe is essentially a man of business. His faculty is for organisation,\nnot for the promulgation of new ideas or the creation of new material.\nHis eye for a good advertisement is unequalled. Barnum forgot Booth in\ncalling himself the greatest showman on earth. As the present writer\nsaid in 1882, the head of the Salvation Army is \u201ca dexterous manager; he\nknows how to work the oracle; he understands catering for the mob; in\nshort he is a very clever showman, who deals in religion, just as other\nshowmen deal in wild animals, giants, dwarfs, two-headed sheep, fat\nwomen, and Siamese twins.\u201d\n\nEverything in the Salvation Army is subordinated to \u201cbusiness.\u201d At the\nhead-quarters a minute register is kept of all the officers. Few of them\nare paid a regular salary. They are largely dependent on \u201cresults.\u201d\nWhatever their faculty may be for \u201csaving souls,\u201d they must rake in\nenough shekels, or they are drafted from post to post, and finally\ndischarged. On the same principle, Booth has married his family \u201cwell,\u201d\nas the world calls it, and put them into all the higher posts.\n\nBy this means he secures a select circle of trusted subordinates, who\nconvey his orders to the lower circles of the Army, and see to their\nexecution. While this plan lasts there will be no dangerous mutiny;\nespecially as, in addition, the whole of the Army\u2019s property is held in\nthe name of William Booth. There is, in fact, a Booth dynasty; though it\nmay be doubted if the dynasty will long outlast its founder. Certainly\nhis death will cause changes, and his empire will probably split up like\nAlexander\u2019s.\n\nEight years ago the General\u2019s eldest sun was married to a young lady of\n\u2018\u2018great expectations,\u201d who joined the Booths against her father\u2019s\nwishes. With a keen eye for business, the General resolved to turn the\nmarriage into a public show. Of course, the legal ceremony had to be\nperformed elsewhere, but the Salvation performance came off at the\nArmy\u2019s biggest meeting-place. The price of admission was a shilling a\nhead, and \u00a3300 was taken at the doors. A collection was also made\ninside. During the speech of \u201cCommissioner\u201d Railton, an able man who has\nhad an eccentric career, the crowd began to press towards the door.\n\u201cStop,\u201d cried Booth, \u201cdon\u2019t go yet, there\u2019s going to be a collection.\u201d\nBut the audience melted faster than ever. Then the General jumped up,\nstopped Railton unceremoniously, and shouted, \u201cHold on! we\u2019ll make the\ncollection now.\u201d\n\nDuring the farcical marriage ceremony the General was duly facetious.\nHis remarks tickled the ears of the groundlings. There was also the\nusual spice of blasphemy. Before Bramwell Booth marched on to the\nplatform a board was held up bearing the inscription,\n\n    \u201cBehold the bridegroom cometh.\u201d\n\nBegging letters were sent out by Commissioner Railton, though cheques\nwere to be \u201cpayable to William Booth, as usual.\u201d It was sought to raise\na good sum, not for Bramwell personally, but to reduce the Army\u2019s debt\nof \u00a311,000. The printed slips were headed,\n\n\u201cWedding Presents to Mr. Bramwell Booth,\u201d who was stated to have worked\nso hard for the Army that his hair was grey at twenty-seven. But the\npiety was properly mixed with the business, and subscribers were told\nthat their cash would not only gladden the hearts of the Booths, but\n\u201cmake the devil tremble,\u201d and \u201cgive earth and hell another shock.\u201d\n\nThis experiment was so successful that the General has repeated it on\nseveral occasions. But he carried indecency to the point of\ndisgustfulness at the funeral of Mrs. Booth. The poor lady\u2019s corpse was\ndragged hither and thither by the inveterate old showman. It was brought\nup from Clacton-on-Sea and exhibited to the public at Clapton.\nCollection boxes were well in evidence, and although there was no charge\nto see the corpse, there were significant hints that a trifle was\nexpected. Then the corpse was removed to Olympia, the scene of Barnum\u2019s\ntriumphs. No effort was spared to secure a great success. Officers were\nordered up from all parts of the kingdom. The rank and file of the Army\nwere also invited, and tickets were available for any number of\noutsiders. With regard to the performance, we must remember that tastes\ndiffer. But one portion of it was calculated to shock every person with\nany delicacy of feeling. Booth and his kindred stood up to sing around\nthe coffin the hymn they sang around Mrs. Booth\u2019s death-bed. The\nperformers seemed to say, \u201cLadies and Gentlemen, you were not present\nwhen we sang your mother to glory, but just look and listen, and you\nwill see how it was done.\u201d\n\nFor a third time the corpse was shifted to Queen Victoria-street.\nUnlimited advertising brought a tremendous crowd of sight-seers. Booth\nheaded the procession, followed by the Booth dynasty, and all of them\nbowed and smiled to the cheering multitude.\n\nEven in a funeral coach the Grand Old Showman had an eye to business.\n\nSuch being General Booth\u2019s attitude towards the public, what is his\nattitude towards the Salvation Army? Any one who reads his \u201cOrders and\nRegulations\u201d will see that he has his cattle well in hand, and not only\ncan drive them where he pleases, but flick them smartly on any part with\nhis long-reaching whip. He subjects them absolutely to his persona!\ndespotism. Every part of his soldiers\u2019 lives is regulated. They must\ncourt and marry within the ranks. \u201cShould a soldier,\u201d he says, \u201cbecome\nengaged to an officer who afterwards gives up or forfeits his or her\ncommission, the soldier would be justified in breaking off the\nengagement.\u201d The General wishes to _breed_ Salvationists. He tells them\nwhat to eat and what to wear. He informs them that they are only\npassengers through this world. \u201cThough still living in the world,\u201d he\nsays, \u201cthe Salvationist is not of it, and he has, in this respect no\nmore business with its politics\u2014 that is, the public management of\naffairs\u2014than he has with its pleasures.\u201d When the General wants his\nsoldiers to vote or act politically, he will issue a manifesto, and\nevery one is then expected to \u201cact in harmony with the rules and\nregulations laid down for him by his superior officers.\u201d These superior\nofficers, who take _their_ orders from General Booth, must be perfectly\nobeyed, for \u201cthey have the Spirit of God, and will only command what is\nright.\u201d\n\nNow it is well to remember all this in discussing General Booth\u2019s new\nscheme of social salvation. He insists on retaining absolute command of\nall the funds, and on working the whole scheme through the Salvation\nArmy. All who assist him, therefore, are helping to promote the\ndevelopment of a vast body of religious fanatics, under the despotic\ncontrol of a single man, who will not scruple, when it serves his\npurpose to, use his voluntary slaves, for political as well as social\nobjects. For General Booth has his own notions\u2014 crude as many of them\nare\u2014and it is not in human nature to refrain from using power for the\nrealisation of one\u2019s ideas. And Pope Booth is more absolute than Pope\nPecci. The Vicar of Christ at Rome is unable to move without his Holy\nCouncil of Cardinals; but the Vicar of Christ in Queen Victoria-street,\nLondon, is the unchecked and irresponsible ruler of the whole Salvation\nArmy.\n\nGeneral Booth\u2019s success as an organiser is great, though he has had a\ncomparatively easy task in organising _sheep_. Now, however, he proposes\nto deal with the _goats_. Some of his scanty leisure has been devoted to\nstudying the social question, and as the interest in the Army\u2019s old\nmethods is obviously declining, he proposes to raise a million of money,\nand reform that part of the population which John Bright called \u201cthe\nresiduum.\u201d In other words, the wily old General has launched a new boom.\n\nPlaudits are heard on nearly every side. The religious bodies give him\nthe homage of fear. They shout approval because they dare not show\nhostility. Next come the mob of cheap philanthropists. This consists of\nrich ladies and gentleman, who feel twinges of remorse at living\nsumptuously while others are starving, and who are ready to pay\nconscience-money to any social charlatan. When they have written out a\ncheque they feel relieved. \u201cOn with the dance, let joy be unconfined.\u201d\nBut it is not thus that the spectre of poverty and misery will be laid.\n\n    Evil is wrought by want of thought,\n\n    As well as by want of heart.\n\nIf the so-called lower classes are to be elevated, the so-called upper\nclasses will find they will have to do some _thinking_. Social knots\ncannot be cut, they must be untied. The Sphinx says you must _read_ her\nriddle. All the money-bags in the world will never smooth her terrible\nbrow.\n\nGeneral Booth\u2019s scheme of social salvation is before the world in the\nform of a book. Let us examine the prophecy of this would-be Moses of\nthe serfs of poverty and degradation.\n\nAn ordinary author would sign himself \u201cWilliam Booth,\u201d but this one is\n\u201cGeneral\u201d even on a title-page. In Darkest England is an obvious\nplagiarism on Stanley, and The Way Out is suggested by his long travel\nthrough the awful Central African forest.\n\nIn the preface General Booth acknowledges the \u201cvaluable literary help\u201d\nof a \u201cfriend of the poor, who, though not in any way connected with the\nSalvation Army, has the deepest sympathy with its aims, and is to a\nlarge extent in harmony with its principles.\u201d The friend is Mr. Stead.\nThis gentleman has \u201cwritten up\u201d the scheme in the manner of \u201cthe born\njournalist,\u201d that is, in the fashion of the Modern Babylon\u201d and the\nadventures of Eliza Armstrong. He contributes the descriptions, the\ngush, the hysterics, the sentences crowded with adjectives and adverbs.\nSometimes he writes a whole chapter, unless our literary scent misleads\nus; sometimes he interpolates the General, and sometimes the General\ninterpolates Stead. One result of this twofold authorship is that the\nbook is twice as big as it should be; another result is that it often\ncontradicts itself. For instance, the General states in the preface that\nhe has known \u201cthousands, nay, I can say tens of thousands,\u201d who have\nproved the value of _spiritual_ means of reformation, having \u201cwith\nlittle or no temporal assistance, come out of the darkest depths of\ndestitution, vice, and crime, to be happy and honest citizens and true\nsons and servants of God.\u201d Elsewhere (p. 243) he speaks of them as\n\u201cmultitudes.\u201d Yet in the very next paragraph of the preface Mr. Stead\n(if we mistake not) breaks in with the assertion that \u201cthe rescued are\nappallingly few,\u201d a mere \u201cghastly minority.\u201d\n\nThis little contradiction may throw light on the rumor that Booth has\nbeen urged into this scheme of temporal salvation. Once upon a time he\nwas down on \u201cCommissioner\u201d Smith, whose tendencies in this direction\nwere obtrusive; and how long is it since he wrote in the new Rules and\nRegulations, that the members of the Salvation Army had nothing to do\nwith the world, its politics, its business, or its pleasures? The hand\nis the hand of Booth, but the voice seems the voice of Stead.\n\nHere is another contradiction, and this time a vital one. The General\ncurls his upper lip (p. 18) at those \u201canti-Christian economists who hold\nthat it is an offence against the doctrine of the survival of the\nfittest to try to save the weakest from going to the wall, and who\nbelieve that when once a man is down the supreme duty of a\nself-regarding Society is to jump upon him.\u201d Without dwelling on the\nfact that this is a shocking and perfectly gratuitous libel, probably\nmeant to pander to Christian prejudices, we content ourselves with\ndrawing attention to a contradictory declaration (p. 44) that \u201cIn the\nstruggle for life the weakest will go to the wall, and there are so many\nweak. The fittest, in tooth and claw, will survive. All that we can do\nis to soften the lot of the unfit and make their suffering less horrible\nthan it is at present. No amount of assistance will give a jellyfish a\nbackbone. No outside propping will make some men stand erect.\u201d Thus the\nGeneral, or Mr. Stead, joins hands with the \u201canti-Christian economists\u201d\nin the doctrine that it is useless to try to save the weakest from going\nto the wall. Of course he does not endorse the policy of jumping on\nthem, but that policy is merely a production of his own pious\nimagination.\n\nThis contradiction we say is vital. The first statement is a sneer at\nNatural Selection, the second is a frank admission of its supremacy.\nThey represent two antagonistic philosophies. They mark the parting of\nthe ways between the Christian and the Evolutionist. They are as\nincompatible as oil and water, and no thoughtful man would attempt to\nreconcile them. But Booth (or isn\u2019t it Stead?) combines incompatibles\nwith the alkali of sentiment. And this failure to discern the\ndistinctiveness of opposite first principles shows the book to be the\nwork of sciolists, and vitiates its scheme of social reform from\nbeginning to end. No work can succeed without a knowledge of materials.\nEvery effort at improvement has in it the elements of success or failure\nas it recognises or ignores the special laws of human nature, and the\nmore general laws of biology that lie behind them.\n\nAn amusing contradiction occurs in another place (p. 14), to which we\ncall attention in order to show the chaotic character of the writing;\nand this time, we judge from the style, it is Stead contradicting Stead.\nSpeaking of the harlot, he says\u2014\n\n\u201cBut there, even in the lowest depths, excommunicated by Humanity and\noutcast from God, she is far nearer the pitying heart of the One true\nSavior than all the men who forced her down, aye, and than all the\nPharisees and Scribes who stand silently by while these fiendish wrongs\nare perpetrated before their very eyes.\u201d\n\nThe theology of this passage is worthy of the wild exaggeration with\nwhich it closes. The poor harlot is \u201coutcast from God,\u201d but near the\n\u201cpitying heart\u201d of Christ; in other words, God the Father is on the side\nof injustice and cruelty, and God the Son on the side of justice and\nmercy. One person of the Trinity is played off against another, and it\nis not for us to settle the difference between them. We leave the matter\nto the second thoughts of Mr. Stead, or the divine illumination of\nGeneral Booth.\n\nIndeed, the entire theology of this book is worthy of Bedlam, and\nespecially of the criminal lunatic department. A personal Devil is\nseriously trotted out (p. 159) for the laughter of intelligent men and\nwomen, and even of decently educated children. Prosperous people, we are\ntold, see something strange and quaint in the language of the Bible,\nwhich \u201chabitually refers to the Devil as an actual personality,\u201d but\nHell and the Devil are certitudes to the Salvationists who work in the\nslums.\n\nWell, if the Devil is so active, what is God doing? Apparently nothing.\nBooth is going to reform our drunkards, or try to if we give him the\nmoney, but he candidly admits (p. 181), perhaps in a moment of\nforgetfulness, that the confirmed toper will drink himself \u201cinto a\ndrunkard\u2019s grave and a drunkard\u2019s hell,\u201d unless he is \u201cdelivered by an\nAlmighty hand.\u201d It is God alone, then, who can save the most fallen.\nTheir fate lies in his hands. And what does he do for them? The answer\nis to be found in General Booth\u2019s appeal. A million of money, and the\nco-operation of a multitude of men and women, are requested for the\npurpose of saving at least _some_ of the poor wretches who are beyond\nthe power of self-help, although \u201cthe Almighty hand\u201d could easily pluck\nthem out of their degradation. Nor does Booth expect that _all_ will be\nsaved by his scheme, however well supported and successful. It is\nperfectly clear, therefore, that the God he worships will allow men and\nwomen to perish whom he might promptly save; yes, allow them to perish\nin this world, physically, intellectually, and morally, and afterwards\ntorment them for ever and ever in Hell. And it is this God, this\nincredible monster of wickedness, in whom General Booth trusts, and whom\nhe bids the Freethinker look up to with admiration and love. Nay, he\nregards \u201ctrust in Jehovah\u201d (p. 241) as the chief credential of the\nSalvation Army for carrying out an enterprise which is to cost a million\nsterling. Let the worshippers of Jehovah support him then. The\nFreethinker will necessarily regard this insane theology as a rottenness\nat the very heart of the experiment.\n\nWithout going through all the insane theology of this book, we may\u2014nay,\nwe must\u2014give a crowning instance of it.\n\n\u201cI am quite satisfied that these multitudes will not be saved in their\npresent circumstances. All the Clergymen, Home Missionaries, Tract\nDistributors, Sick Visitors, and everyone else who care about the\nSalvation of the poor, may make up their minds as to that. If these\npeople are to believe in Jesus Christ, become the Servants of God, and\nescape the miseries of the wrath to come, they must be helped out of\ntheir present social miseries. They must be put into a position in which\nthey can work and eat, and have a decent room to live and sleep in, and\nsee something before them besides along, weary, monotonous, grinding\nround of toil, and anxious care to keep themselves and those they love\nbarely alive, with nothing at the further end but the Hospital, the\nUnion, or the Madhouse. If Christian Workers and Philanthropists will\njoin hands to effect this change, it will be accomplished, and the\npeople will rise up and bless them, and be saved; if they will not, the\npeople will curse them and perish.\u201d\u2014(p. 257).\n\nDid ever a human being excogitate such blasphemous nonsense? God is\nopenly declared to be a passive spectator of the great struggle between\ngood and evil. At the end of it he will save the succeeders and damn the\nfailers; although, according to Booth\u2019s own admission, hosts of both\nclasses are what they are through the pressure of circumstances.\nCompared with such a God the bloody Moloch was a respectable deity.\n\nFour men are living within sight and sound of each other, and one of\nthem goes to the bad. Thereupon it is the duty of Smith, Jones, and\nBrown to rescue Robinson. If they succeed, God will give him a seat in\nHeaven; if they fail, or neglect their duty, God will cast him into\nHell. Thus Robinson\u2019s fate depends upon the sympathy, self-sacrifice,\nand wisdom of Smith, Jones, and Brown. Want of heart on their part, and\neven want of sense, are alike fatal to his chance of salvation. God lets\nthem do their best; if they do nothing, he is just as serene; and at the\nday of judgment he sends Robinson to bliss or damnation, accordingly as\nSmith, Jones, and Brown\u2014separately or collectively\u2014have succeeded or\nfailed in keeping him out of the gutter.\n\nWhat a view of God! And what a ghastly, roundabout way of stating the\ntruth that religion is powerless to save the fallen, that men and women\ncan only be elevated by secular agencies!\n\nThis truth has always been proclaimed by Freethinkers. It is a\ncommonplace of their teaching. Yet the Churches have ignored or denied\nit. Here is General Booth, however, announcing it clearly enough to all\nwho will take the theological wadding out of their ears. True, the\ndiscovery is late, but better late than never.\n\nIt is upon this truth that Booth\u2019s scheme is founded. Sometimes, indeed,\nhe forgets it, and talks as though the preaching of Christ and him\ncrucified were enough to regenerate society. But this truth, that man is\nvery largely the creature of circumstances, and that evil circumstances\nshould be changed if there is to be any improvement, is the governing\nidea of his project.\n\nNo doubt the \u201cGeneral\u201d seeks an escape from the logical consequences of\nthis truth. He says, for instance, that (p. 286) \u201cto me has been given\nthe idea,\u201d as though God _had_ intervened and selected him as the human\nagent. But this is all nonsense. In the first place, if God gave Booth\nthe idea, he might as well have given him the cash. In the second place,\nthe idea\u2014or rather, the set of ideas\u2014is by no means a revelation. Every\npart of Booth\u2019s scheme has been advocated by other men, and several\nparts are already reduced to practice, though not on the gigantic scale\nhe contemplates. His Farm Colony is admittedly borrowed from Mr. B. T.\nCraig, a veteran Freethinker who was the soul of the Ralahine\nexperiment. With this gentleman Booth has had interviews; indeed, the\n\u201cGeneral\u201d\u2014perhaps with Mr. Stead\u2019s assistance\u2014has simply picked other\nmen\u2019s brains, although he takes care to conceal his indebtedness.\n\nNaturally, too, the astute leader of the Salvation Army recognises the\nnecessity of a _pious_ appeal to wealthy Christians. He therefore\n\u201casserts in the most unqualified way that it is primarily and mainly for\nthe sake of saving souls\u201d that he \u201cseeks the salvation of the body\u201d (p.\n45). And he declares (p. 3) it must not be supposed that he is \u201cless\ndependent upon the old plans\u201d or that he \u201cseeks anything short of the\nold conquest.\u201d At the same time (p. 279) he \u201cdoes not think that any\nsectarian differences or religious feelings whatever ought to be\nimported into this question.\u201d Is it not better, he asks, that miserable\ncrowds of men and women should have work, food, clothes, and a home,\neven with \u201csome peculiar religious notions and practices,\u201d than that\nthey should be \u201chungry, and naked, and homeless, and possess no religion\nat all\u201d? Put in this way, of course, the question admits of only one\nanswer. But this way of putting it begs the wider question; for it does\nnot follow that Booth\u2019s is the only possible scheme of social reform, or\neven that it is calculated to succeed.\n\nThe real fact is, disguise it how it may, that Booth\u2019s scheme is only an\nextension of the Salvation Army. He promises that there shall be no\ncompulsion, that the poor he gets hold of shall not be pressed into any\nform of faith, that religious freedom shall be respected. But what will\nthe promise avail? The whole scheme, from top to bottom, is to be worked\nby the Salvationists; every penny is to pass through Booth\u2019s hands, and\nevery order is to issue from his brain. Outsiders are only wanted in the\nshape of subscribers. Is it not idle then, to suppose that the scheme\nwill, in practice, be anything else than a huge recruiting system for\nthe Salvation Army? We venture to say that if Booth\u2019s _first_ thought\nwere for the poor, he would invite the formation of an influential\nCommittee, and not seek the monopoly of all the cash and credit for his\nown sect.\n\nLet us now turn to the scheme itself. Let us see what evils are to be\nremedied, and the nature of the remedy proposed.\n\nIn the opening chapters, written almost exclusively by Mr. Stead, there\nis a vivid, but, of course, exaggerated, picture of the diseases of\nsociety. The writer has walked through the \u201cshambles of our\ncivilisation,\u201d until \u201cit seemed as if God were no longer in this world,\nbut that in his stead reigned a fiend, merciless as Hell, ruthless as\nthe grave.\u201d Of course the grave is neither ruthless nor tender; and, of\ncourse, it is not Hell, but the God of Hell, that is merciless. But,\napart from these criticisms, it is evident that Mr. Booth-Stead or Mr.\nStead-Booth, is aware of much preventible evil; nor are we disposed to\nquarrel with him for calling it \u201ca satire upon our Christianity,\u201d\nalthough we might suggest the impossibility of satirising a creed which\nhas to make such shameful confessions after so many centuries of wealth,\npower, and privilege, and such a supreme opportunity of cleansing the\nworld if it had the capacity for the task. This Christianity has failed\n\u2014disastrously and ignominiously; yet has it played the dog in the\nmanger, and refused to allow Science and Philosophy a trial; and even\nnow, when condemned and self-condemned, it only whines for another\nchance, like an old offender for the hundredth time in the prisoners\u2019\ndock.\n\nEighteen centuries after the advent of \u201cthe Redeemer,\u201d and in the most\npious country in the world, it is Booth\u2019s calculation that one-tenth of\nthe population, or about three millions of men, women, and children are\nsunk in destitution, vice, and crime. In London alone, the city of\nchurches, where everything but religion is tabooed on Sunday, there are\n100,000 prostitutes, 85,000 thieves, and drunkards galore, to say\nnothing of the paupers, the idle, and the temporarily unemployed. And\nthe disease is getting worse, according to Booth, who declares that\nsomething must be done immediately. Well, we will neither dispute his\nstatistics nor his forecast, but just take his plan of campaign and see\nwhether it has the remotest chance of success.\n\nWhat is General Booth\u2019s scheme for dealing with the \u201csubmerged tenth,\u201d\nor three millions of the poor, the unemployed, and the vicious? And in\nwhat spirit will he set to work if he gets the hundred thousand pounds\ndown, with the prospect of the rest of a million pounds afterwards?\n\nBooth is a bold man and his promises are magnificent.\n\n\u201cIf the scheme,\u201d he says, \u201cwhich I set forth in these pages is not\napplicable to the Thief, the Harlot, the Drunkard, and the Sluggard, it\nmay as well be dismissed without ceremony.\u201d\n\nWe suspect that the Sluggard will be the toughest subject of all. Booth\nhas to solve the insoluble problem of how to put nervous energy into a\nbody in which it is constitutionally lacking. Common sense says the\nthing cannot be done. You may galvanise the Sluggard for a while, but\nthe effect will not last. Energy is not acquired, it is congenital. If\nBooth would take the trouble to read Mr. Havelock Ellis\u2019s book on\nCriminals, not to mention more recondite ^ works, he would see that the\nSluggard and the Thief are first cousins. Both have a defective\nvitality, only the Thief, and the Criminal generally, is capable, like\nall predatory creatures, of spasmodic activity. The type is well known\nand should be dealt with scientifically. Inveterate criminals should be\nsegregated. There is no necessity to treat them with cruelty. They\nshould be surrounded with comfort, but they should be rigorously\nprevented from procreating their like. Science shows us that the only\npermanently successful way of dealing with these classes is to cut off\nthe supply.\n\nCertainly there are many persons in gaol who are not congenital\ncriminals, and these should be dealt with in a spirit of wisdom and\nhumanity. Were they treated like men, subjected to proper discipline,\nand rewarded for good behavior and industry, instead of being punished\nso liberally for bad behavior and idleness, most of them would be\nreclaimed. In ordinary prisons \u2014so wretched, so inhuman, and so imbecile\nis the system\u2014eighty per cent, of first offenders come back again; while\nin the one great American prison which is conducted on a better method\nthe percentage is exactly reversed, only twenty per cent, returning to\ngaol, and eighty per cent, joining the ranks of decent society.\n\nGeneral Booth is not a scientist. He knows nothing of the lessons of\nEvolution. He is not aware that thousands of men and women are born in\nevery generation who are behind the age. They are types of a vanished\norder of mankind, relics of antecedent stages of culture. Natural\nSelection is always eliminating them, and General Booth proposes to\ncoddle them, to surround them with artificial circumstances, and give\nthem a better chance. He does not see that most of them, however propped\nup by the more energetic and independent, will always bear the stamp of\nunfitness; nor does he see that he will enable them to beget and rear a\nmore numerous offspring of the same character.\n\nThe law of heredity is a stern fact, and it will not budge a\nhair\u2019s-breadth for General Booth and all the sentimental religionists in\nthe world.\n\nTake the Harlots, for instance. We are far from denying that many girls,\nafter being seduced by men, are pushed into a life of vice. Christian\nsociety has no mercy on female frailty; it drives a girl who has\nlistened to the voice of a tempter, or the first suggestions of her\nsexual passions, into a career of infamy; and then, when it has helped\nto poison her life, it hypocritically sheds tears over her and sets up\nassociations for her rescue. This is true enough\u2014damnably true\u2014but it is\nnot the whole truth. Just as there are congenital criminals, there are\ncongenital harlots. They are cases of survival or reversion. Discipline\nof every kind is hateful to them. They prefer to do what they like, how\nthey like, and when they like. Animality and vanity are strong in them,\nbut they have little steady energy and no self-control. In a polygamous\nstate of society they would find a place in a harem; but in a monogamous\nand industrial state of society they are hopelessly out of harmony with\nthe general environment. Here is an instructive little table from\nGeneral Booth\u2019s book. He takes a hundred cases \u201cas they come\u201d from his\nRescue Register.\n\nTwenty-three of these girls had been in prison. Only two were pushed\ninto vice by poverty. Seduction, wilful choice, and bad company, come to\nmuch the same thing in the end. In any case, one-fourth of the whole\nhundred deliberately took to prostitution. Now:\n\n    Causes of Fall:\n\n    Drink                   14\n\n    Seduction               33\n\n    Wilful Choice           24\n\n    Bad Company             27\n\n    Poverty                  2\n\n                     Total 100\n\nif General Booth fancies that the money he spends on these is a good\ninvestment, while a greater number of good girls are trying to lead an\nhonest life in difficult circumstances, with little or no assistance\nfrom \u201ccharity,\u201d we venture to say he is grievously mistaken; and we\nthink he is basking in a Fool\u2019s Paradise, unless he is trading on pious\ncredulity, when he looks forward (p. 133) to the girls of Piccadilly\nexchanging their quarters for \u201cthe strawberry beds of Essex or Kent.\u201d\n\nFacts are facts. It is useless to blink them. The present writer did not\nmake the world, or its inhabitants, and he disowns all responsibility\nfor its miserable defects. But when you attempt to reform the world\nthere is only one thing that will help you. Humanity is presupposed.\nWithout it you would never make a beginning. But after that the one\nrequisite is Science. Now all the science displayed in General Booth\u2019s\nbook might be written large on thick paper, and tied to the wrings of a\nsingle pigeon without impeding its flight.\n\nGeneral Booth himself, in one of his lucid intervals, recognises the\nhard facts we have just insisted on. \u201cNo change in circumstances,\u201d he\nsays (p. 85), \u201cno revolution in social conditions, can possibly\ntransform the nature of man.\u201d \u201cAmong the denizens of Darkest England\nthere are many who have found their way thither by defects of character\nwhich would, under the most favorable circumstances, relegate them to\nthe same position.\u201d Again he says (p. 204):\n\n\u201cThere are men so incorrigibly lazy that no inducement you could offer\nwill tempt them to work; so eaten up by vice that virtue is abhorrent to\nthem, and so inveterately dishonest that theft is to them a master\npassion. When a human being has reached that stage, there is only one\ncourse that can be rationally pursued. Sorrowfully, but remorselessly,\nit must be recognised that he has become lunatic, morally demented,\nincapable of self-government, and that upon him, therefore, must be\npassed the sentence of permanent seclusion from a world in which he is\nnot fit to be at large.\u201d\n\nThese very people, who are the worst part of the social problem, Booth\nwill not trouble himself very greatly about. Here are a few extracts\nfrom the Rules for the \u201cColonists,\u201d as he calls the people who come into\nhis scheme.\n\n(a) Expulsion for drunkenness, dishonesty, or falsehood will follow the\nthird offence.\n\n(b) After a certain period of probation, and a considerable amount of\npatience, all who will not work to be expelled.\n\n(c) The third offence will incur expulsion, or being handed over to the\nauthorities.\n\n_Expulsion_ is Booth\u2019s whip, and a very convenient one \u2014for him! He will\nsoon simplify his enterprise. All who come to him will be taken, but he\nwill speedily return to society all the liars, drunkards, thieves, and\nidlers; so that when the scheme is in full swing, society will still\nhave the old problem of dealing with the residuum, and in this respect\nBooth will not have helped in the least.\n\nGeneral Booth\u2019s scheme is thus, in the ultimate analysis, merely one for\ndealing with the unemployed. On this point his ideas are simply\nchildish. He seems to imagine that _work_ is a thing that can be found\nin unlimited quantities. He does not suspect the existence of economic\nlaws. It never occurs to him that by artificially providing work for one\nunemployed person he may drive another person out of employment. Nor has\nhe the least inkling of the law of population which lies behind\neverything.\n\nIn his Labor Shops, in London, he proposes to make match-boxes. Well,\nnow, the community is already supplied with all the match-boxes it\nwants. The demand cannot be stimulated. And every girl that Booth takes\nin from the streets and sets to making match-boxes, which are to be put\non the market, will turn some other girl out of employment at Bryant and\nMay\u2019s or other match factories.\n\nSimilarly with the Salvation Bottles (p. 120) and the Social Soap (p.\n136). Booth\u2019s soap, if it gets sold, will lessen the demand for other\npeople\u2019s soap, and thus a lot of existing soap-makers will be thrown out\nof work. If he collects old bottles, and furbishes them up \u201cequal to\nnew,\u201d there will be so many less new bottles wanted, and a lot of\nexisting glass-bottle makers will be thrown out of work. The wily old\nGeneral of the Salvation Army, owing to a want of economic knowledge,\nfalls into a most obvious fallacy. He is like the Irishman, who\nlengthened his shirt by cutting a piece off the top and sewing it on the\nbottom.\n\nGetting hold of fish and meat tins, cleaning them up, and manufacturing\nthem into toys, is hardly worth all the eloquence spent upon it by\nBooth\u2019s literary adviser. Nor is there much to be said in favor of an\nInquiry Office for lost people. If it be true that 18,000 people are\n\u201clost\u201d in London every year, it may be assumed that the majority of them\ndo not want to be found, and it is the business of the police to look\nafter the rest. Neither is there any necessity to subvention General\nBooth to obtain workman\u2019s dwellings out of town instead of ugly, dreary\nmodel dwellings in the midst of dirt and smoke. Nothing can be done\nuntil provision is made by the railway companies for conveying the\nworkmen to and fro for twopence a day, and when this step is taken, as\nit must be, private enterprise will construct the dwellings without\nSalvation charity. With regard to the scheme of the Poor Man\u2019s Bank, it\nwould have been but fair to say that the idea is borrowed from infidel\nParis, where for many years a benevolent Society has lent money to\nhonest and capable poor men with gratifying results.\n\nThe giving of legal advice gratis to the poor would be a good thing if\nit did not lead to unlimited litigation. Of course General Booth does\nnot say, and perhaps he does not know, that Mr. Bradlaugh has been doing\nthis for twenty-five years. Thousands of poor men, not necessarily\nFreethinkers, have had the benefit of his legal advice. No one in quest\nof such assistance has ever knocked at his door in vain. Finally, with\nrespect to \u201cWhitechapel-at-Sea,\u201d a place which Booth projects for the\nreception of his poor people when they badly need a little sea-air and\nsunshine, it must be said that this kind of charity has been carried on\nfor years, and that Booth is only borrowing a leaf from other people\u2019s\nbook. In fact, the \u201cGeneral\u201d collects all the various charitable ideas\nhe can discover, dishes them up into one grandiose scheme, and modestly\nasks for a million pounds to carry out \u201cthe blessed lot.\u201d\n\nSingly and collectively these projects will no more affect \u201cthe\nunemployed\u201d than scratching will cure leprosy. Every effect has its\ncause, which must be discovered before any permanent good can be done.\nNow the causes of want of employment (if men desire to find it) are\npolitical and economical. The business of the true reformer is to\nascertain them and to remove or counteract them. Pottering with their\neffects, in the name of \u201ccharity,\u201d is like dipping out and purifying\ncertain barrels of water from an everflowing dirty stream.\n\nAt the very best \u201ccharity\u201d is artificial, and social remedies must be\nnatural. Work cannot be _provided_. People have certain incomes and\nallow themselves a certain expenditure. If they give Booth, or any other\ncharlatan, a hundred pounds to find work for \u201cthe unemployed,\u201d they have\na hundred pounds less to spend in other ways, and those who previously\nsupplied them with that amount of commodities or service will\nnecessarily suffer. Shuffle one pack of cards how you will, the hands\nmay differ, but the total number of cards will be fifty-two.\n\nGeneral Booth talks infinite nonsense about the \u201cfailure\u201d of Trade\nUnions because they only include a million and a half of workmen. Rome\nwas not built in a day, and even the Salvation Army, with God Almighty\nto help it, is not yet as extensive as this \u201cfailure.\u201d Nor does the\nworld need Booth to tell it the benefits of co-operation. He looks to it\nas \u201cone of the chief elements of hope in the future.\u201d So do thousands of\nother people, but what has this to do with the Salvation Army?\n\nThe only part of Booth\u2019s scheme which is of the least value is the one\nhe has borrowed from a Freethinker. The Farm Colony is suggested by the\nRahaline experiment associated with the name of Mr. E. T. Craig. But not\nonly was Mr. Craig a Freethinker, the same may be said of Mr. Vandeleur,\nthe landlord who furnished the ground for the experiment. At any rate,\nhe was a disciple and friend of Robert Owen, who declared that the great\ncause of the frustration of human welfare was \u201cthe fundamental errors of\nevery religion that had hitherto been taught to man.\u201d \u201cBy the errors of\nthese systems,\u201d said Owen, \u201che has been made a weak, imbecile animal; a\nfurious bigot and fanatic; and should these qualities be carried, not\nonly into the projected villages, but into Paradise itself, a Paradise\nwould no longer be found.\u201d\n\nThe Rahaline experiment was a co-operative one, while Booth\u2019s is to be\ndespotic. He proposes to put the unemployed at work on a big farm, and\nafterwards to draft them to an Over-sea Colony, where the reformed\n\u201cthieves, harlots, drunkards, and sluggards\u201d are to lay the foundations\nof a new province of the British Empire. Something, of course, might be\ndone in this way, but it is doubtful if Booth will get hold of the right\nmaterial to do it with, or if his Salvation methods will be successful.\nMuch greater effects than \u201ccharity\u201d could realise would be produced by a\nwise alteration of our Land Laws, which would lead to the application of\nfresh capital and labor to the cultivation of the soil. It is, indeed,\none of the prime evils of Booth\u2019s scheme, no less than of almost every\nother charitable effort, that it helps to divert attention from\npolitical causes of social disorders. No doubt charity is an excellent\nthing in certain circumstances, but the first thing to agitate for is\njustice; and when our laws are just, and no longer create evils, it will\nbe time enough for a huge system of charity to mitigate the still\ninevitable misery.\n\nSo far we have discovered nothing original in General Booth\u2019s scheme.\nIts elements may be reduced to three. There is (a) the reformation of\nweak, vicious, and criminal characters, which is a rather hopeless task\nespecially when the attempt is made with _adults_. Something might be\ndone with _children_, and in this respect Dr. Barnardo\u2019s work, with all\nits defects, is infinitely more sensible than General Booth\u2019s. Then\nthere is (b) providing labor for the unemployed, which, whether\nattempted by governments or charitable bodies is an economical fallacy.\nFinally there is (c) the planting of town populations on the land, which\nhas a certain small promise of success if the scheme were to take the\nform of allotments to capable cultivators; but which, on the other hand,\nwill surely come to grief if the experiment is made with even the\nselected residuum of great cities.\n\nBut supposing the scheme of General Booth were in itself full of social\npromise, a reasonable person would still ask, What are the\nqualifications of a religious body like the Salvation Army for carrying\nout such a scheme?\n\nFirst of all, let us take the General. He plainly tells us he is to be\nthe head of everything. He is not only to be the leader, but the brain;\nin fact, he expounds this function of his in a long passage of dubious\nphysiology. Now, the General is undoubtedly a clever man.\n\nBut is he such a universal genius as to \u201cboss\u201d everything, from playing\ntambourines to making tin toys, from preaching \u201cblood and fire\u201d to the\nadministration of a big farm, from walking backwards for Jesus to\nsuperintending a gigantic emigration agency? Unless he combines a vast\ndiversity of faculties with supernatural energy, he is sure to come to\ngrief; for absolute obedience to him is indispensable, and if _he_\nfails, the whole experiment fails with him.\n\nEven if General Booth prove himself equal to the occasion, the despotic\nnature of the management makes the success of the scheme precarious.\nEverything hangs upon the single thread of his life, which may be\nsnapped at any moment. Even if we admit his consummate and comprehensive\ngenius, what guarantee is there that his successor will inherit it?\n\nGeneral Booth bids us remember that the Salvation Army _has_ succeeded,\nand its past achievements are a pledge of its future triumphs. But let\nus look into this, and see how much it is to the point.\n\nThat the Salvation Army is a striking success is not to be disputed. But\nwhat is the _character_ of its success? This is an all-important\nquestion: for a man, or an organisation, may be very successful in one\ndirection, and hopelessly impotent in another.\n\nUndoubtedly the Salvation Army caters for hysterical persons who are\nsick and tired of the \u201crespectable\u201d forms of religion. But is it true\nthat the Army reforms the thief, the drunkard, and the profligate? Now\nin answering this question it is well to bear in mind that solitary\ncases prove absolutely nothing. There is no principle, no system, no\norganisation, which has not absorbed some persons who previously led\nlives of selfish indulgence, aroused in them an interest in impersonal\nobjects, and surrounded them with a restraining public opinion. The real\nquestion is this \u2014How is the Salvation Army in the main recruited?\n\nAgain and again it has been asserted by outsiders, and admitted by\ncandid members, that the Army is principally recruited from other sects.\nSome years ago this assertion was publicly made in the _Times_ by the\nRev. Llewellyn Davies, who was prepared to prove it in his own parish of\nMarylebone. Mr. Davies was answered by \u201cCommissioner\u201d Railton, who\nindulged in vague generalities, which were cut short by the simple\nrequest to produce the notorious sinners converted in that parish. Of\ncourse they were not produced: for the most part these \u201cconverts\u201d exist\non paper.\n\nThe Army\u2019s pretensions are disproved by statistics. It boasts of nearly\nten thousand officers and a million of adherents. Now if these, or a\nconsiderable proportion of them, had been drawn from the moral residuum\nof England, a very serious impression would have been made on the ranks\nof vice and crime. But what are the facts? While the Education Act has\nmade a difference in the number of young criminals, there is no\nperceptible diminution in the number of hardened offenders. Prostitutes,\nalso, are as numerous as ever, and the national drink-bill actually\nincreases.\n\nRevival movements have always boasted of moral successes, but history\nshows that they make no real impression on the community. The method is\nunscientific and doomed to failure. A salvation meeting, with its noise\nand excitement, has as much effect on public morality as a savage\u2019s\ntom-tom has upon the heavens. The noisy things in nature are generally\nfutile. Whirlwinds and earthquakes affect the imagination, but it is the\nregular action of air and water that produces the greatest changes, and\nthe gentle action of rain and sunshine that ripens the harvest. These\n\u201cspiritual,\u201d and nearly always hysterical, agencies for human\nimprovement, are based upon a denial of the physical basis of life, and\nof the doctrine of moral causation. They attract great attention, and\ntheir leaders gain tremendous applause. But all the while the real work\nof progress is being done by other agencies\u2014by the spread of knowledge,\nthe growth of education, the discoveries of science, the silent triumphs\nof art, and the gradual expansion of the human mind. Agitation is not\nnecessarily progress. What is wanted is a new ingredient, and that is\nfurnished by the more obscure, and often lonely men, whose greatness is\nonly known to a few, although their thoughts are the seed of future\nharvests of wisdom and happiness for the human race.\n\nSuppose, however, we concede, for the sake of argument, all the claims\nof the Salvation Army as a religious agency of reform. This would afford\na presumption of its continued success _on the old lines_. But the _new\nlines_ are a fresh departure. General Booth himself admits that \u201cthe new\nsphere on which we are entering will call for faculties other than those\nwhich have hitherto been cultivated.\u201d What guarantee has he then, beyond\nan unbounded and possibly exaggerated belief in himself, that those\n\u201cfaculties\u201d will come when he \u201ccalls for\u201d them? Will men of the required\nstamp of character and ability enrol themselves under the despotism of\nGeneral Booth? And if they did, how long would he be able to hold them\ntogether? First of all, at any rate he has to get them. The ordinary\nSalvation Army captain is not equal to these things. This is obvious to\nGeneral Booth; hence his fervid appeal to persons of greater capacity to\nthrow themselves into his enterprise. But we do not believe he will\nobtain their assistance. It is far easier to extract a hundred thousand\npounds, or even a million, from a gullible public, than to induce men\nand women of the stamp required in the successful conduct of a big\nsocial experiment to place themselves at the absolute command of a\nreligious revivalist.\n\nLet us now turn to a tremendously important aspect of General Booth\u2019s\nscheme, which up to the present has been only alluded to. Lady Florence\nDixie has pointed out, with her accustomed courage, that the scheme\nwould, if successful, increase the pressure of population in the worst\nway by multiplying the unfit. Booth does not believe in celibacy, and we\nagree with him. But we are far from approving his idea of setting up a\nMatrimonial Bureau and bringing marriageable persons together. The\nmarriages he is likely to promote will, of course, be chiefly among the\nclasses he will try to reclaim. Such a prospect is anything but pleasant\nto those who understand the population question, and is quite appalling\nto those who understand the philosophy of Evolution.\n\nWhen Archdeacon Farrar was preaching at Westminster Abbey on behalf of\nGeneral Booth\u2019s scheme, he made this observation:\u2014\u201cThe country is being\nmore and more depleted, the great cities are becoming more and more\ndensely overcrowded, and in great cities there is always a tendency to\nthe deterioration of manhood\u2014morally, physically, and spiritually. Our\npopulation is increasing at the rate of a thousand a day, and the most\nrapid increase is among the destitute and unfit.\u201d Precisely so; and it\nis among these very classes that General Booth, if he honestly means\nwhat he says, will do his best to promote an increase of population. In\nthis respect his scheme involves a grave social danger. On the whole, it\nseems pretty plain, as Professor Huxley observes, that if General Booth\ndoes sixpennyworth of good, he will do a good shillings-worth of harm.\n\nTo conclude. Except for the Farm Colony, which we do not see how Booth\nis to manage successfully, we are able to perceive nothing in his scheme\nwhich really touches the heart of the social problem; while as a remedy\nfor the \u201cunemployed\u201d it seems to us perfectly ridiculous. The whole\nproject, at bottom, is a new gigantic device for furthering the\ninterests of the Salvation Army. If the other Christian bodies do not\nsee this they must be lamentably deficient in insight. It is all very\nwell to say that no pressure will be put upon the men and women in the\nRefuges and the Colonies, for they will be subjected to the omnipresent\ninfluence of the Salvation Army, which is to carry out the scheme to its\nminutest details.\n\nUnless we \u201care greatly mistaken, this truth is very apparent to General\nBooth. He insists on having absolute control of the funds and the\narrangements, and although he may have no mercenary motives, he is\ndoubtless seeking to gratify his ambition and love of power as well as\nto promote the \u201csalvation of souls.\u201d\n\nOn the whole, however, we shall be glad to see the \u201cGeneral\u201d get the\nmoney he is soliciting. The cash he collects will probably be diverted\nfrom other religious enterprises, and in this respect a Freethinker need\nnot be in the least afflicted. His experiment will, in our opinion, do a\nreal service to society. It will demonstrate before the very eyes of\npeople who know next to nothing of history or economics the absolute\nfutility of religious efforts to reform the world. When it is discovered\nthat the poor rates, the statistics of drink, the number of the\nunemployed, the condition of the very poor, and the miseries and\ndegradations of what is compendiously called the social evil, are not\nperceptibly affected by General Booth\u2019s efforts, the very dullest will\nsee the deception of such enterprises, and turn their attention to the\nscientific aspects of the great social problem. This will be a great\ngain, and will amply compensate for the waste of a hundred thousand or\neven a million pounds.\n\n\n\n\nPOSTSCRIPTS TO SECOND EDITION\n\n\nGeneral Booth signalised the inauguration of his Social Scheme by\nquarreling with Mr. Frank Smith, who had acted as the chief officer of\nthe Social Wing of the Salvation Army. Mr. Smith felt obliged to resign.\nFrom the correspondence which appeared in the newspapers, it seems that\nthe principal ground of his complaint was General Booth\u2019s refusal to\nkeep a separate account of income and expenditure for the Social Scheme.\nThe accounts were to form a part of the general book-keeping of the\nArmy. This was in defiance of the spirit, if not the letter, of Booth\u2019s\npromises, and Mr. Smith would not connive at what he considered a\ndeception. After his resignation, however, the General declared there\nhad been a misunderstanding, and the accounts would be kept separate.\nWhether they have been so kept, is a question which outsiders have no\nmeans of determining.\n\n(2) General Booth has raised his \u00a3100,000. He has found, however, that\nhis success in this direction has diverted about \u00a310,000 from the\nordinary income of the Salvation Army. He does not state\u2014probably he\ndoes not know, and perhaps he does, not care\u2014how much he has diverted\nfrom the ordinary income of other bodies. Many loud complaints have been\nraised, which, taken in conjunction with Booth\u2019s own confession, seem to\nvindicate our contention that there is a certain amount of money\navailable for philanthropical purposes, and that what is gained by one\nsolicitant leaves so much less for division among the rest. Here, as\nelsewhere, there is a struggle for existence, and the fittest, in the\ncircumstances, survive.\n\n(3) Many persons have desired to know how the profits of General Booth\u2019s\nbook have been alloted. It has had a very large sale, and there must\nhave been a considerable sum to be disposed of. Probably a generous\nremuneration has been received by Mr. Stead, who generally succeeds in\nreconciling profit with enthusiasm.\n\n(4) General Booth declares that he has never derived a penny of profit\nfrom the operations of the Salvation Army. This may be literally true,\nbut virtually it must imply a reservation. Booth began as a very poor\nman. He is now in a more flourishing position. It was reported in the\nnewspapers, a year or two ago, that he had paid \u00a34,000 for a new\nresidence. Mr. Bramwell Booth recently lost a considerable sum of money\nby the failure of a stock-broker. The other members of the Booth family\nseem to be well provided for. The present writer has seen them\ntravelling first-class when he has been riding third, and they looked\nfully conscious of their importance as they walked along the platform.\n\n(5) Up to the present the Social Scheme has made no appreciable\nimpression on the poverty and misery of London. General Booth has set up\na match-factory, and is now selling Salvation matches. They are said to\nbe worth their price, but it must be remembered that the General gets\nall his capital for nothing. It will also be obvious that every box of\nmatches he sells will diminish by so much the demand for matches\nsupplied by other firms. He therefore gives employment to one man by\ntaking it away from another.\n\n(6) The foreign and the colonial tours of General Booth are a curious\nillustration of English modesty. It is difficult to understand why the\ninhabitants of Berlin and Paris should be expected to contribute towards\nthe cost of reclaiming the poor and depraved in London. Every country\nhas its own troubles, and should meet them in its own way. It is worthy\nof notice, however, that General Booth recognises far less misery in\n\u201cinfidel\u201d Paris than in orthodox London.\n\n(7) The recent \u201criots\u201d at Eastbourne, where the Salvation Army insists\non playing bands through the streets on Sunday, in defiance of the local\nbye-laws, suggest a curious reflection. General Booth takes his leisure\nand recreation at Clacton-on-Sea, and I am given to understand that he\ndoes not encourage the noises of his Army in that seaside retreat. If\nthis be true, it must be allowed that he acts like a sensible man\u2014but\nwhy does he keep the Army out of Clacton-on-Sea and inflict it upon\nEastbourne, where other persons go to restore their jaded constitutions?\n\n                                  \u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014","title":"Salvation Syrup; Or, Light On Darkest England","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":9779}