Chapter XX: His Social Work

Most erroneously and unfairly it has been widely assumed that the great work of The General was the establishment in the world of some Social Institutions. Happily, we have got a verbatim report of an address to his Social Officers gathered around him a year before his death in which we have a complete statement as to the beginnings and principles of the work, so that we can see exactly how he wished it to be regarded.

1. By the Social Work, I mean those operations of The Salvation
Army which have to do with the alleviation, or removal, of the
moral and temporal evils which cause so much of the misery of the
submerged classes, and which so greatly hinder their Salvation.

2. Our Social Operations, as thus defined, are the natural outcome
of Salvationism, or, I might say, of Christianity, as instituted,
described, proclaimed, and exemplified in the life, teaching, and
sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Here I would like to say that Social Work, in the spirit and
practice which it has assumed with us, has harmonised with my own
personal idea of true religion from the hour I promised obedience
to the commands of God.

To help the poor, to minister to them in their slums, to sympathise
with them in their poverty, afflictions, and irreligion, was the
natural outcome of the life that came to my soul through believing
in Jesus Christ.

Before many days--nay, before many hours--had passed after my
conversion, I was to be found praying in the cottages in the
working-class quarters of the town in which I lived, talking in the
slums, comforting the dying, and doing, so far as I knew how and
had ability, what seemed to me most likely to help the poor and
miserable classes, both for this world and the world to come.

3. But Social Work, as a separate entity, or department of the
Kingdom of Jesus Christ, recognised, organised, and provided for,
had to wait for The Salvation Army.

For many years after the commencement of my public work, during
which time I had, as opportunity served, helped the poor in their
distress, I was deterred from launching out to any great extent in
this direction by the fear so commonly entertained that by
relieving their physical necessities I should be helping to create,
or at any rate to encourage, religious hypocrisy and pretence.

All this time, nevertheless, I felt, and often keenly felt, that
there surely must be some way by which, without any evil
consequences, I could legitimately fulfil the cravings of my own
heart, as well as comply with the commands of my Lord, who had
expressly told me that I was to feed the hungry, clothe the naked,
care for the sick, and visit the prisoners. For a long time,
however, I failed to see how this work could be done in any
organised or extensive manner.

Gradually, however, the way opened, and opened largely, as a result
of our determination to make the godless crowds hear the message of
Salvation.

I said, "They shall hear; we will make them hear; and if they won't
hear in any other way, we will feed them, and accompany the food we
give them with the message to which they so determinedly turn a
deaf ear." In the very earliest days of The Army, therefore, in
order to reach the people whom we could not reach by any other
means, we gave the hungry wretches a meal, and then talked to them
about God and eternity.

4. Then came the gradual unfolding of our Social methods, which
have been so remarkably successful.

My dear wife's heart had been particularly drawn out on behalf of
the fallen outcasts of society, who, often more sinned against than
sinning, appealed peculiarly to her large and tender sympathies.
More than once she found opportunity for extending help to
individual cases of misfortune, obtaining homes amongst her friends
for some of the children, and assisting the poor mothers to win
their way back to virtue.

But it was not until the end of 1883, or thereabouts, that anything
like a systematic effort in this direction was organised on their
behalf. Touched by the helpless and pitiable condition of some poor
girls who had sought Salvation at the Corps at which, with her
husband, she fought as a Soldier, a baker's wife, living in one of
the most wretched streets in Spitalfields, took the girls, in
distress and trouble, into her own home. Before long it was crowded
to its utmost capacity, and still other women were clamouring for
admission. She implored us to help her, and we engaged and opened a
house as our first Rescue Home, placing it under the direction of
Mrs. Bramwell Booth.

The breaking forth of the same spirit in different directions in
other lands quickly followed.

At about this time our first Prison Rescue Brigade, in the Colony
of Victoria, was organised by the late Colonel Barker. So striking
was the success attending his effort that, before many months had
passed by, magistrates in the city of Melbourne were actually
giving delinquents the option of being sent to prison or to our
Prison-Gate Home, and the Government placed the former Detective
Police Building at our disposal, at a nominal rental.

Not only does the genuine Christian spirit carry the soul out in
sympathy with misery, but it often leads it to prefer certain
particular classes of sufferers or wrongdoers, on whom to lavish
its self-sacrificing love, and restlessly spend itself in efforts
for their benefit. In the case of one Salvationist, it will be the
dying; in another the daughters of sin and shame; in another the
homeless; in another the children, and in yet another the
drunkards.

With Colonel Barker, as with other comrades under our Flag to-day,
it was the criminals.

This spirit thrives and becomes more effective by what it feeds
upon. It must, therefore, be wise to favour its preferences, so far
as it is possible to do so without losing sight of the well-being
of the whole.

We did this with Colonel Barker, and we are acting on the same
principle with others to-day.

Then came our first Women's Rescue Home in Melbourne, to help us in
the establishment of which the Colonial Government gave £1,000.

It was upon foundations of this character that our Social
Operations in New Zealand, France, South Africa, and several other
countries were subsequently built up.

For years past our Officers, men and women, both in the United
Kingdom and elsewhere, had carried on what may be spoken of as an
unorganised form of Slum Work; but it fell to the hands of my
glorified daughter, the Consul, to institute, in London, what was
then and for some time afterwards known as "the Cellar, Gutter,
and Garret Brigade"--the forerunner of scores of Slum Posts, which
are now such a recognised feature of our operations all over the
world.

Our first Men's Shelter was opened in Limehouse, London, during the
winter of 1887-8, and was soon followed by the opening of similar
Institutions in other countries, far-off and near at hand.

From our earliest days drunkenness had been one of the many foes of
God and man against which we had specially taken our stand, and
thousands of its slaves had been rescued from its grip, and become
valiant Soldiers in our ranks. Our first Inebriates' Home,
conducted in the interest of women, was not, however, opened until
1887. This was in Toronto, Canada.

The Social Work in the United States had its birth in 1885, in an
effort made on behalf of prisoners at Hartford, Connecticut.
Similar efforts followed in other cities, and Rescue and Industrial
Homes, Shelters, and Farm Colonies followed on in due course.

All these enterprises and many others, to which I have not time now
to refer, were prior to the publication of "In Darkest England and
the Way Out," and had, no doubt, a powerful influence in inspiring
that volume.

Since then one branch or other of Social Work has been commenced in
every country in which our Flag is flying.

Notwithstanding the satisfaction produced by these and kindred
efforts in my own mind, and in the minds of those immediately
associated with me, and although the results were truly remarkable,
and the possibilities seemed to be still more wonderful, the
beginnings of these Social enterprises attracted comparatively
little notice.

The New Movement--for thus I may describe it--which, with half an
eye, thoughtful men might have seen to be pregnant with blessings
for the whole world, was almost unnoticed by either the Authorities
or the Press; while our supplies of men and money for its conduct
and extension were very limited.

Suddenly, however, the scene was changed, and, all at once,
everybody was asking, "What is The Salvation Army?" "Who is General
Booth?" and "What is this Social Scheme?"

This change was largely brought about by the publication of "In
Darkest England and the Way Out," together with the notices of the
Scheme in the Press which it brought about.

Judged by the effect produced, the book was certainly a remarkable
one. In the first place it had a title which, in a striking manner
described its character. Everybody wanted to see it, and, as a
result, it was sold, lent, read, thought about, and talked about in
every direction. Nearly a quarter of a million copies were sold.
The profits from the publication and sale amounted to about
£20,000, of which sum I had the privilege of handing over
£5,380--which might have been considered rightfully to accrue to me
personally as the Author--to the fund devoted to the promotion of
the object for which the book was published.

In its pages I propounded those Schemes which I thought would prove
most successful in alleviating the terrible misery I had described,
and in rescuing some, at least, of the sufferers from the conduct
that produced it.

In order to set the Scheme in motion, I asked the public to give me
£100,000, and a further £30,000 per annum to maintain it.

I can never forget the morning that directly followed the
appearance of the volume. I was, of course, in ignorance of what
the nation would think or say about it.

I had made plans for the book to be delivered to the newspapers at
one and the same time, and, regarding the Press as being to some
extent the voice of the people, I was anxious to hear what that
voice would say.

I was not kept long in suspense. As I ascended the stairs at
Headquarters that morning, a gentleman with a countenance beaming
with kindness and anxiety met me. I do not think he had ever seen
me before, and I was certainly in complete ignorance of him.

"General Booth, I believe?" he said.

"Yes, sir," I answered.

"I have been reading the critique in _The Times_ of your Darkest
England Scheme," he said, "and, believing your plan to be right and
good, I want to be the first to express my sympathy and practical
assistance in carrying it out, and I wish to give you the first
£1,000 towards the sum asked for."

This gentleman proved himself a firm friend of the Scheme, actively
co-operating with us so far as he had opportunity.

A short time afterwards our friend was present at the opening of
our first London Ex-Prisoners' Home. When I had finished speaking
he expressed a wish to say a few words. I invited him forward for
that purpose. He came, hurried and excited, began to speak,
staggered, reeled, fell into my arms and immediately expired. It
may be truly said that he died calling down blessings on the
Darkest England Scheme.

After meeting this gentleman on the stairs, I had scarcely sat down
at my desk, with his cheque in my hand, before a telegram was
handed me, from one of the most influential newspaper proprietors
in the city, expressing a similar hope, and promising a similar
amount for its realisation.

But along with these cheering expressions of approbation there came
the invariable murmuring objections. One of these strove to
minimise the value of the effort, by arguing that it was only an
attempt to extend The Army's religious influence. People said they
would be willing to help if all religious and propagandist motives
were eliminated from the Scheme.

One night a gentleman was announced as wishing to see me. He
declined to give his name, and the only description of him I could
gain was that he was a prominent member of the Stock Exchange.

"I want to ask you one question--only one," he said, upon entering
my office, "about this Social Scheme of yours."

"All right," I replied, "as many as you like."

"Well," he continued, "I want to know whether you are going to give
religion alongside your other benefits to these people whom you
seek to help? I am not a religious man myself. I am not saved, and
never shall be--I am a lost soul; but there is no reason why these
poor wretches should not have religion; and if you will give them
religion, I will help you."

"Yes," I answered, "we will give them religion. While we won't
refuse to help them because they are irreligious--but, on the
contrary, will take in the vilest and the worst--we will give them
all as much religion as we can."

"I will help you," he answered, as he handed me Bank of England
notes for £500.

He came to see us again and again, proving for the time being a
generous friend. Then he disappeared.

In a very short time, and in the readiest and most kindly manner,
£104,000 were subscribed. But, alas! only a very small proportion
of the £30,000 that was asked for annually was forthcoming.

In this, as in many other similar cases, I have found that whilst
the public will be ready--nay, eager--to embrace a new thing, they
soon get tired of it, run after some other novelty, and leave you
largely to struggle for its continuance, as best you can.

5. It is enough here to state that the results at the onset were
remarkable. Amongst others four, which might have been expected,
were immediately realised:--

(a) The first was the bringing into public view the ocean of
tears, misery, and evil which was rolling around us in every
direction.

(b) Another result was that people everywhere were awakened from
their selfish lethargy, to look upon these waters of tribulation,
and were amazed to find the depth, the darkness, and the despair
with which they rolled forward, as well as the damnation to which
they invariably led.

(c) A further effect was that a large number of people were won
over to care for the class whom it was proposed to benefit, and to
believe in the possibility of the Scheme being realised. Many of
these proved permanent friends of our Social Operations.

(d) Yet another effect was that the fountains of compassion broke
out in the hearts of large numbers of individuals, and led them to
make similar efforts. Everywhere the call was sounded to labour for
these poor lost people, and instances were adduced which showed
that their humble toil was productive of very striking results.

But until now nothing, or next to nothing, had been done to stop
this rolling river, or deliver those perishing in its waters,
because everybody had felt helpless in the presence of the enormous
evil.

But here, now, were results of sufficient magnitude to convince
those who became interested in the matter that, by the employment
of the methods set forth in "In Darkest England and the Way Out,"
something permanently effective might be accomplished.

On the other hand, others, as might have been expected, who had
never manifested any particular interest before, either for or
against, now came out openly as our enemies, and a stiff fight
followed, out of which the Social Operations, although in their
infancy, may be said to have emerged victorious.

One of the results of this conflict of opinion was the "Darkest
England" Inquiry.

The preparation of "In Darkest England" will for ever remain
remarkable in my own memory, as it was mostly written and
corrected in the adjoining chamber to that in which my dear wife
was suffering those awful agonies associated with the disease which
finally carried her away.

The spirit which originated and controlled the Social Work had
been, pre-eminently, the spirit of her religion. She certainly was
the most practical exponent of the Christianity of which I have
been speaking that it was ever my lot to meet. It was her religion;
she preached it with natural eloquence and remarkable skill; and,
in life and death, she exemplified it.

From that day to this the history of the Social Work has been one
of steady progress and of surpassing interest, and I have sometimes
wondered whether any movement, based so solidly upon principles of
permanence, and so calculated to bless the classes for whose
benefit it was, by the Providence of God, called into being, has
ever existed within the memory of men.

Now what has come out of this beginning?

1. Here is a list of the various Social enterprises we have in
hand. I do not vouch for its completeness; but, anyway, we have
here a goodly number of schemes for the benefit of the poor and
friendless already in active and useful operation:--

(a) For the Starving, we have--
i. Children's Free and Farthing Breakfasts.
ii. Midnight Soup and Bread Brigades for the Homeless.
iii. Cheap Food Dépôts.
iv. Special Relief Funds for cases of Special Destitution.
v. Old Clothes' Dépôts for Slum Families.
vi. Poor Men's Hotels,
vii. Cheap Grain Stores.
viii. Famine Loan Fund for Destitute Indians.

(b) For the Drunkards, we have--
i. Drunkards' Brigades.
ii. Midnight Drunkards' Brigades (of use also in any sudden
emergency--Fire, Flood, etc.).
iii. Drunkards' Advice Bureaux.
iv. Homes for Inebriates--Men and Women.

(c) For the Paupers, we have--
i. Workhouse Brigades.
ii. Salvation Guardians of the Poor.
iii. Pauper Colonies.
iv. Pauper Transportation.
v. Labour Bureaux,
vi. Homes for the Aged.

(d) For the Unemployed, we have--
i. Labour Bureaux--Men and Women,
ii. Industrial Homes.
iii. Labour Wood Yards.
iv. City Salvage Brigades.
v. Workshops.

(e) For the Homeless, we have--
i. Midnight Scouts.
ii. Shelters for Men and Women.
iii. Metropoles.

(f) For the Criminals, we have--
i. Prison Visitation.
ii. Police-court Work.
iii. Prison-Gate Work.
iv. Probationary Police.
v. Correspondence Bureaux.
vi. Ex-Criminals' Homes.
vii. Criminal Settlements

(g) For the Daughters of Shame, we have--
i. Visitation of Streets, Brothels, Yoshiwaras, Clubs, etc.
ii. Midnight Meetings.
iii. Receiving Homes.
iv. Rescue Homes.
v. Factories, Laundries, etc.
vi. "Out of Love" Funds.
vii. Service Girls' Brigades.
viii. Shepherding Brigades.
ix. Maternity Homes.
x. Investigation and Detective Department.

(h) Slum Work. We have--
i. Visitation.
ii. First-Aid Brigades.
iii. District Nursing.
iv. "Poorest of the Poor" Aid.

(i) For the Sick, we have--
i. Visitation.
ii. Hospitals.
iii. Dispensaries.
iv. Village Dispensing,
v. Leper Hospitals,
vi. Maternity Nursing.

(j) For the Lost, we have--
i. Inquiry and Correspondence Bureaux.
ii. Legal Assistance.

(k) Prevention and Protective Work for Young Girls. We
have--
i. Servants' Homes.
ii. City Institutes.
iii. Theatrical Girls' Home.
iv. Registries.
v. Students' Homes.

(l) Anti-Suicide Bureaux. We have--
i. Advice Department.
ii. Loan Department.

(m) The Home League.

(n) Land Schemes. We have--

i. Emigration.
ii. Home Colonisation.
iii. Colonisation over the Sea.
iv. Lands and Farm Colonies.
v. Small Holdings.

(o) Deep Sea Brigades. We have--

i. Mission Boats.
ii. Life-boat.

(p) Training Colleges.

(q) Students' Homes.

(r) Working-Men's Association.

(s) Village Banks.

The total number of our Social Institutions is now 954.

The value of properties, etc., held for the use of our Social
Operations is:--

At Home (U.K.) £228,000
In other Countries 747,000

Total £975,000

2. In the history of the Social Work, nevertheless, there have
been, as you will know, any number of shortcomings. We have not
realised all our expectations, nor fulfilled all our dreams. It was
not to be expected that we should. This is an imperfect world; the
Movement has been imperfect, and the people who have carried it on
have been imperfect also. Consequently, it is only natural that we
have had imperfect results.

(a) Many things have been calculated to cause these shortcomings.
For example:--

i. There has been a great lack of direct aim at the true goal of
our Social Work on the part of some Officers who have been engaged
in its direction.

Some of our comrades have been content with a "soup-and-blanket"
régime. That is to say, they have too often been satisfied with the
alleviation of the miseries of the hour, and have stopped short of
the removal of the evils that have caused the poverty, vice, and
agony from which the sufferings sprang.

Consequently, the work, being superficial, has in some cases only
had superficial and temporary results.

You get out of a thing as much as you put in--and no more, and
that, not only in quantity, but in quality. If you go in for
root-and-branch efforts, you will get root-and-branch results.

ii. Another cause of our shortcomings has been the lamentable fact
that some of our Officers have been deficient in personal religion.

Our Social Work is essentially a religious business. It can neither
be contemplated, commenced, nor carried on, with any great success,
without a heart full of pity, and love, and endued with the power
of the Holy Ghost.

iii. Another of our difficulties has been the scarcity of suitable
people for carrying the work on. This was also to be expected.

If we had been content with hirelings, and had sought them out from
among the philanthropies and Churches, we should have found plenty
in number, but it is equally certain we should have had
considerably more doleful failures than those we have experienced.

We are not only making but are now training the Social Officers,
and we shall doubtless improve in this respect, whilst the work
they turn out will be bound to improve proportionately.

iv. Then again a further reason for our shortcomings has been our
shortness of money.

This need unfortunately is not passing away, as you will all well
know. But I suppose some of you have come from distant lands with
bags of francs and dollars to present The General with an ample
supply of this requirement. He thanks you beforehand.

(b) Nevertheless, and notwithstanding all our shortcomings, the
position now occupied by our Social Operations, and the influence
exercised by them on the great and small of the earth, is in
evidence in every Continent and on every hand.

There is no doubt that the world, as a whole, feels much of the
admiration and gratitude which the Press lavished upon me on my
recent Birthday--admiration which was assuredly intended not only
for myself, but for The Army as a whole, and not only for The Army
as a whole, but for its Social Workers in particular.

1. And now, in conclusion, let me summarise a few of the advantages
which have flowed out of the Social Work, and which will continue
to flow out of it as long as time rolls on.

(a) The first benefit I will mention is the Salvation of
thousands of souls.

(b) The world has been further benefited by the knowledge of
Salvation spread throughout every part of the habitable globe.

(c) The world has been further benefited by the Conviction that
has been brought to governmental, philanthropic, and religious
agencies, as to the duty they owe to the classes we seek to
benefit.

(d) The world has been further benefited by the sympathy created
in the hearts of royal personages, scientists, literary people, and
the Press generally; indeed, in every class and grade of mankind.

(e) The world has been further benefited by the removal of misery
on such an extensive scale as had never even been dreamed of as
possible.

Think of the multitudes who, by our operations, are daily saved
from starvation, vice, crime, disease, death, and a hundred other
nameless woes.

In some of the principal cities in Italy, Holland, Germany, and
elsewhere, visited during my recent Continental Campaign, I have
been looked upon with unspeakable satisfaction and enthusiasm as
The General of the Poor, and The Salvation Army has been regarded
as their friend.

(f) The world has been further benefited by the help which our
Social Operations have afforded to the Field and other Departments
of The Army all over the world.

(g) The world has been further benefited by the confidence the
Social Work has created in the hearts and minds of our own
people--both Officers and Soldiers--as to the truth and
righteousness of the principles and practices of The Salvation
Army.

(h) The world has been further benefited by the answer which the
Social Work constitutes to the infidel's sneers at Christianity and
the assertion of its effeteness.

Truly, our future chroniclers will have to record the fact that our
Social Operations added a celestial lustre and imparted a Divine
dignity to the struggles of the early years of The Salvation Army's
history.

To our own eyes in The Army, however, that which has been done in connexion with the Institutions is only a very insignificant part of the whole effect produced. Until the present movement all over the world in favour of the betterment of the social condition of the masses of the people has had time to accomplish definite results, our Institutions may yet have a good work to do.

But the great work The General did in this connexion was the restoration to men's minds of the Saviour's own view, that we owed to every man every care that a truly brotherly heart must needs bestow. That principle, as The General pointed out, had always been acted upon, as best it could be, from the beginning, and is daily acted upon to-day, wherever The Army exists.