INTERNATIONAL ACTION.

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20505, 26 March 1932, Page 14

INTERNATIONAL ACTION.

THE WORLD'S NEED. EVILS OF SELFISHNESS. SALVATION ARMY LEADER INTERVIEWED.

"My own feeling is that conditions in every country are not* likely to improve until there is a ' general recognition of the fact that the present difficulties are not of one nation and that no one nation is able to settle them. As there has been a League of Nations for political purposes, I feel there will have to be one for economic purposes. In the modem world a nation cannot live to itself. The basis of the whole trouble is selfishness, and until the nations put this aside for unselfish cooperation, personally I cannot see any likelihood of permanent improvement."

Thus General E. J. Higgins, world leader of the Salvation Army, regards the economic difficulties of the world to-day and thus he points the way of salvation. "I think we must not be surprised at the conditions which now prevail," he said in an interview with The PnESs on his arrival in Christchurch yesterday. "After the Great War they were inevitable. You could not possibly spend money that did not belong to you, take upon yourself all kinds of financial embarrassments, blow away all those hundreds of• thousands of millions of pounds—the world could not live in'this way without a time coming when it had to face the reckoning. Trade was brisk after the war, but I think that was merely fictitious. Only to-day are we suffering the real aftermath."

A Vast Organisation. General Higgins stands at the head of the greatest evangelical movement in the world, a movement which has more than one million activo workers and whoso resources include property and endowments in almost all countries besides in England a life insurance company with a capital of £6,000,000. The unemployment and distress which have arisen from the world's economic ills have made most exacting demands upon his whole organisation. Yet he is able to report steady progress in the work and an increase in the Army's soldiership of 26,000 during the last two years. He has already reason to believe that the present age of indifference and materialism will be followed'by a revival of religious thought and work.

A Coming Revival. "It is true that conditions to-day make "greater demands on us than ever before," said the General. "We are expected to do more and to do it for less. Wo havo to face tho materialism and indifference which is manifested in the general, mad rush for pleasure. Progress in the development of transport, pictures,, and many other modern comforts have made it easy for people to be slack. My own feeling is that there will be a great reaction all over the world. Beligious revivals usually come in cycles—that is the history of tho Church—and its leaders think that the time is approaching when there will be a strong reaction against this worldly indifference. But for the present, I think there has definitely been a falling-away in religion. Parents have become indifferent about their children; and when these children grow up and in their turn become parents, wo havo a still greater task."

"Making Religion Attractive." Although William Booth started the movement in 1865> the Salvation Army was not organised until 1877. In spite of differences in national sentiment, General Higgins declares that the development since that time has been remarkable. "Wo have tried to make religion 1 attractive," he said. "That waß where William Booth started, and that was where he ran right across the orthodox ecclesiastic views. When we started we met with ridicule, but I believe there is no part of the world to-day in which the Army, is not appreciated. We are called upon by Governments and municipalities to help, them in their difficulties. The President of the United States said to me the other day: 'We cannot do without the Army. Many times we have called them, and they have never failed us.' "

Influence of Communism. Although there was a lot of noise about it, Communism had not greatly affected the Army's work. When the revolution broke out in Russia, the Army was established only in St. Petersburg, and Moscow. Many of its officers were imprisoned and ultimately it was obliged to retire. Communists were opposed to the movement because they opposed everything that was not Statecontrolled. General Higgins said that the Army had heard a lot of talk about Communism, but there was nothing more than talk. At Portland, Oregon, during his* tour of the United States, there was some threat of a disturbance, but —as usual —nothing happened. In tho States, he added, the Army had made enormous progress since the Great' War. In the last twelve months it had been providing sleeping accommodation for no fewer than 12,000 people. The work had been assisted by many benefactions, including a hostel in Chicago for 2000 peoplo presented by Mr Wrigley.,

Fifty Years' Service. Very few changes have been made in the constitution of the Army since General Higgins became its supremo head. It has been decreed, however, that future generals must be elected; that property belonging to tho Army shall no longer be held by a single trustee; and that generals must retire at the age of 73. General Higgins himself, it wilJ be recalled, was elected in 1929 by the Army's High Council to succeed General. W. Branrwell Booth. He entered the Army as an officer -exactly 50 years ago, and held many positions in evangelical and staff .work before his appointment as Chief of Staff in 1919.