VETERAN SALVATIONIST.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13485, 11 May 1907, Page 7

VETERAN SALVATIONIST.

THE BEGINNINGS OF THE

ARMY.

"ELIJAH OX HIC WHITE HORSE."

EMIGRATION; ENTERPRISE,

COMMISSIONER - Cadmas, - of the ; Salvation Army, arrived in Auckland yesterday. He was met at the steamer by a large number of Salvationists, "who attached themselves to him the whole day long, had him in conference all the forenoon, induced him to deliver a long address in the afternoon, and made him speak to a crowded meeting in tho evening. The Commissioner is an officer, of very high rank in the Army, and he is on a six months' tour of Australia and New Zealand. Whether ho mans out lis own campaign, or whether it is arranged tor him by General .Booth is a matter os but little public interest, but tho Commissioner is an old man to undertake such a heavy task as he has before him— task from winch a man half his years well might shrink. His coming to Auckland is naturally a matter for great rejoicing among his co-religonvsts, and he confided the hone to a representative of the Herald last evening th:..t it would be, directly or indirectly, a matter for rejoicing among everyone else, too. "I've tome," he said, "on what wo term a. ' -saving campaign, and I also intend, to visit the many social institutions in connection with the Salvation Army in ; New Zealand and Australia." The joy' of the Auckland Salvationists at tho Commissioner's visit . found literal expression in the posters affixed to the Albertstreet Barracks. "Elijah on his white horse ".'was one way of describing the Commissioner, and some of tho incidents in his life' were expressed in tho following sentences:— First Salvation Army captain;" "Ex-pugilist;" "He's been killed many times;" "Brought up at the bung hole of a beer barrel . " Eiiiond of > the poor; "A wonderful career;" all of which biographical epitome indicates that the Commissioner is no ordinary man. His personal appearance would not indicate that he was any more than a little and quite ordinary old man; his work in connection with the Salvation Army, however, shows him .to have been second,'if not equal, in organising » ability to his aged chief. - After explaining that General Booth was at present in the Far East,; after a tour of Canada and the United States, Commissioner Cadman said:.:'■ ,l We've a great work to do in Japan. We have done something already in that country. We have induced the authorities to make it possible, lor girls who wish to leave a life, of shame to do so, and not be practically bound to it for ever, as. was the case formerly. IHe J a-, panese are an aggressive people , and so are we, and consequently our work _ has appealed very strongly '■ to them, v Wo have already got a training home in Japan, and many people of the highest rank are in training. We have English officers in high command, but we get over tho language difficulty in every country by utilising -"tho natives "for officers. I expect to hear daily from the General; he's been there about three weeks now. Then he goes on to China, where we've done practically no work among the Chinese, although we have naval and military branchse, but they are for Europeans only." , LOOKING BACKWARD. Then 'tho' Commissioner became reminiscent. Looking backward, he said: "It's 31 years ago now—dear me.'how the "time has flown, and how ' big the work has become. Yes, it's 31 years ago when we were known as tho Christian Mission. : That was in 1876. , In. 1877 . I dropped my title of evangelist, and became a captain. Do you know how?" i: - ■ ■ ■ '■ '■"No." '■'-.'• ■';'.' "Well, I'll tell you. The Russian war scare was on. Everybody thought England and Russia would engage in,war. War was in tho air, the people breathed it, felt it, and were much excited. I was in Whitby at tho time, and 1 thought that for tactical reasons it would be 1 " a good "thing utilise the oopular excitement. Out came bills all over' Whitby—War ! War I ■ War!—in very large letters. 'War in Whitby! Two thousand men and women wanted to train for the Ha-lleilujah Army., , Town .Hall. Every evening, half-past seven.' You see, nobody know the Rev. William Booth, of the Christian Mission; no one knew Evangelist ; Cadman. .; The. mission was working in London, and doing good Work, too, but in Whitby it was unknown. :' I felt that wo had a - real war on, a real campaign against evil in all'its forms. Well, I became Cap tain ' Cadman, of the Hallelujah Army, at that time. We did a wonderful work in Whitby." :. ; ../;J ; . . ,

" Now, the General was a. very shrewd man. He saw what effect the military character of the work had upon the people, and he seized upon the idea at once. In 1878 we had our annual conference, as it was then called, and we j named it a council .of war—following out the .military idea all the time, and we thought of changing the name of the Army. What, should it be? Bramwell Booth, the General's only son and : secretary, submitted ' a suggestion. It was ' The Volunteer Army.' The General struck out the word ' Volunteer' and inserted 'Salvation,' and Salvation Army it has been ever since. The Government, the Church, the law,*, all:. classes of people in. short, recognised that'wo were; doing a social work which had hitherto been indifferently done, if done at all. We took up some social work that had never been touched' at all. General Booth tells" all about it in his book, " In Darkest England," a work which brought in £7000, all of which was devoted to the Army. I was then given charge of the social work; work which I had always loved. Alt, 1 know something about the submerged tenth. I could tell you many; things about the life in. these, social depths, were there time enough. ' You see, I , have , been a preacher and worker for, practically 43 years, and have worked in the lowest parts of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, and Yorkshire, as well as London. ; Dear, dear, the scores of riots that the Army had to, deal with, the fightings in the streets, the "abuse in the press, the coldness of: Christians, the fury of everybody living on the vices of the people I Why, man, I've been beaten and knocked about, and given up for dead. Well, well; look at the Army now—all in a,lifetime, too.!'. ..... ■ ' ■ THE SUBMERGED TENTH. In regard to his. social work in connection with the Army, the Commissioner said that in nine years and a-half, during which it was in his charge, ■ the Army had demonstrated 5 what could be done to prevent pauperism and crime. It had shown not only how to deal with the submerged tenth, but how to prevent decent, 1 honest, hardworking people from swelling the numbers* of the' submerged tenth. ' " I had charge of the men's social work," said the Commissioner, "and in that nine years" and a-half we supplied beds to 12 million sleepers, who would otherwise have slept in the streets, at Id a night and upwards, wo cleared the streets, in fact, of • them; we sold 30 million cheap meals; we employed 30,000 men in our workshops; and of the 30,000 men helped, 66 per, cent, wcjre satisfactory. We had all sorts of men under our care: Lawyers, . doctors, army officers, right the way down to men who had never, risen above the kerbstone of society. At our labour bureau we were able to provide permanent or temporary employment for over 100,000 men. We dealt with over 5000 ex-criminals, some of them the blackest sort of characters you could imagine, and of them 70 per cent, turned out satisfactorily. We dealt with the people in their own homes, and helped them there to get back into society, and become splendid people. Why, some of them are now getting their £500 a year. ; Well, this work grew so rapidly that it has spread all over the world, and the example has been freely imitated by other organisations for social work. .. I ought to have told you that the. social work among women was undertaken by Mrs. Bramwell > Booth, and that the figures to date, as well as I can remember them, are over 40,000 girls and women, from seven years to ; 50, rescued and helped, and described as satisfactory cases." Speaking of social work in England, Commissioner Cadman said : " Nothing was being done by the authorities in • the country* to grapple with these great y problems. ; ; The municipal bodies tried to do something by giving relief work, such as breaking : stones and mending roads. y But we believe a man is entitled to, work; that the true Britisher scorns charity. We don't hold at all with pauperising the people', the people don't hold, with it either. There's work for all under the British flag. Plenty of it. It's all a question of organisation. - Men are wanted, 1 very much wanted; and the Army seeks • to ;■ send them where they ; : tire most in demand." : "'■'"" -; '

>Then .the/Commissioner , outlined;.. tho emigration and tourist department of the Army, for: in the /latter respect it has entered into, competition with . Thomas.Cook arid his sons. ■ * " We'll book you anywhere you want to go to, said the Commissioner. He was most enthusiastic about emigration, and told how the Army emigrants were conducted to "Canada, how steamer Kensington was chartered by the Army to carry 13,000 emigrants to Canada in four trips;how the emigrants were looked after from the time they applied for their passage in England until they reached their jobs in Canada ;c how searching: was the investigation made by local'officers before a man or woman was accepted; how superior was the .type of emigrant sent out; how pleased the Canadian Government was/ with them; and how elaborate was the -Salvation Army method of handling emigration business. . . THE CREAM OF ENGLAND. ■ "People said' in England,' remarked the Commissioner, .*■' ' you arc taking away the cream of. the country.' 'They wore right; so wo were. But we took it away because we did not want it to go sour. We wanted to save it. We sent out 25,000 emigrants this year, and the Canadians arc very glad to get them. They know how careful we are to send only the most suitable class of people; people who have a little money, people who can pay half, perhaps a-quarter, perhaps nothing, of their fare-: but we help all that we think fitted to go, and to do the colony and the Army credit. We can get five- millions of people out of England into countries where ' they ! are badly wanted, which would be better for England, better for the countries they go to,, and - better for themselves, and better for the Empire as a whole, which will grow strong, powerful, and God-fearing. And as for those who remain at Home, we are trying to help them, too, to get them on to the land, with five-acre lots, house, .. and • tools, to be paid back in five and twenty years, or less, if they can do it. That's the way we hope to.get- at the other submergedthe wealthy, idle, pleasure-loving landholders, who have never, done a day's work in their lives, but just live out of their vast estates, locking tip miles of country for the sake of a little fishing or shooting., and such abominations as engage the time and money of the submerged rich." ' •