CASH-BOX CHRISTIANITY.

NZ Truth, Issue 351, 16 March 1912, Page 5

CASH-BOX CHRISTIANITY.

BOOTH ON HIE BOUNCE AT BOXTED.

Salvarmy and the Sweated Settlers,

Evicted from Small Holdings— The Blood and Fire Boss— His Hallelujah Hirelings— Cruel Scenes m Colchester—Persecuting the Poor— What Booth Offered— Fourteen Bob a Week— The Magistrate's Sympathy— Public Opiny ion Aroused— Booth Still Talking Boodle.

,■ [From London -CorrespondeJil.l

"Truth's" London, correspondent has been investigating the action , of the Salvation Army officials w±lo quite recently alt' Boxted, v the small holdings settlement at Colchester, summarily ejected a number, of tenants, their helpless wives arid families. Gut correspondent, proceeds: •Well, there is no doubt about it that the action of the Salvation Army authorities m throwing women and children practically naked and helpless out of their poor littte homes was too cynical, callous, and bowelless an act t» pass without comment even m Bull's Country. . . Consequently, the public ■ criticism-of the Army m tearing the beds from un- . der unfortunate women and children, •whose '.'"'■ ONLY FAULT WAS POVERTY, was really a. most unusual thing — for England— and indicates .that you can arouse even the' Englishman's' moral indignation if you go down to a certain depth. It takes the • Salvation Army to do it, though. The Army has winced under the criticism levelled at it., but has let it be tacitly understood that- the action of throwing fainting women into a muddy country lane on a bitter cold English winter, day was due to the rather high-handed and arfcitrary action of the officers inxmediately concerned m the management of the Boxted business. • It- made people feel better to think that. the nice kind old Christian, General Booth, had had nothing to do with the sinful, shameful, sorry business of PERSECUTING THE POOR and their little ones, for was there .lot One whom Booth and his band profess to follow, Who said: And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe m Me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and. he were cast into the' sea.But this comfortable ;, feeling was suddenly dissipated by Booth himself. He stepped forward into the light of Cay and proudly exclaimed,- "Alone I di j jt!"— and fitted himself with a millstone. ' "The trouble at the Boxted small holding settlement," says this bumptious brass-bander, "is all m a nutshell. It amounts to this: Am I to direct this enterprise, or is it to be controlled ' by" a' handful -of unsatisfae.-,, tory men who have failed?" Observe the meek and lowly spirit of Christianity m Booth's very, opening sentence. "Defy me?" says Booth, m effect. "Then out with you all! I'm Bess, ar.d I'll - SOON LET YOU K*?OW!" How ■• Christ ian- 11kb. How truly, m accordance with the spirit of the meek aru lowly Nazarene, Who washed -His (Vseiple's feet to set them an example m humility! Further, Booth unconsciously lets out that he has no use for. xx> en w ho have failed. Well, we cannot all be b-azen-faced beggary like Booth, and coileet- each from the credulous tor a scheme of .cash-box •■'Christianity.. And there are plenty ofso-called "failures" m a "tdpsy-turvy world, .who. have played a losing- hand m life •n-avely atid brightly and- who shall be accounted .greater successes than svnus, Pharisees who have had the path"' made easy for them. The lailuies o: lUfi! Who but One dare say vino are rhe failures' 6l. life?. Booth is blasphemous, Which is baa. and grossIv material, which is worse. His idea of .life's surrci? and failures is based en the figure.*;, of • ' ' A MAK'LJ BANK-BOOK. . Well, we cannot all have Booth's bank Valance, 'ind ride through the world m a motor-car. If we could there'd be no failures, lrorn Booth's ' point of view. But far.cv such a sentiment emanating: frcm one whose' self-advertised mispion is to Help ,the failures .on their feet again! Is nol the Army always bawling a hymn which starts: • Rescue the perishing, care for the dyiru;i . . • Snatch them m pity, from sin and the grave. Aro not the Army fuh'ds largely replenished by misguided philanthropists because Booth claims that the work of the Army is ■to redeem life's failures"?' And , now Booth shows his multi-millionaire soul by declaring that ho has no time for men who have •'ljiil^d-'; ... ..,■.".: Then he goes on: "Some of the'- 'small' holders failed owing: to ILL-HEALTH, unsuitable wives, laziness, and the love of town life, and THESE WERE OFFERED WORK AT 14s A WEEK, with cottage and garden, as laborers. This the men refused." : Refused! As well they might! Booth, m the plenitude of his humanity, may think that i4s a v/eek ; is enough for a man and his wife and children to live on, but even the poor, miserable drudge of , an "English agricultural laborer has to draw the line somewhere. Next come the "UNSUITABLE WIVES." Well, any wife ought to be unsuitable on Booth's fourteen bob a week.. It is pleasant to know that even the wife of ah English laborer has more spirit than to sink into the sweated drudge of Booth's organisation for her "cut" out of a. wretched fourteen bob a week. As for the remaining reasons—"Laziness, and love of town life," of course, iiobody wants Booth to keep loafers, but it is evident there were not a very large proportion of genuine loafers m Bdoth's .smaller holding scheme atBoxted, for he mentions- them almost last. If there had been any bad cases, hie would have .put them first, you bet, and laid great stress on their iniquity.; Then Booth concludes HIS EXPLANATION as follows: — "Thus we had about 28 men working; ;w*n, and 18, shortly reduced to 16, refusing to work, unable to pay, avowedly resolved to keep the houses, land, «nd tools, etc., m their possession in-

definitely,, -and so prevent anyone -else using them,,. . . I therefore -decided that the law must come m and help me to get these poor •'misguided fellows out.. . . . My officers 'took i care to see that, though for theA moment the police had to put them into the road, there was reasonable certainty^ of their being at once received ! 'into, other homes. As a fact, tHey ) were 1 so received within an houi*' or c two, m one case within a moment"' or -two;- after the designedly . > /_' '" THFATRICAL" .»IS£I*AY \.. made ax \-cxe tune. . v) .. If • the agitators will let it^aioneinthe v Boxted scheme, notwithstanding. i the great difficulties, will yet prove 'a success of the highest value to the people, and full of encouragement 1 to all lovers of their country." This final remarkable mixture of keen business acumen, snuffle, and crocodile pity for the "poo* misguided 'fellows" who were tossed out into the mud with their wives and families, is very unpleasant to dwell upon, so we ( will let it pass. As a pendant to it, I extract the following particulars of further applications on the part of the Salvation Army authorities to eject more of the' unfortunate tenants at Bosted. The report •of the cases is taken from the columns of the London "Daily Chronicle." The sympathy of the Colchester magistratesafor the unhappy tenants of Boothvisran .unusual thing. English magistrates are RARELY SYMPATHETIC where the rights of "Property" are concerned: — BOXTED EVICTIONS. MAGISTRATES' SYMPATHY WITH SALVATION ARMY TENANTS. Ejectment orders against nine more small holders on the Salvation Army colony at Bpxted were granted by the Colchester magistrates on Saturday. Mr Thomspson Smith, for the Salvation Army, asked thatß-'-the orders should be made for "21 "days '.-instead of 28, as on a former occasion, m view, of the, fact that/ last Monday the whole day was occupied m the ejectment of six tenants. s The Chairman of -the Bench, . ex- : pressing regret that the- case had not -come before *a civil court, said the magistrates were unanimous m their decision to allow the tenants the. longest .' ■possible time, 2S days.' ■■■■■■ ,'• At the same court, Ernest Barlow, ' ione of the small holders again3t whom orders were, granted, was fined 5s and costs for assaulting a .laborer engaged m the recent ejectments. ' I forgot to say that the money for the Boxted settlement was lent on favorable terms by a Mr George Herring, the land was divided, 50 -cottages • were built, and about'' 2o months vgo the first settlers were started. So ' Booth stood • " "> ■ ON VELVET BOTH WAYS. The Cross, the Crown, and the Cashbox. And the greatest guerdon of the Christian is the cash-box, from Booth's point of view. Hallelujah! hallelujah! Make a glad noise, you Soldiers of the Salvation Arm}-, and sing, your "General's" favorite hymn: < Onward, Christian soldiers, Marching 1 on to war; Bill Booth is on the Cashbox, As he was before. There have been some fresh developments m" regard to the Salvation Army's evictions. The evicted smallrholders have since appealed to the Charity Commissioners to HOLD AN INQUIRY into the management of Booth's "coli ony" at Boxted, and they have now • made public, the reasons why 'such an | inquiry should be held. On behalf of the evicted smallholders it was asserted that they had to live on a starvation wage owing to the mismanagement of the scheme. . Some very strong" statements were .made by the deputation to the commissioners. One of th'e smallholders, ja man named Gardiner, said- that the 1 unfortunate smallholders had been badly advised by tht> "Army" experts who were supposed to give the unfortunate holders instruction m small farming. This advice had been disastrous to everyone who had tried small farming- at Boxted, and made the men's operations the iaug-h of the country side. Runner beans were planted between strawberry plants, with the result that the strawberries WERE SPOILT and the runner beans were unprofitable. . Peas were planted two feet aparl instead of three, with the result that there was no after <-rop. When the men complained that they could not grow their crops, and the trust money was . being improperly spent, they were told that if they did not like it they could clear out. The, failure of the scheme was m a large measure due to the inexperience and mismanagement of the Salvation Army officers. Orie of the deputation severely criticised the accounts of the estate, and Mr Morris, one of the' assistant commissioners, said that General Booth was left the £ 38;000 for the purpose . of MAKING AN EXPERIMENT, but directly there was a loss of £10,---000 the estate could be coznpulsorily wound up. A member of the deputation replied that when he was given notice he ->vas told the money was .exhausted, and the . scheme had failed, and m future tho holdings were to be run with Salva--tion Army funds. Money which several of the men had .solicited for the : support of their families was only • granted on the understanding that the . "Army" had a call on the following year's crop m order to recoup themselves. The Chairman: That is very extraordinary.. Surely it IS A MISTAKE. We have never heard of this before.