23 FEBRUARY 1929, Page 3

General Higgins, • the new General of the Salvation Army,

has announced that he will appoint commissions to report on the future method of succession to the Generalship and on the nature of the trusteeship for the property of the Army. " So' far as" the funds arc con- cerned," he said, " one-man control will definitely disappear." These inquiries were expected, arc based on common sense, and' promise well for the new adminis- tration. But although' we think that General Bramwell Booth was sorely mistaken • in 'clinging to one-man control we recognize that he believed himself to be carrying on a sacred tradition, and no One who has followed the controversy between the High Council of the Army and the deposed General can fail to have been impressed by the • courtesy and consideration which marked every communication and every act in the dispute. Hurtful things had to be done; but no word was used that was either heedless or malicious. We often hear about the ideal of conducting controversial politics in a Christian spirit, but here was an interesting demonstration of how the thing can be done. It is to be hoped that General Bramwell Booth will accept the inevitable and not expose the Army to the enormous cost of litigation.

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