On Wednesday the High:Council of the Salvation Army deposed General
Bramwell Booth from the supreme command. On.Tuesday he had sent an uncompromising refusal to retire. He said that he could not consent to being removed merely because he was ill. He had appointed a, deputy, and he had yet to learn that the deputy hid made any mistakes in carrying on the business of the Army. He explained that in his view the word " unfit," upon which the High Council have based their legal right to remove a General, referred exclusively to Spiritual unfitness. It is obvious that the High Council are concerned for the welfare and "efficiency of the Army and genuinely regard the General as haying reached the stage of incapacity. Moreover, the particular case only calls attention to a general weakness. A world-wide organization cannot be conducted . on the lines of patriarchal despotism and personal ownership conceived by the founder of the Army, General William Booth. Yet it is impossible not to be sorry for General Bramwell Booth, who has inherited a tradition to which he obstinately clings. " I am responsible before God," he says. " I feel I should be less than a man, let alone the leader of a great religious organization, if I agreed to the request to retire at a time when, as I understand, there is agitation to change the foundation upon which it rests." * * * *
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