THE SALVATION ARMY.*
MR. RIDER HAGGARD has made a close inspection of the Salvation Army's work, has visited its workshops, homes, refuges and shelters, has talked with its officers, observed the poor creatures whom it seeks to restore, and he gives us here his opinions on the results attained. His competence no one, we imagine, will doubt, and it is a highly significant fact that his judgment is favourable, and more than favourable. First, a word may be said as to the Army's finance. Whatever may have been the case in time past, the accounts are now, he declares, regularly audited. And this should satisfy every one, not only as to what is, but also as to what has been. Such an undertaking, if it once gives way, can never be set right. Some of our readers will remember the fierce attack made on the late Dr. Barnardo. He was amply vindicated, and so is " General" Booth. The activities of the Army may be roughly described as three- fold—employment, shelter, restoration. The first is, in a way, the most beset with difficulties. The trade unions are hostile because the workshops do not pay the union rate of wages. This seems somewhat unreasonable; the work- men employed are more or less inefficient. The Army has, however, so far yielded that the products are not brought into the open market. But this is a thorny question. About the shelters there is no such question. Of course there are economic objections. The Army, we are told, does its best to meet them. There may be unworthy recipients of its help, but the impostor who is driven to range himself among the applicants for admission to the shelter does not get much by his fraud. The work of restoration is the subject of Mr. Rider Haggard's most moving chapters, but we cannot dwell on them. They touch the heart, and it is not everyone who will be able to read them without tears. Often we are moved to anger. Surely something might be done to punish the wickedness of the habitual seducer. But here again we are confronted with great difficulties. It is a relief to turn to the cheering words of what is done in " raising up those who fall." It is here, indeed, that the Army justifies its name. The chief article in its creed, the belief which is the motive of its action, is the miracle of regeneration. Surely this is the cardinal doctrine of Christianity, the one thing which sets it above all other philanthropies and creeds, and makes it a necessity for the world.
• Regeneration an Account of the Social Work of the Salvation Army in Great Britain. By H. Rider Haggard. London Longman and Co. [2s. 6d. net.)
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