The Progress of the World. 



271 



iiui. In this country those in charge of labour exchanges fiml 

 it difficult to tind suitable lodgings for women and girls for 

 whom work is waiting. By co-operation with the labour 

 exchanges local neetl could be ascertained. 



It is intended that the funds raised in each country should be 

 available, if desired, for establishing there the most suitable 

 kind of home, which would be placed under the supervision of 

 some existing Dtganisation. 



In the autumn it is proposed to call a 

 meeting and appoint a committee before 

 issuing a public appeal. Friends desiring 

 to co-operate will kindly communicate with 

 Miss Josephine Marshall, Salvt;, Williheld 

 Way, Hendon. 



The pa.ssing of General 

 The Future Booth has given rise to 



of the ° . 



Salvation Army, many Speculations con- 

 cerning the future of the 

 Salvation Army. There is the usual 

 tendency to expect tliat the departure of a 

 great personality will be followed hy the 

 decay and final disappearance of his work. 

 Sucii estimates seem to be based on an 

 insufficient recollection of the tenacity of 

 great religious movements. St. Francis of 

 .\ssisi died in 1226. The resemblance 

 between the Salvationist and the Franciscan 

 methods of evangelism has often impressed 

 Church historians. During the saint's life- 

 time the Order tiiat hears his name had 

 extended into many lands, but had attained 

 dimensions in no way comparable to those 

 of the Solvation Army at the present 

 time. Vet the Franciscan Order is ' still 

 alive and active. The autocracy of the 

 .Vrmy need not be considered more 

 fatal to continuance than the autocracy 

 which ruli-. the .lesuit Onlcr. In a 

 |)urely vdliintary organisation autocracv 

 can only be by consent of the governed, 

 anil is therefore, to use (ieneral Booth's 

 own words, a Mosaic ilemocracy. It ;iiav 

 be answered that the lite <»f the (u-neral, <tr 

 even tiie life of C'atherine Booth, cannot 

 compel the devotion of succeeding genera- 



tions with the charm of the Saint of Assisi. 

 But the red-hot passion for saving souls 

 which filled the founders of the Salvation 

 Army is a precedent and an inspiration not 

 less potent than the emotion or purpose 

 from which Orders have sprung that have 

 lasted for centuries. The progress of 

 social reform will doubtless tend to dry 

 up the sources of the social morass and 

 render the social wing of the .\rmy less 

 and less necessary. But so long as there 

 is to be found a " submerged " fraction 

 of humanity anvwhere in the world, so long 

 is there need for perfervid Salvationism of 

 the earliest type. And Mr. Begbie's 

 " Broken Earthenware " attests that at the 

 present time, as in the earliest days of the 

 movement, conversions are taking place, by 

 means of the Army, of the most startling 

 and seismic character. Yet in the earliest 

 days of the .^rmy General Booth confessed 

 that his great difficulty was to " keep his 

 people down in the gutter. No sooner had 

 they been saved than they tried to become 

 respectable. But he meant, by the help 

 of (jod, to keep the Army down in the 

 gutter." The General clearly foresaw the 

 chief peril. Forewarneil is forearmed. 



The British Isles are 

 usuallv so fortunate in 



The Floods. , . ' • r 



their exemption from great 



catastrophes of Nature as 

 to make us, as a peoj)le, more impatient 

 when they actuallv arrive. Last year the 

 countrv was burnt up with an exceptional 

 drought. This year it has been devastated 

 with cold and flood. The month of holi- 

 day and harvest has been in temperature 

 anil in moisture mf)re suggestivt- ol 

 February than of August, 'llu- spoilt holi- 

 ilav is a minor matter compared with the 

 spoilt harvest, but is none the less a disaster. 

 The holiday of the brainworkers in especial 



