Banner of the Booths

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 554, 5 January 1929, Page 10

Banner of the Booths

SALVATION ARMY’S NEW PROBLEM

Question of Leadership

IX the year 1865 an evangelist named William Booth, aged ■ 36, began to hold religious meetings in the streets and various small halls of London. Baptised an Anglican, he had worked in Wesleyan, Congregational and Methodist circles, but had been rejected. So be pitched a tent on a deserted burial ground at Mile End Waste and started “on bis own.

From this humble beginning sprang the Salvation Army which, at the end of 1925, had in its ranks about 22,360 officers and cadets. When General Booth died in 1912 his Army was operating in 59 countries. Three years ago its flag waved in 81 countries and colonies.

To-day the huge organisation is facing a crisis, unprecedented in its history. In a short time there will meet in London the High Council of the Army, consisting of 64 commissioners. It will be their duty to decide whether or not the control of the Army shall remain in the hands of a member of the Booth family, and continue to preserve at least the semblance of absolutism.

OLD DEED-POLL

On the death of the founder his supreme position was taken over by General Bramwell Booth, who was appointed under a deed-poll, dated 1868, which provided that the general should appoint his successor. In 1904 a supplementary deed-poll was adopted giving the council power to remove a general, if four-fifths of its members decided that he was unworthy or unable to continue in office.

The problem now facing the council arises from the fact that General Bramwell Booth lies seriously ill in London. For some time his life was despaired of, but he recovered sufficiently to be told on Thursday last that the High Council was being convened to .consider the problem of his office and successor. If he has availed himself of the power conferred upon him by the old deed and followed the .precedent established by his father, the General will have placed under seal the name of his daughter, Commissioner Catherine Booth, or his sister, Evangeline Booth, leader of the Salvationists in the United States, both of whom are now in London.

The High Council will, in effect, discuss the advisability of allowing the Army, its vast finances, and valuable holdings in every land, to remain under the control of one person. There is a strong feeling that something in the nature of a board of control operating in the manner of a company directorate should be set up to replace the present patriarchal leadership. OLD AND THE NEW

To understand fully the situation which prompts this desf e for reorganisation of Salvation Army leadership, it is necessary to examine in brief the records of the organisation during the 64 years of its existence.

Christian Mission,” in which vvilliam Booth was assisted by his gifted wife, Catherine, extended with amazing rapidity, and in 1878 tfip title "Salvation Army” was adopted; At tlmt time there were 75 corps and officers in tlie United Kingdom, and the revenue for the year was £1,925. Thus, when General William Booth arranged the conditions of succession to his absolute leadership, he did so in circumstances that were comparatively modest and entirely satisfactory to everyone concerned. Little did the founder know that the Salvation Army was to spread to every corner of the world, claim thousand upon thousand of adherents, and control huge sums of money. At the present time more than 14,000 corps are in existence, together with 1,400 social institutions. In the British Isles the centres number 1,500 and a similar figure has been reached in the United States of America. In Canada there are between 600 and 700, and in Australia and New Zealand about 1,900. India has 5,000 centres, and the Far East about 450. In each year about I.SOO young men and women are trained for whole-time work and “War Crys,” the official Army publications are issued in nearly 4(1 languages.

Greatly increased sums of money have, been raised as the movement progressed. . The financial system is divided into two parts, one concerned with local corps financing themselves by their own efforts, the other for property, missionary and social funds. In the year ending September, 1925, the total income received at international headquarters for properties, missionary and social work was £670,942. So it may be seen that whatever virtues may be possessed by the present form of control, it is but the survival of a system put into operation when the circumstances of the Army war-

ranted nothing more complicated Whether or not the council may see fit to make a change, time alone can tell.