The Social Work of the Salvation Army Part 17

About forty-five years old. Belonged to the Army. Married. One child.

Came from Baltimore, Md., where he worked as a teamster. The Army paid family's fare to the Colony. Made a failure of his holding on the Colony and was making a bare living by running the Colony hotel and doing teaming. His failure was due to alkali and insect pests. His wife was sick before coming, but became better and was evidently the more efficient member of the partners.h.i.+p.

No. 12.

Thirty-five years old. Married. Two children. Brother of Army officer and son of example No. 1. In the Colony eight years. Used to be street-car conductor in Chicago. Gave up one holding in the Colony on account of alkali and took another, where he was doing well at time of interview.

No. 13.

About forty years old. Married. Came from the country. Rented a house on the Colony and worked as a section-hand on the railroad.

FOOTNOTES:

[57] "The Poor and the Land." Introduction, p. VI.

[58] "Report of Departmental Committee," pp. 8, 9, 10.

[59] "William Booth," p. 83.

[60] "The S. A. in the U. S.," p. 15.

[61] See Giddings' "Principles of Sociology," p. 291.

[62] "The Poor and the Land," p. 75.

[63] See example No. 8 at the end of the chapter, p. 115.

[64] About this time, Mr. Curtis, describing the colony in the Chicago Record, said "There is no neater group of houses in Colorado, and no more contented community in the world. Nearly every one has written to friends urging them to join the next colony that comes out, and thus I judge they are enthusiastic over their success and the pleasures they enjoy."

[65] See principle No. 2, p. 101.

[66] "The Poor and the Land," p. 78.

[67] See principle No. 5, p. 101.

[68] See several examples at the end of this chapter, p. 137.

[69] "The Poor and the Land," p. 82.

[70] See principle No. 1, p. 101.

[71] "The Poor and the Land," p. 39.

[72] See Pamphlet, "Review of Salvation Army Land Colony in California."

[73] The price of land at Ft. Amity would be different, and there, too, the Army sometimes rents to the colonists an additional acreage.

[74] "Memorandum of Information Respecting the Salvation Army Colony at Ft. Romie, California."

[75] For these principles see p. 101 of this chapter.

[76] See "The Poor and the Land," p. 40 and fl.

[77] See examples at end of chapter.

[78] See "The Poor and the Land," p. 47.

[79] See the "Poor and the Land," p. 82.

[80] See "Report of Departmental Committee," p. 14 and fl.

[81] _Ibid._

[82] Mr. John Manson in his book "The Salvation Army and the Public," p.

133 and following, states that in this work the Army has merely acted the part of a business agency. We think that he has ground for this statement, but we also think that the Army would be far more useful along these lines than an ordinary business agency.

[83] See Report of Departmental Committee, p. 6.

[84] See Report of Departmental Committee, p. 3.

[85] See tables p. 98 of this book.

[86] See Report of Departmental Committee, p. 30.

CHAPTER IV.

THE SALVATION ARMY SLUM DEPARTMENT.

So much has been written on the question of the slums in the past few years; so many settlements, evening recreation centers, summer playgrounds, clubs, visiting nurses' a.s.sociations, and kindergarten a.s.sociations have been organized; so much has been done by tenement house commissions and tenement laws; so many churches have turned from their original efforts to the slums; that we wonder why so little is heard of what the Army, the organization supposed especially to represent the poor, is doing in this direction. To tell the truth, if we go down into the slums, either those of Deptford, Whitechapel, or of Westminster, in London; or those of the Jewish, the Italian, the Negro, or the Irish quarters in New York, or those of the Slav or Jewish quarters in Chicago, expecting to find there the work of the Army much in evidence, we shall be disappointed. What slum work is done by the Army in these densely populated corners is done with love and earnest hearts, with sacrifice and the best of intentions; but apparently it does not bear fruit in the same proportion as does the work of the settlement, whether church settlement or secular, or in the same proportion as many of the kindergartens, summer playgrounds and evening recreation centers. Nevertheless, the slum post of the Army is doing valuable work and should be supported.

A sweeping tenement house reform can do more than any number of settlements; a settlement can do more than the Army slum post; but neither the tenement reform nor the settlement does the work that a slum post does. Probably the work done by other organizations most nearly allied to that of the Army slum post is that done by the various organizations of church deaconesses, which have been growing rapidly in late years, in which women are employed by the churches to visit the poor in their homes, and nurse the sick, besides other duties. If we depend or count largely on the Army slum work to reform the slums, we shall be disappointed in learning that, after years of successful growth in the Industrial and Social Departments, the Army has but twenty slum posts in the United States[87], some of these being very small, and that it has no large number in other countries. Such as it is, the work is well worth while. But let us examine its origin, present status and the reason for its relatively small growth.

In the beginning of the Army movement, Mrs. Booth, the late wife of General Booth, supplemented her husband's work by a personal visitation of the people in their homes. She proved the utility of this work and also its place among the works of women. From her early efforts has sprung the more widely organized department of slum work.

The slum work may be divided into three divisions: visitation work, the slum nursery, and the maintenance of the slum post. Wearing a humbler garb, even, than the regular Army uniform, the la.s.sies start out on their daily tours of visitation. They take care of the sick, and at the same time, they clean the home and put everything in order. Often they come upon cases of need and of want, and then they provide the little necessaries: a sack of coal, a supply of food, or some needed clothing.

They take the children from the worn-out woman and amuse and instruct them, while the mother does her work; and, wherever they go, although most plainly dressed, they are clean and neat, and they strive to make everything else clean and neat.

While this visitation work is going on, another most urgent need is being supplied by the slum nursery. Here the mother can leave her children in the morning, when she goes to her work, and find them safely waiting for her in the evening, clean and happy. A charge of five cents per day is made to cover the expense of feeding the children. During the day they are well cared for, the younger ones properly nursed, and the older ones taught simple little kindergarten games and songs. Sometimes children are brought here and never called for again, in which case the Army la.s.sies in charge must find some permanent home for them, but this does not often happen, as the mothers of the children are usually known by the Army workers. At the slum nursery in Cincinnati there is also a free clinic, where sick women and children go for treatment. Two of the most efficient physicians of the city furnish free aid, and the medicines necessary are provided.

In addition to the visitation work and the nursery, the maintenance of the slum post means the keeping of slum quarters and a slum hall. The "quarters" are the two or more rooms where the la.s.sies live, and they are located where most can be accomplished in the way of example and influence. The hall is for the carrying on of slum meetings, for these are regularly held. In these meetings the roughest crowd of men, women and children is awed into respect and reverence by the simple slum la.s.sies with their songs and music. Again, in this little hall, the children of the neighborhood are gathered in a Sunday School and taught by the slum officers. It is a most interesting spectacle to watch these children. Many different nationalities are represented, the dark races and the light. As children, these nationalities mingle together more freely than in adult life.

A special aspect of the slum post is the distribution of charitable relief to the needy. It is specially situated, and has advantages for this purpose; hence it becomes the distributing depot for bread, soup and coal in winter, and ice in summer. For instance, from one slum post in New York during the winter of 1907-8, 2,800 loaves of bread were given out in one week, and for some months, an average of from 300 to 1,000 loaves, besides an average of two tons of coal per week. Some of this, naturally, would go to the undeserving, but the slum officers, as a rule, know the people of their immediate neighborhood, and can exercise due discretion.