Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 225, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 September 1919 — Salvation Army Plans New Work [ARTICLE]

Salvation Army Plans New Work

Training School to Develop More Officers for Tasks of Reconstruction?- "* " *_ V —— T 1" " TO HAVE LARGER BUILDING College Gives Men and Women Severe Tests for Social Welfare Work —Students Trained With /- Care and Patience. New York—The Salvation army, now that the war is over, is planning and preparing for its work of reconstruction. The active part that the army took in the war called many of its officers and men to France, many are still there and may be for some time, and since the army and its work has been growing and expanding there is at present a real need for more officers. A few days ago the army graduated a class of fifty-four officers, thirty-three of whom were women. When the next claw is sent out it will be twice this number. This institution trains its students with infinite care patience. It has its training college at 333 West Twenty-second street, which is In charge of Colonel Charles Miles, who has been a member of the army for thirty-eight years. In the near future the army will either purchase or erect a larger and more commodious college building at an expense, if necessary, of between $400,000 and $500,000. Many College Graduates. Many officers today in the Salvation army are college or university graduates, and others were just graduated from the world’s school of hard knocks. They are all, however, men and women of more than average intelligence, and some have made really great sacrifices for the privilege of wearing' the .simple blue uniform of * the organization. Of the class just graduated one young man won honors nnd a degree at Cornell university, and seventeen of them were in tha country’s service during the war, one of whom won the croix de guerre. Since the war many soldiers and sailors have expressed a desire to join the organization. It is not an easy matter to become an officer in the Salvation army because the organization is exceedingly particular about getting the right kind of men and women to guide its destinies, and, although many are called few are chosen, and a person before becoming an officer is put through a rather severe acid test. Some candidates are quickly disillusioned at the outset by the smallness of the pay, for lieutenants and captains receive but $9 and sl2. a week, and must pay for their board and lodging out of this sum, and. they also pledge themselves to remain with the army for life. They must devote all their ener-

gies to the organization, and are not permitted to labor outside of their work for remuneration. A major—and bhernusthaveworkod long and-faith-fully to attain such aJiigh rank —recetves a salaryofs2l a week and a small allowance for house rent and for each child. Most of the higher and older officers in the army could go out into the world and make a fat living without any difficulty, and they have been frequently offere(T“lucrative positions, which they have refused because they have preferred to be faithful to their trust. - j To become an officer in the organization a candidate must possess a certain degree of natural intelligence, must love the Lord and his neighbor, and must possess the indefinable something known as the Salvation army spirit Must Prove Worth. Before being admitted to the training college a candidate is first assigned to an army corps for a period of six months. He is there given an opportunity to prove that he “Is made of the right sort of stuff by showing

his willingness to do cheerfully any kind of task assigned him. He is immediately sent out on the streets with the corps and often to a tough l neighborhood in the city where he may encounter a decidedly element. Almost at the start he must make his prayer or plea to the night crowd on the street corner. If at the, end of his period he has shown the, proper spirit he is then sent to the army training college. The course here is monffisZZHe-rpuraW- SI course of Bible study, learns the customs and laws of the organization, and attends lectures. If he does notpossessthe sticking qualities demanded of Salvation army officers,* or shows that he is not fitted /nr the work, he is frankly told so, and is advised to return to his Iwne town where he may nevertheless work for the organization. and take up for his life work some other line of endeavor for which he is better fitted. At the college the army exercises a weeding-out process so that it may make no mistake in its selection of officers. Many who aspire to attain rank are quick to realizethat they are.not Intended for such rigorous social welfare work, and are frank to say so when they realize the sacrifice and hard work it entails. At the outbreak of the war the Salvation army pledged itself to serve and stand by the nation. Almost every member was engaged in some kind of war work, and a large percentage of the organization was in France.