The Social Work of the Salvation Army   By: Edwin Gifford Lamb (1878-)

BY

EDWIN GIFFORD LAMB, A.B.

Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Political Science

Columbia University

New York

1909

COPYRIGHT, 1909

BY

EDWIN GIFFORD LAMB

PREFACE.

I use the word "Social" in the title of this work to suggest that, save in an auxiliary way, I am not attempting to describe the religious features of the organization. Such a field of investigation would prove a very profitable and interesting one, but it is a field, which, for the sake of clearness and impartial study, should be kept separate. The organization itself recognizes the primary division. Commander Booth Tucker, the leader of the Army in the United States from 1896 to 1904, says, "The Salvation Army is the evolution of two great ideas: first, that of reaching with the gospel of salvation the masses who are outside the pale of ordinary church influence, and second, that of caring for their temporal as well as spiritual interests."[1]

I have secured very little data from books, as there is but little authentic literature on the subject. Primarily, the data for this treatise were taken from personal observation. In pursuing the subject I have visited Salvation Army social institutions of every description. In addition to visiting the larger cities of the United States and the three Army colonies, situated in Ohio, Colorado and California, respectively, I have investigated the work in London, where the Army had its origin, and at the farm colony in Hadleigh, on the river Thames, some thirty miles from London. I have slept in the hotels, worked in the industrial homes, wandered over the farm colonies, and mingled with the inmates of other types of Army institutions.

Nov., 1909. E. G. L.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Pamphlet "The Salvation Army in the United States."

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE.

Preface 5

Introduction 7 15

CHAPTER I The Salvation Army Industrial Department 16 62

CHAPTER II The Salvation Army Hotels and Lodging Houses 63 98

CHAPTER III The Farm Colonies of the Salvation Army 99 116

CHAPTER IV The Salvation Army Slum Department 117 121

CHAPTER V The Salvation Army Rescue Department 122 126

CHAPTER VI Some Minor Features of the Salvation Army Social Work 127 131

CHAPTER VII Conclusion 132 139

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTION.

The Salvation Army was founded by William Booth in London, England, in 1865. Previous to this time Mr. Booth had been a successful clergyman in the Methodist Church, and had become widely known throughout England as a revivalist. As time passed, he had become more and more interested in the condition of the un churched masses, and as his church did not approve of his taking up work among the masses in connection with it as an organization, he had, in 1861, separated from the Methodists. With little support, he established in London what was known as The Christian Mission.