The Social Work of the Salvation Army

by Edwin Gifford Lamb

A reading room is also provided where daily papers and popular magazines are kept, and where the men may write. In some cases, a smoking room adjoins. Meetings of a devotional character, to which the men may come or not as they see fit, are often held in the reading room.

The support that renders the industrial home possible is the waste product of the city. This material is rubbish of all kinds imaginable. In connection with each industrial plant are kept a number of horses and wagons, mostly one-horse wagons. Each driver of a wagon has a definite route to cover regularly. Passing over his route, he collects everything of which people are glad to be rid. Waste paper, old clothes, old furniture, and the like, are the principal articles he collects. Many good people, persuaded of the good work the Army is doing, save up their store of odds and ends until the Army wagon shall call, often giving things away which they would not have thrown away or given any one else, unless it would be to sell them to an old-clothes man. The driver returns with his load to the warehouse. From his wagon the material is conveyed by means of an elevator to the sorting room in the second story, whence the greater quantity goes at once to the baling machine in the form of waste paper. Any articles that may be of use, such as shoes, clothing of any kind, books, crockery-ware, bottles, pots, kettles, etc., are placed in their respective bins and finally, repaired, find their way to the retail store. Heavy articles, such as stoves and furniture, do not go up in the elevator, but are retained on the first floor, where they go, first to the repairing and storage room, and then out to the stores. The paper and rags, when baled, are sold to the nearest paper mill for a good price. Some idea of the amount of this class of material may be gained from the fact that the average amount of paper sold by the Industrial Department in the United States is about 2,500 tons per month.

In England and other countries this work has not assumed such large proportions, but there is some difference between the workings of the industrial plant in the City of London and in New York. For instance, at the Salvation Army plant on Hanbury Street, Whitechapel, London, we found, in 1906, a planing mill, a paint and furniture shop, a mattress factory, and a sawmill and cabinet shop. This place had employment for ninety men, of whom twelve were regularly employed and the remainder were transients. The regular employees were paid at a union rate of wages. The men of this industrial plant lived some distance away on Quaker Street, having possession of part of the Salvation Army shelter or hotel there, the total accommodation of which was two hundred and forty. Again, in a different part of the city, over near Deptford, was a wood yard with good machinery, run by electricity, which employed anywhere from sixty to seventy men making kindling wood. On the other hand, at the "Spa Road Elevator," was a plant almost identical with the industrial plants in the United States, where were shipped out an average of 100 pounds of paper every week and several tons of rags in addition, and where was accommodation for some two hundred men.

Branching out from the main industrial plant are nearly always to be found large stores. These are Salvation Army retail stores. These stores are found in the poorest sections of the city, and are patronized by the poorest class. Articles of all descriptions may be purchased here at a very low figure. In each store is a furniture department; a clothing department for men, women and children; a toy department; a department for stoves, pots, etc., and sometimes other departments varying with the size of the store. It is possible, thus, for a poor family moving into the neighborhood to completely furnish themselves and their home from Salvation Army stores at a cost of often less than one-half of what they would pay elsewhere. Each store has a definite connection with the central industrial plant, from which it receives its supplies, its workers and its government, for the stores are merely branches of the central work, and all are under the same general management.

An interesting feature lies in an examination of the labor which is employed. From the cases given at the end of the chapter, it will be seen that it consists of all kinds, classes and nationalities, who, through their own recklessness, or by unfortunate circumstances, have fallen into want. A man willing to work comes to the Army in want of food and shelter, and the Army happens to have accommodation for him. He may go to one of the men's hotels or to the industrial home, or to the central agency of the Army. In any case he will probably be interviewed by an officer specially detailed for the purpose, who will be able to decide in short time what his needs are, and what can be done for him. He may be sent out at once to take some position secured through the employment bureau; he may be sent to the hotel with the understanding that, after being fed and cared for, he will be given an opportunity to pay for it in work; or he may be sent straight to the industrial home. In any case, if possible, he is put to work. He may be in a weak condition physically or mentally, or both, but even then, he can often do something; such, for example, as picking over paper and rags in the sorting room. Meanwhile, he is being fed and housed. If he means well and works earnestly, he is soon able to do some other grade of work. He may have had technical knowledge which will help him. In a few days, possibly, a call is made to the employment bureau, which is maintained in conjunction with each home or group of homes, for a man to fill some position. If suitable, this man may be sent out to take it. On the other hand, he may be retained in the home and employed permanently as a driver on one of the wagons, or as overseer and instructor in one of the rooms, or he may be sent out as assistant to one of the stores, and, in time, he may be given charge of a store. When the men first come to the home, they receive board and clothing and some remuneration, although very slight. If they continue to work at the home, they are paid wages ranging from $1.00 per week up to $4.00 or $5.00 per week, besides board and lodging in the United States, and from 1s. to 9s. in England.

When a man is able, but is lazy and not willing to work, he is turned out. It is well known to those who have studied the question, that there are a large number of such men, but this class does not apply for help as often as it might to the Army, as it soon learns the uselessness of so doing. The officers become quite adept in seeing these men in their true colors. On the other hand, if a man drops into bad habits and goes off on a spree after he has been helped, he will be taken in again afterwards, and this is continued within reason. Much of the labor employed is a surface and floating population, the result of season and periodic work in connection with so many of our industries, and the men are just tided over a hard time in their experiences. This class is larger sometimes than at others, but is always in evidence. Another class, however, consists of the men who have fallen through their own recklessness and bad habits. Some of these men are sent out to positions which they fill creditably, and finally rise as high or higher than they were before. Naturally, the Army makes as much as possible out of these cases for the purpose of advertisement. Owing to evident difficulties, it is impossible to ascertain just what percentage there is of this class among the total number helped, or what percentage of this class itself is successfully aided. The industrial work itself, as a paying business, is developing so fast that a constantly increasing number of men are permanently retained and used as regular employees, being paid regular wages.

When we come to the industrial colony, we find it entirely different from the farm colony, where families are sent to settle upon the land in tracts of say twenty acres per family. The industrial colony is managed like a large farm with many laborers, all under one central head. The original idea was to graduate men from the city plants to the industrial colonies and thence to the farm colonies, but the Army has had difficulty in maintaining its colonies at all, and, as a result, no regular system has been followed. A large proportion of the men on the industrial colony are single, whereas, as will be seen, families are needed for the farm colonies. Again, many of these men are not the kind who will succeed on the farm colony. Sometimes, too, they have not been through the city plant, and sometimes they are men sent directly from the city to get them out of temptations which are too strong for them.

The best example of an industrial colony is the one at Hadleigh, about thirty miles from London, England. This colony has an area of about 3,000 acres. One thousand acres is almost useless now; and when taken by the Army in 1890, the whole consisted of almost worthless land, some of which, as a result of constant labor and fertilization, has been transformed into reasonably good land. A great draw-back and a great expense has been the lack of water, now partially supplied by two artesian wells, the cheaper of which cost over $20,000.00.[15] The population varies from 300 to 700.[16] In 1898, 775 men were admitted to the colony. Out of this number, 193 left after a short residence before they could be influenced for good; 47 were discharged as incorrigible, and 309 graduated, obtaining situations or being restored to their friends.[17] There are three classes received at the colony: