were military in form. At
first the title of "Captain" was used among the sailors and fishermen to
designate the local leader of the company, and then it was extended
wherever, among the rough element, the "Mr." or "Rev." would seem out of
place. The usage and the spirit accompanying it soon spread, and by the
year 1879 military methods and titles were officially added. The Rev.
Wm. Booth, who, up to this time, had been known as "Superintendent of
the Christian Mission," became "General" Booth, and the "Mission" became
the "Salvation Army."[2]

This addition of military methods seems to have accelerated the movement
by favoring efficient and systematic control. Soon after this time, we
find, the organization had spread to the United States, Canada,
Australia, France, Switzerland, Holland, Belgium, Scandinavia, Germany
and Italy. Then missionary work was taken up in India, and later on, in
Africa, Java and Japan. At the present time (1908), according to its
reports, the Army occupies fifty-two different countries and colonies.
In no country has its rate of progress been more remarkable than in the
United States, where in point of numbers, the local organization now
ranks second only to that of Great Britain.[3]

Along with the rapid growth went a differentiation almost as rapid and
unique as the growth itself. In fact, both reacted on each other. The
work was separated first into three main departments, viz.: Spiritual,
Social and Trade. It will be necessary to make a brief statement of this
differentiation in detail. In the Spiritual Department we have the
extension of the original idea, that of converting the people. Corps, as
the different religious groups were called, sprang up and multiplied
until even the smaller towns were occupied. Converts were added by
hundreds and thousands. Large numbers of the brightest and best of these
converts were utilized in extending the work still further, and after
undergoing a brief training, were sent out, some to aid the movement in
the mother country, others to begin the work in different parts of
Europe and in America, and still others as missionaries to all parts of
the world. Meanwhile, the work in each local organization or Corps,
became systematized, and the Corps were united into Sections or
Divisions, the Divisions into larger districts called Provinces, and the
Provinces into Commands, which for the most part controlled the
territory of an entire country. Each of these