test possible integrity.
We do not hesitate to say that all the money he requires for this great
scheme may be safely placed in his hands, and that he will render a
strict account of its disbursement. Then comes the question, how far is
it possible for him to succeed in the work he proposes to undertake? He
has already in the field a vast organization doing good work among the
dregs of the population, and the extension of this organization to carry
out the main points of his project is not a matter of difficulty. The
ill is a terrible one, the evil gigantic, and the means to grapple with
it must be gigantic also. But given the means, will they be effective?
We frankly confess that we do not believe they will be so effective as
General Booth hopes, but we believe at the same time that if he can
achieve only one-tenth of what he hopes to achieve, ten millions of
pounds would be worthily laid out upon it. The hungry, the dirty, the
ragged, the hopeless and outcast, the criminal and the drunkard, the
idle and the vicious--can he gather all these in with any hope of
starting them afresh on the journey of life? So much work of this kind
has already been done without any special system, that there can be
little doubt that to a large extent he can. With the honestly poor it is
not a difficult matter, but with the vicious and criminal classes, who
have no inclination to work so long as they can steal, it will be a long
time before the Salvation Army or any other agency can effect any
sweeping reform. The work will be slow, but we believe it will be done.
It has been objected against General Booth's scheme that it is not new,
except in the fact that General Booth proposes that it shall be himself
who carries it out. It seems to us, on the contrary, that it is new in
one most vital aspect, and that is, that its details are to be worked
out by an enormous united body on a definite plan, instead of by
numberless charitable agencies all working independently of each other.
We believe, in short, that General Booth will meet with a very large
measure of success, and we believe also that when the details of his
scheme come to be read and discussed, he will have no difficulty in
getting all the money he asks for, and more besides. Looking at the
enormous wealth of England, a million pounds is as nothing. It is the
Duke of Westminister's income for three months, and it would open up the
means of finding hope and work and refuge, and a new l