Anxieties Over the 'Salvation Army' Invasion
A local observer frets over the arrival of the Salvation Army, viewing their religious enthusiasm as a dangerous, contagious social fever.
We asked: 'To what do you allude?' thinking perhaps some fearful calamity was hanging over our city. 'To the coming wave of religious excitement and turmoil, known as the Salvation Army. Human beings are so constituted that seasons of novelty and unrest seem to be a necessity. And now from the East we are threatened with a new invasion. The Salvation Army is landed, and our country is to be upset, tossed and whirled about on a sea of religious excitement and fanaticism. I am a firm believer in the Christian religion. But this Salvation Army I look upon with distrust. It had its origin in the lowest dregs of East London society. The band paraded the streets of London at all hours, singing, shouting and praying like a lot of inspired lunatics. They have chosen as their peculiar field of labor the worst elements of city life—thieves, gamblers, and fallen women. Let us hope that our city is not large enough nor wicked enough to attract the attentions of the Salvation Army.'
“They have chosen as their peculiar field of labor the worst elements of city life—thieves, gamblers, and fallen women.”
This commentary perfectly captures the historical tension between established religious order and the grassroots, sometimes disruptive tactics of the Salvation Army, which sought to engage with marginalized populations in the urban core.
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