he Omaha Sunday
PART THREE
EDITORIAL
PAGES ONE TO SIX
PART THREE
MAGAZINE
PAGES ONE TO E3X
VOL. XLVNO. 28.
OMAHA, SUNDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 20, 1!15.
SINGLE COPY FIVE CENTS.
Turning Waste to Service His Life's Work
Men and Things Saved from Scrapheap by Captain Harry Kline
nrVir
Bee
CAPTAIN HARRY HOLLISTER KLINE, in
Command of the Salvation Army's man
renovating plant at Eleventh and Dodge
streets, is splendidly fitted by tempera
ment and experience for his job.
Twenty-five years ago he was running a gam
bling Joint in Fresno, Cal. lie was converted by
the Salvation Army in 1891, and has been an ac
tive soldier of the Lord and his fellowman ever
since.
He has been a military soldier, also, going with
the first expedition to the Philippines in the Span-, -l,ih-American
war. where" he held meetings tor his
comrades under the bamboo trees of the far-away
islands, and was invalided home after five years,
with chronic dysentery.
His father was a captain, too. He was captain
ct a company of Kansas cavalry which he recruited
and he fought Indians on the plains of Kansas in
the early days. ;
"I have eaten, slept, stolen, gambled and been
in jail with men Just like those I am now trying
to guide to the right path," says Captain Kline,
"i have cooked tramp stews under railroad bridges.
"I know my men, their hearts, their minds,
their temptations, their fine points. I am an ordi
nary, every-day man with a love for my fellow
man and a sympathy for their faults and frailties.
I have acquired this, not through belief In some
creed, but because I have experienced ' what they
are experiencing, and I have found In the salva
tion of God a living, vitalizing force which has
helped me out of that quagmire. The reason I
am in the 8alvatlon Army is because It was through
the Salvation Army that I came to myself."
No dreamer is Captain Kline. His Is not a job
for a dreamer, an idealist. It is a Job that calls
for such executive ability as is required for the
management of large industrial enterprises.
Looking at the modest exterior on Dodge street
west of Eleventh, you have no idea what a hive of
industry it Is. You wouldn't imagine that at night
there may be over 100 men sleeping there, men
who would be out in the cold or in unsympathetic
jails but for this. You wouldn't Imagine that
during the day there are from fifteen to thirty
men working there, men who would be Idle or
perhaps Into mischief but for this.
It was an old, ramshackle building when Cap
tain Kline took charge of it over three years ago,
'not much but four walls he says.
Right there he put into force a great principle
of the Army, "Take waste labor and put it to work
on waste material, and you-save both to be of use
to the world.".
That's a mighty big, powerful principle and it
has worked and is working marvels right here In
Omaha.
By it the old building was converted into a
snug, warm, clean place, that Is a palace to men
who are down-and-out. Moreover, the spirit of
sympathy, understanding, helpfulness pervades its
every corner.
Here the unfortunate, If they are worthy, can
get a night's lodging or a meal for nothing. Here
15 cents will buy a warm bed for the night with
opportunity for a man to take a hot , bath, and
wash his clothes and have them dry by morning.
Let's go over the big. busy place with Captain
Kline. Leaving his office, we go through a narrow
corridor and arrive in one of two large rooms,
r.team-heated and with electric lights. Here are
long rows of cots, each with a number. Around
the sides, small rooms, eighty by ten in size, are
partitioned off. These Tent for 25 cental night
oi $1.50 a week. . .. . ' '
In one corner of the big rooms are the bath,
looms and big porcelain tubs, with abundance of
hot water, where the men can wash their clothes.
Descending the stairs from here we come to the
lobby, where there are chairs and tables with mag
azines and newspapers. Off of this is a little room
for the clerk. Let us take a look at the register.
Last night nearly all the beds and rooms were
taken. There are all the names of the occupants
end. below is a summary of the night's business,
thus:
Beds. Rooms.
Cash . .1.41 6
Charity 9 3
Stand-offs" 7 1
Previously paid. . . 17 1
One dollar and thirty-five
cents received from "identys."
Total receipts $18.75.,
"Identys" are men who bring identification
slips showing that they have worked for a railroad
or other firm and have the money "coming" the
next pay day.
The "stand-offs" are men on whom the captain
takes a chance. He has come, by long experience,
to be an expert character reader and can pick a
flaw in almost any bogus hard-luck story. "If I
err at all, though," he says, "I try to err on the
side of mercy. Most of these fellows have good
hearts. Some, of course, are just naturally no
good, the dirty bums. Still if they come here hun
gry and cold I can't turn them away, and I give
them an order for a bed and meal."
Here we meet a cheery, gristled, bustling little
man and the captain introduces him.
"This is my foreman, William Hodge," he says.
He came to me down-and-out and he could hardly '
stand up. Booze had got the best of him. From
a common roustabout he has worked up'till now
he Is my right-hand man and he's a crackerjacket.
Always on the Job and I can always depend on
Hm."
Mr. Hodge beams with the pleasure that comes
of high commendation and appreciation of work
conscientiously done. On invitation of the cap
tain he is glad to tell his story:
"I had a fine position with the Union Pacific
( foreman of depot construction, got my $110 a
month. But every bit of it went for drink. Seemed
I couldn't let it alone and never saved a cent. Since
ers. Most of the workers are men who work for
I'm here, while I don't get but a small fraction ot
what I got with the Union Pacific. I've got $300
or $400 dollars in the bank."
Mr. Hodge, you see, id' now a man of worth in
the community. He's doing useful work and he's
doing it well and has the commendation of his
superior officer and money In the bank and self
respect. What more Is there in life for anyone?
But for the Salvation army where and what would
th's useful man be?
In this room, also, calls are received and filled
for men for all kinds of work. A book Is filled
with entries like this:
"Evans laundry man to clean around laundry
sent Concannon, Room 20."
"Gilchrist, 5002 Davenport man carry ashes
out of cellar sent Baker."
"618 South Twentieth street man carry In coal
sent McPherson."
Next we enter the store which is the greatest
old curiosity shop you can imagine. Everything
here that goes to furnish a house. It is presided
ever by Mrs. Brown, twenty years a Salvationist.
She knows the customers and her scale of prices
is not fixed merely by values, but by the ability and
respectability of the customers. Where respec
tability is very high and ability to pay very low,
things are given away.
Back of the store is a big room where all the
stuff collected by the five wagons from all over
the city is received.. Here the paper is sorted and
then shot down a hole into a big paper press where
it is made into bales weighing from 200 to 1,200
pounds each. This is shipped in carload lots to
course,
their board and lodging and,
constantly coming and going.
In the little kitchen the captain shows a large
Ice box. He saw It lying In the cellar of the old
Myers-Dillon building at Sixteenth and Farnam
streets. He "rescued" It and It's as Rood as new.
"What I need now is a good sized range," he
says. "You see, we have to do all the cooking on
that little kitchen range and it's altogether too
small."
The dining room with olkoth-eovered tables Is
Dade cheery with pictures Sampson, Schley,
Dewey, colored landscapes and a portrait of Miss
Eva Booth, head of the army.
"This linoleum," says the captatn. "came from
the old Board of Trade building. Some of these
dishes were given to us by hotels when they dis
carded them for others. These chairs came from
the old court house and were sat in by judges and
newspaper men and all sorts of Important people
before we got them."
"Efficiency." That Is the thing that Impresses
one after a trip througn this establishment. Not
the blunt efficiency that simply seeks to grind
human labor to extract the ultimate possible dol
lar, but a higher efficiency that makes useful men
while It Is making useful furniture and clothing
out of the castoffs.
And the wages! Even the highest are mere
trifles. But the expenses of these men are trifles,
too, and they have the boon of something to do
where otherwise they would be Idle. And they
have a home and sympathetic companionship of
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eastern paper mills. The cellar is filled at present
with about sixty of these great bales.
"You see," says the captain, "I used to be a
gambler. I'm a speculator and I believe paper la
going up, so I'm holding this for the market. Be
fore the war we got 90 cents a hundred for rags.
Now we are getting $3 a hundred."
Come now into a little room lighted by a base
ment window. Here a tittle man Is engaged In
s'ainlng a table top.
"This table came in with only three legs and
half a top," explains the little man proudly. "I
got the wood for this top from a headboard out of
an old bed and the extra leg I took from another
old table that only had two legs'
. This explains what they are doing all the time
at this great factory making useful things out ot
castoffs and giving them to the deserving or sell
ing them for a fraction ot their value.
A comfortable leading room is provided for the
workers in the ind&trlal home and the dormitory
rdjolns. It has seventeen cots and seventeen lock-
f
