Poster Saturday. Salvation Army Home Service Campaign. May 19-26, 1919.

A poster from the Salvation Army form 1919 in support of their Home Service Campaign, following the conclusion of World War One.

The Salvation Army is a Protestant religious denomination, something that seems to escape people sometimes, that's somewhat uniquely organized on military lines.  I can't think of anything really comparable other than, I suppose, the Catholic military orders of the Crusades, but as they are monastic orders, and the Salvation Army is an entire faith, that isn't truly comparable.  Even Salvation Army churches are referred to in militaristic terms.

It was founded in 1865 in London, England, by a former Methodist minister as part of a widespread "Holiness Movement" that existed at the time.  It was widely spread in the English speaking world by World War One and had a major service role along with the YMCA and Red Cross to the extent that the three are sometimes confused. Indeed, along with both the Red Cross and the YMCA, the Salvation Army is associated with donuts due to the Great War, even though none of those organizations focused on serving donuts.

The Great War service organizations filled a roll that the USO and other organizations that were organized by the governments did during World War Two.  Not too surprisingly, therefore, they continued on in that role after the peace, at which time the economy was sinking in the wake of post war military discharges and the cancellation of wartime contracts, and also at which time large numbers of Europeans were homeless.