THE ^%OST TERRIBLE WINTER THE WORLD HAS EVER KNOWN More Than A Million In Bible Lands Starving Or On The Verge Of Starvation AID FROM TURKISH GOVERNMENT IMPOSSIBLE AMERICAN CHARITY THEIR ONLY HOPE Extracts From LATEST CABLEGRAMS AND REPORTS LATEST CABLEGRAMS AND REPORTS [ ' , January 18, 1917. "Consul of has tele- graphed that eighty thousand refugees have lately appeared in the towns and vil- lages in the vicinity of , and , Information which I have lately received from the German Embassy confirms this and states that these refugees have come from the region. Simi- lar refugees are appearing in the region of , and * * * , January 11, 1917. "We now have upwards of THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND Armenians on our relief lists and probably two hundred thousand more from the Greek and other communities, making in all FIVE HUN- DRED THOUSAND people, chiefly women and children." * * * "In Ourfa, Marash, Dores, Aintab dis- tricts, ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND look to us for bread, while large numbers which cannot yet be approximately esti- mated are coming from the desert seek- ing food, shelter and clothing." * * * Damascus. "I saw 13 dead in one little alley. Wherever you go in the streets of Damas- cus you see hundreds of such sights." "I had an interview with the bead of the municipality and talked over the ques- tion of distribution. By him I was in- formed that 120,000 have died during the last two years in the city eilone. He told me that they have arranged to have fifty In certain areas it is necessary, for political reasons, to omit names in pub- lishing these cablegrams and reports. wagons carry the dead from the streets, but the number of dead is much more than they can handle, and many are left in the streets helping to spread disease." ^ ^ The Lebanon, Syria. "I called upon the Governor of Lebanon who thanked us for work done and begged that I ask for more relief. He informed me that 200,000 had died in Lebanon alone and God only knov/s how many more thou- sands will have starved by the time you receive this letter." "Your friend Rev. fasted twenty days in order to give some food to the hundreds of hungry people and at last he died a martyr. His family now live with us. Contagious diseases and starvation together with overwork are threatening the lives oi all the missionaries." "On my recent visit to Jumieh I met a representative of the relief work, who in- formed me that 5,000 have starved to death in Jumieh and its surroundings. He told me that the whole population of a certain village nearby had been exterminated. To see hundreds of corpses carried away has become an every-day occurrence." ^ American Consulate, Tiflis, January 16, 1917. "Committee after personal investigation Igdir Etchmiadzin Novo Bayesid districts reports: 'Acute distress among refugees. Suffering of v/idows and children intense. Thousands of orphans require immediate help. Government allowance reduced by half. Cases known of death by starva- tion.' " * * * Tabriz, Persia. "Destitute increasing. Other relief funds diminishing. Eight thousand more refugees. Aid Sunni destitute imperative. One hun- dred thousand dollars needed spring sow- ing." W. S. Vanneman. * * * Erivan, February 5, 1917. "Rough estimates place number of or- phans or fatherless children between 15,- 000 and 20,000. About 7,000 of these in orphanages. Strongly urge appropriation $275,000 for administration and partial sup- port of 10,000 destitute, fatherless children in their homes at rate of two dollars per month for one year. Thus saving children and helping keep families together." Raynolds, Yarrow, Gracey, Maynard. * * * Erivan, Caucasus. "In every place the refugees were found to be in great need of clothing and bed- ding. Many, many families have but one or two quilts as their total bedding which are used as covering while the members of the family lie on the dirt floor of stables and basements, some of which are very cold. Others are still sleeping in the open. Those who have come to the Caucasus as a result of the recent retreat are quite destitute, lacking food and bedding and sometimes even clothing. The distress from lack of clothing and bedding in- creases." "We have opened a shop to employ as many as possible. Thus many could pro- vide for their own needs as well as have the moral benefit which comes from occu- pation. Such work requires considerable capital, but at the same time it would be small in proportion to the good accom- plished and the number helped." "On my return I brought them bread and during three quarters of an hour was the pitying but unfortunately powerless spectator of a rapacious fight for a piece of bread, such as savage, famished beasts would exhibit." * * * American Hospital, Nov. 16, 1916. "With the taking off of many bread- winners the general distress is increasing and now the people are pouring in from the villages in wretched conditions, sick, barefoot, ragged and hungry. New or- phans are coming to us every day with the alternative of perishing or else being taken into Moslem houses, unless we can adopt them. Must we turn them away ? We dislike to force new appeals upon you all the time but the stern facts confront us and what else can we do? We thank you most warmly for the financial backing that you have given us thus far." American Hospital , * * * Nov. 23, 1916. "Now that nearly all the village men have been taken up, great droves of Armenian women are coming in from the villages; they walk from several hours to two or three days journey, bringing orphans with them." , Dec. 1, 1916. "We thank you for the gifts which we sent to the poorest who are in the stricken regions — every letter announces new deaths — the death-rate is appalling. But we shall surely endeavor to save what can be saved, and there are innumerable opportimities which we shall do our utmost to meet. "At there are now 1000 people without roof, clothing and food — wheat can be procured on the spot." American Consulate, Tiflis, Jan. 30, 1917. "On behalf of local committee: 'Twelve hundred women in Erivan working three roubles a week. Five thousand men's suits made and clothing distribution begun. Large quantities of wool and cotton pur- chased for bedding, knitting and weaving. Looms and spinning wheels being made. Need increasing, appeals more pitiful every day." Cressy, Acting Consul. * * * Urumia, Persia, November 14, 1916. "The number of refugees is from 25,000 to 30,000. The hardships of this year are greater than last year. The price of every- thing is nearly six times more than three years ago." * * * Der-el-Zor, Syria Desert. "What I have seen and heard passes all imagination. I thought I was passing through a part of hell. They arrive by the thousands. The majority leave their bones here. As far as the eye can reach are to be seen mounds where 200 to 300 corpses are buried in the ground pell mell. Thou- sands have perished here." "Near the place where my carriage stopped, women who had not seen me ar- riving, were searching in the dung of horses for barley seeds, not yet digested, to feed on. I gave them some bread. They threw themselves on it like dogs dy- ing of hunger. Instantly informed by one of them, 240 persons, or rather himgry wolves, who had nothing to eat for seven days, rushed to me from the hill, extend- ing their emaciated arms, imploring with tears and cries a piece of bread. They were mostly women and children, but there were about a dozen old people." •, January, 1917. "THOUSANDS OF GREEKS owing to Greek Deportations, are now turning to us for help. Many lives have been lost through suffering and disease. My atten- tion has been called to a case which is one of the many where of one hundred and fifty Greek peasants deported from the Mar- mara villages, who have managed to come to some months ago, eighty have already perished," * * * "The problem, you see, increases in mag- nitude and complexity. To what extent shall we attempt to meet the wants of the suffering people of Asia Minor? You have granted my request for a hundred thou- sand dollars a month, but already these new features spoken of above, have car- ried the demands for relief funds far be- yond this figure. "The difficult question is where to stop — at what point among equally deserving people can we draw the line between those who may be assisted, and those to whom we must refuse the means for obtaining daily bread?" * * * "I am longing for an answer regarding the Armenian orphanage in . There have been days that the children actually suffered from hunger — and yet our funds are so necessary for other work that it is impossible for us to also care for these 100 children. Is it not possible for you to give something per month for this orphanage?" "The number of persons deported com- ing from outlying villages and from the desert, now in cannot be esti- mated, even approximately." "Our hopes are tied to the friends in America. If possible we urge that funds be raised bearing in mind that it is the widows and orphan girls whom we hope especially to serve." * * * Mesopotamia. "The poor are dying of himger, and those of the men left at home and able to work, are unable to secure enough to sus- tain the lives of their families. The poor of Bagdad and Mosul and surroimding country, have seized everything movable so that there is universal misery and want." "We wait in intense expectancy for reassur- ing reports from America. We are in a position of terrible responsibility. Hundreds of thousands are dependent on us for a little bread day by day. We have brought these thus far. Any let up now would mean disaster and defeat and indescribable suffering. We cannot hesitate, rather must there be larger contributions and increased activities to partially meet the needs." "I spent a week in Van. For a distance of 15 miles the road, even after a year, was strewn with all sorts of garments and shoes and headgear, and skeletons, bones and skulls of what a year ago had been hu- man beings." Ernest A. Yarrow. * * * "Our work of distribution of clothing, bedding, fuel and light reached twenty-five thousand Armenian and Syrian refugees. The condition of the refugees was deplor- able, emaciated, and with very little cloth- ing. The cold was intense and so added to their sufferings. In the larger cities and towns a few were sheltered in houses and many lived in empty shops without bed- ding, sleeping on the damp groimd with scanty clothing and nothing to raise them above the damp earth." "In the villages many of the refugees lived in houses, hovels and stables, all hud- dled together to keep one another warm owing to the extreme cold, which few of our people were accustomed to. We ar- ranged for boards so that they would not have to lie on the damp earth, and bed- ding, clothing, fuel and light were provided. Men got sandals and women and young girls shoes, as many of them were bare- footed." "The conduct of the refugees was all that could be desired, quiet, patient and of good behavior, which, of course, greatly facili- tated our work of distribution. Their gratitude was sincere and at times touch- ing. Some with tears in their eyes would thank us, others would look up mutely into our faces with an expression that spoke louder than words. Many would of- fer us little chains or something dear to themselves, which, of course, we could not accept, but all showing their gratitude. Many were the prayers that went up for the American people who had helped them in their day of need." Geo. F. Gracey. GOVERNMENT AID IMPOSSI- BLE! AMERICA THEIR ONLY HOPE! These hundreds of thousands of Ar- menian, Syrian, Greek and other ref- ugees can for the most part cherish no hope of grants in aid or government subsides such as the dispossessed in other lands enjoy to a greater or less degree. Exiled from their homes, robbed of their possessions, wanderers in a deso- late poverty-stricken land, their only hope for the barest necessities of Ufe is in charity from opulent America, They are an innocent and unoffend- ing people. They are victims of cruel circumstances not of their making. They are an industrious people, who under ordinary circumstances are the wealth producers of the land. FIVE MILLION DOLLARS PER MONTH NEEDED A million souls, (good authorities estimate at least two millions) mostly women and children would be a con- servative estimate of the number in Bible Lands now either actually starv- ing or on the verge of starvation. With flour costing many times as much there as it does in America and other prices proportionately high, five dollars per capita per month should be a minimum allowance for shelter, clothing and food necessary to sustain life. TEN PIASTERS PER MONTH ALLOTTED Instead of granting five dollars per month per capita, our commissioners have been obliged to make grants to relief stations on the woefully inade- quate basis of ten piasters (equal in normal times to forty cents) per capita per month, less than one and a half cents per day. Adverse exchange rates and the high prices of food makes the appropriation indescribably meager — and yet even this allotment must be denied to multitudes of ap- plicants until receipts from America are augmented. RELIEF WORK NOT STOPPED BY WAR Channels heretofore used for distri- bution of relief among Armenians and Syrians in the Turkish Empire are still open and it is believed will re- main open. Representatives of the Committee in Turkey are finding government of- ficials increasingly sympathetic with the distinctively humanitarian work of the Committee. Even though the last American should leave the Turkish Empire, the relief work of the Committee would still be carried forward by other re- liable, sympathetic neutrals who have heretofore been cooperating and will accept additional responsibilities as re- quired. Aside from the situation in the Tur- kish Empire, there are hundreds of thousands of Armenian and Syrian refugees in The Russian Caucasus, in Persia, in Egypt and in the portion of the Turkish Empire now occupied by the Russian army. These large areas represented by the dispatches printed in this leaflet from Tiflis, Erivan, Urumia and Tabriz could easily use all the resources of the Committee without having sufficient funds to meet their needs. Moreover, when peace is once more declared and freedom of intercourse between the nations is restored, there will be revealed a desolation of pov- erty such as the world has never known and America cannot under- stand, — broken families, homeless or- phans, defenceless women, helpless multitudes, exiled from their destroyed villages, and barren fields. Seed and simple implements must be provided and at least six months continued war- fare waged with gaunt famine and dis- ease before the exiles can find new lodgings, and the first simplest food stuffs produced from the soil. Unless large sums are available to provide food, seed and other help in the rehabilitation period, many thou- sands more will perish in the process and all will endure untold and unneces- sary hardships. EFFECTIVENESS OF RELIEF DISTRIBUTION All printing, postage, collecting and administrative expenses from New York are met privately. One hundred cents of every dollar given for relief that reaches the treasurer in New York is cabled through trustworthy neutral agencies to the Embassy or Consuls at various distribution centers. These government officials together with mis- sionaries and other reliable represen- tatives constitute the commissions that administer the relief without drawing any salary or compensation from the funds. There are in the Turkish Empire alone at the present time, remaining at their posts in the face of great dan- ger from epidemics and disease, (at least twelve missionaries have already died from typhus and exposure) sev- eral score such men and women, who personally see that the funds reach the people for whom they are intended. From the largest distribution center in Turkey, have come carefully item- ized audited reports, accounting for every piaster of the many thousands of Turkish Lira which have been ad- ministered from that station. American Consuls and missionaries returning from the relief centers bear testimony after careful personal ob- servation that in their judgment ninety-nine percent and certainly ninety-five percent of all the money contributed for relief through the American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief is used for the pur- chase of food and other necessary sup- plies for the destitute people for whose relief the money is contributed. HOW THEY GIVE A young bride sends $100, saved by reducing the cost of her trousseau. Another has given more than half of her income of $350 per annum, annum. Schools and seminaries have sent the savings resulting from reduction of cost of annual banquets. More than $1000 has come through a missionary in Korea, while mission- aries or mission schools have sent generous offerings from South Amer- ica, China, Japan, The Philippines, Hawaii, India, Porto Rico, India, South Africa and from various American In- dian reservations. Superanuated Ministers (one 82 years of age) from their meager al- lowances send contributions "For re- lief of those whose sufferings pass our comprehension." Others have given watches, rings, bits of old jewelry and family heir- looms that the hungry may be fed and life saved. HOW HAVE YOU GIVEN? The Committee urges immediate at- tention to these pressing needs and asks that all contributions be sent to the treasurers of local committees where such committees are organized or direct to CHARLES R. CRANE, Treasurer, BEWARE OF SOLICITORS.— The Committee employes and author- izes no collectors though money may be paid direct to treasurers of local committees, composed of well-known, public-spirited citizens. All money goes for relief. Expenses are met pri- vately. American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief 70 Fifth Avenue, New York James L. Barton, Samuel T. Dutton, Charles R. Crane, Chairman Secretary Treasurer Charles V. Vickrey, Executive Secretary Frederick H. Allen Arthur J. Brown Edwin M. Bulkley John B. Calvert John D. Crimmins Cleveland H. Dodge Charles W. Eliot William T. Ellis Fred B. Fisher James Cardinal Gibbons Rt. Rev. David H. Greer Norman Hapgood Maurice H. Harris William I. Haven Hamilton Holt Arthur Curtiss James Woodbury G. Langdon Frederick Lynch Chas. S. Macfarland H. Pereira Mendes' William B. Millar John Moffat Henry Morgenthau John R. Mott Frank Mason North Harry V. Osborne George A. Plimpton Rt. Rev. P. Rhinelander Karl Davis Robinson William W. Rockwell Wm. Jay Schieffelin George T. Scott Isaac N. Seligman William Sloane Edward Lincoln Smith James M. Speers Oscar S. Straus Stanley White Talcott Williams Stephen S. Wise