j_„_„_„_„ — ,_, — ,_„_„ A MILLION LIVES SAVED THE CHURCHES OF AMERICA AND THE NEAR EAST A Handbook for Pastors 1923 "The]) cllmbetl the sleep aseenl to Heaven 'Mill peril, toil ami pain; O Coonse to loving ministry, their minds as yet un- poisoued by race hatred. I thought of their thirst for knowledge, their ambitious rivalry for excellence, their aptitude for learning, their keen intellects with evident al)ility to achieve, and then I looked forward fifteen or twenty years when these children may, and, if we are faithful to our opportunity, will be scattered throughout the entire Near East as leaders in the industrial, social and economic life of the country, and I said to myself : "Is it not true that we, through these hundred thousand orphan children, have in our hands today the opportunity of doing for the fslear East that which all the armies of Alexander, Pompey, Darius, and their successors, with their torrents of blood, oceans of misery, and poisonous strife, have failed to accomplish?" "Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you" or unto your children, if you had died a martyr's death or perished because of allegiance to the Allied cause and your children had been left orphans — whatsoever ye would that other men should do unto your children in such circum- stances, do ye even so unto them. Lord, when saw we Thee hungry or sick or athirst or naked or in prison and ministered not unto Thee ? Whcnf Now, in the land of Our Saviour's birth and ministry, in Palestine, Syria, among the descendants of the Seven Churches of Asia, in the crowded, wretched refugee camps on the islands and shores of the Aegean Sea. and "inasmuch as ye did it or did it not tuito one of the least of these my brethren, ye did it or did it not unto me. Enter into or depart from the joy of thy Lord." The joy of the Lord was in sacrificial service. lie gave Himself even unto death and spared Himself not at all. CHARLES V. VICKREY, General Secretary. I. FIVE AREAS OF OPERATION I. Northwest Persia and Mesopotamia II. Russian Armenia or Trans-Caucasia III. Palestine and Syria IV. Constantinople and Asia Minor V. Greece There are five principal and "distinct areas in which Near East ReHef operates. Three of these areas are in no way affected by recent Turkish Nationahst mihtary operations except as the numljer of dependents and orphans in these three areas has been greatly increased l)y swarms of refugees flooding- into them for safety from the fourth, the Anatolian area, which is now dominated l)y the Nationalists. I. NORTHWEST PERSIA AND MESOPOTAMIA In connection with the persecution and deportations of 1915, thou- sands of Armenians fled for safety from their ancestral homes in Turkish Armenia across the borders into Northwest Persia. There they cast their lot with other resident Armenians and with the Nestorian and Chaldean Christians, who, for centuries, had occupied the plains around Urumia. The late forced and tragic exodus of these Christians, driven by the Turkish-Kurdish sword from their ancestral homes southward across Per- sian deserts through Hamadan to seek temporary refuge in camps near Bagdad, and their later return through Mesopotamia to Tabriz where they are now striving for rehabilitation, are known to most readers of church and modern history. Near East Relief has not the resources to grapple adequately with all the relief ])roblems of this area, but by the maintenance of orphanages, industries and hospitals it is at least saving the lives of the children and aiding the adults to regain self-support, thus helping to preserve the rem- nant of one of the oldest Christian races known in Church history. This area is not directly affected hy Nationahst military operations. II. RUSSIAN ARMENIA OR TRANS-CAUCASIA By far the largest work of Near East Relief has been among the almost countless hordes of refugees that in 1915 and subsequently, fled for .safety from Turkish Armenia across the borders into Russian Armenia, or Trans-Caucasia. Most of the men were killed before or during flight, and many, if not a majority, of the women perished or otherwise disap- peared. The result is that we have in Trans-Caucasia or Russian Armenia what has been called a "nation of orphan children." There are approxi- mately 17,000 of these orphan children today in one vast assemblage occupying the former Russian military barracks at Alexandro]>ol. They are industrious, spending one-half of every day in workshops and the other half in the schoolrooms. They make their own clothing 8 FIVE AREAS OF OPERATION 9 from the old clothes or cloth sent from Ame i, raise much of their own food, and do as much as possible of their ( work, learning trades and reaching out towards self-support and ind lal leadership. There are approximately 25,000 orphans in Near East Relief insti- tutions in the Caucasus alone. Most of these 25,000 children would perish before spring if Near East Relief assistance and supervision were withdrawn. The country itself is potentially rich, but since 1914 it has been re- peatedly war-swept and ravished, caught between the upper and nether millstones of Turkish invasion and Russian revolution. There are today considerably more than a million Armenians (Rus- sian residents and Turkish refugees) in this area. The Catholicos, Head of the ancient Armenian Catholic Church, residing at Etchmiadzin, the President of the Armenian Republic and all other authorities, in deep gratitude declare that at least a half million, if not a full million, of residents in this area would have perished of sheer starvation had it not been for American relief. This area likewise is in no way seriously affected as yet by Nationalist military operations. III. PALESTINE AND SYRIA Here we begin to walk literally in the footsteps of our Lord and of the early Apostles. In Bethlehem, Near East Relief has been given, by the Palestine Gov- ernment, full possession of the buildings and grounds of a well-known German orphanage. Of late this orphanage has been used for other pur- poses, but will now be restored by Near East Relief to its original pur- pose as an orphanage for Armenian children in the town of Our Saviour's birth and within a short distance of the manger where the Child Christ was laid. Six miles north, in Jerusalem are 600 Armenian children, brought as waifs from Mesopotamia to the buildings of Saint James' Monastery. In Nazareth a new orphanage has been opened within a short dis- tance of the boyhood home of Christ. It is planned to limit this orphan- age to boys of twelve years of age. Additional data on these areas is given on page 41. These areas of Syria and Palestine are likewise beyond the reach of the present military operations and control of the Turkish Government. IV. CONSTANTINOPLE AND ASIA MINOR The fourth area, Constantinople and Asia Minor, more recently known as Anatolia, is under the control of the Turks and our entire program of relief and reconstruction is being radically changed to meet new conditions. It has been necessary to remove practically all of the orphans from this area in order to insure their safety. This work began last August with the transfer of 5,000 orphans from Harpoot to Northern Syria. Since that time, all of the orphans of this area have been transferred or are now in process of removal as indi- cated by cablegrams recently received : 10 A MILLION LIVES SAVED Cables Tell of the Evacuation Constantinople, Dec. 18, 1922. NearEast, NY All Near East Relief orpha-.^iies at Constantinople will be evacuated by Christmas day. The last to depart will be 1200 from the Cushman orphanage, embarking December 21st. They will spend Christmas on board the ship. JAQUITH. Beirut, December 12, 1922. NearEast, NY All orphans under American care in lower Anatolia have been brought out safely and taken by boat to Beirut. Archer. The service stations established by Near East Rehef along the routes to sustain children in their march, have inevitably been called upon to save the lives of adults also who would faint by the roadside without the nourishment that these kitchens can provide. The following cablegrams tell the story of countless thousands who are thus upon the march : Atliens, December 18, 1922. NearEast NY Exceedingly regret the Angora Government failed to give absolute assurance of safety for the Christian population if they remained. In the absence of such guarantee, the Christian population interpreted the Turkish permission to leave as an order. FOWLE. Aleppo, December 14, 1922. NearEast NY Kemalist instructions all Christians must evacuate Turkish territory has caused general deportation from Anatolia to Aleppo. Fifty thousand Armenian refugees already arrived, thousands on way. All robbed, naked, wounded, girls violated, misery indescribable. Help urgently needed. Pehlivanian, President Armenian National Union. Constantinople, Dec. 16, 1922. Vickrey NY Extreme cold, snow, and storms aggravate the plight of Asia Minor refugees. Death is overtaking thousands of the children and the aged infirm on the frozen roads of Anatolia, aboard the tossing rescue ships in the Black Sea, and in the camps near Constantinople. _ Moving over the worst mud roads in the world, I saw a crowd of broken civilians more depressing than an army in hard-pressed retreat. Women about to become mothers tramped in snow up to their knees. Tired children dropped weary by the wayside, and girls of tender years bore men's burdens. JAQUITH. ^ Lausanne, November 25, 1922. NearEast NY Refugees from Asia Minor destitute clothing shelter food. Nothing by way relief can Peace Conference accomplish for winter. All largely dependent upon American benevolence. Barton. FIVE AREAS OF OPERATION 11 In Constantinople we have been caring for some 10,000 to 14,000 children, but even here we have been compelled to move the children. Per- haps the Lausanne Conference, together with the proximity of Allied naval and military forces, will in the near future protect us and the chil- dren from the necessity of further expensive and dangerous compulsory flights to unknown destinations. We use the words "unknown destinations," for where can these children go? America refuses to receive them by our immigration laws. Eng- land and France cannot take care of them. Canada's immigration laws debar them. Germany, Italy, Bulgaria, Roumania, all other countries, hus- band their own resources and debar them. These children were born on Turkish soil. Their families for cen- turies, dating back before the Christian era, and antedating the Turk himself in occupation, have lived in Anatolia. They are literally being shoved off their ancestral homes into the sea, — with no place to land. But the one country that is most impoverished, that is most over- populated, that is least able to care for them, is at present the only coun- try that will receive them, — Greece. V. GREECE This, of necessity, opens up to Near East ReHef a new and vast area where, by force of circumstance, we are compelled to operate. As we write, there are approximately 10,000 orphans afloat between various Anatolian ports and Piraeus or other Greek ports where they may be permitted to land. There are at present 3,144 Armenian orphans occupying the Kaiser's summer palace and grounds at Corfu; 1,355 at Oropos ; 400 occupying the ancient Royal Palace at Athens ; 6,000 boys in the monastery build- ings near Mt. Athos. But these exiled, helpless, fatherless, motherless children, orphans of martyrs, once landed on the shores of impoverished Greece, must be cared for during the winter monihs. One might make a sixth division of Near East ReHef work by re- ferring to the general relief problem among the million or more of refugees now swarming the Aegean islands and the shores of the Aegean Sea, in which the American Red Cross assumes a major part, though Near East Relief is continuing its orphanage, medical and individual personal serv- ice among these refugees. A conservative summary of the figures would be: Refugees homeless and without adequate provision for food and shelter for the winter — 1923 Refugees in Anatolia and Constantinople threatened and even now begin- ning flight that may culminate in a greater disaster than was witnessed at Smyrna A total number now homeless or threatened with exile 2,500,000 II. THE IMPERATIVE NEED FOR RELIEF "I doubt whether it is adequately realized by most people," says the Archbishop of Cantei'bury, "how appalling are the scale and character of the sufferings now being endured by the many hundreds of thousands of refugees, who, out of the horrors of war and fire and pestilence, find themselves in a condition of absolute destitution, complete homelessness, and a large proportion of them, in imminent danger. No contemporary catastrophe has attained such proportions." A MESSAGE FROM DR. JAMES L. BARTON, Chairman, Board of Trustees, Near East Relief (From Lausanne) At the Lausanne Conference there is one and only one opinion on the needs of the Armenians, which is, that they must be cared for — orphans and refugees — until they can be settled in a position to care for themselves. Greece, although bankrupt, is overwhelmed with the burden of her own refugees from Asia Minor, Anatolia and Thrace. Even in caring for her own she must have help from without. Who will make the sacrifice for the Armenians ? The remnant of the race is in jeopardy. Even if a National Home should be agreed upon by the Lausanne Peace Conference, their food, clothing and shelter for this winter must come from without, and be provided chiefly from charity. There are now tens of thousands of them, on the road or huddled in refugee camps. Their chief reliance is upon the generosity of America. Our responsibilities for the orphans cannot be laid aside ; new respon- sibilities cannot be declined. A PICTURE OF DEEP DISTRESS Dr. Lincoln Wirt has just returned from a trip to the Near East. This is his picture of the situation there : "During the last two months I have been in Hell, — that is, I have been in the Near East. But I have also seen that darkest theatre of man's inhumanity to man shot through with courage and faith and human kindness. I liave seen a refinement of cruelty practised openly and widely that would make the story of the Dark Ages read like a Sunday supplement ; but I have also seen men die gloriously, fighting to save the honor of women and the lives of little children. "I have seen camps containing 5,000, 20,000, 50,000 cowering, frightened, cold, half-starved, wretched human beings stripped of wealth and happiness, reduced to the elemental conditions of savagery. I have seen little children dying like flies after the first frost, — 180 of tliem a day. I have seen women — refined Christian women — scores of them, lying on the ground in the rain, giving birth to children, without a curtain, without a blanket, without doctor or nur,se. "I visited the Greek and Armenian refugees huddled in a dozen wretched camps at Piraeus. The sight reminded me of the Chicago stock yards. Added to the crowded misery, the cold winter rains had begun. The first camp we came to con- 12 THE IMPERATIVE NEED FOR RELIEF 13 tained 6,000 people, who had escaped the llanies and massacres at Smyrna. Ihey were quartered in what had once been a series of warehouses along the water front. The floors were of dirt, half the walls broken down. The roof was only an apology, through which the rain was admitted through a thousand rents and openings. On the muddy floor sat the refugees in groups so close together that there was not even a passageway. Here was misery to the nth degree. These people had lost everything except the clothes they sat in. Very few had blankets. Some were able to find a piece of reed matting or burlap upon which they could lie. Others were prone upon the wet ground. Half of them had trachoma or conjunctivitis. Half a pound of bread was rationed daily to each person. Water could be found only at a distance. Sanitary conditions are better imagined than described. Through this reeking 'black-hole of Calcutta' I passed, my heart torn to shreds to be forced to believe the unbelievable,— that in this Christian age, human beings, fellow Christians, pro-Allies, those who had every claim of blood, faith and honor upon us, could be left to rot and die in such a place of contagion and human suffering. Women called to us on every side, clinging to our garments, beg- ging that we take away their bread ration and give them blankets instead. For a single person to sit through a long, cold night, with the rain beating in, clad in a thin dress or linen suit, without protection against the bleak, night wind, is a refinement of torture ; but to multiply this a hundred thousand times (a million would be nearer to the truth) is to expose our national selfishness, indict our political expediency and tear the veneer from our Christian civilization. During the hour I spent in this inferno I saw three persons die. "At one place I was struck by the cultured appearance of a gray-haired man and his wife, who sat huddled under a piece of canvas, in what had been an old blacksmith shop. I asked my interpreter if he would get the man's story, but the refugee himself spoke up in excellent English and said he needed no interpreter. And then I learned that he had been a wealthy wholesale merchant in Smyrna ; his business and property investments had represented a fortune of half a million dollars. All had been swept away. Their children had been separated from them, — whether still alive or not they could not say. Both this man and his wife were college graduates, had traveled widely, were as sensitive and high-minded as any person who reads these words. Yet here they were, refugees, as empty-handed and almost as naked as the day they were born, sitting on a piece of canvas in the cold rain. Why, I asked myself, and I ask you, why? Has the world lost every sense of shame? Is the age of chivalry entirely past? This aged couple had done no wrong. They stood for the virtues and principles for which we live, and yet they suffer the loss of all things save self-respect. They are but two out of as many millions who had fled or are fleeing from the land which gave them birth, and which gave birth to the religion of Jesus Christ — in defense of which they perish. "Leaving another camp a woman rushed to our automobile, thrust her thin face under the top, from which the rain was pouring in streams over her bare neck and down her back, clad only in a thin calico slip. She too was speaking English, she too had attended an American school, had been a teacher there, and was now a refugee. She asked nothing for herself, but begged in the name of compassion that some place might be found for her daughter, who at that moment was lying on a piece of matting in the dark corner of a shed, in child-birth. "So it was all day long, as I passed from one camp of misery to another. There were between 90,000 and 100,000 of these poor wretches, scattered from Athens to Piraeus. And everywhere it was the same cry, blankets, blankets. I saw a woman whose sweet face and white hair reminded me strangely of my mother. I stopped to speak to her. Through an interpreter I asked if she was in special need, what would make her happy. She pointed to the piece of soiled calico over her feet, saying : 'That is all the covering I have at night.' Beneath her was a flour sack. The ground was wet. This dear, old soul with her sweet face and her white hair, was cold, cold with a chilling cold that none of us have ever endured. If I could but give blankets to them all ! But it was not my sphere of service to distribute blankets or relief. I was there simply to see and tell the story and yet one would have needed a heart of stone not to have handed that dear old lady the price of a blanket. Did you ever have a saint and martyr kiss your hand? The spot burns yet I 14 A MILLION LIVES SAVED "The thing that seems strangest of all to some of us who have been waikmg in the trail of the serpent is that the Christian nations of the earth sit supinely by and watch this reign of terror, this defamation of every noble feeling, this flower of Christian civilization tramped upon, spurned and insulted — and do nothing to stop it." CABLEGRAMS REVEAL THE NEED Athens, December 1, 1922. NcarEast NY 30,000 Greek and Armenian refugees are concentrating at Mersine from Konia, Nigde, and Caesarea. There is a huge concentration at Ouloukishla, where the railway refuses to transport any without full payment of fare. Most of the refugees are penniless, having been repeatedly robbed enroute. Throughout the Anatolian villages the Kemalist order for Christians to leave was followed by systematic robbery, and pillaging of all Christian homes and shops. Deaths from starvation, exhaustion, violation and maltreatment are reported from all parts of Asia Minor. FOWLE. Aleppo, December S, 1922. Vickrey NY Official report Christian movement from Anatolia through Aleppo totals 40,000, —4,600 last week. 1,000 daily now, many more enroute. All bearing Turkish passport requiring exit via Aleppo only, regardless from Aintab, Smyrna regions or as far as Brusa, gives rise concern here over Turkish purpose concentrating refugees Aleppo. • , ,. , , -n r American Consul is convinced entire movement mainly directed here. Refu- gees required to pay innumerable taxes before passports granted; unable to sell property because it is checked crossing the frontier; penniless, stripped in the snow en route. Archer. Geneva, December 9, 1922. NearEast NY The Cilician expulsions are pitiless. Daily half-naked caravans from Ourfa, Harpoot, Chermuk, Aintab and elsewhere are arriving Aleppo. Houses at Aintab are stoned nightly. Local Turkish papers declare Aintab Holy Land too good for Christians. Our people are terrified. There is no transportation— Turkish mule- teers, and camel drivers refuse to move Armenians goods. Should a Turk secretl} purchase from Armenians, Turks beat him. Rockwell. Constantinople, December 12, 1922. Vickrey NY George Jolm Williams Foxburg Pennsylvania died cold exposure Marsovan while evacuating Christian orphans to Black Sea coast. Although suffering hard- slrips rigorous winter weather Williams insisted carrying on fearing every delay en- dangered lives parcntless children entrusted his care. By superhuman efforts had succeeded getting majority his little charges out of Marsovan onto snow covered road for trek to Samsoun when stricken with pneumonia. JAQUITH. III. THE PEOPLE OF THE NEAR EAST ARMENIAN LOYALTY TO CHRIST From the dawn of the third century, when the Cappadocian Miissonary, Saint Gregory, brought the message of Christianity to Tiridates, King of Armenia, who, with his people, accepted the Christian faith, until the present time, Gregorian Christianity has been one of the great religious forces of Western Asia. In the awful events of the past few years, these Christian people have drunk to the dregs their cup of suffering and woe. Countless thousands have been offered life for the price of apostasy and have refused. Excruciating tortures have not been able to bi-ing a denial from the lips of Armenian manhood. Young girls have turned away from luxury and comfort and have chosen the way of the cross and the desert. Little children have stood unafraid before their persecutors. Surely these are of the glorious company of the martyrs. They have "had trials of mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover, of bond and imprisonment; they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, they were tempted, they were slain with the sword, being destitute, afflicted, ill treated, wandering in deserts and mountains and caves in the holes of the earth," whom neither "tribulations nor anguish or per- secution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword, have been able to separate from the love of Christ." OUR ARMENIAN ALLIES The Armenians were our valiant allies during the war. They sacrificed an even greater proportion of their people to our common cause than did France. There were Armenians on all fronts and in Turkey they fought as a nation. They fought Germans and Austrians, they protected the oil wells of the Caucasus, and what they did counted definitely toward the final victory. The following facts, from statements of tlie British Assistant Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and a group of British statesmen, illustrate the relation of the Armenians to the war : In the autumn of 1914 the Turks sent emissaries to the National Congress of the Ottoman Armenians then sitting at Erzerum, and made them offers of autonomy if tliey would actively assist Turkey in the war. The Armenians replied that they would do their duty individually as Ottoman subjects, but that as a nation they could not work for the cause of Turkey and her allies. From the beginning of the war that half of the Armenian nation which was under the sovereignty of Russia organized volunteer forces (of both Russian and Turkish Armenians) and, under their heroic leader, Andranik, bore the brunt of some of the heaviest fighting in the Caucasian campaigns. The Russian Armenians gave some 200,000 conscripts to the Russian army, and after the defeat of Enver's invasion in the winter of 1914-15, were acclaimed by all tlie leading organs of the Russian press as saviours of the Caucasus. After the breakdown of the Russian army at the end of 1917, these Armenian forces took over the Caucasian front, and for five months delayed the advance of the Turks, thus rendering an important service to the British army. In 1918, the Armenian National Delegation co-operated with the French Foreign Office in raising a force of Armenian volunteers, called originally "Legion 15 16 A MILLION LIVES SAVED d'Orient," and later "Legion Armcnicnne." Under the French officers this legion took part in the Palestine campaign and by its valor and endurance earned tributes from the commander of the French Contingent and from Field Marshal Allenby, the Commander-in-chief. As a result of their refusal to assist Turkey, a million Armenians were de- ported, and some 700,000— men, zvomen and children alike— were exterminated tn the early days of the war. Those who escaped have been ever since in constant imminent danger of death by starvation, and at the present time they are threatened with complete destruction. ARMENIAN CHARACTERISTICS The Armenians are our ozvn kin. Although they have been in Asia Minor for 2,000 years they arc of the Indo-European race. They are a people who bad attained the highest civilization when our land was covered with forests and when the greater part of Europe was barbarian. The Armenians are zvitJiout a peer for the tenacity of their religious faith, and their sincerity in the observance of it. They are not a feeble folk, willing to subsist on charity. Whenever America has been able to stretch forth her hands and give assistance to these starving people, their worthiness has been evidenced by the alacrity with which they throw themselves into manual training, reconstruction, any kind of work. Even in the present refugee crisis, the characteristic industry of the Armenians crops out. Gordon Berry, who has been making a survey of the refugee cities which are springing up everywhere on the shores of Greece, says : "The past few days I have visited refugees through the Athens district. Near Phaleron is rising overnight an Armenian refugee city of mud houses ; its population today is two (iiousand. With typical energy they were no sooner assigned places on this mud flat beneath the shadow of the Acropolis than every woman and their few men- folk turned to molding bricks from mud, laying them in the sun to dry, and laying out a city of homes, stores, schools and churches. An Armenian woman told me today, with pride and happiness, that eight thousand mud bricks were promised by various villagers for the erection of a school for which a refugee teacher was already available." The Armenians have shown themselves particularly sensitive to the influence^ of American public opinion. Inquiry will show that there is hardly any race of immigrants in America which more quickly develops a high regard for honesty. The Armenian race is eas ily assimilated into American life, and stands high with regard to morality and public spirit. Those who have observed the Armenians, both in Turkey and America, those who have had personal dealings and personal friendships with them, agree in saying that they have great native ability, constructive genius, and are singularly de- pendable. In the Orient the Turks have singled out the Armenians for places of trust where finances were involved. In their ozvn land they respond to ideals of honesty with remarkable readiness and the Christianity which they profess has in its system the possibility of setting morality at the very forefront of its teachings. This last point is almost enough by itself to determine the possibility of building up a stable nation if the people are given political independence and freedom from oppression. THE GREEKS There is little left of "the glory that was Greece"— yet the Greeks of today have shown a splendid spirit of charity and fellowship in throwing open their ports to the hundreds of thousands of refugees from Asia Minor and Thrace who were forced to flee before the conquering Turks. The unselfishness of the Greek people, in thus giving harbor to their unfortunate allies is the better appreciated when one realizes that Greece has lost not only prac- tically all of its ancient civilization, but that, as a nation, it is in a woful condition financially and almost without resources. THE PEOPLE OF THE NEAR EAST 17 "Greece's currency today exchanges at a rate which approaches that of Ger- many and Austria," says Lawrence Henry Baker in "The Modern Greeks at Close Range," in the American Review of Reviews for November, 1922. "But these two countries are perhaps in the final analysis better off than she is. They have within their boundaries extensive natural resources; whereas Greece today — just as she was in the time of Thucydides, if not more so — is largely dependent upon the outside world for support. Greece possesses no great mineral wealth; her agriful- tural products, while yielding some for exportation, are scarcely sufficiently diversi- fied to feed the country; and the famous Attic plain, in the light of modern finance, is a poetic rather than a commercial entity." Yet with all these signs of weakness and degeneration, we have today the spec- tacle of Greece as one vast haven of refuge. Refugee cities are springing up in the shadow of the Acropolis, amid the ruins of the greatest plastic art the world has ever known ; refugees are quartered in the velvet-lined boxes of the municipal opera house in Athens. Surely there remains some heroism, some glory of spirit in this land. THE SYRIANS , ^ Syria, the cradle of modern civilization, has for years, with the exception of brief intervals, been part of the Ottoman Empire, and subject to the oppression and retardation that have always been the lot of lands under the rule of the Turk. But on Christmas Day, 1917, that rule was broken, and the country is now open to Western influence and Western development. Like all the little war-swept nations, Palestine and Syria have suffered greatly durmg the last seven years. Rich in resources, almost literally a land flowing with milk and honey, the Holy Land has developed little since Bible days. Up to the time Near East Relief began operations in this territory, the people tended their flocks and herds and tilled their fields much as they did 1900 years ago. THE PERSIANS Christian missionary work has been carried on extensively in Persia for about ninety years, although this work suffered serious backsets during the world war, the great missionary center at Urumia having been practically destroyed. The coun- try also suffered great loss of life and property and the practical loss of foreign trade during the war. Of recent years the Near East Relief has established centers for agricultural training, orphan relief, and general repatriation at Hamadan, Sennah, and Kermanshah. Great Persian names, which stand forth boldly from the pages of ancient history and the Old Testament, include those of Cyrus, Darius, Xerxes, and Artaxerxes. In literature the country is immortalized by the names of Omar Khayyam, Sadi, Hafiz, and Firdusi. In art and art products of certain kinds— such as rugs, silks, needlework, filigree silver, and decorations in brass and copper— Persia has never been excelled. THE ASSYRIANS When the crash of war descended on Assyria the little nation numbered about 200,000 souls. Battle, murder and sudden death have reduced those numbers more than one-half. After defeating the Turks in fourteen engagements the Assyrian army found itself almost without provisions, entirely witliout ammunition. The only resort was flight. Some eighty thousand men, women and children struggled across the desert from Urumia to Hamadan, suffering from thirst and hunger and fatigue and serving as the target of Turkish and Kurdish sharp-shooters. Those who stayed behind went through terrible massacres in Urumia. Exposure and privation killed others. The remnants of this ancient people were scattered now through Mesopo- tamia, Persia, and Russia, but many are returning. The only chance for repatriation is through the agency of Near East Relief, for the British assistance in Mesopo- tamia has ceased. IV. A CLOUD OF WITNESSES In our appeal for our Christian brethren of the Near East, we are supported by a great cloud of witnesses. In this company are many who have been overseas and who have seen this work at first hand. They all with one accord testify to the great need, the efficiency of the organi- zation through which America is working to respond to this need, and the grateful spirit of the Christian minorities who are being saved from death, and worse, by our American sympathy and American funds. RECENT EYE-WITNESSES "FOR LOVE'S SAKE ALONE" Dr. Robert E. Speer, President of the Federal Council of Churches, on a missionary tour for the Presbyterian Church : "We cannot speak too warmly of what we saw of the Near East Relief work. (1) It is doing a great work of human salvage. It keeps alive thousands of adult people who otherwise would have died, and it has rescued tens of thousands of children who will live to redeem the waste places and to rebuild the ruins in the Near East. (2) It has lifted the name of America to a unique place in the respect and af¥ection of the people of all races in Turkey and Persia and Russia. We were charged with innumerable messages of gratitude to the American people from the Greek Patriarcli in Constantinople, the Armenian Catholics in Etchmiadzin, other eccelesiastics, Persian political officials, and hundreds of the people to whom the American Relief has been their only friend and hope. (3) We were impressed by the unity and the economy of the relief work in the Caucasus. It was gratifying to see the spirit of co-operation and loyalty which animated it. And I doubt whether any great relief undertaking has ever been carried througli with a larger measure of efficiency and frugality. (4) No doubt tliere is mucli in our national life to justify the charge of selfishness and commercialism, but in a zvork like tins one rejoices to believe that our country is engaged in a great and loving deed for love's sake alone and that amid the many judgments that await lier, whether of sorrow or of joy, she will not fail some day to hear a Voice saying to her, 'I zvas naked and ye clothed me; I was hungry and ye fed me ; I zvas a stranger and ye took me in.' " A RACE REBORN Dr. W. C. Emhardt, Special Representative of the Protestant Episcopal Church to the Near East; Remaking a Nation : "There is a glorious opportunity for service to humanity if America has the vision and the courage to undertake a big job. Patient and long-suffering, though the passing generation of Armenians have been, they have lacked capacity for leadership, or for united effort. To develop these qualities a new type must be created. That this is possible is seen by the encouraging results in such a demon- stration center as Alexandropol in Armenia. Here a group of 17,000 orphans is being trained as a unit in the way of modern civilization. Encouraging Outlook : "In this center in less than a year it lias been clearly proved that under proper training, characteristics of the Armenian race which have been suppressed for years by persecution, come at once to the surface, and that even in children we see developing capacity for leadership and team play. The contrast between the waif 18 A CLOUD OF WITNESSES 19 by the wayside, and the child of but a few months' stay in the orphanage is startling. This constant appeal year after year for starving Armenia is only warranted if we are going to malce something out of the race of children we have saved. In ten years a new Armenian race can be formed at a rapidly decreasing expense, as the children develop in agricultural skill and efficiency." INVESTING IN CHARACTER Dr. Karl K. Quimby, Pastor, Roseville Methodist Episcopal Church, New Jersey: Never in my life have I seen a more enthusiastic or capable group of workers. Most of these men and women are among our cultured and fine college trained people. They possess ricli and sympathetic personalities and retain a wholesome outlook on life. Tlie Near East Relief orphanages are doing for the children what a liome should do. The elementary duties of life are taught and character defi- nitely shaped after the Christian ideal. Instead of mere relief stations I found in successful operation wisely worked out programs of academic education, indus- trial education and recreation. Such programs are prophetic of future citizens of no mean sort. Investing in the work of Near East Relief is investing in char- acter. Our missionary opportunity in this area is without parallel in the history of Christian missions. To bring to maturity in the next fifteen years a hundred thousand young people whose hearts are filled with Christian hopes and dreams is to lay securely the foundation for the Kingdom of God in this too long backward part of the world. I regard it as the greatest missionary cliallenge of a century. A WISE SOLUTION Dr. Henry Allen Tupper, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Washington, D. C: First, the work is of wide extent. It is reaching at present more than ojie hundred thousand children, and I found that it was an established fact that at least one million persons are now living who would have died had it not been for ihe work of this great institution. Second, the work is not merely to feed these people; their self-support is not only encouraged but is insisted upon. Third, it was gratifying to know tliat in Constantinople the Armenians were giving dollar for dollar to the work of relief and development of these young people, and in the Republic of Armenia the Armenians and others are giving large tracts of land and buildings to furtlier the work of Near East Relief. Fourth, No denomination of Christians or single church can possibly do this great work. It compasses persons of all creeds, conditions and colors and appeals to the zvidest philanthropic spirit. Indeed, this work seems to be as broad as the needs of humanity in the Near East and is as deep and loving as the heart_ of God. Fifth, I cannot ■s.ty too much in praise of the personnel connected with Near East Relief. The m<'n and women in America and on the field beyond the seas are not only persons of great energy, activity and practical ability but are persons of the deepest consecration and are giving their best thought and holiest affection to this Christly service. Sixth, while America has given its millions to this work during the last few years the demands are greater at this time than ever before. Seventh, after visiting parts of four continents and especially studying the needs of these people m Turkey, Syria, Palestine and Egypt, I returned home impressed by the burning conviction that the call for American help is a Divine call, and that the hope of the world is largely centered in the quick and sac- rificial response that must come from America. I have found no institution tliat is giving a wiser solution to the grave and im- portant immigration question than Near East Relief. THE WORLD'S MOST URGENT NEED Rabbi Lyons, Brooklyn, N. Y.: My observations in the Near East have convinced me that nowhere in the world is there a more urgent need — and nowhere a cliarity more efficiently handled than that of the Near East Relief. Every American of any denomination or no denomination, should by virtue of his religion and his Americanism back Near East Relief. It is an opportunity for 20 A MILLION LIVES SAVED an exemplification of that brotherliness which is the highest consummation of re- Hgion and is at the present time the world's most urgent need. THE DEFENDER OF CHRISTIANITY Herbert Adams Gibbons, Professor Princeton University: "The completeness of the disaster that has befallen Christianity in the lands of its birth is not realized by churcli people in America. Despite sectarian differences tire Christian churcli is one great organism, and it is impossible for calamity to tall upon the church in one part of the world without affecting the church everywhere. Just when the church, Catholic and Protestant, was making its greatest and most successful effort in the conversion of the world the mad lust for world power precipitated a war, the result of which has been the loss of millions of lives of Christians in the Near East. "Keeping alive the remnants of Christian peoples who have been expelled from Asia Minor, Constantinople and Thrace by the victorious Turks, is not only humani- tarian. It is a duty that the elementary principles of strategy mipose upon mililant Christianity. "At this awful moment Near East Relief stands as the defender of our com- mon Christianity, and its work should be supported — at a cost of no matter how great sacrifices — by Protestant and Catholic alike throughout the United States." COURAGE OF AMERICAN WOMEN WORKERS W. A. Lloyd, Australian Journalist, (New York Times, Dec. 17, 1922) ; I have had some experience in organizing, but I have never seen anything to equal the work of the American Near East Relief in troubled Turkey. It is that rarity — a combination of idealism and common sense. It is getting the utmost value out of every dollar spent. The devotion and self sacrifice of its army of workers are beyond all praise. Literally, tens of thousands oi men, women and children have been saved from death, and worse than death, by its efforts. What has struck me most forcibly, as a foreigner, is the extraordinary self-reliance and courage of the American women workers in the Near East Relief. When some of my American friends tell me that America is going rapidly to the bow-wows I think of the many American women I have met in Turkey, in Asia Minor, in Armenia and Thrace — of what they have done and are doing, and I have no fears for the future of America. In the inhospitable interior of Asia Minor, amid a hostile or sullen population, I have seen American women calmly going about their business of collecting the poor little orphans as though it was the most natural thing in the world for them to do. I have seen rhem distributing food and clothing, literally bringing life and hope to tens of thousands who have despaired of life, and long ago lost all hope. And amid all the misery and horror that is in Turkey today I have thanked God many times tor American woman- hood. THEY SEEMED SPECTRES Paxton Hibben, F. R. G. S. (in LesHe's Weekly): "When I stepped off the train at Alexandropol, Armenia, I had to push my way through a crowd of refugees lining the platform of the station. There were among them hundreds of children quite naked, who clawed at my clothes and begged for bread, not in the sing-song of the professional child-beggar of Eastern cities, but with a desperate insistence, a sort of sobbing, half-mad chatter, with the words 'hunger' and 'bread' tumbling over one another, with no sense in it all. The grown people were silent, staring ahead of them with vacant eyes. What they wore was not clothing, but rags pieced together with bits of old sacking, disintegrating remnants of sheepskin and odds and ends like the filthy trove of garbage cans and back lots.^ And with that, they were half naked, barefoot, and with their unkc.npt hair and incredible emaciation, they seemed spectres from some drawing by Gustave Dore." A CLOUD OF WITNESSES 21 OTHER AMERICAN CHURCH LEADERS "THAT YOU MAY IN TURN BE BLEST" Bishop William T. Manning, Bisliop of New York: "I most earnestly appeal to the people of America's churches and especially to Episcopalians whose representative I am on the Near East Committee, to enlist without hesitation in the great humanitarian work of succoring those unhappy exiled Christians. Do not fail the representatives of American philanthropy wlicii tliey are in dire need of your support and your money. Give, that you may help avert unbearable suffering. Give, that you may in turn be blest." "A SOLEMN CHARGE OF EVERY CHRISTIAN" Dr. William Hiram Foulkes, General Secretary New Era iViovement, Presbyterian Church, U. S. A.: "Near East Relief has already been formally and frequently approved by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church. What is more significant, how- ever, is that it lias been approved by the conscience and Christian devotion of Presbyterians everywliere. The urgent emergencies for whose relief Near East has been incorporated are a solemn charge upon the responsibility and support of every professing Christian. The New Era IVIovement, including representatives of Pres- byterian Boards and Agencies, is whole-heartedly co-operating with Near East Relief in such detailed ways as loyalty and the approved budget system of the Church make possible." SHALL WE SEE IT THROUGH? Dr. John M. Moore, Chairman Near East Relief Advisory Committee, Northern Baptist Convention: How can we fail to be stirred by conditions in the Near East? What are we doing to lift the burden from tiiese people? It is not a matter of a month or two nor even of a year or two. There must be the forward look, the training for self- support, the re-establishment of the home life, the furnishing of means of agri- cultural work and the instruction in methods of modern agriculture as they will best meet the needs in tlieir country. ARE THEY WORTH SAVING? Dr. W. Edward Raffety, Editor-in-Chief American Baptist Publication Society: I covet for every pastor in America the experience which has been mine to know the Armenian people firstliand in their own cities and villages. While in Armenia three years ago I met Levon N. Boshgeznian in his liome town, Aintab, in Cilicia, Asia Minor. A year later he came to America and lias made his home with us. In June last he was graduated from Boston University. His own personal suf- fering and his agonizing for his Christian comrades has gripped our hearts. PRAISE GOD FROM WHOM ALL BLESSINGS FLOW Dr. L. W. McCreary, Executive Secretary Baltimore Federation of Churches, stopping at Near East ports during a vr cation tour: The most interesting part of our v it to Constantinople was the privilege afforded of seeing some of the work of the Near East Relief. We visited four of the twenty-eight hospitals and orphanages maintained by this organization in the city. Moving on to Beirut, where some 4000 refugees were living in tents, we were driven thirty-five miles along the Mediterranean to Jebail, in the Lebanon Mountains. Here we saw ISOO orphan children cared for by Christian philan- thropy. Our hearts were touched as we saw these children march in to the great dormitories, where meals were provided, and stand in line to sing "Praise God from. Whom All Blessings Flow." More than 100,000 children are now being cared for through the generosity of the American people. 22 A MILLION LIVES SAVED CANNOT EXAGGERATE THE NEED Dr. Charles H. Boynton, General Theological Seminary, Chelsea Square, New York City: I returned from an extended study of conditions in tlie Near East with the conviction that the need among those stricken people is greater than has been described and greater than we Americans realize. And a second conviction, equally strong, was that the Near East Relief Committee is most efficiently organized and managed to meet the need. THE FUTURE OF SYRIA Dr. William H. Hudnut, Pastor, First Presbyterian Church of Youngstown, Ohio: I have never seen a finer piece of work tlian that which the Near East Relief is doing for the children of Syria. There has been placed into the hands of Near East Relief the opportunity for the training of the future leadership of Syria. It impresses me as one of the biggest pieces of constructive work that is being done in the world today. HAPPY TO GIVE Dr. Charles R. Brown, Divinity School, Yale University: I believe in the Near East and am happy to give to it. CIRCULARS TOO MODEST Dr. Henry A. Stimson, Pastor Emeritus Manhattan Congregational Church, N. Y. C: What can a man say when he has been choked with repressed feeling over tlie situation in Asia Minor? Your circulars state the facts definitely, but, I fear, all too modestly. Is not the long and bitter suffering of the war going to arouse Christendom to some sense of individual responsibility and to "deeds worthy of repentance ?" WANDERERS AND EXILES Dr. Charles F. Thwing, President-Emeritus, Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio. Chairman Near East Relief Committee, Ohio. In Asia Minor there are now hundreds of thousands of suffering ones. They are liungry, cold and almost naked. Some are dying. Their homes are broken. Wives and husbands are separated. Children are made orphans. They are wan- derers and exiles in the land of their birtli. Your sympathy spells salvation. EXILED! Dr. John Timothy Stone, Fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago, Illinois: We should let tlie people know of the refugees who are facing, without food or slielter, the deprivations of the comin: winter. We cannot realize what it means for two and a half million people to bt threatened with exile. I am glad that the churches of our own denomination are to take an offering on January 21 for this important work. Rt. Rev. C. H. Brent, Bishop of Western New York: You are quite at liberty to use my name in connection with Near East Relief and quote me as being in hearty support. John T. Axton, Colonel U. S. Army, Chief of Chaplains, Washington, D. C: You certainly have the sympathy and should have the tangible support of the best people of this country, to the end that immediate relief may be afforded those who are in such dire distress. A CLOUD OF WITNESSES 23 AMERICA CONSTRUCTIVELY HELPING THE NEAR EAST Christian Science Monitor, Nov. 1st, 1922: Whatever policy the American Government may pursue in the Near East, it is good to know that the American people arc not wholly unrepresented there. Dur- ing five years the American Near East Relief has instituted a constructive program in this part of the world which not only placed it in a position to carry forward extensive work among the refugees of the recent disaster at Smyrna, but is enabling it to have a large share in the wise rebuilding of a territory which, for many years, has been obliged to submit to frequent over-running by the Turks. It is in the industrial work and the work among children that one finds the most significant evidence of the statesmanship that guides this organization. Among other things, there is an extensive agricultural program. In lieu of active governmental participation in Near Eastern affairs, the Amer- ican people owe a real debt to the directors of the Near East Relief for providing a channel through which they can support these measures of reconstruction. And throughout the Near East America is thus enabled, in some degree, to maintain its position of unselfish helpfulness. NEAR EAST LEADERS Without visiting the Near East, it is not possible for an Amer- ican to realize, even faintly, the respect, faith, and affection with which our country is regarded throughout that region. Whether it is due to the world-wide reputation which we enjoy for fair play — a tribute, perhaps, to the crusading spirit which carried us into the great war, not untinged with the hope that the same spirit may urge us into a solution of problems growing out of the conflict — or whether because of our unselfish and impartial missionary influence exerted for a century, faith in America is the one faith which is held alike by Christian and Moslem, Jew and Gentile, prince and peasant, in the Near East. Meletios, Patriarch of Constantinople: "For all that America has done for tlic Eastern Christians we thank you. In the name of the Greek Christians we express our gratitude to the United States, and especially to the Near East Relief, for assistance to the refugees of Smyrna. This help is as the myrrh and spices and the clean shroud which Joseph and Nicodemus furnished for the burial of our Lord, for it is indeed the Christianity of Asia Minor which has been entombed." Representatives from the Greek Ecumenical Patriarchate: "The Ecumenical Patriarchate see witli attention and esteem the work of the American Committee for Relief in the Near East. "Since the war and during the armistice this poor part of the world is under- going many misfortunes because of the oppressions and persecutions. "Without distinction of race and rehgion, your Committee is extending its philantliropic work, not only in Constantinople and the Marmora Sea, but all through Asia Minor up to the Black Sea." Zaven, Armenian Patriarch, Constantinople, to Americans departing on the "Empress of Scotland": "As you travel to happier, sunnier lands, and to your own dear land, America, I hope you will carry in your hearts the love which my children of the Near East feel for America and Americans. "Daily the American Near East Relief workers are rescuing children from the streets. The problem is growing too great to meet. I therefore make the great appeal for the children. We older people have lived our lives — the children are 24 A MILLION LIVES SAVED the future citizens. If wc cannot help all, I make the appeal for the children which America has saved and is saving through Near East Relief." George the Fifth, Head of all the Armenian Churches. In August, 1921, George the Fifth, the Head of all the Armenian Churches, delivered this message to the Near East Relief Commission, which was visiting the Near East : "Tell the churches of America and the good people of your country that they have saved my nation from perishing ofif the face of the earth." Father D. Galadoozian, Representative of Catholic Armenians in Caucasus. Catholic Armenians : (a) "Everybody, especially every individual Armenian, knows that but for American Relief the Armenians would be annihilated by sickness and famine. , , ,• (b) "It is a well-known fact that the famine and epidemics are still troubling the Armenian refugees, women and children. (c) "I am sure that the Catholic Americans also together with all Americans will continue to send relief to our poverty stricken people, through the well-known and splendidly organized Near East Relief." Professor Hitti, American Citizen, Resident of Syria: "I take this opportunity to convey to you the sentiment of the people in this part of the world regarding the superb work which Mr. Bayard Dodge has been carrying on. There are thousands of people who literally owe their lives to the humane efforts of this young man. During the four years of war, distress, and agony he acted the part of an angel of mercy and brought succor and relief to the thousands of children of Lebanon." Former Queen of Greece: "In response to the special appeal made by Mrs. Harding in the New York Times of May 31st, I am desired by H. M., the Queen of Greece, to herewith forward a further donation towards this noble work of the Near East Relief. "Whilst recently in Salonica, Her Majesty witnessed some of the excellent results achieved there by this organization." Sincerely yours, (Signed) Ageligne J. Constostavlos Former Acting President of Armenia. Mr. A. Karinian, formerly Minister of Justice and one time Acting President of the present Armenian government : "In the most difficult moments, when Armenia was left quite helpless, when there did not remain in the country any charitable organizations, either Armenian or any other, the representatives of Near East Relief with devoted heart and soul religiously cared for the Armenian orphans in Alexandropol and other districts. In the most distant points of Armenia, in the huts belonging to the peasants, on the peaks of the snowy mountains and in the deep valleys, there are Armenian villages which profoundly appreciate the very name of the American people. There is nobody in our mother country who could be unconscious of the high value and importance of their help. The gratitude of all classes is most pronounced and heartening." Armenian National Assembly. In the Assembly of the Armenian National Representatives, held on the 28th of January, 1921, following a motion presented by Mr. S. Dionian, a Member of the Assembly, unanimously the 87 members present stood up and respectfully heard the prayer calling God's blessing on the American Near East Relief, which was said by His Beatitude, the Armenian Patriarch, Monseigneur Zaven, His Grace Monseigneur Sayeghian, Locum Tenens of the Roman Catholic Armenian Patriacli, and Reverend Bezdjian, Head of the Armenian Evangelical Church, who were presiding at the Assembly. Z. A. Bezdjian V. THE IMPERATIVE NEED FOR PROTECTION SOUNDING THE "JUSTICE" NOTE POSITION OF NEAR EAST RELIEF The Near East Relief is not a political organization. It has never been partisan in any way. But the Committee is tremendously interested in tlie saving of the non-Moslem peoples of the Near East from extinction. It believes m prevention as well as in relief. The Near East Relief assumes no responsibility for the statements that follow. They are acts and pronouncements of societies and individuals deeply interested in the solution of the problem of justice to tire non-Moslems of the Near East. This material is given here in order that pastors may have at hand a few statements of fact. . ■ r u- A number of organizations have been interested in the promotion of this cause. The leader in tlris promotion is the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America. This organization has sent two letters to the pastors of the country urging that they memorialize the government with respect to saving tlie Christians of the Near East, and it called a conference in New York, November 8, to consider frankly the question of minorities. The Armenia-America Society, the Justice to Armenia and the Armenian Rights Societies are working quietly but effectively to educate the people of the country to the need for protection. PRONOUNCEMENTS BY DENOMINATIONS Definite action petitioning tlie government to take some action to assist in the protection of non-Moslems of the Near East has been taken by the following conventions : Southern Methodist General Conference, Southern Baptist and North- ern Baptist Conventions, Presbyterian U. S. A. and United Presbyterian Assemblies, Church of the Brethren, Church of God, Disciples of Christ, Protestant Episcopal and Christian Conventions. We will furnish these on request. The following action was taken by the Federal Council Executive Committee at Indianapolis December 15, 1922 : Action of Federal Council Executive Committee: We are heartened by the position which our Government has taken toward tlie problem of the relief of the unprotected and persecuted non-Moslem popula- tions of the Near East. We have heard with great satisfaction recently of the position taken by Ambassador Child at the Lausanne Conference in urging the protection of the Christian Minorities and a National Home for the Arrnenians. There are signs of a more temperate attitude on the part of the Turkish Na- tionalists. However, justice can hardly be said to be the ruling principle of Near East government. There must be ceaseless interest, vigilance and activity until the unspeakable horrors of deportations, massacre, and starvation cease. Important as is the question of temporary relief for the refugees from Turkish rule, still more important is the protection of Christian minorities in the Near East. They must be freed from religious persecution and must be given unhindered oppor- tunity for economic rehabilitation. A large factor in the solution of these human problems is the co-operation of the United States with other nations not only in securing guarantees for justice but in seeing that these guarantees are carried There is an increasing disposition to support our Government in whatever co-operative relationships it may assume for the Near East. However, there is not up to this time a sufficiently intense conviction as to vital necessity or as^ to feasible policies which make our Government feel that it should and must take decisive action. Apparently the Government awaits a mandate from the American people. We urge 25 26 A MILLION LIVES SAVED the Cliuixhcs to give earnest consideration to these questions, and to assume leaaer- ship in developing a public conscience which will support our Government in taking active measures for a permanent solution of the Near Eastern question. STATEMENTS BY CHURCH LEADERS Many individual leaders have raised their voices against an attitude of indif- ference or timidity. Among them are Dr. Robert E. Speer, President of the Fed- eral Council of Churches, Dr. John Finley, Mr. Morgenthau, Bishop James Cannon, Jr., of the Southern Methodist Church, Dr. Barton, Dr. Stanley White, Mr. Walter George Smith, Bishop Brent, Bishop Manning, Dr. Charles Macfarland, Dr. Henry Atkinson of the Church Peace Union, most of the editors of religious periodicals and many other national figures. From many statements upon this theme the following are culled : Alva W. Taylor, Secretary Social Service Commission, Disciples of Christ: No appeal to humanity in Christian history surpasses in pathos and human need that of the Near East today. Not since the conquest of the Huns in the middle ages has anything so barbarous been done. Two and one-half million innocent human beings are turned out of home and livelihood in the face of winter. One million have been massacred. Let us make conscription of all our Christian forces to meet this need. Dr. John Kelman, Pastor Fifth Ave. Presbyterian Church, New York City: There is one thing America should fear more than "entangling alliances," and that is "entangling avoidances." Bishop Manning, Bishop of New York: While America has no desire for another war, the fact does not free the United States from the responsibility to protect people who are likely to be murdered. Dr. F. W. Burnham, President United Christian Missionary Society: Magnificent as is the service being rendered to orphan children and destitute people, no one of us can fail to hope that this expression of Christian sympathy by the churches may yet lead America as a nation to assuming her full duty in inter- national relations, which shall in the near future prevent the recurrence of conditions which have brought about this need. Dr. Samuel Zane Batten, D.D. Dept. of Social Education, American Bap- tist Publication Society, Member of Northern Baptist Advisory Committee: Shall we continue to stand by supinely while millions are slaughtered or starved and driven from their homes ? Are we too selfish, too provincial, too weak, too distrustful of ourselves to accept our share of the world's struggle for justice, security and life? Let us support most heartily Near East Relief; then let us insist that our nation bear its share of the world's fight for justice. Dr. James L. Barton (from Lausanne): Our souls cry out against the act that is driving a race out of its ancestral home which it has occupied for twenty-five centuries. Dr. W. W. Feet. Cablegram from Constantinople: Nationalists should not be allowed to drop these people thus upon doorstep of world. Asia Minor can support millions more than she has now if only adequate safety provided. America must join nations of the world to prevent this evacua- tion which would mean unprecedented misery starvation death to entire Near East. "THE PLEAS OF THE PATRIARCHS" From Statement by Bishop James Cannon, Jr., of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South: I have had many interviews, some of them with very interesting and very dis- tinguished people, but none of them stand out more vividly than those which 1 THE IMPERATIVE NEED FOR PROTECTION 27 liad ill September with the Greek and the Armenian Patriarchs in their official resi- dences in Constantinople. I have decided to let these fathers of their people speak in their own words. "The divisions among the Christian nations are giving the Turks new life and hope," said the Patriarch of Constantinople. "Great Britain seems to be the only nation which realizes the real situation, if Great Britain should fail to clieck the Turkish advance, it will be a lasting disgrace to Europe, and even to America, that no nation gave Great Britain co-operation to prevent continued Turkish atrocities. If the American Government tliought it to be its duty to intervene to make the world safe for democracy against the assaults of Germany and to uphold the ideals on which the United States Government is based, why should she not consider it her duty to continue to uphold the same ideals, and to prevent these awful crimes against humanity, to say nothing of democracy? All the Eastern Christians look up to the United States, and it is hard to understand her refusal to take action to protect the innocent and helpless from outrage and slaughter. It is believed by our people that the United States could prevent tire atrocities if she declared positively that they must cease." And then the Patriarch, with the same feeling which a father would show for his own children, said : "What can be done to save my poor, despairing, dying people? We must appeal to your people to save them from starvation, disease and death. God has blessed you with food and clothing, and you have big hearts. Take your people our thanks, but ask them to continue to help us in this day of death." I told the Patriarch that I would convey his appeal to our people, and further- more stated that if I had the power I would call upon the manhood of my country to protect them from persecution and extermination. The Armenian Patriarch said, "There were nearly four million Armenians before the war began ; now there are less than two million. I asked why the Turks killed the Armenians, and he replied : "Because the Armenians are Christians, but also because the Turks are jealous of the Armenians ; they are more intelligent, they have better schools, and are better educated. There are about five Turks to one hundred Armenians in school. Also tiie bulk of the commerce and business generally is carried on by the Armenians. The Turks hate the Armenians because they are Christians, are better educated, and are better business men. Jealousy and religious hatred are the causes of the mas- sacres." "The Armenians can never forget what the Near East Relief has done for them. The children would all be dead had it not been for you. Now they have performed a miracle by getting^ hold of all these children and saving them, and we owe every- thing to the Americans. We want a country where we can live and grow in peace and support ourselves. We do not want to live as we have to now — as paupers, as beggars, by being helped. We want to have a chance to help ourselves. Now' every day the situation is growing worse — the misery is augmenting every day. Although the Armenians recognize all that America has done for them, they hope that they will not now be allowed to die while America is aiding the children. They beg that the Turks may not be allowed to massacre all the older ones in the mean- while. America is far away, and her interest in this country is purely an interest m humanity. Every other country in Europe has political interests, and for tiiat reason we beg America to protect us from destruction. Her human interest would save every one if she would enter into the situation and not only feed the hungry, but save the rest of us from outrage, torture and death at the hands of the Turks " VI. THE NEAR EAST RELIEF ORGANIZATION AND PROGRAM ITS CHRISTIAN ORIGIN AND SPIRIT Near East Relief is in its, essence a Christian organi::ation. Its birth was through Christian leadership. The leaders of Missionary and Christian Educational institutions working in the Near East organized the movement. Its General Secretary and many of its earlier associates _ were men of the Layman's Missionary Movement training. The Christian spirit thus emphasized in the very inception of Near East Relief still characterizes all the work of the organization. While a Christian organization, Near East Relief has the support of all kinds of organisations for it deals with a humanitarian problem which is of interest to everyone. It is interesting to know that it has members of the Jewish faith on its Board of Trustees, its Executive Committee, in its oversea orphanages, and many Jewish contributors help maintain it. The organization, however, is essentially Christian. It is not organically connected with any church organization. It requires no creed of its personnel. It is recognized by people of all denominational affiliations. It is a comprehensive Christian ivork. It is Christian in the sense that it keeps people alive. It follows largely the command of Jesus to feed the hungry, and to clothe the naked. It saves those who would perish because of their Christian faith. It carries the burden of national salvage sacrificially. It toils unceasingly to preserve ancient and historic Christian races. It is Christian because its personnel both at home and overseas have the spirit of self-sacrifice, work for service salaries, and give a devotion not excelled in any field of service. It is Christian because prayer, the devotional spirit, is as common in the Executive Committee meeting, State and Regional conferences, and Staff meetings, as it is in the meetings of a Missionary Board. It is Christian because it values human life; values the sacrifice repre- sented in the dollars given to it; regards the trust as sacred, and uses every art at its command to secure as much as possible for the money it receives. It is Christian because it provides that the children under its care are trained to physical strength, independence of spirit, self-support through vocational pursuits, manliness, honesty and honor, team-work, sobriety and self-control, absence of racial and religious hatreds, the re- sponsibility of the strong, and a complete self-expression in worship after the manner of their parents. The organization is not denominational, nor does it represent the spirit of any one or two denominations. In one sense the work may be termed "denominational" by churchmen, namely, because it is the expres- sion of their denomination or communion in undenominational work. 28 ORGANIZATION AND PROGRAM 29 EFFICIENCY AND ECONOMY OF ADMINISTRATION The economy of administration of Near East Relief is due in a large measure to the exceptional amount of volunteer unpaid service contributed both overseas and in America. All members of the governing Admin- istrative Committees overseas contribute their services without compen- sation. Wherever it is necessary to provide compensation in order to command the full-time service of orphanage directors, doctors, nurses or other administrators, the stipend is fixed on a purely social service basis designed to cover only reasonable living expenses. No large salaries, or salaries in excess of a moderate living rate, are paid by Near East Relief, either in America or overseas, and such moderate salaries as are paid for general administrative work are more than covered by special contributions designated by the donors for this item of necessary expense. The following quotations, from the printed rules of the Personnel Committee, will suggest the type and the motive of the Near East Relief worker : "Near East Relief gives boundless opportunities for unselfish service both at Iiome and abroad, and will appeal permanently only to those workers who have clearly come to the conclusion that they are in tliis world for what they can give and not for what they can get. "Anyone who has for a life purpose the achievement of success in terms of dol- lars or niaterial advancement will not be satisfied with such opportunities as Near East Relief can offer. "It is the purpose of the Committee to provide enouglr to cover necessary living expenses, with reasonable consideration of life insurance and other contingencies. Near East Relief work, therefore, will not appeal to anyone whose major considera- tion is salary. It will appeal strongly to anyone whose major purpose is service." In addition to the so-called paid workers, doctors, nurses, etc., over- seas, Near East Relief has the co-operation of a considerable number of volunteer workers connected with various American educational and other institutions in the Near East who are contributing their services in various forms of relief work without expense of any kind to relief funds. Expense of administration is greatly reduced by the free use of extremely valuable lands, buildings, and other properties overseas, and by the voluntary service of many people irrespective of race and creed. For example, at Alexandropol we have the free use of three groups of extensive barrack buildings conservatively valued at over five million dollars. In Armenia some 17,600 acres of wheat, vegetable and pasture lands have been made available without cost, to be used in developing agriculture and self-support for our orphanages. Elsewhere in Armenia, at Constan- tinople and various places throughout Anatolia, Syria and Persia, we have the free use of properties and equipment which, if rent were paid, would cost more than one million dollars per annum. The above does not include any commercial valuation of the large amount of volunteer unpaid service received in overseas administration. This co-operation comes not only from Governments, but from the various native churches and communities, the American missionary and educational institutions, and many individuals who are thus ready unmis- takably to endorse and support the work. 30 A MILLION LIVES SAVED No less important than the volunteer, unpaid co-operation received overseas is the volunteer service rendered by thousands of devoted friends serving on committees in America. It is the volunteer service of these committeemen that has made possible the life-saving achievements of Near East ReHef. CHARTERED BY CONGRESS Near East Relief is non-political and non-sectarian, as a reference to the names of its trustees (page 2) will indicate. Relief is administered on the basis of the greatest need to all suffering and helpless people of the Near East, regardless of race or creed or nationality. Auditors' Reports As stated in last year's Report to Congress for the period ending December 31, 1920, the firm of Hurdman & Cranstoun audited all the war or post-war transactions of our Committee in the Near East covering the Constantinople, Caucasus and Syria areas. A full report of their audit in the form of a 386-page bound volume of tabulated statements was received during the past year. This report, together with subsequent and supplementary reports of the New York Office accounts, has been re- viewed by both the Finance and Executive Committees, and submitted to the Board of Trustees. A summarized statement of the Hurdman & Cranstoun audit, cover- ing the period ended December 31, 1921, totalled $51,361,804.94. This statement does not include flour secured previous to 1921 through the United States Grain Corporation and the American Relief Administration, valued at $12,800,000, nor the value of buildings, land, transportation, equipment, service, food and other supplies contributed in the Near East valued at $8,000,000, that would bring the total value of relief operations to approximately $73,000,000. Up to June 30, 1922, the receipts totalled as follows, in addition to the two items mentioned above : General Relief Contributions $55,506,156.33 Individual Relief Contributions 2,585,463.08 Total $58,091,619.41 A VAST INTERNATIONAL SOCIAL SERVICE Near East Relief maintains 125 orphanages, already overcrowded with 64,107 children. More than 50,000 others in poverty-stricken homes and refugee camps were cared for with the bare necessities of life. These wards of America therefore totaled 115,000 children previous to tlie recent Near East debacle. The 20,000 in Turkish military territory were all brouglit out during tlie Fall of 1922. The Graeco-Turkish disaster which has already created a new refugee population of 1,250,000 and threatens to make destitute another 1,250,000 makes imminent anotlier tragic, unprecedented orphan problem. Near East Relief has equipped and staffed : 59 relief stations 16 Homes for women rescued from 44 hospitals, treating monthly 148,728 Moslem harems clinic patients ORGANIZATION AND PROGRAM 31 Near East Relief has sent overseas since 1915 : 46 physicians and surgeons 95 nurses 13 mechanics 17 industrial experts 14 bacteriologists 20 agriculturalists 19 teachers 32 administrators 48 secretaries 39 engineers 56 supply and transport workers 46 army officers as organizers 285 orphanage and general relief worlccra Near East employs an average stafif of 300 Americans, many of whom arc volunteer workers. Near East Relief shipped overseas up to November 30, 1922, 25,322 tons of clothing, food, medical supplies and other commodities, valued at $4,251,074. The total value of Near East Relief's operations to date approximate $73,000,000. PERSONAL SERVICE WORK Widely separated members of families have been brought together, and many home circles made happier through the Personal Service Work of Near East Relief. This work began in the fall of 1919 when the establishment of Near East Relief centers made it possible to locate individuals whose relatives in this country were looking for word of them. During the three years ending in the summer of 1922, something like two thousand people have been located and over half a million dollars forwarded for their travel expenses to this country. In the summer of 1922 the Caucasus branch made a census of the refugees in the Alexandropol and Erivan regions and up to the present time has sent on 1,800 searchers for relatives in this country with whom the people there have lost touch. Already perhaps a fifth of these people have responded, sending sums of from five to a hundred dollars to their relatives. Since the Smyrna disaster over five hundred inquiries have been sent out from National Headquarters for refugees from Smyrna and Thrace, but owing to the fearful conditions in the refugee camps it has been impossible to locate many of these people. About two hundred inquiries have come from Salonika, Athens and Mitylene for relatives liere, and most of these inquiries have received immediate response. HEROISM OF OVERSEAS WORKERS • The fine spirit of heroism, so characteristic of the overseas workers of Near East Relief, is illustrated in the following cablegrams. Many workers have given their lives for the cause and others have suffered great hardships that the work might continue. "Constantinople, May 12, 1922 "Van Wert in American hospital. Arm amputation due to bone infection suc- cessful. Condition improving. "Constantinople, May 25, 1922 "Van Wert convalescing rapidly. Planning resume duties Caucasus soon." 32 A MILLION LIVES SAVED "Athens, November 2, 1922 "Wright escorting Greek orphans from Malatia, attacked near Katma by eight Kurds, firing fusillade without warning. Applegate received bullet fragments in leg. Wright instantly killed, bullet through neck cutting spinal cord. Party robbed, then proceeded." "Constantinople, December 12, 1922 "George St. Jolm Williams died from pneumonia due to exposure m Marsovan while evacuating Christian orphans to Black Sea Coast. Although suffermg hard- ships rigorous winter insisted on carrying on. By superhuman efforts got orphans out of Marsovan, when stricken. Weakened through overwork, succumbed. At- tended to last by Fannie G. Noyes, only other American in Marsovan." AN ESTIMATE OF NEAR EAST RELIEF (From an address to Near East Relief Workers by Fred B. Smith.) I. / congratulate you that you belong to an organization in which the work is so scientifically done. I have just returned from a memorable journey which has taken me all around the world. For the scientific administration of funds, I have never seen the equal of Near East Relief in all the welfare, eleemosynary and philanthropic agencies I have observed. I have an evil eye. I am always looking for flaws, not that I take delight in evil but that I may correct it. I went out expecting to find inevitable waste and inefficiency, but was amazed at what I found. Near East Relief is as nearly 100 per cent efficient as is possible in any human organization. It searches out the hour when its beneficiaries may become self supporting and re- quires a maximum of service in return for its benefits, thus preventing pauperism. It looks not simply to the present crisis and emergency but with rare foresight looks forward to a practical program of reconstruction. My conviction is that it will re- quire at least ten or fifteen years to complete your task. This thing is scientifically done. II. / congratulate you that you are the messengers of a new kind of world. Because of the character of the work you are doing you are prepared more than any others to demand that such things shall never happen again. Statesmen with all their power have failed to prevent disaster. I stood at Smyrna some months ago when they told me that some day the Turks would take the city and destroy it. I looked out in the harbor and saw the powerful battleships of the nations and I said, "This shall not be, these ships will prevent it." But it has happened. You are doing more to make other disasters like this impossible than any other agency. God pity you if your part of the work is not well done. No one will ever give you another great thing to do if you fail in this one ! III. / congratulate you that you are the interpreters of the true religion. Everywhere I went, in every land, the cry is for religion. What we see now in the Near East is not settled problems but banked fires. The leaders who hold the future are the men who step into the sea of suffering and minister most to folks in need. You have that opportunity. What would have happened if Near East Relief had not been on the job in Smyrna? Hundreds of thousands would have perished but for your ships and bread and workers. Your organization was raised up for this hour to meet this emergency and crisis. This is America's finest illus- tration of unselfish service. My schedule from now until the end of March is fixed and I know pretty nearly "where I shall be every day during that time, but I promise you that there will be no speech I make, morning, noon or night in all that time, in which some- where I will not give the message of the Near East Relief. That is how much I believe in your cause. ORGANIZATION AND PROGRAM 33 OTHER NATIONS CO-OPERATING America is not alone in this work, but the shoulders of America must carry the main burden. Greece has shown a most cordial hospitality toward the refugees who are fleeing by hundreds of thousands into Greek territory. The Greek hospitality has been especially manifested toward the Near East Relief orphans whom it was necessary to bring out of Anatolia. Good quarters have been furnished in safe places on the agreement that we continue the care and support of the orphans. The Armenians in the Near East outside the immediate danger zones are doing everything they can for their countrymen. In several cases Armenian societies have given dollar for dollar for the relief funds we have administered through them. The Armenian and Syrian Compatriot Societies in this country have sent large sums of money through us, Near East Relief giving dollar for dollar for all sums they contribute in this way. Individual remittances are frequently transmitted by us from for- eign-born people to their relatives and friends in the Near East. These individual remittances have been encouraged. In the past five years approximately $2,700,000 has been sent by 30,000 Armenians, Greeks and other nationalities in this country to rela- tives in the Near East through the Individual Remittance Department. The largest amount was sent during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1921, in which 3,604 persons sent a total of $688,751.85. This was before the immigration ban and much of the sum represented money sent for travel expenses to America. During the first four months of the pres- ent fiscal year 228 contributors have sent $190,065.24. This is more than half the total for all of last year. The remittances were sent through our branch offices in every state in the Union and through national headquarters in New York. The ad- dresses of the recipients include towns in Central Turkey, cut off from practically all communication with the outside world except that furnished through Near East Relief workers, and in Persia, Mesopotamia, Pales- tine, Syria, and Transcaucasian Russia. On Dr. Lincoln Wirt's trip around the world Relief Societies were organized in Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Australia, and New Zealand. Their gifts have begun to reach the Near East, but may not be expected to assume extra large proportions. It was Dr. Wirt's intention to appeal to the Christians of Japan, but others insisted on the privilege of co-operating as well, saying that it was a case of human need rather than a case of Christian need. In Korea Dr. Wirt spoke to an assembly of Christians whom he considered financially unable to give, but with a characteristic answer that "only a widow knows a widow's needs" they insisted on giving their mite. While we rejoice in the co-operation of the other nations, it is to America that these sufferers must continue to look for their relief and for the training of their orphans until they are rehabilitated through economic reconstruction. VII. THE CHURCHES IN CO-OPERATION The churches have given Near East ReHef unexcelled support. Near- ly all religious bodies have recognized the Christian necessity of this work. Most of the religious bodies have officially endorsed Near East Relief after serious consideration by their highest governing bodies. Several have appointed special Advisory Committees. Many have adopted plans that make them in effect co-operating organizations. Pastors desiring full information regarding plans of their own or of all denominations may write the national office for a separate booklet, soon available, giving this information. SUNDAY SCHOOL CO-OPERATION The Sunday Schools have been the backbone of church co-operation in behalf of the Near East. They have been both the leaders and the examples to congrega- tional and denominational co-operation. Early in the history of the Near East Relief a group of representative Sunday school leaders visited Asia Minor and made a survey of conditions. These men returned prophets, apostles, crusaders for the cause. There has been no more important contribution to the endeavor than that which they are still making. Both denominational and interdenominational Sunday school workers have accepted co-operative responsibility. The International Sunday School Associa- tion and the Sunday School Council, and their recent amalgamation, the Inter- national Sunday School Council for Religious Education, have given consistent leadership and support. An official advisory committee, representative of their forces, leads the general Sunday school work. Under the leadership of National Denominational Sunday School Executives, with the support of their Boards and Judicatories, National Denominational Sunday School Near East Field Days are set apart or recognized by at least twenty-five Communions, including: Advent Christian Methodist Episcopal, South *Seventh Day Adventist Free Methodist Northern Baptist Methodist Protestant *Southern Baptist Moravian Seventh Day Baptist Presbyterian, U. S. A. Church of the Brethren Presbyterian, U. S. (South) Christian Church United Presbyterian Congregationalist Protestant Episcopal Disciples of Christ Reformed Church in America United Evangelical Reformed Church in the U. S. Evangelical Synod of N. A. Unitarian Methodist Episcopal United Brethren Universalist National Sunday School publications of all kinds have given unexampled support. State Associations and State Denominational and Interdenominational leaders have likewise given wise, sympathetic leadership. The special emphasis in the local Sunday school is the adoption of "Near East orphans" by classes. This human element, in saving those who suffer for the Cross in the Bible Lands, has splendid educational features for the children. It is the building of character, too. For both these reasons, in addi- tion to the humanitarian element, it rightly holds a place in the Sunday school curriculum. This work holds great promise. It means the uniting of American youth in behalf of saving and educating the youth in Bible Lands. *See special statement further. 34 THE CHURCHES IN CO-OPERATION 35 DENOMINATIONAL NEAR EAST ADVISORY COMMITTEES There has recently been worked out by interested leaders in certain Com- munities plans of co-operation that go beyond mere endorsement or the support of the Sunday Schools. One of the features of this co-operative effort is the authorization and the appointment of National Church Advisory Committees for the purpose of advising the Near East Relief as to the best ways of promoting its worl< with the denomina- tion in question, and in many cases, of accepting definite taslis of promotion. It gives more nearly a standing with the Communions. It saves overhead expense by using the resources of the denomination in interpreting tlie Cause, and it aids in securing larger returns. It aims to prevent duplication. Tlie development is in its infancy, and the Advisory Committees are only in process of organization. The following Communions have recognized or appointed such Advisory Com- mittees : Northern Baptist Convention Methodist Protestant Church of God Free Methodist Christian Presbyterian Church, U. S. A. Congregational ^^'Presbyterian Church U. S. Disciples of Christ Protestant Episcopal Church Methodist Episcopal, South UniversaUst The appointees to tliese Committees are men and women almost invariably of national reputation in their own church, and widely representative of the various church interests. If it were possible to bring the members now officially appointed to such committees together, the gathering would be remarkably representative of the Protestant leadership of America. Otlier denominations have definitely requested certain Boards or Standing Com- mittees to represent them in co-operation with the Near East Relief, including: Seventh Day Adventist — Conference Committee Southern Baptist — Foreign Mission Board Church of the Brethren — Rehef Committee United Presbyterian Church— Missionary and Efficiency Committee DENOMINATIONAL FIELD DAYS A recent and most significant development is that taken by a number of denominations in suggesting to pastors the setting aside of a Sunday for the Near East cause, and, if tliey do not join in a Community Near East Field Day, uniting, if convenient, in a Denominational Near East Relief Field Day, with sermon, and subscriptions for the cause. Such days have been suggested by Convention or Advisory Committee action for 1922-23 as follows : Seventh Day Adventist, Mar. 10 Methodist Episcopal, South, Jan. 21 Northern Baptist, Jan. 21 Presbyterian, U. S. A., Jan. 21 Southern Baptist, Jan. 14 Christian Church, Christmas or Jan. 21 Church of the Brethren, Jan. 21 Church of God, Thanksgiving Congregational, Jan. 21 Presbyterian, U. S., Jan. 21 Disciples of Christ, Feb. 4 United Presbyterian, Christmas Universalist, Christmas These national days give an opportunity for a united educational efifort. But pastors are encouraged to give priority to the plans of this local community. SPECIAL PLANS OF CO-OPERATION The Protestant Episcopal Church fostered a special nation-wide campaign last Easter, especially among the Women's Auxiliaries, and a number of Bishops are encouraging Diocesan Field Days. The Methodist Episcopal Board of Bishops and Council of Boards of Benevolence gave special attention and endorsement, and a number of Bishops are leading in Conference support. H-"'*^*^ Lutheran Convention at Buflfalo endorsed Near East Rclxl. The Mennonites have given very largely. The Christian Science Mother Church and others co-operate generously. *Synodical Representation 36 A MILLION LIVES SAVED CONVENTION CONFERENCES Near East Conferences, for the purpose of explaining the situation and deter- mining what plans of co-operation should be placed before the Convention, were held in connection with the following gatherings, — in 1922 : Methodist Episcopal, South, Hot Springs, May Southern Baptist, Jacksonville, Fla., May Presbyterian Church, U. S., Charleston, W. Va., May Presbyterian Church, U. S. A., Des Moines, la., May Northern Baptist Convention, Indianapolis, June International Convention, Disciples of Christ, Winona Lake, Ind., Aug. Protestant Episcopal Convention, Portland, Ore., Sept. United Lutheran Church, Buffalo, N. Y., Nov. Christian Convention, Burlington, N. C, Nov. These conferences were usually held at luncheon or dinner, and were invari- ably attended by represcntive leaders. REGIONAL, STATE AND DISTRICT CO-OPERATION One of the next steps, we hope, will be a leadership — a spontaneous leadership, — by Regional, State and District religious bodies, — such as Dioceses, Synods, Con- ferences, State Conventions, Associations and Presbyteries, and by corresponding official leaders, both executive and supervisory. We trust that there will not only be generous endorsements, but definite promotional plans for co-operation with the State offices of the Near East Relief. We urge the appointment of Advisory Com- mittees corresponding to the National Advisory Committees, or at least of Corre- spondents, — selecting always those known to be deeply interested in the Near East Cause. Developments in this line are not extensive. They include : Disciples — Action by several State Conventions. Methodist Episcopal and Methodist Episcopal, South — Endorsements and leadership by Bishops, Superintendents and Presiding Elders Presbyterian, U. S. A. — Action by forty Presbyteries and several Synods Presbyterian, U. S. — Official Synodical Representatives appointed by General Assembly Protestant Episcopal — Several Diocesan offerings Universalist — Action by nearly all Conventions. RELIGIOUS PRESS The cordial co-operation of the editors and managers of the religious publi- cations accounts for a large part of the knowledge of and sympathy for the Near East. They have given freely not only in news columns, but in editorials and in advertising space. YOUNG PEOPLE'S SOCIETIES Many local young people's societies have adopted orphans, but a new develop- ment has recently arisen, viz. — placing the Near East problem and cause officially in the educational programs for young people. The initiative in this plan is being taken by: Southern Methodist Epworth Leagues Southern Presbyterian Young People's Societies Methodist Protestant Societies A pamphlet for use by young people's societies has been prepared and may be secured upon request. It is hoped that other National Societies will soon take this step. ROMAN CATHOLIC CO-OPERATION Since this Hand-book is primarily for Protestant ministers, an extended state- ment of Roman Catholic co-operation is not necessary. But it is of general interest thr.r the Near East Relief receives active support and co-operation from the Church, from the Knights of Columbus, Catholic Daughters of America, Women's Catholic Council, and Catholic Benevolent Legion. There have been special col- lections in fourteen Dioceses. THE CHURCHES IN CO-OPERATION 37 INTERDENOMINATIONAL CO-OPERATION Seldom have the churches in America worked together as they are working together on the Near East ReHef. In local community cam- paigns and church field days the pastors are almost invariably the lead- ers. The Pastors Associations, and in the larger cities Church Federa- tions, most sympathetically co-operate or frequently take initiative and leadership. The Near East Relief is in spirit and to all intents and purposes the national co-operating body of the various denominations so far as relief to the suffering peoples of the Near East is concerned. Apparently no need has been felt for a new overhead co-operating organization, espe- cially in view of the fact the Federal Council of Churches possesses for the most of the co-operating denominations whatever authority may be needed for an additional organization. The Federal Council and the Near East Relief are seeking to work together to the fullest possible extent. The plan has been to have each religious body present the Near East Relief in the best way possible, largely through its own channels without an attempt to create an overhead co-operating organization. The result of all of this has been one of the best examples of co-operation yet seen among church bodies, reminding one of their work in the War-time Commission of the Churches. The secret of the pres- ent support is that the churches realize the overwhelming task, and the spirit of Christ is moving in the hearts of people to meet it. We will mention the endorsements of the Federal Council of Churches and some of the other general church organizations. Federal Council of Churches Endorsement. The Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America has continuously endorsed Near East Relief. At its Quadrennial Meeting, December 6, 1920, Boston, Mass., the following was included in the action of the Council: "We reaffirm the several actions of the Federal Council and its committees with reference to the Near East ReHef and the urgency of the appeal in behalf of the thousands of orphans." At the Annual Meeting, December 15, 1922, in Indianapolis: (See section on "Protection", p. 25, for further action.) "There are numerous causes for congratulation over the response of America to the appeals for Near East Relief. The sympathetic attitude of our Government, the work of Near East Relief, the support of which the secretaries, the Commis- sion on International Justice and Good Will, and the Administrative Committee of the Council have given, are acknowledged with grateful appreciation. "The relief measures have been executed with courage and efficiency. The Near East Relief workers, the Y. M. C. A., the Y. W. C. A,, and the workers of various church missionary organizations have been potent factors. Regardless of creed, class or geographical location our people have responded with commendable hberality. "The American naval officers and the men under them have given prompt and notable humanitarian aid during the recent tragic periods in the history of Smyrna, Northern and Central Anatolia, Constantinople, Tlirace and Syria. We record our keen appreciation of this noble service. 38 A MILLION LIVES SAVED "The American flag has protected more than a hundred thousand children In ™s^group so tenderly cared for is the hope of the future leadership of the Near I j'"^^^ Churches represented in the Federal Council have generally assured leadership in the community campaigns for funds. Success would not have been possible without this generous and united co-operation. "We must impress our people with the fact that the needs are more urgent than ever. Deplore it as we may, tliere is little change in the situation Gaunt forms of need are on every hand. To fail to 'carry on' would be not only to forsake want and suffering in its most acute forms but in large measure to lose what we have so tar saved. These orphaned children are in a real sense our wards Tnese sorely smitten people still look to us as their only hope. America must see it through. ^Dr. Charles S. Macfarland, General Secretary of the Federal Council: "Every consideration appears to lay this great cause upon the consciences and hearts of the people of America, and especially of Christian men and women." "No situation has ever gripped the religious conscience of the American people as have the present conditions in the Near East. "The churclies are I believe, prepared uncomplainingly to continue and to re- double their work of humanitarian relief. "I thinlc it is clearly realized that tliis demand for permanent settlement of this awful problem should not in the least hinder the continuance of the outpourin"- ot our sympathy expressed m practical and material terms for the relief of suf" fering. By Dr. Roy B. Guild, Executive Secretary of the Federal Council's Commission on Councils of Churches : "During the years tliat the Near East Relief Las been rendering such wonderful service to the destitute people of the Near East it has been a pleasure to note a very general interest on the part of the Secretaries of the Councils and Federations of Churches throughout the country in that work and their willingness to co-operate." By Dr. Herbert L. Willett of Chicago, Western Representative of Federal Council of Churches: , "There is no cause that is so imperious and insistent at the present moment m its_ appeal for American sympathy as that of Near East Relief The Near East IS at present the Lazarus of the nations. Much has been done in the past to meet this situation but the need grows worse in spite of all that has been done It means that Christian nations, and, most of all, America, must carry on until' the dawn of a better day." Foreign Missions Conference Endorsement. The following endorsement of Near East Relief was passed by the Foreign Missions Conference of North America in session at Garden City, L. L, January 20, 1921. The Foreign Missions Conference is composed of representatives from practically all Protestant evangelical missionary agencies, and is one of the most important in the interdenominational field. "Resolved, That we heartily endorse the work of Near East Relief and com- mend It to the churches and Christian people of America for continued support." The Committee of Reference and Counsel of the Foreign Missions Conference of North America, January, 1922, Atlantic City, N J took the following action: ' "Resolved, That we reaffirm our endorsement of the work of the Near East Relief and commend it to the churches and Christian people of America for con- tinued support. VIII. THE PASTOR AND HIS CHURCH IN THE NEAR EAST THE PASTOR'S PROGRAM IN HIS OWN CHURCH (By a Pastor) If we accept the proposition that leadership in answering the chal- lenge of Christian minorities in the Near East must lie with the churches of America, the conclusion is inevitable that the burden of response is upon those of us who are pastors of these churches. We are the leaders ; the Church stands still or moves forward on a program such as this largely as the pastor determines. This fact brings the orphans of the Near East to the very threshold of the manses of America. It is ours to answer the Master's challenge, "Give Ye Them to Eat." It is ours to say whether they shall live or die : What shall the answer be ? But the question comes, how shall we go about this program in our churches? First, let the facts burn into our own souls. Unless we are filled with the fire of a great determination to face this need our people will be indifferent to the challenge. Second, in order to secure the largest possible response on the part of our churches we should organize our forces, looking forward to the taking of the oiTering at least a week in advance. Different societies within our Church should be called to our assistance and a committee should be appointed which would, under our direction, prepare all of the details for the Near East Sunday Service. This Committee should thor- oughly advertise the event in the local papers and otherwise. They should carry on a program of education in which many of the most vital facts in connection with this work would be stated. The pastor and his official board should together go over these facts as they consider the important question of devoting a full sermon period to this cause. Third, The Sermon. There must be an adequate presentation. Here is where the pastor has the opportunity to reap large results in his Near East endeavor. We are overwhelmed by the great array of facts. These are vital, impressive, challenging facts. What an appeal to the hearts of men and women ! What a human interest story this is ! Where can you find a greater need? We wish it were possible to print in full the sermon preached by Rev. R. E. Vale, D.D., of the First Presbyterian Church of Oak Park, 111., which resulted in an offering of over $7,000. National Headquarters, Near East Relief, 151 Fifth Avenue, New York City, has this sermon in pamphlet form and will be glad to mail it to you upon your request. ' 39 I 40 A MILLION LIVES SAVED Fourth, the taking of pledges and an offering. A sermon plus a "collection" is not "enough to save them." A sermon plus a subscription is the only adequate plan. Near East Relief has provided subscription envelopes which pastors are requested to have the ushers place, at the conclusion of the sermon, in the hands of every person present. Write to your State Near East Relief Headquarters, the address of which you will find on tlie third page cover of this handbook, for the quantity you need for your congregation. For the sake of perishing humanity, let us use this "Subscription Envelope" in connection with our sermon appeal, pledging our people to give individual subscriptions to the Near East Relief on the basis of a monthly amount for one year. We know the American Church people will gladly respond. It is our duty to afford them this opportunity in connection with our sermon on Near East Relief. SUGGESTED SERMON TEXTS Luke, 2 :7 : "There was no room for them in the Inn." 1 John, 3:17: "But whoso hath this world's goods, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him ?" Matthew, 9 :36 : "But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compas- sion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd." Matthew, 25 :37, 38, 40, 45 : "Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? "When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed ttiee? "And the king shall answer and say unto them. Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. "Then shall he answer them saying, Verily I say unto you. Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me." Mark, 10:14: "Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not ; for of such is the kingdom of God." John, 21:15-17: "So when they had dined Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these ? He saith unto him. Yes, Lord ; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him. Feed my lambs." "He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me ? He saith, Yea, Lord ; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him. Feed my sheep." Mark, 6 :37-44 : "He answered and said unto them. Give ye them to eat . . . and they all ate and were filled . . . and they that ate the loaves were about 5,000 men." Matthew, 7:12: "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets." James, 2:15-16: "If a brother or sister be naly me) I will give to NEAR EAST RELIEF work the sum per month in- dicated by my (X) marked, or 44 A MILLION LIVES SAVED (7) After all have subscribed and the subscriptions are taken up, suggest that each person take one or more envelopes and endeavor to secure subscriptions from others who are not present. Unless National Denominational Boards request otherwise, churches are encouraged to give their ofTerings to the local community or State Treasurers of the Near East Relief ; or you may send your offering directly to the National Treasurer — Cleveland H. Dodge, 151 Fifth Avenue, New York City Some large returns may be secured by a definite follow-up after the Near East service in your church. The pastor and his Near East Committee can do the follow-up work with very little effort. Two classes should be visited to secure returns in this follow-up : First : People of ability to give who were at your service when you made the appeal but who failed to sign a pledge at that time. A personal visit will often secure large contributions from these. Second : Loyal members of your congregation, and who generally contribute to all good causes, who were not present at the service when your sermon was preached. A personal appeal will often reach them with very excellent results. THE PASTOR AND HIS SUNDAY SCHOOL The pastors should see that the Sunday Schools are given an oppor- tunity to have a part in this work, for the children in Bible lands, whose lives they can save, both because of the connection of this study of present- day conditions in Bible lands with their Sunday School studies and for the reflex effect of sacrificial giving on themselves. The following points should be covered : Be personally responsible for the oljserving of Near East Relief Day in the Sunday Schools at the time set aside by your denomination. This day should be planned for well in advance; posters, pledge cards, collection envelopes and special program material for Sunday School superintendents should be secured from the Near East State Director. The teachers should be given full instructions and information so that when the appeal is made they can intelligently discuss with their classes the question of supporting one of the orphans. Place before the school, as an ideal, the supporting of an orphan by each class. On the day appointed for the special offering see that the posters are put up in prominent places — that special announce- ments appear in the church calendar and that some mention is made from the pulpit. One of the most remarkable things in the religious world todav is the way in which, since the Near East Relief was first organized, the great Denominational Sunday School Boards have taken upon themselves the responsibility for the care of these children of Bible lands. All the leading Denominational and Inter-denominational Sunday School bodies have given their endorsement to the work and are lending invaluable assistance in carrying the message to every Sunday School. THE PASTOR AND HIS CHURCH 45 THE PASTOR AND HIS YOUNG PEOPLE'S SOCIETIES In view of the interest of all young people in the present political situation in the Near East, the pastor should have no difficulty in getting' the Young Peoples' Society President to devote at least one service to a study of the whole Near East question, including relief, leading up to the adoption of at least one orphan by the Society. The presidents should be personally interviewed and materials placed in their hands for the carrying through of a strong program. Special material for this purpose is ])repared by National Headquarters of Near East Relief. Many societies may wish to devote a month to this study — taking up various phases of the Near Eastern question, such as the historical background of the various races — the economic and political conditions, the religious question and the present task of the Near East Relief organization. Some of the leading denominations have been so impressed by the value of such a study that they have included the Near East question in the young peoples' program of the year and have set aside an official clay for that purpose. THE PASTOR AND THE WOMEN'S ORGANIZATIONS Church women are trained and organized for exactly this sort of volunteer service. The pastor should confer with the presidents of the organizations, placing in their hands material for a special program on Near East Relief at one of their regular meetings which should result in their active co-operation in three ways : (1) The support of an orphan. (2) Sewing for the children. (3) Collecting clothing at the time of the Old Clothes Campaign. For the best returns, the women's organizations should be reached during the Community Campaign or at the same time the Near East question is being discussed in the Church and Sunday School. THE PASTOR AND OTHER CO-OPERATING AGENCIES Churches ask whether they have the entire burden of the support of this work. By no means. The Near East Relief has followed the policy of seeking the co- operation of existing organizations which have a religious, fraternal, social, or philanthropic motive and spirit. As with the churches, we are not trying to unite or co-ordinate these organizations under a new overhead agency, but are working with them in their own way, believing that is the best method of reaching their constituency. The roster of the national, state, and local organizations aiding this cause through their official committees or through the voluntary assis- tance of leading individuals would include most of the leading organi- zations of America. Our indebtedness to them is great. Chambers of Commerce, Boards of Trade, Community Chests, Rotary Clubs, Commercial Clubs, Improvement Associations, Fraternal Societies, Social Clubs, Colleges, Public Schools, Agricultural Organizations, Indus- 46 A MILLION LIVES SAVED trial Bodies, including organized labor, Railway and Steamship Execu- tives, and numerous others, have given us co-operation with a hearti- ness that has inspired us with new zeal. Young- Men's Christian Associations are everywhere co-operat- ing. The General Secretaries are experts in community affairs and are most efficient campaign advisors. The International Convention recently gave strong endorsement. Pastors can aid in recognizing this leadership for Near East Relief. The Near East Relief has been very happy in its co-operation both with the churches and with these other organizations. No other cause since November 11, 1918, has called forth such a universal response from all the people of America as the challenge of the Near East. _ Pastors can assist greatly in securing the co-operation of local or- ganizations of which they may be members or in which they may exert influence. Make an opportunity for presenting this great cause to the clubs and organizations of your community. An address of only five or eight minutes before a Rotary Club often brings a large return. Many pastors have rendered splendid service by heading up Com- munity or County Committees. In many communities the pastors have rendered an invaluable service by conducting a house-to-house Near East Campaign. In the average case this ought to be done by the churches uniting after a Near East presentation in all of the pulpits in the community. Endeavor to secure a place on convention programs for a speaker on the Near East Relief. Probably a member of the Convention, although some pastor in a community will often get larger results. The State office of the Near East Relief will be glad to furnish speakers for impor- tant occasions where desired. Help to secure the passing of a plan of co-operation in these Con- ventions by which the organization recognizes not only the need and the value of Near East Relief, but calls upon its local organizations for actual support. Wherever feasible assist in the holding of a Near East Relief Con- ference in connection with the meeting at which there should be those most deeply interested in the promotion of the cause to discuss the problems of promotion. BIBLIOGRAPHY 47 BIBLIOGRAPHY Books SPIRIT OF ISLAJI: Ameer Ali— A history of tile evolution and ideals of Islam, with a life of the ProDhet. THE TREATMENT OF THE ARJIESIANS IN THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE, 1915-1916 Viwcouiit Bryce. A SHORT HISTORY OF THE NEAR EAST: William Stearns Daws— A history of Southeastern Europe and the Levant from the founding of Constantinople in 330 A. D. to the present day. TRAVELS IN ARABIA OESERTA: Charles M. Doughty—For many years one of the scarcest and most sought for boolis in the language. STAMBOUL NIC.HTS: H. O. Dwlght— Although the author has spent much of his life in Constantinople these tales of that city and its people are written with the romantic outlook that colors the East to Western eyes. FROM THE GULF TO ARARAT: (i. Hubbard— An expedition through Mesopotamia and Kurdistan. CONSTANTINOPLE TODAY: Clarence Richard Johnson— The Pathfinder Survey of Constantinople. "ANGORA ET BERLIN": Omer Kiazim — This Turkish author denounces the Angora movement. THE ARABIAN PROPHET: Issac Mason— A life of Mohammed from Chinese and Arabic Sources. STUDIES IN ISLAMIC MYSTICISM: R. A. Nicholson— The seguel of Professor Nicholson's "Studies in Islamic Poetry." THE NEW WORLD OF ISLAM: Lothrop Stoddard— The story of one of the most dramatic events in human history — the rise of Islam. MEMORIES OF A TURKISH STATESMA,N: Djemal Pasha— Memories of a member of the Enver Pasha triumvirate, covering the period of the war. WITH THE JUDEANS IN THE PALESTINE CAMPAIGN: Lieutenant-Colonel J H Patterson — When the Great Powers decided during the war to reserve Palestine for the Jews and authorized the organization of a Jewish brigade to flght in that country opposition arose in many varied directions. ' ON THE TRAIL OF THE PEACEMAKERS: Fred B. Smith— In this volume he tells of conditions as he found them In England, Continental Europe, Japan, Egypt India, Jerusalem, Constantinople. TAVO WAR YEARS IN CONSTANTINOPLE: Henry Steurmer— Sketches of German and Young Turkish ethics and politics. UNDER FOUR ADMINISTRATIONS: Oscar S. Straus— This book of recollections by one of America's most distinguished citizens is an inspiring record of public service. PERSIA: Sir Percy Sykes— A history of Persia from the earliest times to the present day. The author, who has constantly traveled in Persia and Baluchistan, was in command of Southern Persia until the end of 1018. WESTERN QUESTION IN GREECE AND TURKEY: Arnold J. Teynbe<^-A new impartial and illuminating analysis of the Near Eastern situation written oii the spot by a leading authority. THE INDIAN MARKET: A Commercial Digest for the E.vi)orter— F. A. Willis. FROM BERLIN TO BAGDAD AND BABYLON: Rev. J. A. Zahm— Here is the romantic story of that portion of the world which has seen the greatest changes in humanity's development. SPEAKING OF THE TURKS: Mufty-Zade Zia (Not in N. B. U. Offices). THE INFLUENCE OF ANIMISM ON ISLAM: S. M. Zwemer— An account of Popular Superstition. 48 A MILLION LIVES SAVED Periodicals LEVANT TKADJfi KJEMKVV Coiistantiiioiilc April l'.)'2ii AMJSKICAN RJiVIEW OF KKVIEWS Armenia of Today j.,^ ;i^q9o ASIA All Evcniiis with the Damned a,,,, 1091 Chance of Peace in tlie Near East = -i'i-^ Britain's Turltish Policy .. . . . . . . .[ lilit'' i NTEMPORAK Y KE \ IE \\ Kussian iioliey In Turkestan Hiiiit 1922 Tlio Denouement In the Near East Oct!' 1922 Persia In perspective [ Oct.', 1922 CUKKENT HISTORY 'IMie Caucasus Kepublics .Sejit. 1922 Massacres of tlie Armenians ."...'.'.".Oct,'' 1922 Crimes of Turkish Misrule Oct'.', 1922 Greeks collapse in Asia Minor ! Oct.' 1922 Wliat Turkish dex5ortations mean ...Oct!', li)22 ASIEKICAN RKMEW OF KE\ IKWS Ancient city of Petra 'Nov., 1922 Archaeology In Palestine Nov!,' 1922 ABiMY ANJ) NAVY JOIRNAI. Ma.p : I*reseiit Situation in Arnicnia Sept. 2;! 1922 CURRENT HISTORY llurning- of Smyrna Nov., 1922 Keinal Pasha Nov., 1922 Turkey's race problem and solution Nov., 1922 ClIRKENT OPINION A record of thrilling- adveiUures in Asia Nov., 1922 Tlie shame of Smyrna Nov., 1922 Mustaplia Keinal, the Man of the Hour Nov., 1922 ECONOMIST I'reparing for the Lausanne conference Nov. 4, 1922 Fasclsti and their program Nov. 4, 1922 Letters to the Editor Nov. 4, 1922 li'orelg'u Interests In Turkey Nov. 4, 1922 K,N'