Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1915-10-20

We publish today the most terrible
story of murder outrage, and rapine which
Ne believe has been given to the world for
centuries. To find anything approaching
It, 1t would, we conceive, be necessary to
90 back six centuries to the day OF that
terrific whirlwind of terror and desola-
ION which swept across the world from
the great wall of China to the heart of
Russia, and from the plateaus of Central
Asia to the Nile, when Timour the Tartar
assumed the titles of Gurgan. Sahet Ki-
wan, Jebargyz-the Great Wolf. the Lord
OF the Age, the Conqueror of the World.
1T was then at Sivas, the ancient Sebaste
N Cappadocia. that Timour struck his
most frightful blow. Then as today it
was the Armenians who paid the most
fearful price. and from that day to this
the Armenians have been between the up
per and the neither milestone of the Koran
n the sword.
1T was said bitterly enough, by the
Stewarts that gratitude was unknown to
lnein. The same might be said of the
by the Armenians. 1t was the
Armenians who paid, at Sivas, the PEN
atty OF their loyalty to their Ottoman con-
querors, but their loyalty was repaid not
! merely In the terms OF neglect employed
by the Merry Monarch. but in. the basti-
nado, the scimitar, and the extortion Of
the caliphs in Ishtamboul.
rof 1--WE years this paper has dwelt per-
slstently on this fact. For five wears we
nave pointed out that Turkish passions
ana European calculations were posing
the BODY of the Armenian people over the
I polltical precipice of a Tarpeian rock.
Weil-meantng people a taken excep-
tion to this. They have pointed out to us
maj the things we were saying should be
whispered only in the editorial office, If
lndeed there. Tha we imagine Is a piece
Il OF QnUfaA H14 ~,~..Y1 I-..- - LII A.
Iull support Of the Yildiz Kiosk. But We
nave known from sources of information
that could not be surpassed hat the one
nope OF the Armenian people lay in a
publicity so fierce that no Turkish minis
ter would dare to anticipate Talaat Bey's
sardonic threat of closing the Armenian
question by leaving no Armenian question
to be closed.
Four years ago an appeal was made to
TINS paper, by certain Armenians, to give
the utmost publicity to the fact that a
iresh massacre was being planned in Con-
stantinople. Other papers had been ap-
preached and had declined. The publicity
asked for was given, and no massacre
look place. Two years ago a similar re-
quest was made to certain European Or
gans, and the request was again refused
on the grounds that embarrassment would
be caused to the French offices of Europe
II the truth about the matter was told
In the press.
At that time we drew attention to this
conspiracy Of silence. We pointed out
that. again and again, this DOGGY of
political embarrassment had been permit
ted to silence the press of the world, with
the result that the Turk had come to con-
slider that he could act precisely as he
chose in Armenia, without danger of any
questions being asked. We indicated ex-
actly what would happen when the Po-
maks and Dummays of Macedonia and
Thrace, despoiled Of everything by the In
coming tide of Bulgarian and Greco-Ser-
Wan invasion, heaped, upon their donkeys,
such worldly goods as they could snatch,
n fled into Anatolia.
Mad with fanaticism and racial hatred,
these men came amongst a people who, in
the name Of law and order, had been de-
prtved even of their knives and forks. We
Insisted. at the time, hat unless the world
was to witness a new Adana, the great
powers of the world must bestir them
selves. The conspiracy of silence was
maintained in the press. Some Of the
powers indited notes to the Sublime Porte
which he Sublime Porte treated with
sublime Indifference. This was in June,
1918. Is it necessary to state what hap
pened?
Within six months, that is to say, be-
fore Christmas Of the same year, the
SsotiH ouISl. StOTleS Oh inert, pllla8e, TOT
ture. murder, and worse began to pour
In from unQuestionably reliable sources.
Adrianople had been reoccupied by the
troops Of Enver Bey, with only a pro-
test from some Of the governments which
had fathered the terms of its surrender,
and with manifest and open amusement
on the part Of man, Of the morally guar
anteeing nations. The Porte read In such
easy asquiescence Of its conduct in Thrace
a carte blanche for its conduct in Ar.
menia.
The usual excuses and explanations. Of
course. followed. The inevitable exag-