The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1916-11-08
CHRISTMAS ship FOR 1916

New York, Nov. 4.-America's
Christmas Ship to foreign lands,
which this year will be the Navy
collier Caesar, or collier of the
same type, is being refined by the
Government for carrying food sup
plies to destitute Syrians and Ar
menians. 1t will leave New York
Dec 1, carrying a capacity cargo of
foodstuffs and new clothing for Bel
rut, Syria, from which port relief
will be distributed by American Red
Cross and Red Crescent agents, aided
by United States consuls and mis-
sionaries.
The American Committee for Ar
menian and Syrian Relief. has just
sent $208,0O0 through the State De-
partment to various distribution
centers to be distributed Immediate
ly by the Committees agents direct
to the most needy survivors of the
Armenian sdeportations and the Sy-
rian famine months. This money
will purchase grain, blankets and
clothing, giving the sufferers within
t1e Turkish Empire a foretaste Of
the Christmas cheer which the Unit
ed States navy boat will bring.
AS a necessary preliminary to the
sending of the Christmas Ship, ar
rangements are being made for col
lections in the churches of the en-
tire country Thanksgiving Day, the
receipts of which will be used in
completing the cargo. The ship will
carry 100000 pounds of rice. 200,-
900 pounds of lima beans, 100000
pounds of crushed wheat. 2,1J0,v0U
pounds of whole wheat, 100000
pounds of sugar, 1000 cases of con-
densed milk for children. 10000 bar
rels of -four, $4,000 gallons of pa
troleum and $4,000 gallons of cot
ton seed oil.
Military regulations forbid the
carrying of any except new clothing.
Hundreds of cases of warm under
wear and sweaters and light shoes
for men, women and children stock
I ings for women and children, cotton
! and wooden socks for men, blankets
and blanket shawls. gray cotton and
wooden cloth in the piece, unbleach-
ed muslin, and cotton thread, need
les and pins, will form a part of the
cargo. Contributors to the cargo,
and churches which are raising mo-
ney, are sending their gifts to w. A.
Staub, the Red Cross representative
in charge of the Christmas Ship, at
the Bush Terminal, Brooklyn, N. Y.
Navy officials and prominent
churchmen of all denominations will
| join the ceremonies to be held at
the Christmas Ships departure, add
ing to its cargo the holiday good
wishes Of one country to the stricken
races of another.
The money collected on the two
days recently proclaimed by Prest-
dent Wilson as Armenian and Syrian
Relief Days having been cabled al
ready for immediate relief, more
than a quarter of a million dollars
additional must be gathered to frei-
ght the Christmas Ship. The funds
already collected, it is believed, will
be supplemented to this amount in
hundreds of cities in which the proc
lamation days were used merely as
the beginning Of local campaigns,
which will last until after Thanks
giving.
There is little doubt, however, that
even after the response of the coun-
try to the appeals of the President,
and the Committee, has been regis
tered fully, many of the most ele-
mental needs of the deportation vic
tins, to relieve which in Armenia
alone former Ambassador to Turkey,
Henry Morgenthau, estimates S.
100000 is necessary, will still be
uncared for permanently, and that
Americas assistance to the sufferers
of the Orient must continue.