Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1916-02-09
The SITUATION
in ARMENIA

" I'LL UllUHllUlN
: IN ARMENII
CONTINUED from Page ~
most dying of thirst, away from tn
few wells and springs of water whicI
are found along the road. Look a
the old decrepit men dragging them
selves painfully along, praying tina
they might soon share the fate o
their aged comrades who had beel
killed at various stages of their jou1
ney-to be kicked, to be cursed
death should intervene. Fair wome1
and girls pleading to be killed, being
dragged away to the slavery and deg
relation of Moslen harems-abuse'
dishonor, subject to the same bru
talitles as the men. They too drag
ged themselves along, only wishing
that death would end it all. Child
rem starving in their mothers arms
uttered piteous cries that would pierce
the heart Of any who heard. They
were thrown by the wayside by theil
own mothers who could no longer en-
dUre their cries for food. Such is
mild picture of a deportation in
Turkey. To understand something O:
the enormity of the crime, know
that of the two million Armenians in
Turkey at the beginning Of the war
1 100000 is conservatively estimated
to have been killed, driven into exile,
to have turned Mohammedan, or to
have been carried to the slavery of
Mos1em harems.
And why has the Turkish govern
III INT done this? At first, every ef-
for! was made that the facts should
be hidden from the world. In case
anything passed the strict censorship
lit received unqualified denial at the
hands of Turkishs authorities every
where. At last the mass Of evidence
was so overwhelming that the Turk
ish government no longer denies the
atrocities but seeks to justify them as
a measure of military necessity aga'nst
? rebellious people. Judged in the
1:sIlt Of known facts, there was no up
Using on the part of the Christians
against the Turkish government.
Granting their own lying statement,
there is no justification of the bru-
tai murder of old men and women and
children classes altogether beyond the
pale Of military utility. From any
standpoint whatsoever, the Turkish
government is guilty of one Of the
most heinous of cold-blooded crimes
against mankind.
One great world power whose in
fluence is first in Turkey today has
said in regard to the Armenian atroc-
tiles, this is not my affair."" Be that
as it ray,I know there is court be-
fore whose judgment bar this asser-
ton will be branded as the height
of moral perversion. The minister of
war in Turkey has boosted that he
has done more in thirty days to solve
the Armenian question than had been
in thirty years by Abdul Hamen. The
minister of the interior appealed to
by an American lady Of high position
not a missionary, on behalf of the
defenseless women and girls Of Tur-
key, replied 'This amuses u.s." And
this cruelhearted, cold-blooded man
has said thatEhe would cause the Chris
tians of Turkey to pray for massacre.
And they have. I wonder what will
be the status in the world to come Of
those who have linked themselves
with two such unfee]ing .brutes as
these whom we have quoted.
America has been peculiarly respon-
sive to the cry of the oppressed, sym
pathetic in times Of suffering, ready
% voice her disapproval of injustice.
We have sorrowed over trodden and
rampled Belgium and Poland; we
AVE felt impelled to give material aid
o a population living in territory oc
;upied by power which claims COM
lete control, without once asking our
elves whether this nation, by reason
# her domination, is not under as
;reat obligation to furnish sustenance
o this civil population as she is to
revent starvation from claiming the
prisoners who she has taken from the
fighting ranks. Not long ago
We voiced our disproval of that re- !
line of cruelty in the Belgium con-
o, which is a stain upon the homer
f that little nation.
I wonder, if we have felt some
hing Of interest in the unrighted
7rongs of the Armenian people, if we
ave shared something of the keen
gony which they have undergone, If
ye have felt anything akin to the
ond of Christian brotherhood for a
christian people, whether we would !
ismiss our responsibility by saying
This is not my affair."" There is no
bsolute proof that combined action
n the part of neutral Christian ma ,
ions directed at Turkey would have
cen fruitless of result.
The situation we face today in ref
renee to the Armenian people is this
10 longer do we face the opportunity
f preventing the terrible calamity
hitch has fallen upon them. That
me is months past. There exist to-
ay some three hundred thousand VIII
ave escaped into Russia and Per-
ia and Egypt and who exist there in
re direst straights of need. Our op-
and our duty is to save if
ossible the remnants of that broken
nd bleeding race. Picture them amid