Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1917-06-18

The German Name Threatened.
In Wednesday mornings press dis
patches was the following from Havre,
France, dated June IL:
The death by starvation within three
months Of 500 Belgians informed in
Germany. Is reported in a semi official
statement given out here today.
According to Information received
by the Belgian ministry Of war" the
statement says. Belgian civilians in
termed In 4 German camp near Lu-
beck. refused to work. Out Of 1000 in
termed, 500 died Of starvation in three
months. The condition Of the surviv'-
ors 10 described as pitiful."
A Philadelphia German has published
an appeal to Germans Of this country
to join in an attempt to reach the
people Of Germany with the truth of
the world situation today; to tell them
OF the perfidy Of the Kaiser and the
war party. in an endeavor to over
throw these monsters and help to es-
tablish world democracy. Among the
Tea he cites the following letter from
four members of the German Missions
staff in Turkey to the Imperial German
ministry Of foreign affairs in Berlin.
dated Aleppo, October s, 1915, copy of
the letter being supplied by Herbert
Welsh. of Germantown
s-l, I,,tx 70 . 1>o
attention Of the ministry of foreign
affairs to the fact that our school work
will be deprived. for the future Of it's
moral basis and will lose all authority
in the eyes Of the natives, If it is really
beyond the power Of the German gov
eminent to mitigate the brutality of
the treatment which the exiled women
and children Of the massacred Armen-
ians are receiving.
In face Of the scenes of horror
which are being unfolded daily before
our eyes in the neighborhood of our
school. our educational activity be-
comes a mockery Of humanity. How
can we make our pupils listen to the
Tales Of the Seven Dwarfs, how can
we teach them conjugations and de-
clensions, when. in the compounds
next door to our school. death is car
rytng of their starving compatrlots-
when there are girls and women and
children. practically naked. some ly-
ing on the ground. others stretched
between the dead or the collins made
ready for them beforehand. and breath
ing their last breath
Out Of 1000 to 1000 peasant women
from the Armenian Plateau who We're
brought here in good health. only
40 or so skeletons are left. The pref
tier ones are the victims of their Jail
srs' lust; the plain ones succumh to
blows. hunger and thirst (they lie by
the waters edge. but are not allowed
to quench their thirst. The Euro
peans are forbidden to distribute bread
to the starving. Every day more than
a hundred corpses are carried out Of
Alleppo.
"All this happens under the eyes of
high Turkish oficals. There are 40
or SO emaciated phantoms crowded
into the compound opposite our school,
They are women out Of their mind:
they have forgotten how to eat; when
one offers them bread. they throw it
aside with indifference They only
groan and wait for death.
See say the natives. the teach
ing of the Germans
The German escutcheon is in dam
ger Of being smirched forever in the
memory Of the Near Eastern peoples
There are natives of Aleppo, more en-
hehfened than the rest who say: The
Germans do not want these horrors
Perhaps the German nation does not
know about them. II it did. how could
the German press. which is attached
10 the truth. talk about the humanity
OF the treatment accorded to the Ar
n,enians who are guilty of high treason?
Perhaps. too. the German government
has It's hands tied by some contract
defining the powers of the German
and Turkish) states in regard to one
another's affairs
mo. when it Is a question Of giving
over thousands Of women and children
TO death by starvation. the words OPP
portunism" and definition Of powers
lose their meaning. Every civilized
human being is empowered in this
case. to interfere. and it is his bound
en- duty to do so. Our prestige in the
East Is the thing at stake There are
even Turks and Arabs who have re-
manned human. and who shake their
heads in sorrow when they see, in the
exile conveys that pass through the
town, how the brutal soldiers shower
blows on women with child who can
march no further.
We know that the ministry Of for
sign affairs has already. from other
sources. received detailed descriptions
Of what Is happening here. But as no
change has occurred in the system Of
the deportations. we feel ourselves
under q double obligation to make this
report. all the more because the fact
Of our living abroad enables us to see
more clearly the immense danger by
which the German name is threatened
here"