New Britain herald., 1917-10-22
FAMINE IN SYRIA
 A SERIOUS AFFAIR
A Thousand Deaths a Day Is the
 Havoc Wrought

deaths day from starvation out of q population of 350,000 in the Lebanon Mountains near Beirut, Syria, is the toll of famine conditions there result ing from the war, 1t was declared here today by the Rev. William H. Hall, of the Syrian Protestant College, who recently returned to this country from relief work in that district.
 Continuing MT. Hall described the tragic disappointment of the people there, whose spirits were kept up for weeks by the promised arrival last Christmas time of the American re- lief ship Caesar, which would have meant life to thousands, but which never arrived owing to the refusal of Germany and Austria Hungary to grant her safe passage to Beirut.
 The Caesar, a naval collier loaned to the Red Cross by tho Navy Depart ment, left New York months before the entry of this country into the war, as Christmas Ship" for the needy in Syria, carrying more than a quar- ter of a million dollars worth of food and clothing contributed in this coun- try.
 Day after day the poor, starving people along the coast, and through the mountains looked and prayed for the coming of the American ship Mir. Hall said. 'The country was can- vassed by we'll organized committees, the needy were listed the work of dis tribution was thoroughly prepared, of fees were opened and men chosen to direct the distribution. The people waited. Their hopes were raised high.
 "Week followed week and month followed month-in suspense the peo- pie daily looked out to sea fer her but the ship which meant life and hope to thousands never appe' red. She was held by military necessity while the people starved.
 God has forgotten us!' was heard again and again as hopeless and hun- gry they stood face to face with death by starvation. - ...
 eff the Caesar had arrived it would have meant that other ships would follow, but her failure to come dashed all hope for relief. Her cargo was sold and the funds finally found their way to Beirut for the purchase and distribution of food there, but there was little food to be bought.
 We know for fact that thousands of our friends there will die this win- ter, despite the great good than can be accomplished by sending funds from America to buy what food can be obtained on the ground for distri- but in an effort to save as many as possible" ....l
 The city of Beirut is as sorely af- fiicted as the mountain districts, Mr. Hall went on, and day or night one hears the cry along the streets II am hungry-give me bread" This is not hut 1nh h0r v06 tradesmen, people who have known the comforts of life.
 "In Jerusalem, he continued, lone cannot pass along street without be- Ing Deset for prayers for aid There are mothers With babes pulling at their barren breasts and children whose parents have succumbed aud left them to face starvation alone.
 Syria and Palestine have no story of massacre or deportation, but these districts, once prosperous and self supporting, are now caught in the world strife, and the people are slow ly but surely starving to death through DO fault of their own. Figures appali one--competent authorities assert that no less than 100000 persons are to- day in dire distress in these historic Binle Lands.
 "Of this number at least 75,0O0 are children below the age or 12-boys and girls and little children with no older person to provide the food with out which they will perish, or to soothe the last hours when hunger will have overcome the forces of nature and the hour has come for them to lace the great eternal without father or mother near"
 A plague of locusts; the denuding of the fields of men for the armies; the blockade of the coast; the lack of tourists and the breakdown of trans pQrtation are given by MT. Hall as the reasons for the failure of food and prosperity in these lands which boasted they never could suffer