Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-12-22
REFUGEE GREEKS
7 FACE STARVATION
'DeStitutes From Macedonia
n, Struggling Back to Ma
Ia tive Country.
ss5Co,Coo VOTED FOR AID

.-~aLONikI. Saturday. December IA
ytby the Associated Press).-One of
the most pressing problems fac
t1nS the Greek government is the
sfArc or tens of thousands of Greek
s1nhabitants Of Macedonia who have
fbcen left destitute by the war and to
lIovide for the great number of
refugees who are returning to Greece
over every road and through every
mountain pass. To meet the situation
the Greek government has approprla-
ted Sa0t,00v for relief work.
.,.The American Red Cross is CO.
operating with the Greek authorities,
and every means is being employed to
.Tcduce the suffering and misery
among the Macedonian Greeks and
the refugees. The Red Cross has
humber of relief stations on the Dor
der betw cen Macedonia and Bulgaria,
'n1 has canteens at every railroad
Latter through which refugees are
Ifkcl 20 pass The Red Cross also
shes sent a bcatload of supplies to the
there.
- Condition Excites Pity.
The condition of the returning ref
ueees excites pity everywhere. The
are without adequate clothing. food
and shelter. Often the returning. Greeks
are so broken in spirit that
they seem irsensible to their condi
ton. Some have gone through such
experiences in Bulgaria that they
seem temporarily to have lost the use
OF their mental powers.
or the 100000 or more Greeks de-
ported from Macedonia by the Bull
carians, thirty thousand are said to
have died of starvation, disease and
the rigors of exile. Every returning
train brings back a remnant of the
unfortunate persons who have sur
vived tine hardships and privations
under which they lived for nearly
two years.
On Verge of Starvation.
Many of the refugees are suffering
from disease and are on the point of
journey home, The correspondent
counted forty-f1ve new graves at one
station. At Drama and Lanth the cor
respondent saw the bodies of fifteen
women and children taken off one
train.
The usual mode of conveyance for
these wretched people is cattle cars.
into which eighty or 100 passengers
are packed. Many have been forced
TO make the journey on foot and num-
bers of them have died on the way.
The condition of those who re-
manned in Macedonia during the Bull
garian OCCUPATION is almost as bad
AS that of those who were deported.
Many of them are starving.
An officer of the Greek government
declared that between 10000 and
10000 inhabitants of eastern Mace
donna have died for lack of food dur
ing the Bulgarian occupation. Women
and children were forced to break
stones and construct trenches. They
were given a Scanty allowance of food
and under. finn
Peasants Homes Stripped.
when they retired. the Bulgarians
stripped the peasants homes of every
thing, taking live stock. implements
and foodstuffs. In some sections they
removed doors. window frames and
floors in order to furnish fuel for their
army.
) While the food shortage is not acute
in Greece, there is a great demand for
Clothing, shoes and medicine to meet the
needs of the returning refugees. There
is little fuel Meat is exceedingly
SCARCE, but this is counterbalanced by
I'm exceptional abundance of olive oil.
The crop was SO large that olive oil is
being used for lighting and lubricating.
:. Influenza, tuberculosis, malaria and
other diseases prevail among the poor.
There are not sufficient doctors in Greece
TO attend to all the sick. In Athens the
government has taken control of the
supply of quinine. which is distributed to
the people at cost However. the sup
ply is at tho point of exhaustion and
there has been an alarming increase in
the spread of some diseases.
e The supply of the staples of life is
considerably below normal, but there
appears to be much money in the coun-
tiny. The government is in hopes that
Greek tonnage requisitioned by the allies
il released.