The Washington herald., 1918-10-25
SIXTH INSTALLMEST


policy is absolutely EIed and that
nothing can change il. We will not
have the Armenians anywhere in
Anatolia. They can i've in the desert
but nowhere else
/ still attempted 70 persuade Tlaat
that the treatment OF tho Armeniat:s
was destroying Turkey In the eyes of
the world, and that his country would
never be able to recover from this
infamy.
You are making a terrible rlis-
take said. and repeated the
statement three times.
Yes. we may mako mistakes" he
replied. ''but"-and he firmly closed
his lips and shook his hesd-"we
never regret"
Many Talks with Talaat.
had many talks with Talast on the
Armenians. but l never succeeded In
moving him TO the slightest degree.
He always came back to the points
which he had made in this interview.
He was very willing to grant any
request I made in behalf Of the Amer.
leans or even Of the French and Eng
lish, but 1 could obtain no Rcneral
concessions for the Armenians. He
seemed to me always to have the
deepest personal feeling in this mat
ter, and his antagonism to the Ar
menians seemed to increase as their
sufferings increased. One day. dis
cussing a particular Armenian, I told
Talaat that he was mistaken in re-
Earding this man as an enemy OF the
Turks: that in reality he was their
friend
mo Armenian" replied Talaat.
can be our friend after what we
have done to them"
One day Talaat made what was per-
haps the most astonishing request I
had ever heard. The New York Life
Insurance Company and the Equi-
table Life OF New York had for years
done considerable business among the
Armenians. The extent to which they
insured their lives was merely an
other indication of their thrifty hab-
its.
II wish" Talaat now said. that
you would get the American life in
surance companies to send US a COM
plete list of their Armenian policy
holders. They are practically all dead
now and have left no heirs to collect
the money. 1t of course all escheats
to the state. The government is the
beneficiary now. Will you do so?''
Lost Temper.
This was almost too much. and /
lost my temper.
You will get no such lists from
me" said, and got up and left him.
One other episode involving the Ar
menians stirred Talaat to one of his
most ferocious moods. In the later
part OF September, Mrs. Morrenthau
left for America. The sunferings of
the Armenians had greatly preyed
upon her mind and she really left for
home because she could not any
longer endure to live in such a coun-
try. But she determined to make one
last intercession for this people on
her own account. Her way home took
her through Bulgaria, and she had
received an intimation that Queen
Eleanor of that country would be glad
to receive her. Perhaps it was Mrs.
Morgenthau's well-known interest in
social work that led to this invita-
tion. Queen Eleanor was a high-m mind
ed woman who had led a sad and lone
ly existence, and who was spending
most of her time attempting to i'm
prove the condition of the poor in
D-A : al Ia olO hAltN dAA dDOul SOCldl
work in American cities, and a few
years before she had made all her
plans to visit the United States in
order to study our settlements at first
hand. At tho time of Mrs Morgen-
thau's visit the Queen had two Amer
ican nurses from the Henry street
settlement. OF New York. instructIng
4 group of Bulgarian girls in the
hnHa Of the
My wife was mainly interested in
the Queen in order that, as
one woman to another she might
make a plea for the Armenians. At
that time the question of Bulgaria's
into the war had reached a
critical stage, and Turkey was pre-
pared to make concessions to gain her
as an ally. 1t was, therefore a pro-
pitous moment to make such an sp-
peal,
Received by Queen.
The Queen received Mrs. NIorgen-
thau informally and my wife spent
about an hour telling her all about
the Armenians. Most of what she
said was entirely new to the Queen.
Little had as yet appeared in the
European press on this subject. and
queen Eleanor was precisely the kind
OF woman from whom the truth would
be concealed as long as possible. Mrs.
Morgenthau gave her all the facts
about the treatment of Armenian
women and children and asked her to
.ntercede in their behalf She even
went 50 far as to suggest that it
would be a terrible thing if Bulgaria
which in the past had herself suf-
Tered such atrocities at the hands Of
The Turks, should now become their
allies in war. Queen Eleanor was
greatly moved. She thanked my wife
for telling her these truths and said
hat she would intercede Immediately
and see IL something could not be