Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1918-02-08
where There IS SUFFERING
Story Of Distress From western
Asia.
wheat IS SCARCE At SIX DOLLARS
Relief Workers in the Midst Of Il All,
Short Of Funds; but Still Looking
for Help from Ameriea-chiIdren
Eat Rubbish and Men Fight for Re-

Short Of Funds; but Still Looking
for Help from Amorica-chiIdrer
Eat Rubbish and Men Fight for Re-
fuse.
, \ description has recently reached
America from relief worker in
Urumia. Persia. telling Of the horrible
dcstitution in that city and the sur
rounding country. and appealing for
more aid to be sent. No part Of West
ern Asia has suffered more than this
during the war. II Is today laid waste,
its people starving. without homes or
lclothing-but the letter tells its own
story:
There is a big gang OF ragged,
Starving and half naked people about
the gate here all day long and the
other day one OF them was dying
there. Yesterday the crowd was put
out at night as Is the regular custom.
when 1t was found that little tot OF
five had been deserted by her mother,
who it seems is widow and helpless.
There was nothing to do but take care
of the kid as the mother had beat 1t
off leaving the baby for us to take
care OF, as she knew We could not let
II starve. II sounds easy to keep one
child, but when you consider that we
ara in debt and have no new funds
coming in from America you can see
il is not so easy as one might think.
And one must remember that there
are thousands of kids just as badly of
all around us. and we can do little
or nothing for them now until more
money comes in.
THE food situation here is desper-
ate now and with it has come the in
evitablc sickness and death. More
fresh refugees are coming into Uru-
mia and the villages near by and al
ready there Is not nearly enough food
to feed the people already there. BY
the time you get this letter the condi-
tions will he frightful and the people
will he dying like sheep.
81 have been given the work Of
starting the Industrial relief work and
the orphans. and have already got
some HISTORIANS at work spinning
wool and making cloth. trust that
in time we can get real industry
going as up in Erivan. We are all
well and hard at it, but we cannot do
much. as we are minus the money to
do II with. The fall rains have be-
gun and today is the first real rainy
day we have had. It will be fine for
the fall sowing Of grain"
Wheat $500 Bushel. z
From another relief worker In
Urlimia comes the following:
THE situation here Is very dihk,
cult. We have had the faith TO pla1
large work and the ;v.-.ple Of the
country have so much faith in Ameri-
ca that they make very great de-
mands on us. We have purchased up
to the limit of our means and yet in
stead of having supplies on hand, we
have not enough for immediate and
most pressing needs. | am actually
fearful of going out of our front gate
because OF the crowd Of hungry
Kurts and others waiting there In the
hope of getting some help. Not that
am afraid of violence, but am afraid
to meet these people and put them or
as have been doing for days. We
watch the market early and wish
to take advantage of every opportu-
nifty, but we see the price of wheat
going steadily up, from $500 bushel
to $500 and over.
I'VE hope to open work in Soujbu-
lax and hear of kurds dying or
starvation, but we dare not go there
empty handed"
Six Millions for Relief.
\ total of more than six million
dollars has been collected and dis
tributed to the needy in Western
Asia through the efforts of the Amer
ican committee for Armenian and
Syrian relief, since its organization in
1915.
Today the situation Is infinitely
worse than ever before. According to
recent estimates there are today more
than two million persons In absolute
dcstitution in Bible lands. They are
divided roughly as follows: