New-York tribune., 1918-01-30

Abdul llamid II, Sultan Of Turkey from
1876 to l9OS once said "Thc only way to
get rid Of the Armenian question is to get
rid of the Armcnians" lie proceeded to do
the latter in a way that made Nero and Dio~
cletan mere tyros in tyranny. Yet bis rec
ord has in the last three years been utterly
put in the shade by the Young Turk party,
which overthrcw Abdul and promised in the
usual Oriental fashion to make the Ottoman
Empire paragon among nations. But tcop-
ards do not change their spots by masqucrad-
ing in sheep skins, if one may vary the meta
phor. The "rcform party" of Young Turks,
whose natural lawlcss cruelty has been
merely organized by German efficiency, has
murdered 100000 Armcnians, Syrans and
Greeks in the three years Of the great war-a
record unparalleled since there was an CAR
menian question:" which there has been ever
since 1917, when the ancient Kingdom of Ar
monia lost its independent position among
the nations of the earth.
In 1917 there was, roughly spcakiug, ma
ton of 35,00O000 Armcnians, happy, con-
tented, peaceful and industrially prosperous.
In 1918 there arc but little over 100000
left, and they arc outcasts, dcspolcd, dest-
tute and desperate. In the intervening 900
years the average annual massacre has taken
a toll Of 10000, or 100 for every one of the
220, 900 days in the six centuries The popu-
lation Of city equal in size to that Of Bing-
hamton has been wiped out Of existence For
the past three years the population of Il city
OF the size Of Buffalo has been decmatcd in
an effort 70 ''get rid of the Armenian oucs-
tion.'
The old and new regimes in Turkey have
attempted to realize the dream Of pan-Islam-
ism, a Mahometan empire with but one
creed and no difference between one class of
subjects and another. The Armcnians stood
in the way Of its realization They were
Christian, and they were demo ratio in politi-
cal principles, two capital crimes in the eyes
of tho pan-lslamc drcamers. Therefore they
were marked for slaughter. What Christian
lty there is in Asia Minor has survived for
twenty centuries and has been kept alive by
the Armcnians, who were the first nation TO
adopt it as national religion It's existence
among this people is not only evidence of its
eternal vitality, but a tribute to the sturdy
character Of a race that has for these many
centuries not only "fought a good fight" but
kept the faith" IS we'll
Oppressed but Iinc0nquercd
Whatever vestiges of freedom and liberty
still persist in the Ottoman Empire to-day
arc due chiefly to the never-extingushed ed
ideals Of this oppressed but uncohquercd peo-
pie. t! ey also saw visions and dream ed
dreams. Their memories of past greatness
and their hope OF the ultimate restoration Of
their ancient liberties have been ever present
and indissolubly linked together Their tcna-
clous hold upon the principles Of religion and
democracy are alike claim upon the sympa
thies OF the Anglo american Enten:e-a cha l.
icnse to it to see that such fidelity is recog-
nlzed and pledge Of its worthiness to be
rewarded.
That this sympathy has at last been
aroused, that the challenge is being met and
that the reward is not to be withheld seem
to be assured by recent utteranccs Of the
Anglo-American Entente A year ago this