The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1918-12-20
Four Millions of These Perse-
cuted Peoples in Desperate
Condition
INDIANA To SAVE $1,000 LIVES
a State That Has Responded So
Nobly to All Worthy and Patriotic
Demands May be Oepended Upon
to DO Its Share.

. indianapolis. Dec. 17.-Preliminar
: WORK for establishment of the sta,
campaign organization to conduct IN
Armenian and Syrian Relief Driy
! January g to 10 is now under wa
| In indianapolis state headquafter
3 and definite announcement of tour
8 w chairmen will be forthcoming in
mediateiy. 1t is the first big can
palgn for funds following the armi.
tice TO succor unfortunate people
VINO nave been near to exterminatio
because OF atrocities OF Germans an
. their allies. Near to 100000 Al
menians. Syrians and other races O
Western Asia that has been unde
Turkish rule are in desperate pligh
J and there is no other source of hell
than the Americans.
Horrible details OF massacres ant
deportations of helpless Armenian.
who have refused to renounce the
Christian faith and accept NOLAN
medism have been reported recent
iy in the news dispatches. Less thar
ten days ago came information b,
cable that 10000 had been cruel,
slain. Like sultans before him. the
present occupant OF the Turkish
throne has promised investigation
and punishment of guilty officials. |,
has been a favorite promise OF rule
after ruler In the land OF the Ores
cent, and those who know the; lane
and the ways OF the unscrupulou.
and despicable Turk say the lates
declaration OF reform intention is as
worthless as others which have pre-.
ceded
lndiana's share in raising the fund
which Is to be used to sustain life
In near to four million refugees
100000 OF them are orphaned chill
dren-is equivalent to $1,000 lives.
J. Irving Holcomb, state campaign
chairman. and A. w. Mexican. state
campaign director, both of lndianap-
oils. are going TO make the objective
OF the campaign lives instead OF dol
lars. The exact amount In cash al
lotted to the Hoosier state Is $685.
liz, and the commission which has
made investigation for the American
Committee for Relief OF the Near
East has estimated that II will re.
quire $50 to keep alive each refugee
helped for six months until the de-
portees can be returned to their own
lands and aided IN raising crops and
again becoming self-sustaining.
Twenty-one thousand lives. II Is
task OF brotherhood that appeals
rs no other war demand has ap-
pea4ed. Armenia Is the cradle OF the
human race. Befort Constantine
raised the Christian cross in battle
with the motto, In hoe signo
Vinces ('By this sign | shall con-
quer). the Armenians had accepted
Christ and his religion as the nation
al faith. Superior in industry and in
telligence and ideals to their Turk
fsh conquerors the Armenians have
been subjected to bitter cruelties
since their conquest in the fourteenth
century.
Henry Morgenthau. former Ambas-
directors of nineteen Gen.
tral Western States in Chicago, Dec.
IL, declared that IL was the Turkish
ambition to exterminate to the last
living male the entire Armenian ma
ton. The young girls are forced to
renounce Christianity, accept Islam
Ism and are then sent to the harems.
Mr. Morgenthau declared that the
Germans had instigated atrocities
which had not occurred to the slug
gish Oriental mind To Teutonic in
genuity Of devilish purpose Is as
cribed the policy OF deportation. BY
this plan thousands upon thousands
Of Armenians and Syrians have been
torn from their homes, forced to
cross the Arabian desert where death
turks in the barren sun baked
wastes.
The diplomat told OF a missionary
On the River Jordan who had well
coined to that place 900 such refu-
gees last Easter day. They were the i
of 10000 who had been
forced from the towns OF Bitlis and
Van In Armenia three years before,
had been turned south into the .des- |
NJ ouu lolu W SO, dluicSoi5 onu
without guides.
Carefully prepared estimates based
On reports that have come 10 the |
committee from every part OF the
Near East in which work Is carried |
in, show that there are 3,s5O,0OO |
destitute refugees, a large proportion |
,f them in exile. The capitulation |
II Turkey has made accessible to the |
this great mass OF suffer
ng humanity. U
A body OF $50 relief workers are
o leave soon upon a government |
transport loaded with medical and |
'ther necessary supplies and. motor
rucks with which these can be car
led into the interior sections away /
rom the railroads. The trucks will
also be used to bring the more than
me and a half million refugees back
rom exile.
The entire country from CONSTANT
,ople TO the Caspian Sea and from
he Caucasus mountains TO Syria and
he Mediterranean, territory ap-
as large as the United
u atea east OF Tia MfssisafDDi river, |