The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1918-12-31
H SMALLER NATIONS

President Wilson has gone on record favoring justice for the
smaller and weaker nations.
There are a number of them that have claims that should
be considered.
We know what Serbia, Rumania and Belgium have suf-
fered during the present wal, but there is a noble little country
that has suffered more than any of them.
That is Armenia.
This country has been a moving picture of m%artydom for
more than 1000 years.
Some time before the Christian era, members of the Aryan
race from Thrace, 1hessay, Phrygia and elsewhere, united by
affinity and common ideals, turned their faces to the east Thew
were an independent, inquirng, adventurous people, and they
moved upon the headland Of Asia that is laved by the Caspian
and Black seas. Here they rested and founded Armenia, which
is perhaps the oldest nation on the globe. Here they prospered.
he great plateau is 5000 feet above sea level, and it is fertile.
healthy and well suited to the wants of man. AS in most of
strong, hardy race developed. Before them the pinnacle Of
Ararat reared its lofty head 1900 feet above sea level, and the
rivers Tigris and Euphrates carried off the surplus surface
waters, which were voluminous on account of copous rains.
One of their rivers is said to have rolled by the Garden Of
Eden, and to the Armenians we are indebted for the Adam
and Eve legend, and much more OF our carly history.
These people prospered and multiplied rapidly. They
became very wealthy, and they bulded temples and palaces,
schools and colleges, and they developed an, art second only to
that of Greece, Their literature is rich and discursive, and like
the Gaelic, 1t is beginning to come into its own. European
scholars of the different countries are vyng with each other in
interpreting and translating it. The lyric poets of Armenia rank
with Virgil and Theocrtus. AS in all nations where the grape
IS cultivated, song and music, which are its hand-maidens, rose
to a high degree of perfection. And the sculpture of Armenia,
which is music expressed staticslly in stone, is among the
choicest OF the world.
Being idealists, the Armenians were natural warriors, and
when the M~ahommedan invasion began they saved Europe and
turned DaCk m pagan hOrdeS. because OF ftneT Wealn dnd
military prowess, they were feared and envied. They were
assaaed by enemies on all sides, They represented in its essence
an ethereally inspired democracy, while to the east and to the
west of them were fanatics ruled by a theocratic absolutism.
Me und Colt joined with the Crescent in the last war, and
the Turk, who for centuries tried to annihlatc and obiterate
the Armenian race, which he could overwhelm, but could not con-
quer, was given a free hand, and these good people were mas
sacred without rue or ruth. The Turk did it, but the German
was behind him, urging him on, and adding to his store OF
barbaric skill in torture. What the Arnenans suffered during
this war seems incredible. Sometimes as many as $4,000 people
young and old, were murdered in one day in one city, The
young women were carried off as prizes of war to crafty the
lust of the Kurd and the Turk. Mothers took their babes in
their arms and hurled themselves from precipices to escape
their tormentors. and they considered their prayers answered
when they could find river or a lake in which to drown them
selves and children. These atrocities should be considered by
the peace conference, and the Armenans should be accorded
redress, The history of the country since the foundation o
Christianity should give these people a hearing, and a Just judg
ment. Belgium, Serbia and Rumana should be compensated
but Armenia is the greatest sufferer Of them all.