New-York tribune., 1919-10-01
State Department Declares
Whole Nation Will Be
Gone in Month Unless
Congress Sends Troops
British Declared Ousted
Massacre of $4,000 Report.
ed to Have Followed With
River Choked by Bodies
Ne,U York Tribttns
WdShinQtO1, Bureau

~ uSf1NgtOn l5uTedN
WASHINGTON, Sept. 3O.-Conditions
IN Armenia have been "horrible beyond
words" since the British troops were
withdrawn from that country, and the
nation Is threatened with extermina-
tion within month by the Turks and
Iartars, Assistant Secretary of State
Phillips to-day told subcommittee
Of the Senate Foreign Relations Com
mlttec that is considering the Williams
resolution authorizing the President to
send American soldiers into Armenia.
Mr. Phillips was questioned at length
behind closed doors by the committee
regarding the reasons for the with
drawal Of the British forces from the
Caucasus. He submitted communica-
tlons prepared by the State Department
and based on the cablegrams the de-
partment has received telling of pres
ent conditions in Armenia.
The subcommittee also received a
cablegram from the American Mission
at Paris, dated September %, urging
that at least one regiment Of American
troops be rushed to Armenia.
DR.. George Hyde, an American relief
worker in Armenia, told the committee
OF the starvation and persecution he
saw in that stricken country. The
Turks are to-day seizing hundreds of
Armenian girls for their harems, he
declared.
The message from the American
mission at Paris quoted Colonel Has
kell, who has been in charge of Amer
lean relief work in Armenia, as rep
resentllrs the situation as extremely
grave and urging that at least a small
American force be rushed to Armeni
to prevent the Armenians from being
exterminated by the Turks and Tartars
The statement presented by the
State Department read, in part:
"The American commissioner at
Constantinople telegraphed the De-
partment under date of September
goth, stating that Mr.. F. Tredwcll
Smith, who is with the American
through Constantinople on the 10th
instant. coming from Ervan, Uru-
mia, Nakhichevan and Tabriz. To-
ward the end of August, crossing
for the second time the Tartar lines
from Nakhichevan and Tabriz, he
found that the atmosphere was
altogether changed. He found that
a Briton's life was no longer safe
because there were no British
Americans, too, were in danger. On
July Goth the Tartars commenced
battle on the Armenians at Max
hichevan and, at the end of three
day battle, they drove out the Brit
ish along with the American relief
workers and started a massacre of
Armenian women, children and men
at Nakhichevan. The number of
victims is estimated between 5000
and ~ 600. AMERICANS testified to
Mr.. Smith that wien they crossed
into Persia at the Julia Bridge the
river was full Of headless. mutilated
bodies. When Mr.. Smith returned
along this river into Russia human
bodies were still seen along the
river banks"
The State Department statements de-
scribes the menace to foreigners liv-
ing in the Tabriz and northwest Persian
districts as result Of the advance of
the Tartars. The commiss oner at Con-
stantinople summarizes Mr.. Smith s
conclusions in the following manner:
In order to protect Southern Cau-
casia and to prevent the otherwise
J inevitable massacre of -combatant
Armenians as Tartars advance, AL
lied troops are urgently needed in
that country.
There is very serious danger for
Erivan.
Ottoman Turkish troops are cor
stantiy arriving to increase the Tar
tars.
Any Tartar success in South Cau-
casia will render Northwestern Per
sia unsafe for Westerners.
During the months of May, June
and July, in other words long after