The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1914-1938, 1919-01-09
RELIEF WORK IS ENDORSED
President Wilson and Others Support
aEa IL t Movement s II =

Work of the American Committee
for Relief in the Near East in its
campaign to raise $3O,O00,000 to re-
lieye the suffering and starving peo-
pies in Asia Minor, the Russian Cau-
casus, Persia, Mesopotamia, Pales-
tine and Syria and to, help in the in
dustrial rehabilitation has been heart
lily Endorsed by some Of the leading
Americans.
Statements from these men follow:
President Woodrow Wilson: "For
more than three years American phil
anthropy has been a large factor in
keeping alive Armenian, Syrian, Greek
and other exiles and refugees OF West
ern Asia.
On two former occasions / have ap-
pealed to the American people in be-
half of these homeless sufferers,
whom the vicissitudes of war and
massacres had brought to the ex-
tremest need.
The response has been most gener-
Gus, but now the period of rehabllIta-
ton is at hand. Vastly larger sums
will be required to restore these once
prosperous, but now impoverished,
refugees to their former homes than
were required merely to sustain lite
in their desert exile.
It is estimated that about 1000, 600
Armenian, Syrian, Greek and other
war sufferers in the Near East will
require outside help to sustain them
through the winter. Many of them
are now hundreds of miles from their
homeland. The vast majority OF them
are helpless women and children, IN
Guiding 4OO, 900 orphans.
| The American Committee for Re-
/ lief in the Near East is appealing fol-
a minimum of $3O,OO0,000 to be sub
scribed January 1919, 1919, with
which to meet the most urgent needs
of these people.
/ l, therefore, again cali upon the
people of the United States to make
| even more generous contribution
| than they have made heretofore tc
i sustain through the winter m0nths
i those who, through no fault of their
own, have been left in starving, shell
. ter1ess condition, and to help re-es.
j tablish these ancient and sorely op'
pressed people in their former home:
on self-supporting basis"
/ Ex-President William II. Taft: 9TH.
i Armenian Relief has been organized
now for some years; it needs more
i money; it is spending well and eff
fectively; it is helping the poor peo
4 pie of the Near East wherever it car
4 find them. You can be sure tina
whatever money is given will b.
i properly administered for people
that need it sorely.
j Theodore Roosevelt: with all m,
heart I wish you Godspeed in tn,
work of relief you have undertakes
for the Christians in Western Asia
And particularly do wish you sue
cess in your effort to raise $50, 000,0 0|
4 for the maintenance of the tens o
thousands of Christians and other ref
ugees and sufferers, wherever fount
in the Caucasus, in Persia, in Pales
tine or in the interior of Turkey"
Charles E. Hughes: "Out of tn
horror and nightmare through which
these people have passed comes tn
! gratifying word that we can be OF as
= sistance, that our efforts will prov
availing, and that we can share wit!
them the bounty which we, as Ameri
cans, have enjoyed for years. Tn
work done by this committee has bee
most unse1fish and effective unde
: conditions of great personal sacrifice
May America respond to their ap
:. peals."
Robert Lansing, Secretary of State
81 am very glad to give my hearty in
dorsement to the work which tn
American Committee for Armenia
: and Syrian Relief has been and is do
ing in Western Asia. 1t has prob
ably been the largest single factor i
keeping alive many thousands OF de