The evening leader. (Tarpon Springs, Fla.) 191?-19??, 1919-05-21
GREEK ACTIVITY
IN NEW YORK
Especial to The Leader from DR.. T. j.
Lacy, N. Y. Correspondent

Lacy, N. Y. Correspondent
The past fortnight has witnessed
great activity among Greeks and Am
orleans in New York, and many DEM
onstrations have been held in the in
terest of the claims of Greece at the
Eeace conference. The unbounded en-
! thusiasm of the American people
strengthens the good feeling between
the United States and Greece.
On Sunday, May IL, mass meeting
at Amsterdam opera house in New
York brought together 1000 people in
support of the Greek claims in the Do
decanese. This was followed by a
monster meeting on Friday May IS,
in Brooklyn, of which the Press has
the following account:
"a mass meeting in favor of Greece
was held last night at the Church of
the Redeemer with Rev. DR.. T. J.
Lacey as chairman The church was
deliberately decorated with Greek flags
and large portrait of Premier Veni-
zelos hung in the center of the
sanctuary. Borough President Riegei-
mann made an address on behalf of
| the claims of Greece. He was fol-
lowed by Rev. w. NJ. Nichol, pastor Of
the United Presbyterian church, who
made an eloquent plea and paid
tribute to Venizelos The chairman
read letter from the Rev. DR.. Newell
Dwight Hills advocating f.H 81
ton Of Greek lands Resolutions were
cabled to President Wilson,
The Dodecanesian situation was ss4e
theme of every speaker. These twelve
islands off the coast of Asia Minor fell
to the Turks in 1922 In 1911 Italy
occupied them as guarantee of the
fulillment of the Turkish pledges re-
garding Tripoli. They are Greek
through and through. Their kings and
princes fought in the Trojan war.
Homer gives a list of their vessels.
Rhodes is familiar to US all. Cos was
the home of early medical science
where HiDpocrates lived. Patmos was
+ the scene of the apostle Johns exile.
Italy has sought to suppress the
Hellenic aspirations OF these people,
but the New York press has come cut
clearly on the side of the Greek claims.
An editorial in the New York Times
! declares:
Italy has no national claim on the
islands; there are 10 Italians there.
Nor are they az all necessary for the
safety of Italy; they lie far from her
coast; such strategic value as they
have is purely offensive, in case of a
campaign in Asia Minor. 1t is hard
to see why Italy wants to keep them
when her authority hes to be sup
ported by measures such as the Aus
TRANS used in Lombardy a century
ago"
While the mass meeting in the Re-
deemer church was in progress the
message came from Paris that Italy
had given up her claim to the Dodeca-
rese, and The great assembly, as one
man, began to sing the Greek national
anthem.
The American press IS coming to
appreciate at its true worth the great
ness Of Venizolos. An editorial in the
Brooklyn Eagle of May II says:
"To much credit cannot be given to
Premier Venizelos, one of the fore.
most statesmen of his tirle, for his
vision in bringing about this better
ment of his race and country. Veni4e-
los foresaw events and so shaped his
policy as to insure the position of
Greece. Frustrated for time by the
Vaccinations Of the prO-German Co.'S
stcntinc, Venizelos held true to his
course and has brought Greece out of
the war with all the Greeks ever
hoped to secure and q great deal more.
There is joy in Athens over the turn
of events, and the enthusiasm is for
Venizelos, who is bound to go down In
history as the father of a greater
modern Greece"
The Greeks of Tarpon Springs,
many of whom have relatives in these
islands, have been very active for
months in bringing the facts of the