Evening star., 1919-10-12
armenia MUST GET
. AID OR FACE DEATH
Il. N. C. A. Secretary Tells
! of Pressing Need of Food
/. and Supplies.
LACK OF SEED CUT CROP

Unless America comes to the aid
OF Armenia with food and supplies
thousands of the men. women and
children who have escaped death
during the Turkish massacres will
succumb to starvation and disease
during the coming winter. Such is
the opinion of John Elder. Y. NJ. c. A.
secretary and former student at the
Mccormick Theological Seminary. in
Chicago. who has just returned to
this country after nearly two years
abroad.
= THE harvest this year was being
gathered as l left. in early August"
said MIR. Elder but lack of seed
prevented the planting of full crop.
and the most optimistic estimates Of
fhe yield show only enough food
10 keep the people until January.
Starvation. which had been very
common during the winter. had fallen
70 almost nothing as the summer
crops came along. and when I left
there were only three or four cases
= day reported"
: Assigned to Caucasus.
Mr; Elder was assigned to work in
The Caucasus with the Russian army,
but arrived just as the Russians were
abandoning that front and leaving it
open to the Turks. He continued
with the army which the Armenians
organized. and which never num-
1ered more than 10000 men. as near
" as he was able to discover.
Z With this force" said Mr.. Elder.
sthe Armenians endeavored heroically
70 hold front on which the Rus
slams were estimated to have had
from half a million to 100000 men.
a no OF
menians were the only people who
held true to the allied cause to the
end"
! In the hut which he opened for the
armenian army at Enrivap as many
rs 1000 men were served daily in the
Yea room. The hut was packed to the
roof with soldiers for the motion pic
ture enterta inments.
In March, 1918. the situation became
so serious, the Turks having ad-
vanced and threatened to take the
city and massacre it's people. that the
workers to withdraw. There were
about fifteen English and Americans
there at that time for relief work.
and all departed but Mr.. Elder and
another Y. NJ. c. A. worker. j. o. Ar
roll.
: The young divinity student and his
companion found themselves in charge
of all the work of the relief commit
tees. including a factory for the man.
ufacture of cloth and rugs. a pottery.
an orphanage and a hospital.
For four months they were cut off
from all communication with the out
side world and had no means of Sc
curing funds with which to pay off
the employees. The factory, which had
been established for the double pur-
pose of giving the men and women of
the city employment and to furnish
70 1o fnr 70 he
open. There were about 5000 on the
pay roll.
Loan Authorized.
An order for 5000 uniforms for the
new army was booked. The cotton
was carded. spun and woven and the
clothing made and sold at cost. The
new parliament passed bill author
king loan of million rubles to the
young men. and passed it unanimously.
and without debate. the first bill ~
passed in the history of thSs govern
ment. sS ~
Mr.. Elder and his companion also
took upon themselves the RESPONSE
bility for issuing checks for 10000
pounds Of sterling, which they were
able to exchange for about 100000
rubles.
Besides their financial difficulties
they were confronted by the danger
of cholera, which swept over the
country and which was followed only
. month later by an epidemic Of ty-
phus.
In December the repatriated refu-
gees began to come to Enrivan and
the government furnished money for
the establishment of soup kitchens.
where as many as 100000 were fed in
= single month. More relief work
ers arrived and the government or
phanages. w hich " ere in a distressingly
terrible condition. according to Mr..
Elder. and where the death rate had
been extremely high. were turned
over to the relief workers.