Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1919-02-08
MEETING TOMORROW

erins at Richmond Theatre in Inter
est of Syrian and Armenian Suf
ferers-City's Quota $4,000.
It is expected that there will be i:
large turnout of the citizens Of Alex
andria at the mass meeting which
Will Be held at 3 o'clock tomorrow af
tefnoon in the Richmond Theatel
when an address will be delivered by
Miss Mccormick in the interest OF
the campaign to raise funds for the
relief of The Syrian and Armenian
races.
The state of Virginia is asked to
raise 100000 Of which Alexandria S
part is $4,000.
That Alexandria will raise her
portion of the funds there is bit lit
tie doubt in the minds of those fos-
tering the project and every citizen
is asked to come forward and give
his Bit for this worthy cause. R. l..
Payne is chairman of the committee
of arrangements for the local lrive.
There comes to the people of the
United States today question which
is unacceptable, the question is this;
shall we let the Syrian and Armenian
races perish of starvation and i'll
ness consequent upon their four
years of unparalleled suffering, or
shall we again earn for our country
the title given it by an aged Belgian
America the Savior of the World"
Some of US remember the terrible
of 1886 when Abdulhamid
the Red Sultan, as he was called
who massacrcd 100000
Armenians, but it remained for Ger
many to add to the horrors of the out
rage and massacre, the prolonged tor
ture of deportations of home and
home land. She iwas a novice when
she undertook tits measure IN the
fall of l914sin Belgium and France;
she was anEsxpert, when in connec-
ton with Tageblat Bey and Enver
Pasha, the blood thirsty leaders of
the young Turk , Movement, she in
it Throughout the Turkish
Dominion in the spring of 1915.
Moreover Belgium was small, very
small, in comparison with the bulk Of
Turkey in Asia and Europe where
these suffering people lived, and by
their remoteness from the beaten
track of civilization that both Turkey
and Germany felt secure to give full
reign to their dwiabolical cruelties,
and rested secure as they thought
from outside indignation.
The fact, however, became known
to Ambassador Morgcnthal at Con-
stantinople, and he cabled tc the
State Department in the United
States. requesting the formation of
sort of a committee which
would send relief to those people
who could be reached. The commit
tee was formed and included such
men rs Charles Hughes, VIM. Taft,
Elihu Root, and many other equally
as we'll known and reliable men, it
did its field work through the large
body of American missionaries and
who had been most ct them
in the Eastern fields for many Tears,
and who thoroughly understood the
question to be dealt with.
The committee has spent more
than $10,000,000 given by voluntary
but this has been much
less than was needed. Ex-Ambassa-
dor Brice in his report to the British
Government of conditions il Ar
menia and Syria substantiates the
statement of the extreme want and
suffering which has been received
from so many quarters, and gives
the extracts from the diary of mis-
sionary at the Presbyterian College
in Aoarfu; SIZE writes that we are
$500 in debt for bread alone, and
the bakers refuse to credit US farther
later she adds "Thank God check
for $500 has just been received
from the committee Of the Syrian
and Armenian Relief" and the bakers
have promised to renew our credit.
''What would we have done without
it?" We have 1900 refugees inside
our compound, every school building,
every church, and even the closets
under the stairs are crowded, and
hundreds who will die would live if
we only had the food, and the Ameri-
cans would only see our need.
NOTICE