New Britain herald., 1919-11-24

i atively. small colonies--each not ex i ceedlng over 100. Armenians in this {, state can be fairly estimated at about 200, the majority of whom are en-
 gagged as laborers in factories The old
 est colony in the state is in New TIa- i ven. The religious life of the people i nere, as 1t is in other states. has been l primarily dependent on the mission 1 work carried on by the Home Mission . societies and also on the occasional ] religious services of the touring ' priests of the Armenian Apostolic l church, to which Qyer g per cent of i the people belong. The Missionary Society of Connecticut has done wonderful piece of work from 1S9I to , the present time in securing seven : teen different workers at different times and towns to administer to the religious needs of the Arm en1an peo- pie, with na broad and liberal pohcE.
 The society, during. the past. -22 years,
 has paid out about S12,r9.4' to the
 Armenian and American missionaries
 working among their people, The
 cities benefited being primarily Hart
 ford, New Britain and New Haven.
 Makes Pertinent uggestions.
 Mr. Missirians recommendation
 for the proper handling of the Ar IlcIiletll pIODleIl dle the lOllOW1IlS. We ought to realize the national
 unique history of Armenia in world politics and appreciate with a genuine sympathy the heroic, age-long mar tyrdom of the nation for the cause of
 Christian faithv. One of the most
 fatal and unfortunate phenomena in
 the noble work of. America nization
 is a wholesale sthteme ent or sweeping
 reference in. regard to all foreigners: without, discrimination. What does
 Armenia mean to .you2 A country
 whose people because of their
 fortunate geographical location for. nearly 5000 years have been fighting
 single handed first to achieve their
 national independence and then de-
 fend their Christian faith agaist the
 repeated and overwhelming persecu
 tions from all sides, yes. a nation who has given more martyrs during the
 last four years only, than all the mar
 tyrs that the early Christian church
 gave during the first three centuries.
 You cannot find a single Armenian
 today in America whose heart is not
 bleeding with an unspeakable sor-
 row. It is futile to try to help an
 Armenian without first realizing and
 appreciating the age-long sufferings
 and gigantic sacrifices of the nation. An Able People. .,
 Secondly, we ought to discover the racial capacities of the Armenian people for education and progressive leadership. Armenians have been al- ways appreciauve for all that Amer ica has offered them. No nation in the world can appreciate liberty. jus- tice and democracy as the Arm enian can because for long ages her bones were crushed and her blood shed mer- cilessly under the iron heel of tyran- nic and unjust autocracy Unlike most of the other immigrant races in
 the country. Armenians, I am proud to say have had a comparatively clean record of social and civil life
 in their respective colonies. More
 Over there are fewer illiterates
 among 5tiiefn. < This rema f'lsAblet fact 4--I call it remarkable because Arme- 1aians have had no governme ent of
 their own for 500 years, and any ats
 tempt made for advancement has
 been suppressed by the sultans--is
 disclosed by the sta atistics of the Unit-
 ed States government. Of all the Armenians admitted to this country
 between 1899 and 1910, only 23 per
 cent could not read or write. - A few.
 years ago the immigration comn1is-
 sion made an exhaustive study OF
 800, ,329 workmen employed in a large
 number of manufac curing and mining
 industries all over the United States,
 in which there were representatives
 of over two dozen races. This inves-
 tigation shows that among the Arme- nian laborers, ,92 1-2 per cent. could read and 90 1-2 per cent. could read
 and write In 1909 there were 1031 Ar
 in Of 1hirty-seven Am erican cities. The re- X port of the Armenian students asso- citation for the year 1916 shows over 250 students enrolled in the leading
 colleges and universities in the United
 States, while the Greek, Bulgarian Serbian, Roumanian and syrian popu-
 lation in America outnumbers the Ar
 menians by many thousands. Still
 none of them have anywhere near as
 many students in the higher institu-
 tions of learning as the Arm enians.
 Finally, the practical and logical task of the Am erican church at the
 present, is like a big brother to CO.,
 operate with and insist upon the unan-
 imous and strong expectation of
 American mandate over Armenia The
 Arm enian tragedy is the greatest in human history but greater and more
 shameful tragedy will it be if Amer ica, on account of selfish or political reasons, denies the obligation of a "big brother" Let us be true Ameri- cans, champions of justice and lib
 erty Let us practice our religion whenever and wherever opportunity comes. for after all, Christianity as it was in the heart of the Master, is the religion that can make all men of all classes and conditions feel at
 home with God, their father, and with one another. And a Christian is the one who has the greatest imagination ;,, u-bioh he cap er1 brace the whole