New Britain herald., 1919-11-24
CLERGYMAN URGES
 AID FOR ARMENIA
Rev. (. M. MiSsirian Wants
 Churches to Assist

Rev. G. NJ. Missrian, pastor of the ! stanley Memorial church, at tine | morning service yesterday preached
 an eloquent sermon on Arme enla, dur ] Ing the course of which he argued American churches should take i've
 and brotherly interest in that coul- l try. Two weeks ago. at the confer l ence of Congregational churches m l Bridgeport. Mr. Missirian spoke III l behalf of Armenia and defended a 1 congressional resolution to have the 1 United States send troops to Armenla l to protect those people. Speaking | yesterday, the clergyman said: Are Living in Critical Hour.
 We are living in most critical 1 and vitally significant hour. Recon struction of the world institutions
 and the readjustment of the inte-na- tional relations are dominating prob
 lems of the day, waiting for speedy
 and just solution. America, the
 champion and refuge of all freedom
 loving races, is beginning to discover
 various phases of evolutions and rev
 olutions within her national and cos-'
 mopolitan life. The dawning con- -'
 sciousness is that America is still in
 the making and is not yet finished
 Therefore the noble effort of the gov ernment and other national inStitu-
 tions in carrying out a process called F Americanzation is to achieve a na-
 tional unity for world service upon
 the plane of our highest ideals
 America is not a melting pot 1t is
 something far more spiritual than
 Am oiy iu
 chanical process. One does not be-
 come, whether native or alien, an
 American by becoming natura,izeI,
 learning the language. wearing Amer
 ican made clothes initiating Am err
 ican ia ashions and customs.
 What we need to keep stea dilv in mind is that the process of Amari- canization is not the reduction of all to common denomination but the elevation of all. both native ard alien, to the highest possible plane to consider that each race reacts upon the other to the enrichment of all and to endeavor to realize that the various racial stocks thus contribute ing lose their separate and distinct identity in the building of a new
 race, not Anglo-Saxon, not Irish, nor Polish, nor negro but a true Ameri- can race, which shall be a demonstra- tion of an active League of Nations, of the blood brotherhood of all men and spiritual unity of the Sons of God. z 2 4. '1IIaving this highest conception of Americanization and American spirit 1 in mind, it is my privilege to present the soul capacty of Armenians and several lines of approach for their A o,.;,, .r a Congregational minister of the largest Armenian Congregational church in the Near East, and bearing a. lineage and unchanged name from one who was at the royal court of the last Armenian independent prin- cipality in Cilicia over 300 years ago, I feel that I know the typical tcn- dencies in my Christian race. On the other hand, my happy fellowship and close contact with the best and high est type of American life for the past nine years has enabled me to dis cover and appreciate the noble and | excellent elements in the American spirit. seS r. Were Early Settlers. ''The Armenians represent only a 1 fraction of the large foreign popula { ton in this country and yet the inves- ! tigation shows that they. are found in l all great cities and are particularly l congregated in the New England | States, New York, Pennsylvania, IIli- 1 nois, Wisconsin, Michigan and Cali l fornia and their numb altogether 1 does not exceed 100000. Vartan Nal 1 colm, in his recent book entitled
 "Armenians in America" brought out l the Illuminating and interesting ia ct | that Armenians had a share in the l early struggles of the republic. Mar 1 tin the Arm enian' was mem Der of 1 the colony at Jam estown, Virginia, as l early as ISIS or 1919. About the same l time also appears the name of George 1 the Armenian, both designated as to- ] bacco merchants and well known ! original settlers in America The ! Armenian pioneer immig igrants began 1 to come to the United States about l three years after the American mis-
 sionaries planted, at Constantinople in 1 1881, the nucleus of their present great
 enterprise in the Near East. A few of i these were students, primarily in l medicine and dentistry.
 .. 2,5OO Armenians in Conn.
 l The Armenians in Connecticut have l no large colonies as we find in Mas
 sachusetts. New York and California ! The number of Arm enians in Hart 1 ford, Thompsonville, New Haven and
 New Britain and Bridgeport range
 from $50 to 600. Bristol Meriden. ! Waterbury, South Manchester and ! other cities in the state have 4compar-