Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-02-23
Relief For the Near East
BY Frederic J. Haskin

. pody - having such good time bnin
$ extravagnnt, then the Near East Relic
has suggestion To make for promotin
Q IT. It's treasurer wants TO know If, ia
next time you arc seized with the upcou
trollable impulse To part with cash, yo
won't let him know so that nc can sci
you some Hour or some canned milk o
some underwear 10 be sent 10 the Syrian
! and Arrnenians. Or, perhaps, If you
particular orgy has proceeded far enough
you. might even adopt an orphan owe
IN the destitute provinces OF Asia.
The treasurer Of the Near East Relic
! has his office at its headquarters at
Madison avenue here, and you will find
him there any day, surrounded by grim
Photographic evidence Of the awful con.
ditions existing in Armenia and Syria;
by even grimmcr records Of n people &
suffering and occasionally By real wit
nesses OF that suffering, who have just
returned to this country. Naturally,
living in such an environment day after
day, the treasurer has become a trihe
preludiced in favor Of relief work He
thinks IL is lots Of fun. He thinks. 10
be quite explicit, that it is much more fun
to save the life Of an Armenian, who is
starving and in need of medical attention,
than 1t Is To buy new automobile or a
fur coat. The treasurer has done both
IN his time, you see, so he speaks from
experience.
The Near East Relief workers who are
coming home To recuperate their strenuous
activities in the devastated provinces of
Asia also share this preference for relief
work when it comes 10 being extravagant
SAW STARVATION AND DEATH
81 am afraid | shall never regain my
old outlook on life" said young relief
worker just back from Armenia, who
| visited the headquarters of the organiza-
| ton the other day, on the way back TO
| her home IN New England. 81 nm not
good person for you TO talk to concerning
| conditions, over there, because I saw SO
much suffering that if seems actually
commonplace tn rne. When you live
| amidst starvation, misery, and disease,
and death, every day Of your life for weeks
at time, you eventually become used
To it-ncver hardened to it, but having
reached a certain point. if you know what
| mean, you can't experience any more
horror.
II thought | would never feel horro-
struck again, but did IL was when
reached New York, and walked up Fifth
avenue, and saw all tho marvellous luxury
Of its show-windows, the expensive
lrrnousipes blocking traffic, the thousands
of women ~ rich fur coats, and the satin
covered boxes Of bonbons on display in
the big candy stores. For the pricc Of one
of those linouusines, hundred Syrian
babies could have been fed for the price
Of one box Of candy q whole Armenian
family could have been supplied with
flour for month.
Il suppose my viewpoint is quite NOR
bid, but you SEQ | havc just come from
Erlvan, the present capital Of Armenia,
where the streets are lined with shivering
beggars, barefootod their cmaciated bodies
wrapped only in bits of sackipg. Winter
Is bleak and cold in this part Of Asia, and
the population is totally unprepared for
IT. Tiny children wasr only the shreds
OF filthy rags, and crouch on the streets
numb with cold, whimpering with pain.
Often they are compelled 20 fight of
the hungry parish gods, which driven by
hunger, attack any living thing. We did
what we could to gather IN those who were /
too helpless or exhausted themselves 70 /
come for aid, but every day we came 4
across dead bodies III corners where the 4
poor people had dragged themselves. !
seeking shelter from the wIntFy blasts"
The young woman spoke IN calm. 4
voice: her eioquenee was I
cold and unanimated. She complained of I
this herself, If | could only make you I
people here at home feel what felt when 1
first reached Armenia, but it Is all gone 1
After | get rest, perhaps
Miss Louise Chamberlain, another /
American girl who has just returned from /
service IN the Near East Relief Hospitals I
at Erivan, also complains that her outlook 4
on Life is changed forever. at isn't too /
much 20 say that my soul was frozen /
within me over there IN ErIvan," she saws.
UNBELIEVABLE CONDITIONS.
with my own eyes | have seen living
children IN the shelters sleeping on what
| supposed at first were dirty mattresses
IN courtyard, but not until We reused
the little ones did we see the mattresses
we're the blackened bodies OF their com
panions, some of them dead for several
lays. | asked some of the children WHY
they slept on the bodies and their answer
VAS that they had TO have something TO
sleep on TO keep their almost naked
bodies from the frozen ground.
1t you had seen children In the streets
If Erivan pounding with stones the bones
If animals into a rough pasty mass and
yreedlly devouring it; If YOU had known /
hat in the cemeteries bodies had been
tolen and next day were seen in the cook
ng pots OF the refugees, human bones,
shat would you say? Could you blame
hem?"
In normal times, Miss Chamberlain |
avs, Erivan had a population of 35, coo:
nut last winter there were at least 400
O0 people in the city. They congested
he streets, the alleys, the court yards.
nd ruined, roofiess buildings, budding :
nywhere that promised the slightest :,
helter from fhe pitiless, penetrating rain 4
[ theCaucasIs that chills even the warmly /
lad TO the bone. The once rich and poor
'ho had fled before the Turks, were on Il
he same level of raggedness Thousands II
led of cold and starvation, but others II
CURED In to replace them II
Refugees are still pouring into Erivan. II
ut conditions are now improved owing II
J the persistent and tireless work of the II
ear East Relief. 1t has erected and HI
hospitals, shelters, orphsnages III
ad workshops, and has established III
stem for rationing the population on III
le same lines that MIR Hoover rationed III
e refugees in Belgium. American relief III
orkers arc now in charge of fifty-four III
lief stations in these impoverished III
gions; 1876 orphanages sheltering nearly III
ty thousand children; forty-four hospit- III
5 treating monthly 10000 clinic II
ltients; and sixteen homes for women HI
scued from Moslem harems. They have HI
ganized and are operating industrial Ill
anfS rraytJinxr araploxyra0pt f,nr apy,rnNS- / I'LL