Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1920-02-23

RELIEF FOR THE NEW EAST.

within me over there In Erivan,
she says.
with my own eyes I have seen
living children in the shelters
sleeping ON what supposed at first
were dirty mattresses in a court
yard, but not until We reused the
little ones did we see the mat
tresses were the blackened bodies
Of their companions, some Of them
dead for several days. I asked some
Of the children why they slept on
the bodies and their answer was
that they had to have something to
sleep on to keep their almost naked
bodies from the frozen ground.
III you had seen children in the
streets of Erivan pounding with
stones the bones of animals into a
rough, pasty mass and greedily de-
vouring it; if you had known that
in the cemeteries bodies had been
stolen and the next day were seen
in the cooking pots of the refugees,
human bones, what would you say!
Could you blame them?'
In normal times. Miss Chamber
lain says. Erivan had population
of $4,000; but last winter there
were at least 100000 people in the
city. They congested the street. the
alleys, the court yards, and ruined,
roofiess buildings, budding any
where that promised the slightest
shelter from the pitiless, penetrat-
ing rain of the Caucasus that chills
even the warmly clad to the bone.
The once rich and poor who had
fed before the Turks, were on the
same level Of raggedness. Thou
sands died of cold and starvation,
but others poured in TO replace
them.
Refugees are still pouring into
Erivan, but conditions are now I'm
proved owing to the persistent and
tireless work of the near east re-
lief. 1t has erected and organized
hospitals, shelters, orphanages and
workshops, and has established a
system for rationing the popula-
ton on the same lines that Mr.
Hoover rationed the refugees in
Belgium. American relief workers
are now in charge Of "a relief sta
tons in these impoverished re-
gions; 1876 orphanages sheltering
nearly fifty thousand children; "A
hospitals treating monthly ,149,00t
clinic patients; and 16 homes fol
women rescued from Moslem
harems. They have organized and
are operating industrial plants pro-
viding employment for approx
mately $4,000 native workers. who
are thus aided to become self-sup.
porting and to produce much-need-
ed goods. In addition, soup kitch-
ems are being operated whereve.
they are needed. as we'll as informa
and necessarily crude clinics
where the more exhausted and dis
eased victims of Turkish cruelt,
may be treated.
One New York woman doctor
writes that she is holding a clinic
daily on nothing more than a soap
box. The clinic is held in what
used to be the mayors Office il
Platonia. at has no medical con
yeniences or apparatus and but lit
tie furniture, SO l commander {
soap box to stand or sit upon" SHE
writes, land use the former mayor;
#, rickety desk for my medicine
table.
"The crowd gathers several hours
before the clinic opens" continues
DR.. Blance Norton, which is the
young physicians name. at is :
ragged. dirty, clamorous crowd, and
they do not mind the ceaseless rain
They have gone through so much
suffering and misery that little
rain means nothing.
First, in full view of the as.
sembled crowd, 1 hold my hands
out Of the window while woman
pours cold water over them. There
is no way of obtaining hot water
Fuel is too precious. This is the
signal for the EXAMINATIONS to be-
gin, and after that it is a steady
stream of woes, Of indescribable
diseases"
Thousands need treatment, and
much precious time will elapse be.
fore medical help or medicines
reach the village again. And We
have SO few workers and so little
medicine. If Americans could only
realize the conditions and the
needs!"
The situation is one which seems
to be entirely up to America, wheth.
er we like it or not. The British
and the French and the Italians are
too preoccupied with the partition
Of the conquered territory, ard the
political disposition Of the Ottoman
empire, to give much heed to the
Human aspects of the case. Amer.
lea remains the last and only hops
of the famished sufferers of the
near east.