Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1920-10-21
THE REAL FACTS
ABOUT NEAR EAST
GENERAL SECRETARY G. v. WICK
REY GIVES OUT SOME INTER.
EsTiNG INFORMATION.
STATEMENT OF THE TRUSTEES.

EsTlNG INFORMATION.
STATEMENT F'THE TRUSTEES.
$50, ooo, 900 OF Cash And Supplies Ad
mInIstered Without The KNOWN
Loss OF A Dollar From
Dishonesty.
To all Near East Relief State Direct
ors, Workers and Any Others Inter
ested:
Concerning sensational reports from
Constantinople, enclose herewith two
votes passed at a meeting OF oul
Board of Trustees and submit the fol
lowing additional facts in which you
may be interested.
/. I was in Constantinople at the
time the arrests were being made and
as General Secretary am personally
familiar with the entire situation.
2. There were thefts from our ware
houses.
3. These thefts were discovered by
our own bookkeeper as a result Of
thoroughly business-like methods o.
keeping warehouse accounting records
4. The detective work and arrests
were affected under the personal 81
pervision Of Colonel Coombs, our Man.
aging Director, and had we not prose
cuted the guilty parties, the newspa
pers and general public would never
have heard of the thieving.
S. Not one of the more than Ave
hundred officially accredited represen
tatives Of the Near East Relief as sent
from New York is in any way in
yolved.
6. The charges are confined exclu
sively to employees who were engaged
locally for distinctively warehouse ano
kindred work, who did not pass the
usual tests of the New York Personne.
Committee.
T. Every appointee Of Near East Re
lief sent from New York is Obliged tt
appear before our Personnel Commit
tee and meet certain rather rigid re
.quirements both with reference tt
technical qualifications and as te
moral character and altruistic motives
in applying for appointment.
8. Among the more than thirty Ques
lions which every applicant must an
swer in writing Is the following: Are
h,t oil nj;
beverages and narcotic drugs Since
the passage Of the 18th amendment nc
candidate is appointed who does not
answer this question in the affirma-
tive.
8. BY more recent action of the Ad.
ministrative Committee in CONSTANT.
nOple, confirmed by our Executive Com.
mittee and Board of Trustees, any EN-.
ployee as well as official representa-.
tive Of the Near East Relief who uses
intoxicants is subject to immediate dis.
missal from the service.
10. The men who are now under ar
rest in Constantinople did use intoxi.
cants. but they were ex-army men who
went from France to Constantinople
and were employed locally in the ware.
prevail or knowledge OF the New York
Committee.
ii. AS General Secretary Of Near
East Relief, intimately associated with
the organization for nearly five years,
l do not know of single penny of
al 80 DC hof hoc
been spent, In any place or in any form
for wine or other alcoholic beverages.
and no considerable expenditure Of this
kind could have been made without
my knowledge. l grant the possibility
Of the employees above referred to hav-
ing, without my knowledge, purchased
drinks for Turkish officials or others,
but any such action brought to our
knowledge would have subjected them
to instant dismissal.
IL. The warehouse thievery Is rela-
lively small,-by latest official reports
less than $4,000. More than $4,000
of the stolen goods have already been
recovered and the remainder probably
will be, for while the merchants who
purchased the stolen goods are dis
honest, they are financially RESPONSE
BILE and can be made to restore most
II not all of the loss.
10. have not seen any glazing head
lines in the daily papers about:
(a) The more than $50,000,000 Of
cash and supplies which by our audit
ors' reports have been administered,
without the known loss Of a dollar from
dishonesty on the part of any Of our
officially accredited employees.
(b) The more than 500 heroic Amer
lean men and women, who at great
personal sacrifice have administered
this relief, some of them literally be-
coming martyrs, laying down their
lives as victims of typhus or other
contagious diseases contracted while
ministering to the needy.
(c) OF the 229 orphanages in connec-
ton with which 10000 children are
cared for.
ca The 60 hospitals, caring daily
for approximately 1000 patients, nor
(e) The 100000 persons, who, by the
testimony of competent Armenian au.
thorities are living today who would
have persisted during the past year had
1t not been for American relief.
IA. The ALLEGED breaking Of bot
tie of champagne Of which as Gen.
eral Secretary Of the organization have
absolutely no knowledge, is apparently
of greater Importance so far as news
value is concerned than the service
that the American people have render