The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1920-10-29

GENERAL SECRETARY c. ". WICK.
REY GIVES OUT SOME INTER-
EsTING INFORMATION.
STATEMENT OF THE TRUSTEES
$50, 100000 OF Cash And Supplies Ad
1; mInIssered Without The Known
Ias- Loss OF A Dollar From /,
Dishonesty.


Dishonesty.
10 all Near East Relief state Direct.
i ors, Workers and Any Others Inter.
ested: 7 So
Concerning sensational reports from
ConstantinopIe, enclose herewith two
votes passed at meeting of ou1
Board Of Trustees and submit the fol
lowing additional facts in which you
may be interested.
I. was in ConstantinopIe at the
time the arrests were being made and
as General Secretary am personally
familiar with the entire situation.
2. There we're thefts from our ware
houses.
8. These thefts were discovered by
Our own bookkeeper as a result Of
thoroughly business-like methods OF
keeping warehouse accounting records
A. The detective work and arrests
were affected under the personal su
peryision 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 FIVE
hundred officially accredited represen
tatives Of the Near East Relief as sent
from New York is in any way in
volved.
s. The charges are confined exclu-
sively to employees who were engaged
locally for distinctively warehouse and
kindred work, who did not pass the
usual tests Of the New York Personnel
Committee.
z Every appointee of Near East Re
lief sent from New York is obliged to
appear before our Personnel Commit.
tee and meet certain rather rigid re.
quirements both with reference to
technical qualifications and as to
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
you total abstainer from alcoholic
beverages and narcotic drugs Since
the passage of the 18th amendment no
candidate is appointed who does not
answer this question in the aflrma-
tive.
8. By more recent action of the Ad-
!E1linistrative Committee in CONSTANT
nople, confirmed by our Executive Com
mittee and Board of Trustees, any EN-
iployee 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 arr
rest in Constantinople did use intoxf-
cants, but they were ex-army men who
went from France to Constantinople
and were employed locally in the ware
house, without the appointment, APP
,proyal or knowledge of the New York
Committee.
H. As General lSecretary of Near
East Relief, intimately associated with
the organization for nearly five years
I do not know Of single penny Of
Near East Relief funds that has ever
ibeen spent, in any place or in any form
fer wine or other alcoholic beverages,
and no considerable expenditure of this
kind could have been made without
my knowledge. 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.
~. The warehouse thievery is rela.
lively small,-by latest official reports
less than $4,000. More than $4,000
Iof the stolen goods have already been
recovered and the remainder probably
win be, for while the merchants who
purchased the stolen goods are dis.
honest, they are financially response
bic and can be made to restore most
If not all of the loss
10. have not seen any glazing head
lines in the daily papers about;
(a) The more than S50,000,000 Of
cash and supplies which by our audit
ors reports have been administered
without the known loss of 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
ltion with which 10000 children are
cared for.
(d) The So hospitals, caring daits
for approximately 1000 patients, nor
i(e) The 100000 persons, who, by the
testimony of competent Armenian an
thorities are living today who would
have persisted during the past year hac
it not been for American relief
IL The ALLEGED breaking of bot
tie Of champagne of which I as Gen.
eral Secretary of the organization have
absolutely no knowledge, is apparently