River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1921-02-03

than billions of dollars spent later in
suppressing international warfare and
strife"
Mr.. Vickrey considers the need in
the Near East and especially in Ar
menia greater than anywhere else in
the world, because, as he says, In the
countries of Central Europe there are
going governments which have merely
been temporarily impoverished by war.
In the Near East, on Che other hand,
there is no such thing as stable gov
eminent. The whole fabric of the state
has to be created from the beginning,
and the innocent and helpless chill
dren have to be trained to the re-
sponsibilities of future citizenship.
Peace in the Near East and, in great
measure, throughout the world, will
depend very largely on the character
of the citizenship of the peoples OF the
Near East
Irresistible Appeal Of Orphans.
Describing the orphanage work OF
the Near East Relief in the Armenian
Republic, Mr.. Vickrey said:
1--WE have at Alexandropol in the
Caucasus, one orphanage where there
are approximately 10000 homeless
children, fatherless or motherless,
many of them having no known living
relative. Some of them do not even
know their own names, or the place of
their birth. They have shown wonder
full recuperative powers, and to see
them play their kindergarten or other
games under the direction of our Amer
lean relief workers, one could never be-
lieve that they had passed through
the years of suffering that most Of
them have experienced since they. or
their parents, were driven from their
homes in Central Turkey Ave years
ago.
"For the accommodation of these or
phans there are sixty splendid stone
buildings, erected as barracks for the
Russian army. These buildings are
now given to us by the Armenian gov
eminent for period of ten years and
lend themselves admirably to relief
purposes.
"This orphanage at Alexandropol Is
but one of the 229 orphanages that the
Near East Relief is now operating in
various parts of the Caucasus. Anato-
liza. Cecilia, Syria and the CONSTANT
nople-Straits area.
Thirty miles from Alexandropol, at
Kars, there is another group of Rus
sian army barracks, which were given
us by the Armenian government for
relief purposes. / was going through
| the dormitories of this orphanage at
Kars when the young American col
lege girl in charge turned to me and
said: Mr.. Vickrey, it sometimes makes
me feel just little older than Me.
| thuselah to be called Mother" by 5000
of those Armenian children And that
| is exactly what she was-the only
mother that these 5000 Armenian chill
dren have, except as she avails herself
of the organized assistance of native
Armenian women, in caring for this
large family.
"In the hospital at Kars found 1,15C
beds. which, the day was there, were
| occupied by 1858 patients. it frequent
Nv being necessary to put two or more
children in a single bed. At Alexan
dropol we have in one hospital, OF
group of hospital buildings, 1850 ira
choma patients. At Karaklis, forty
miles east of Alexandropol, we have
an orphanage devoted exclusively tt
the care and training of the blind chill
dren. At Delijan we have another
orphanage, located on mountain side
for the care of tubercular children, thi:
segregation being as much for the wei
fare of the healthy children in the or
phanages as for the care of the I'm
fortunate consumptives. At Erivan We
formerly had twenty-six distinct or
phanages, though they have now beer
reduced and consolidated to seven il
number. There are something more
than 5000 orphans in the region o
Harpout."