The weekly Iberian. (New Iberia, La.) 1894-1946, 1921-02-26

than billions Of dollars spent later In
suppressIng international warfare and
strife"
Mr.. Vickrey considers the need In
the Nenr East and especially in Ar.
menIa greater than anywhere else In
the world. because, as he snys, I'm the
countries of Central Europe there are
going governments which have merely
been temporarily impoverished by war.
In tho Near East. on the other hand,
there IL no such thing us stable gov
eminent. The whole fabric of the
state has TO be created from the be-
ginning. and the innocent and help
less children have To he trained TO the
responsibilities 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 or
the Near East Relief In the Armenian
Republic, Mr., Vickrcy said:
1--WE have Mt Alexnndropol IN the
Caucasus, one orphanage where there
are approximately 10000 homeless
children, fathcrless or mothcrless,
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
ful recuperative powers, and to see
them play their kindergarten or other
games under the direction Of our Ameri-
can 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
lend themselves admirably to relief
purposes.
This orphanage at Aicxandropol Ii
but one Of the 30 orphanngcs TINT the
Near East Relief Is now operating In
various parts Of tho Caucasus, Anato-
liz, Cilicia. Syria and the CONSTANT
noplc- Straits area
"Thirty miles from, Aiexandropol. at
Kars, there Is another group of Rus.
sidn army barracks, which were given
us by the Armenian government for
relief purposes. was going through
the dormItories Of this orphnnage at
Kars when the young American col
lege girl In charge turned to- me and
said: Mr.. Vlckrey. II sometimes makes
me feel Just little older than Me.
thuselah to be called Mother" by
1900 Of those Armenian children
And that IL exactly what she was
the only mother that these 5000 Ar.
menian children have, except ms she
avails herself Of the organized assist
ance of native Armenian women, in
caring for this large family.
In the hospital mt Kars l found |
1850 beds. which. the day / was there.
were occupied by 1,26S patients, II
frequently being necessary to put two |
or more children In a single bed. At
Alexandropol we have In one hospital, |
or group of hospital buildings, 1850 |
frnchoma patients. At Karaklis, forty |
miles east OF Alexandropol we have |
an orphanage devoted exclusively to |
the care and training OF the blind |
children. AT Delijan we have another |
orphanage. located on mountain side,
Tor the care Of tubercular children,
this segregation being as much for
the welfare of the healthy children I'm
the orphanages as for the care of the
unfortunate consumptives. At Erivan
we formerly had twenty-six distinct
orphanuges though they have now |
been reduced aud consolidated to
seven In number. There are some
thing more than 5000 orphans liz the
Rnpian ~ Hor,,n,,s