Washington telegraph., 1921-01-28

than billions of dollars spent later in
suppressing international warfare and
strife"
Mr.. Vickrey considers the med in
the Near East and especially n Ar
menia greater than anywhere ese IN
the world, because, as he says, IN the
countries of Central Europe thee are
going governments which have nerely
been temporarily impoverished b war.
In the Near East, on the otherhand,
there is no such thing as stabh gov
ernment. The whole fabric the
state has TO be created from IL be-
ginning, and the innocent and help
less children have to be trained the
responsibilities of future citlzeship.
Peace in the Near East and, in ireat
measure, throughout the worll,Yill
depend very largely on the ch1cter
of the. citizenship or tie peoples 0I n
Near East"
Irresistible Appeal Of Orphans. \
Describing the orphanage work Of
the Near East Relief in the Armenian
Republic, Mr.. Vlckrey 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
thafr Hath rVho,- have ehort,, ,uopdnr
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-
lleve 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 Eve 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
ernmept for a period OF ten years and
lend themselves admirably to relief
purposes.
"Thls 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, Cillcia, Syria and the Constanti-
nopleStralts 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. I was going through
the dormitorles Of this orphanage al
Kars when the young American col
lege girl In charge turned to me ano
said: Mr.. Vickrey, it sometimes makes
me feel just a little older than Me
thuselah to be called 'Mother" by
6,0Oo of those Armenian children.
And that is exactly what she was
the only mother that these 6,000 Ar
menian children have, except as she
avails herself Of the organized assist
ance Of native Armenian women, II
caring for this large family.
III the uOSplIdl ut hhIs aVuhN
l'l50 beds, which, the day ! was there
were occupied by 1,26S patients, i
frequently being necessary TO put tw'
or more children in a single bed. A
Alexandropol we have in one hospital
or group Of hospital buildings, 1,56'
traehoma patients. At Karaklls, fort.
miles east of Alexandropol we .hav'
an orphanage devoted exclusively t.
the care and training Of the blln'
children. At Delljan we have anothe
orphanage, located on mountain side
for the care of tubercular children
this segregation being as much TO
the welfare of the healthy children II
the orphanages as for the care Of tn
unfortunate consumptives. At Erival
we formerly had twenty-six distinc
orphsuages, though they have nov
been reduced and consolidated t
seven in number There are some
thing more than 5000 orphans in tn
region of Harpout.