Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-10-25

Thousands persisted when Smyrna was bathed In tor
rents of blood. Now the city is a vast sepulchre OF ashes.
You can do nothing for the dead. But the lives of half a
million others are yours today for the purchase. They are
stretching their hands to you now out OF the horrible pit.
Lift them up to lite!
The appeal in their behalf which comes to you from
the president of the United States is to be needed, because
you are one of the great-hearted Americans TO whom his
letter is written. The appeal from the Near East Relief and
the American Red Cross through their chairmen is to be
needed, because your ears are open to such a can TOR nelP
President, or of Relief Committees, stronger than any
urgent words The Literary Digest can say to you, know
ing SO well your unfaiing tenderness and quick generosity
when the hunger, and sorrow, and quaint suffering OF
mothers and babes cry out to you to comfort, and to save
them alive-stronger than all written or spoken appeal is
the hot, eager demand of your own sympathetic heart that
can not regard such bitter pain and need without strainlng
to the utmost for their instant relief.
The picture is so full of terror and anguish words can
not portray it. Mark 0. Prentiss, for the Near East Relief,
cables: Il have seen terrible sights until my senses are
numb, but the sight Of 200, 900 people, mostly women and
children, being penned up and burning, and those escap-
ing being driven to a barren, devastated country for star
walton, is past all comprehension. That was In SMYRNA.
Hundreds of thousands more, both Christians and Jews,
fleeing from persecution and the sword, are crowdlng the
other ports of Asia and the nearby islands of the sea
awaiting rescue-or death. In Saloniki a hundred thous-
and are herded in deplorable confusion. The city has been
IN ruins since the great fire of 1918 and affords little more
shelter than Smyrna. In the island Of Mitylene another
hundred thousand peniless f~ugitives have sought refuge
only to find there a new danger OF pestllence and a more
convenient harbor OF starvation.
Panic has seized upon the frightened wanderers. Many
have even cast themselves into the flames OF their own
homes. Foods gone, even water to drink is at a premium.
Families are broken up, while parents in frenzy Of despair
seek their lost children. Hundreds Of mothers have given
premature birth to infants in the midst Of terror and death.
Half-fed babies, covered with scurvey, try in vain to draw
nourishment from their mothers empty breasts.
Quick compassion is needed; delay means death for
scores Of thousands who might be saved. Something
heroic in giving is needed. You are not there in the midst
of the terror and the frantic cries for help. If you were,
YOU would leap into the sea, if need be, or brave
the flames, the sword, the plague, to snatch back from
death some helpless woman or little child. You would not
see them perish IN agony before your eyes If you could
save them, even at the risk of your life. Here, in this
smiling land of comfort, where your home is safe and your
loved ones dwell in peace, that same terror and anguish of
heln1ess women and children come to you across the sea
and call to all that is heroic and generous in your heart.
Whose hath this worlds goods and seeth his brother
have need, and shuteth up his bowels of compassion from
him"-ah. but the Master did not mean you. Your heart
is warm with compassion and your hand will be open wide
cks, Money Orders, ETC., Payable to "Near East Elmer,
and Mail Them to Either of the Following Treasurers:
Treasurer THE AMERICAN Il
N. Y.
Relief, the Red Cross, or the contributors to this Func