The Monroe journal., 1922-02-03
GRAPHIC PICTURE
SUFFERING NATION
Mr.. Thomas Writes of Desperate
Condition of the Armenian
Women and Children
FAITHFUL IN WORLD WAR
No People Did More in Proportion
to Strength and Now We Must
Care for the Helpless
By W. E. Thomas Of the Monroe Bar

By W. E. Thomas Of the Monroe Bar
On last Saturday at the Strand
Theater picture was shown that
every citizen of Union county should
have seen. 1t was not a romantic
picture of high society life, in which
dangerously alluring women half
clothed in purple and fine linen fitted
through the picture eagerly pursued
by gay Lotharios, smartly and nobish-
ly attired. 1t was picture showing
the misery, suffering and death of
nation of heroic people.
1t was a picture that would have
stirred the stoniest of hearts. There
were little children shown whose skull
bones were visible through the facial
skin. There were pale, wan-faced
children with lusterless eyes and hag-
gard expressions. Their pinched,
wrinkled and saddened faces looked
like the faces of old men rather than
those of little children. 1t was in
deed a pitiable sight-one that wrung
the hearts of those that saw it in
the deepest of sympathy. The scenes
were taken in Armenia and presented
a true picture of the actual condition
of the people of that country.
We are inclined to look upon the
Armenians as "them foreigners and
straightway classify all foreigners as
being alike and unworthy of our con-
sideration. Such a view is unfair
both to ourselves and to the Ar
menians. First of all, Armenia is
oldest national Christian church. 1t
is the oldest Christian nation in the
world. 1t is the scene of many of
the events laid down in the Bible.
Erivan, its capital, lies in the shadow
of Mt. Ararat where Noah built the
ark. To the southwest is the land
where Jesus walked. For one thou
sand years Armenia as a nation has
been prosecuted by the unspeakable
Turks because they would not re-
nounce Christ and all he stood for
and become Mohammedans. During
this thousand years of persecution
there is no record of single Ar
menian renouncing Christ and becom-
ing Mohammedan. Has history re-
corded any more loyal spirit than
this?
Have Held Steadfast
Men have been butchered in their
homes. Women have been carried
off to unspeakable Turkish harems;
little children have been turned into |
the streets to die; their mothers and
fathers murdered by the brutal in
vaders, but not single Armenian
has given in to the Turk super-bigot.
The periodical massacres of Ar
menians reported by refugees who es-
capped with their skin, were branded
as false by the Turk. These regular
massacres of Christians have been car
ried on for years,-but the Turk never
threw Off his disguise, pretending all
the while that he wanted every re-
ligion given free opportunity to ex-
ercse itself in the midst of the Sui
tan's realm. He never tore aside the
curtain and revealed himself in all
his diabolical shape, until his ally,
the Kaiser, seemed to be winning on
all fronts in the late war. Then he
threw aside the mask, and announced
that he intended to stamp out chris
tianity from his dominion. So he let
loose the fire and sword. The Four
Horsemen of the Apocalypse began
to ride across the Armenion plains.
The Turks program was to destroy
all adults who believed in Christ. The
men were all gone to war, but the
women were outraged and slain or
carried off to Turkish harems, and the
little children turned into the streets
to die.
With three million inhabitants five
years ago, Armenia has but one and
a half million left today, and that
million and half, namely, women and
children, will starve unless Christian
America shall meet the needs of
nation about to die. They have moth
ing, absolutely nothing.
A Noble Record
Armenia made the greatest proper
tionate sacrifice to the cause of free
dom in the great war. We are ac-
customed to think of the suffering of
England, Of the sacrifice of France,
of the heroism of little Belgium, but
not even Belgium gave as Armenia
gave in proportion to numbers to the
cause of freedom. Out of a popu-
lation but one-fifth as large again as
North Carolina, she sent 100000 to
the war and most of them never
came back. 1t is not known that any
unit of Armenians ever retreated or
that they ever surrended. What ma
tion in the World War has any such
record as this? They did not retreat
and they did not surrender, but with
the spirit of men of Thermopyl@,
they died. Their women and children
were left. 1t is our sacred and pa
triotic duty to take care of these
women and children of our former
comrades in arms. l.
Armenia has paid the most dread
full price of the war for religious faith
and national principle. Had the al
lied nations fulfilled their duty, she
would today be on the way to re-
habilitation, and with diseased and
bestial Turk expelled from her boun-
daries and her people at last permit
ted to call their souls their own. Ulti-
matelv this result will be achieved,