The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1922-04-13
SENTENCED TO DIE
Editorial from The Literary Digest
of April 15th)

of April 15th)
Twelve men, with grave faces, were
met to decide an issue of life or
| death.
No burly criminal stood there to re-
ceive punishment for his crime,-on-
/ ly little child, begging for life.
His sin was hunger and nakedness.
She trembled, and almost fell, as
she stretched out thin, bare arms in
supplication.
Hunger Bread" were the only
words she spoke.
! A long time passed, while those
men fought to escape the verdict they
must render. But then the words
! came:
eve have not found anyone who
will give you bread, little girl. We
have told a great many people about
you, but they have given to so many
other boys and girls that they are
tired of giving. There is not enough
bread, now, to go around-no, not
even a crust. We are very sorry,
dear little girl, but-we must let you
die"
q g 9 q e
A cruel jest? No! A cruel fact,
multiplied thousands upon thousands
Of times! If only one such pleading
child were condemned to die because
we are tired of giving" it would be
enough to blanch the cheeks of every
man and woman who reads this page.
But upon many thousands of boys
and girls the sentence of death has
just been passed.
In Armenia a Christian race is be-
ing blotted out-while the world
looks on. In Armenia peace did not
come when the rest of the world
stopped fighting. Last year 14O vii
lagos were destroyed; thousands of
mothers and grown daughters were
violated and slain; fathers were her
ded into buildings and burned; multi
tudes of orphaned children were driv-
en- into the wilderness to wander and
die, unless, perchance, they might be
gathered, like lost lambs, into folds
Of safety by the Near East Relief.
Conditions re worse than at any
time since the Armistice. Frantic ap-
peals for more food to save the chill .
dren, for more clothes to cover their
naked bodies, for more hospitals and
orphanages to give them refuge come
surgng over the cables to "kind, gen
erous America" the hoped-for savior
of Armenia.
And in the moment of this crisis, .
when the question Of life or death for
unnumbered thousands of children
must be answered, the tender char .
ity Of American mothers and fathers
has begun to fail Their answer to A..
the multitude of little orphans whose
only sin is hunger, and nakeduess.
and Unreasonable grief has BEEN
in December, January, February and
March-not more money. and more
clothing, and more food. but less.
And so the cruel order has gone forth
from the Offices Of the Near East Re
lief to reduce all expenditures
twenty-five percent Twenty five
children from every hundred now re-
ceiving care must be turned away.
Among the many thousands whose
walls Of hunger, sickness and cold
have not yet been answered, not one
can be satisfied.
And now the cries Of terror and
dismay are reaching America:
Cablegram, via Paris: thousands
of deportees illing Near East thresh-
old, receiving crust of bread. hoping
for summer peace Shall we push
them off our doorstep? Order of 25
percent reduction necessitates closing i
March first all general relief"
Cablegram, neutrality-suspicious.
ing increase of need for general relief
throughout Anatolia Caucasus. Re
iuction in already inadequate proper
tons cuts off multitudes who are
hopeless without American aid"
Cablegram, from American Wo-
mems Hospital, Erivan; I'VE have
eight hundred and fifty-two cases in
the hospital, and children dying in all
corners of Erivan. All day long we !
IAN hear the walls and groans of lit {
lie children outside the office building {
hoping we can and will pick them up.
# the sun shines a little while they
luiet down; when it rains they begin I
again. One day when the rain turned |
% snow it was awful to listen to t
hem. The note of terror that came |
INTO the general wall was plainly per-
;eptible upstairs, and | had the win !
lows closed. They well know what l
hight in the snow would mean to S
hem. We are picking them up as |
FAST as possible, but it is fatal to {
'rowd them to such a point that we s