Albuquerque morning journal., 1922-12-04
SUFFERINGS Of
THE NEAR EAST
ARE DESCRIBED
Generous Response to Guy
TaIbott'S Plea in "Great-
est Tragedy of Modern
History"


tragedy of modern times" in talk
given yesterday morning at the
First Methodist church. In the
evening he addressed a gathering
of Christian Endeavor members,
at the First Presbyterian church.
In both instances his description
of the misery of the people of the
Near East brought a generous re-
sponse. At tho First Methodist
church, yesterday morning, $1,000
was contributed to the relief. Earl
C. Porterfield, assistant cashier of
the Citizens National bank, was
made custodian of the fund. The
response at tho First Presbyterian
church last night was also gener-
Gus, while other contributions to
the fund have been promised.
In his talk at the First Metho-
dist church yesterday morning,
Rev. Talbot said:
THE greatest tragedy of modern
history has recently occurred in
the Near East at Smyrna where
100000 people were. rendered
homeless and destitute, $4,000
more were massacred, $4,000
Christian girls gwen over to lustful
Turkish soldiers, and the most
beautiful city Of Asia left u
smouldering ruin.
1.-THE Near East relief was quick
to come to the aid Of the hundreds
of thousands of helpless Greek and
Armenian refugees who have now
been removed to zones of safety
on the Aegean islands or the Greek
mainland.
Fathers and Mothers Slain.
"These Christian refugees and
victims Of Turkish hate constitute
only part of the enormous life
saving work of the Near East re-
lief. Our most important work is
the saving and training OF tens of
of little children, whose
fathers and mothers have been
killed by the Turks. American
philanthropy is the only hope of
these homeless, helpless waits in
the Bible lands. Eighty per cent
of these orphan children are out
side Turkish territory.
Last summer ] visited this
land of tragedy and atrocity. !
saw the tens of thousands of hap
py children, safe under American
care But for every child within
the fold of safety there were two
hungry and homeless waits out
side. / would give anything If
could forever blot from my mem
ory the terrible scenes in Russian
Armenia.
At the Foot of Mt. Ararat
trYl,t rrVpnfn1 "A
as our train stopped at Alexandra
pol, at the foot Of Mt. Ararat, was
a man falling dead Of starvation
before our eyes on the station
platform. At the corner of the
station l looked into the face of a
little nameless waif that had wan
dered in from the caves in the
hills or from the desert roadside.
She had fallen dead from starVa-
ton and was lying on the ground
with her little pinched face upturn-
ed to the torrid August sun, wait
ing for the dead wagon to come
and pick up her little body and
carry it UP on the hillside above
there to be buried
with thousands of others, in a
nameless grave.
1--WE saw scores and scores OF
the dead and dying on the streets
Of AleXandropol. 1t was impossible
TO walk through the streets with
out stumbling over dead bodies.
Death met you at every turn. But
death, even by. starvation, is not
so terrible as to look into the
pinched. weazened faces of fam
Iished, perishing little children,
slowly dying for want of a crust
Of bread.
"At Alexandropol the Near East
Relief is caring for twenty thou
sand orphans. These children are
housed in the old Russian army |
barracks, which are furnished free
by the Armenian government. |
was formerly the
central supply station for the Rus
sian Trans-caucasian army and |
lad barracks for ninety thousand |
soldiers. 1t was taken by the
Turks and later was evacuated at
he insistence Of the Russian
soviet government. They de-
itroyed one hundred and forty viii
ages as they withdrew, leaving a
luarter of a million people home
ess.
"The brave American workers at
Alexandropol and Erivan are true
o the spirit of America. They are
;iving their lives for those who
ire in dire need and who have no
,ther friends. An instance of the
inselfish purpose of these true
hearted Americans is seen in the
act that even now several of
hem at Aiexandropol are suffer-
ng from the dreaded eye disease,
rachoma, SO prevalent all over
he Near East. Yet these Ameri-
ans have never deserted their
,osts.
Outside the Gates
ut is pitiful outside the gates to
go the hundreds Of homeless,
waits who are not in
ide the Near East Relief insti-
utions. This awful situation was
nome to us in most re-
narkable way. We had been Wis
ting one of the orphanages in
1rivan, where several hundred
title tots were eating their meal
f bread and soup. They were
lothed in clothes that came from
generous American home. They
rere fed by bread from loving
american hearts. They were be-
ng taught useful trades bf pa
lent. trained American teachers.
hey were happy, contented chill
rem.
"Just as we left the homelike
Gene of this orphanage, at the
cry door, we saw mob of a
undred famished. ragged, starved
title bodies. with souls still more
ungry rocking wist fully from
yes that were aged and dulled by
days and nights of woe
nd despair. They were holding
ut their hands for bread and
leading to be cared for. There
ras no room.
American must continue her aid
, this stricken nation, for these