Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-01-09
BACKGROUND OF EVENTS
BY PAUL J.. COLLINS.

I, Moses. Thou shalt love thy neighboc
as myself" the Koran taught:
20 true believers, wage war against
such of infdelS as are near you. and
let them find severity in you" CAL
koran, chapter -
When we encounter the unbeliev
ers strike off their heads until We
have made a great slaughter among
them" CAlkoran, chapter Az
The last prayer of Mohammed
was: Lord, destroy the Jews and
Christians"
This teaching demonstrates the
background of the history of the
fate of the subjugated Armenians for
the last thousand years. At the be
ginning of the World War there We're
go, 900 ArmenianS in Turkish Ar
menia and 1,076,O00 in the rest Of
the Turkish empire, 1000 in Rus
STA, l.llS.000 in the Caucasus and
100000 in PERSIA total Of 100000.
in spite of the terrible, wholesale
maSsacreS since 1885. During the war
defenseless Armenians were repeat
eddy massacred by the Turks, not
less than 100000 being slain and
100000 driven into deserts to die
of exposure and starvation. Today
the total living are less than 1900
900. They are Christians and
whites"
x X *
There are in the United States
| about so 900 ArmenianS. The immi-
| grafton quota is very limited. even
| though quotas for countries outside
! of the present limits of postwar
| Armenia are considered open TO
| them, in competition with natives of
| the respective countries. The pres
ent Armenia (under q British man
| date which protects against further
| Turkish oppression) is accorded a
| quota of 124 per annum, but so far
| this year beginning July - we have
| admitted only "a.
| Armenians from Greece have to face
| a quota for Greece of only 100, against
| which it is estimated there are 5000
Greek applicants waiting. Turkey has
a quota of 100 immigrants, with $50
estimated as the number of waiting
| applicants.
| Just how many of the SO, 900 Armeni.
| ans already in America have yet be-
come citizens is unknown, but there
| is expected now to be a rush of appli.
cations for that privilege.
| Y 4 x*
The case which has just been decided
| in favor of Armenian naturalization is
| that of Tatos o. Cartozian. He had
been given citizenship in Oregon. The
Department of Labor appealed the
case for cancellation of his papers on
the ground that he was not eligible
having been born in Armenia OF Ar.
menian parentage. The District Court
dismissed the appeal, holding that Ar
menians are whites" and therefore
within our law. The court. in his
| opinion, said:
1T is now judicially determined that
! the mere color of the skin of the In
dividual does not afford a practical
test as to whether he Is eligible tc
American citizenship, as that differs
greatly among persons of the same
race, even among Anglo-Saxons, rang
| ing by imperceptible gradations from
| the fair blond to the swarthy brunette
the latter being darker than many oil
| the lighterhued persons Of the brown
or yellow races. The test is racial.
| Although the Armenian province is
within the confines of the Turkish en-
pire, being in Asia Minor, the people
| thereof have always held themselves
aloof from the Turks, the Kurds ano
allied peoples, principally, 1t might bt
said, on account of their religion
| though color may have had something
to do with it. Armenians IL
| Asia Minor are of Alpine stock, o.
| European persuasion; they are white
persons. as commonly recognized IL
speech of common usage, and as popu
larly understood and interpreted il
this country by our forefathers."
r The Department Of Justice comedies
so strongly with this decision that il
has decided to make no appeal to {
higher court.