Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 134, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 June 1915 — TO FEED REFUGEES [ARTICLE]

TO FEED REFUGEES

Serious Problem Which Greece Is Trying to Solve. At Least One Person in Fifteen in Greece Is a Refugee—Country Roads Stream With People Fleeing From Asia Minor. Mitylene.—Of the many problems which beset Greece, that of the refugees from Asia Minor and Thrace is not the least pressing. Altogether there are nearly 400,000 of these unfortunate people in Greece and the formerly Turkish islands. Estimating the population of the, country at 6,000,000, it will be seen that practically one person in fifteen is a refugee. These poor people are of all classes, and it is no uncommon thing to see a child of gentle birth reduced to rags and the acceptance of the casual charity available in a third-rate case. Probably more than any other part of Greek territory, this island shows the sad effects of the advent of these uninvited and, it must be admitted, scarcely welcome, guests. Still, they have to be fed, and Mitylene does its best. The present war has affected the trade of the islands -considerably, and with it the spending capacity of the people, quite apart from the fact that the state funds find it difficult enough to provide this surplus population with their fixed allowance of eight cents per head daily, with a certain reduction for each person in the case of a family. * \ When it is remembered that, owing to heavy taxation, this country is very expensive to live in, it will be seen that much indeed is left to private charity. In Mitylene alone the normal population of 20,000 has been almost doubled by the arrival of these ragged peasants, and there are about 70,000 more in the rest of the island, the inhabitants of the whole of Lesbos numbering some 140,000 in ordinary times. Some of these people, with a certain poetic justice, are quartered in the houses vacated by Turks who have returned to the country of their origin during the last few years, but these houses are quite Inadequate, and in many cases ten people ate crowded in one room. # In all parts of the interior of Asia Minor and the clearly visible coastline opposite, they have voyaged to these Islands and the mainland of Greece for months past. Beggars throng the streets, no more road-mak-ing or other manual work being available, and send their children into the poor eating houses and inns of the place. Along the country roads they stream, dependent largely on the generosity of the passer-by, and resting now and then under the olive groves of the Island, where Sapho .loved and sang. In the Turkish town of Alvaly there are still about 20,000 Christians. The Turks seem to be trying to starve them out by preventing food being sent to them. Nobody can leave the town to look after property on the outskirts without grave danger of being killed. A curious, and in many respects typical refugee’s story is that of O’iver Clarke, who reached here a few weeks ago. Clarke, born |n Smyrna, is of English parentage, and a British subject, but nobody who saw the bearded, half-broken man who returned to his wife and three daughters after months of absence would have taken him for anything but a Turk. Indeed, it was merely on account of his Oriental dress and knowledge of Turkish that Clarke was suffered to exist on a beggarly wage at Pergamos —the only Christian for miles around. He is a blacksmith by trade and, doubtless, proved useful to his masters in the state of practical slavery to which he was subjected. The story he gave me was vouched for by M. Ellopoulos, formerly British vice-consul at Aivaly, himself a refugee, who has the cause of his compatriots at heart. Clarke was sent to Pergamos in a cart, together with a Frenchman and his mother. They were escorted by the governor of Dikely and gendarmes. The latter robbed Clarke, and the governor relieved him of his cigarette lighter, remarking that it was “too good for a gendarme.” On arrival at Pergamos the governor of that place demanded that the French lady should sell all she pos-

sessed to pay all debts which he had invented for the purpose, before she and her son would be allowed to go. Finally the couple were permitted to leave for Smyrna, after the lady had "sold” her valuable olive crops—for |125! Clarke was brought back to Dikely, where he continued to drudge for a pittance. Eventually he escaped to Smyrna, wearing his fez. Only his Turkish disguise, which had enabled him to live there many months, provided him with a means of escape.