Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 199, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 September 1917 — TURKISH HORDES LOOT JERUSALEM [ARTICLE]

TURKISH HORDES LOOT JERUSALEM

Ottoman Butchers Slay Inhabitants, Seeing Their Own Doom Is Sure. /■ 9 WOMEN’S FATE IS TERRIBLE Situation In Palestine Most Gerioua Since War Began—Germany Exercises No Restraining Influence on Her Turk Allies. Cairo, Egypt—The situation in Palestine Is the - most serious since the war began. A scheme for the looting of Jerusalem Is already being executed and throughout the country the Turk has embarked on a calculated policy of plundering and killing the native inhabitants, so that if they are forced to vacate the country they will leave behind them a desert. The only thing that can save them, the only hope that bouys them up, is that the British armies now hammering at the gates of the Holy Land may soon drive out the Turks. Information about conditions in Palestine is received here from many sources, some more or less direct, but most of them roundabout. The following statement of the situation is given to the Associated Press by an official in touch with all these sources: “The attitude of the Young Turks toward the unfortunate non-Turklsh races within their empire has always been harsh and oppressive. During the war it has been an open campaign of robbery, exploitation and massacre, for the Young Turks, realizing that the partition of the lands under their rule is unavoidable, have .determined to get as much as they can out of the inhabitants while they are In possession. 1 Hate All Subject Races. “The stupendous wickedness of the extermination of the Armenian nation cannot be dismissed as a mere device of Oriental statecraft or as a particular measure aimed at one pdrticular raceTTor it—is-Turklsh policy towards not only Armenians, but Arabs, Greeks and Jews —in fact all peoples who are subjects of the Turk, but are not themselves of Turkish blood. . “While there was some prospect of being able to retain or even enlarge their empire, the Turks, although treating their subject races badly, did not actually seek to destroy them. Today, knowing themselves doomed, it is 1 heir calculated policy to kill off the inhabitants of Palestine and extort tho last ounce of money and goods from them, so that-if they are forced to vacate the country they will leave behind them a desert —a poverty-stricken and depopulated land. “Their policy is not consistent with military or economic needs and is not supported by even the slenderest pretexts for its necessity. It is dictated solely by . a savage brutality. The Turk has in the past shown s>me aptitude for diplomacy, if little for statesmanship, but the modern Young TurTtbfthecomrnitteeof’Uriion and progress is an infinitely worse tyrant than his predecessors, and all the native savagery and blood lust that are his heritage now find vent in deliberate and organized crimes. He works untrammeled by diplomatic convention and reckless of the inevitable consequences. Germany has, pxercised no restraining influence and indeed shares largely in the Ottoman guilt. “Palestine is somewhat cut off from the' world and news of the dreadful happenings within Its borders reaches civilization slowly. It is usually im-* possible to learn the fate of individuals,but a good general idea of the situation is in our hands.

“The disaster that befell the Armenian nation is being meted out to the- mixed non-Turkish population of Syria and Palestine.’* 1 Families are being massacred, towns and territories' evacuated, communities plundered and given over to pillage. “Recently the town of Gaza was ordered evacuated. In pursuance of the order the inhabitants were forced to set out upon their journey with nothing but the clothes they wore. Al) their belongings were left in their homes and_these were immediately delivered over to the Turkish troops for loot. There were the usual scenes of wanton destruction and willful defilement; no Kvomen were spared the customary accompaniment of a Turkish visitation. footing Of Jerusalem Thorough. “Gaza having been pillaged and the soldiers not yet being sated, it was proposed t<f carry out -the same program at Jerusalem. The head notables, however, protested that, having seer the exhibition at Gaza, they preferred to chance the risks of war to enduring the certain agony of a forced evacuation. This answer and protest displeased the pasha so much that he promptly had the deputation transported- to-Anatolia and is- • taking special measures to see that his scheme for looting Jerusalem is not hindered by organized passive resistance amonj the inhabitants. “The system of oppression ip Palestine is thorough, but it is also stupid and wasteful. Cavalry horses are allowed to graze on such of the scanty young crops as the wretched Inhabitants have been able to grow, so that there will be- no grain this year in a country which is already well-nigh bare of corn.” * » ’