Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 304, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 December 1918 — Making Our Flag Beloved [ARTICLE]

Making Our Flag Beloved

By HAMLIN GARLAND

Of The Vigilantes

Among the victims of the measureless ruin which the Prussian militarists have wrought in their desire to dominate the world, Armenia and Syria have high claim to our sympathy. Suffering the full horror of the conquered they have been isolated from the allies who would have helped them if they could. Turkey, the partner of Germany and the cause of the suffering and desolation of the Armenians, Is now conquered and It Is possible for America to rescue the despairing and the hungry in'those lands. This is a duty which we cannot regretfully postpone. We are and must continue to be the storehouse of the world. Our resources must be put to the use of those who' suffer. France and England, in spite of their almost Inconceivable war burdens, are each doing their part in the work of freeing and feeding the oppressed. We should’ not fail of a ready and full co-opera-tion. <

Today the War Is Won. Thus far we have not felt in any decree the pinch of the war—we have hardly been incommoded. We have saved sugar and meat and flour and submitted to restrictions in other ways, but we have not suffered iq. the slightest the pain and the grief of other countries. The sacrifices we have made seem very small and very poor in comparison with what Belgium and Poland and other equally innocent bystanders have endured. Today the war is won—we can seize our great oppoetunity. We have made our flag respected by the valor of our sailors and soldiers, now let us make It beloved by the wise use of our almost limitless wealth. How great, how peaceful the United States seems as we read the reports from the scourged and desolated lands of the East. From our plenty we must instantly send in order that hunger shall not end in starvation and that a whole people Shall not vanish from the earth. Germany has narrowed its field; as its allies retire they leave a multitude of homeless and famishing victims behind —they have no care for the ruined and the desolate—and America must step in to aid till such time as the oppressor can be forced to indemnify and restore. It is not necessary' for me to rehearse the ghastly story of Turko-lTus-sian barbaric cruelties—that has been done full and most movingly by others. My part to to plead with those who tew a surplus Chat they may heal the

sick, and house the helpless women and children in the wakq of the Turkish armies. Greatest Opportunity to Help. The committee for Armenian and Syrian relief is asking for a fund of $30,000,000. This seems but a small amount when set over against the nunMohammedan populations of the countries named in the appeal, and yet the committee* assures us that this sum will have the most enormous power of alleviation. It will not restore but it will provide the necessities of life to those who are for the moment unable to feed and clothe themselves. Every man who gives to this fund" will have the satisfaction of knowing that each dollar of his gift goes straight to its mark, affording almost instant relief to some poor soul who is physically suffering and in despair of the future. To send this relief will prove to them, and to the rest 'of thfi. world, that we, the richest of nations, can be upon demand the most generous of nations. If we do ourpart at this time we can make the<Stars and Stripes not only respected, but beautiful in the eyes of the citizens of those faraway lands. It will 1 seem the sign of pity and of healing, the symbol of hope and peace which dur forefathers intended it to be. i An A <>'■