Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 January 1919 — ARMENIA SYMBOL OF SUFFERING FOR AGES [ARTICLE]

ARMENIA SYMBOL OF SUFFERING FOR AGES

THROUGH ALL YEARS OF PERSECUTION HAS E EM FAITHFUL TO CHRISTIAN RELIGION. The Belgian Tragedy Falls into Un- . .importance When Compered . With That of Near East. By MARY LOUIKE.CARMICHAEL the wonderful litUe nation'’ sn many times overpowered but never >ercume, is accepted by the world as the symbol of stiff.-tring - Stnce the year oil. wtreirthe Armen fans first inctirre I hostility of Rome be?au<e t)iey had adopted..the Christian faith, down through the centuries to the present time these I < ;ple have been persecuted for their tenacity in the profession of Chris” tianity. But persecution ha’s only increased their fidelity Today those who have escaped the horrible massacres perpetrated by" 1 ’ their’ oppressors are 'homeless ♦wanderers, scattered througnout A: i 1 Minor and many are found in the Caucasus under Russian rule. Ttfey have shown remarkable tenacity in preserving their individuality as a people and the ability to recover from disaster. ' They were the earliest nation to become Christian and have as a nation steadily adhered to the faith, although thousands of their "nuhibef - Eave” suffered martyrdom on account of their religious belief. ~The last Armenian Icing surrendered to Egypt in 1375 and never since has the nation been strong enough to regain its freedom, surrounded as it is by hostile tribes and cut off from help from western nations. For over a thousand years they have been under Tur ki sh oppression, but although they are a subject race and have had the most fearful atrocities practised on them, they have retained their racialpurityandcustoms,,—their steadfastness in the Christian faith and their language. On account of their religious belief and their sane habits, of life, they have managed to keep their intellectual vigor and physical strength. The Turks have always been jealousof the ability and intelligence of the Armenians and have feared their shrewdness. In proportion to their number, they have acquired far more of the wealth Qf the land than the Turks and this has aroused the envy of their rulers. Turkey has tried to abolish the Armenian question by abolishing the Armenians. The Turkish government, with the approval if not with the direct cooperation of Germany, has tried to exterminate an entire people whose chief offense was industry and whose unforgiving crime was the profession of Christianity. As Belgium .by her heroic resistance against Germany. saved Paris, so Armenia by refusing to join Turkey, stood loyal to the Allies and made it impossible for Germany to carry out her plans ln_ the Caucasus. T.:e American Committee of the Armenian and Syrian Relief is asking the people of this country for $30,000,000 to meet . the immediate needs of the sufferers in the Near East who have been drived from their homes and deprived of their means of 1 ivel ihood. More than One million Armenians and Syrians in Turkey and western Asia have per. ished during the past .two years from exposure, starvation, disease, heartless deportation and cruel massacre. There are still two and a half millions of homeless and destitute peo pie in Armenia and Syria, and at least 400.000 of the'se are children without fathers and many of them without mothers. They are experiencing living death, enduring the horrors of hunger aud the tortures of want. The Armenian tragedy is one before which the tragedy of Belgium pales. Other martyred nations have had their friends and been provided with help, hut Armenia has been virtually cut off from olitside aid. left to bleed, to suffer and die. A little more and an entire Christian nation will have perished from the earth.

These two million five hundred thousand Armenians can be saved from final starvation onjy as America appreciates their awful condition, and extends the helping hand of fellowship and sympathy. Indiana’s quota of the national fund is $629,172. It is estimated that $5 a month, S6O a year will save a life. The amount asked of this state will rescue 21,000 people from starvation and start them on a self-supporting basis. The campaign organisation in this state is completed, county quotas have been assigned and several counties have already sent in checks to state’ headquarters at 404 City Trust Building. Indianapolis, for the full amount of their .quotas with the promise' of an oversubscription. Four war chest counties, Miami, Montgomery, Ohio and Steuben and Carroll, which is a tax levy county, have voted to allow the full amount required of them. Harrison county has raised its quota and sent in a check with the word they expected a goodsized oversubscription. The people of Indiana have never failed to open their hearts and their pursue stritags to the cry of humanity and they will not fail to respond to this appeal of dying men, nomen and chi'dren. This is a 100 per cent charity. Not a cent will be deducted anywhere along the'Tine for postage or clerical help, Or advertising, or transporthtion. or administrative, STgem see. .. ' * ■ *