death by massacre or starvation of probably over a million Armenians and as many more Syrians and Nestorian Christians, and the dislocation and deportation of perhaps seven hundred thousand Greeks, a large number of whom have died in consequence. These victims of abThese victims of absolutism, far worse than the absolutism of Abdul Hamid, were gotten out of the way, not primarily because they were Christians, though that was used as an excuse before the more fanatical Moslems. It was first of all the result of the Turkification policy which had already been felt by Albanians and Arabs, and which resulted in the separation of each from Turkey. There is a socalled Parliament sitting in Constantinople; but that body has no power at all. The will of the Triumvirate is carried out, sometimes through it and oftener without consulting it. As for the responsibility for these wholesale crimes, we may assign with great probability the destruction of the Armenians to the account of Talaat; that of the Syrians and the Arabs to Djemal, and the deportation and sufferings of the Greeks to Enver. The latter has tried to justify the treatment of the Greeks as a war measure; they were on the seacoasts and were supposed to be aiding the British and French blockading fleet, and later to be in sympathy with the attitude of Greece.

Economically, the natural result of these hideous crimes has been stagnation all through the country. The Armenians, Syrians and Greeks

were the progressive elements and had the vast majority of the business interests of the land in their hands. Ever since Turkey entered the war, in October, 1914, the whole country has been blockaded, and imports have ceased. Prices have soared and suffering has been intense; but the suicidal policy of killing the goose that laid the golden egg is responsible for by far the larger part of this suffering. Thoughtful Turks all over the land have seen this, and in several cases have loudly protested and have even demanded the return of those exiled. But all efforts have been in vain; any complaint against government action has been branded as treason, and those Turks whose mouths could not thus be shut, have been severely punished by exile or death, or long terms of imprisonment. No one has yet access to the facts as to how many other assassinations have followed that of the Heir Presumptive, Youssouf Izzeddin. Whoever stood in the way, high or low, Turk or not, had to go. Terrorism still holds sway, and the evil Triumvirate yet rules.

Turkey has been borrowing money from Germany. We cannot yet know the conditions of the loans; but we do know that there are virtually no sources of income left for Turkey. That hapless land, rich in natural resources, could under a decent government be easily self-supporting; instead it is bankrupt several times over. Its only hope is to get rid of such a set of rulers as have brought it to this pass.

The Young Turk Government

started out with the motto: "Liberty, Justice, Equality, Fraternity." Every word of this motto has proved a mockery. It started out as a constitutional monarchy. One monarch has been dethroned, a puppet put in his place, the heir to the throne assassinated, and the real power usurped by an evil clique. It is as yet too early to learn whether or not the new Sultan, Vahid-ed-din, or Mohammed VI., as he is to be known, has a mind of his own. The constitution has been made a plaything and the rights of each of the constituent elements in the country trampled on. It started out as a protest against the tyranny of Abdul Hamid. Each year since, the num

T

ber has increased of those who long for the rule of the Red Sultan as preferable to that of the Committee. It started out to give Turkey her rightful place among the civilized nations of Europe. But Turkey has now not only forfeited a place in Europe; she has demonstrated to everyone that the Turk has no genius for self-government, and that the kindest thing possible for the Turks is to give them a foreign government that will be decent to them. The best elements among them have long been looking wistfully at Egypt, and longing for a British rule of that character as the solution of their problems. Now is the time to grant some such permanent and beneficial government to this distressed land.

HE question is often asked "do

the funds given for and sent to the suffering people in Asia Minor and Syria now living within the Turkish Empire, reach them?" The writer has been associated with this relief work from its beginning and has assisted in the organization and development of the forces that now administer this fund in the Turkish Empire. He is therefore able to speak from personal knowledge of the methods used by this

Committee for reaching the needy people in Turkey and the success which has attended the use of these methods.

There have been during the last twenty-five years several occasions when large distributions of relief funds were made necessary by famine or other general calamities. Twice before the outbreak of the present war had the distribution of relief funds on a large scale been called for in consequence of the hostile ac

tion of the Turkish authorities against their Christian subjects.

In every attempt to relieve the needs of the people occasioned by these public calamities, the American Missionaries whose staff of workers is scattered throughout the whole of Asia Minor, have been foremost in administering the gifts from abroad.

This band of devoted workers, recruited from among the choicest of America's sons and daughters numbering upwards of three hundred able-bodied men and women, by long residence in the country, by close contact with the people, by the free use of the languages spoken, and by frequent experience in the handling of relief funds, have become experts in understanding the needs of the people and in devising the best methods for meeting these needs. They have acquired peculiar skill in using in the most effective and economical way the funds put at their disposal. Their ability to respond sympathetically and wisely to all the requirements of the situation created by great public calamities has not been surpassed in any field nor have those "staying qualities" of perseverance and unwearied devotion so needful to make work of this character successful and of lasting benefit, been exceeded in any relief zone in Europe.

The work of reaching the unfortunate victims of Turkish cruelty and oppression was begun as soon as the need for this ministration appeared. With the tidings concerning the first deportations, the Central Office in Constantinople was quickly able to reach the needy through the instru

ers.

mentality of the American missionaries, assisted by the Consuls of America and of other friendly PowAs it became known that the deportations were general, involving large numbers of people, steps were immediately taken to organize in the various localities through which the deported people were passing, efficient committees superintended by the missionaries, consuls and other public spirited persons to render such aid as was possible under the circumstances and for employing the funds which were rapidly forwarded from the Central Office in Constantinople.

So widely was this band of sympathetic friends and helpers distributed throughout the country that there were few places of importance in the interior where these relief agents were not to be found, all of whom were in close contact with the Central agency at the Capital.

Early in the history of this sad experience the American Embassy

under the direction of Ambassador Morgenthau, took a leading part in the work of soliciting funds in America and in organizing and directing the work of relief among the suffering people in Turkey. The forces and the resources of the Consular Staff in the Provinces, as well as of the Embassy at the Capital, were freely given to aid in the work of organizing and assisting in the relief activities and in making the Committee formed in America at the request of Ambassador Morgenthau, now known as the American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief, ac

quainted with the needs of the stricken people, and the urgency which the circumstances of their condition necessitated. Mr. Morgenthau's successors, Mr. Hoffman Philip and Ambassador Elkus, continued most ably the work inaugurated by Mr. Morgenthau. A great organization embracing the Committee in New York, organized there for the purpose of raising funds for the relief of the Christian populations in Asia Minor, and including the Central Agency at Constantinople and the distributors at the various centers through which the deported people were passing, or where they were congregated, was well organized, and in active operation at the time of the severance of diplomatic relations between Turkey

and the United States.

The American Ambassador, the entire Consular Staff, and many of the missionaries were obliged to leave the Turkish Empire at this time but a sufficient number of the missionaries remained at their posts to continue the work of relief on substantially the same lines as those upon which it was originally organized.

It is characteristic of Turkish methods, be they good or bad in their aims, that continuity of action is seldom practiced. To one acquainted therefore with the Turkish character it is not surprising that a movement which appeared at the outset to have for its purpose the extermination of whole races of people, should later on lose its fury, and indifference and even toleration be displayed by the Central authorities, and especially by the local officials, towards the ef

forts taken to ameliorate the condition of the victims of their hatred. The war in its progress brought a host of measures of more engrossing importance than the pursuit of the work of full extermination of peoples already "reduced" and so it came to pass that those engaged in the distribution of relief have been allowed an increasing degree of freedom in their approach to the suffering people and in their efforts to relieve their necessities. Each local committee is still within reach of the Central agency at Constantinople through the medium of the banks and other methods of financial exchange and thus the funds sent to Constantinople can be forwarded to the local com

mittees, however distant, and although diplomatic relations with Turkey have been severed by the action of the Turkish Government, the Committee in New York is still able through the considerate action of the State Department and the War Trade Board, to forward its funds. to the Central agency at Constantinople.

It will thus be seen that the organization on the field remains in good force and working order and that the channel of communication which was originally established and through which the funds from the beginning have found their way from the givers in this country to the recipients in Turkey has not been closed but is still open. Though this channel is somewhat restricted, owing to war conditions, it still continues to be effective for passing on the gifts from the donor to the recipient.

IN

N October, 1915, an urgent cablegram came from Ambassador Morgenthau, then in Constantinople, reporting the unprecedented massacres, persecutions and suffering of the Armenians and appealing for immediate financial assistance to save the large numbers of refugees, widows and orphans. A meeting was hurriedly called in the office of Mr. Cleveland H. Dodge, in New York. Sixty thousand dollars was immediately subscribed and cabled, and a committee formed with Dr. James L. Barton, chairman; Professor Samuel T. Dutton, secretary, and Charles R. Crane, treasurer. The committee as first organized contemplated relief only for the Armenians, whose suffering at that time eclipsed all other known persecutions. There had, however, been formed at about the same time two other American relief committees, one, the Persian War Relief Fund, for the relief of the Assyrian Christians, driven from the highlands of Eastern Turkey onto the plains of Western Persia, and the Syrian Palestine Relief Committee, which was endeavoring to stay the ravages of starvation in Syria and Palestine. In November, 1915, these two committees united with the Armenian Committee, forming the enlarged organization known as the

American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief.

FIELD OF OPERATION GEOGRAPHICALLY

The field includes not only Asia Minor and those portions of Armenia and Syria that are in the Ottoman Empire, but also includes the Russian Caucasus, Persia, Mesopotamia, Palestine, and portions of Egypt and Macedonia into which refugees, Armenians, Syrians and Greeks, have fled in large numbers.

FIELD OF OPERATION RACIALLY

While the name of the committee suggests work for Armenians and Syrians, this is only because these regions were the first to suffer in the wholesale persecution that broke forth in the summer of 1915. Since

that time Greeks, to the number of half a million at least, have been deported in a similar manner and large numbers of them are now destitute and helpless. It is this and similar work for other subject races that has led to the proposed change of name and incorporation by Act of Congress as THE AMERICAN COMMITTEE FOR RELIEF IN THE NEAR East.

EXTENT OF NEED

Within the area served by this Committee there are at the present time four million people, most of them women and children, members of sub