HOW YOUR GIFT IS SAVING THE ARMENIANS

The Literary Digest.

March 9, 1918
Almost in the shadow of Mount Ararat lies Yerevan, the center of Armenian relief-work
in the Caucasus. The ancient city is now predominated by fugitives from the persecutions
of the Turk, the refugees numbering nearly a quarter of a million. There the
representatives of the American relief organizations have their headquarters, and from
this point the work is carried on for the aid of the stricken people, of whom William T.
Ellis writes in the Buffalo Express:
There are no starving Armenians in Yerevan. Yet this is the center of the community that
fled from Turkey under the spur of the persecutions of the Turk. The reason is that the
American committee for Armenian and Syrian relief, of which Cleveland H. Dodge,
Metropolitan Building, New York, is treasurer, has established here a system of organized
relief, including industrial work on an extensive scale, that has meant literally life, as well
as rehabilitation, to this section of the refugees, who number altogether about a quarter of
a million in the Caucasus.
Perhaps that industrial work will make the best start for the story. Instead of direct relief,
in the form of food or money, the committee, with an eye to the future of the people, has
distributed labor, except in the case of children and helpless women. Since clothing as
well as food has to be provided the refugees, the committee has begun at the beginning,
and distributed cotton and wool among the women to be cleaned, carded, and spun -
except that the cotton is first carded, after the ancient bowstring fashion, by men. The
wool is given out as it comes from the sheep' backs. This is returned by the women in the
form of yarn, for the spinning of which they are paid. Thousands of pairs of socks have
also been knitted by the women.
Because the Armenians are skilled artisans, they have been set to making knock-down
hand-looms, and upon the machines thus built trained weavers are set to making cloth out
of the yarn spun by the women. This cloth is used for underclothing, in the case of the
cotton goods, and for outer garments made of wool. A fine quality of homespun is
produced, which could be sold in the Russian markets at a profit. Instead, all the clothing
thus produced is used for the refugees. Last winter 15,000 persons were clothed, and this
year an additional 10,000 orphans will be clad in the most comfortable garments they
have ever known. Of course, all the tailoring is done by Armenian refugees.
This is the sight that old Ararat now looks down upon: a little company of American
board missionaries, at present lent to the relief committee, creating anew, amid unusual
conditions, an entire industrial organization that will provide, without pauperizing, for the
needs of a homeless and utterly destitute people. The Rev. E. A. Yarrow, of Van, the local
chairman, began this phase of America's ministry, and George F. Gracey, whose industrial
work at Urfa was destroyed by the Turks, has contributed his expert knowledge in
building up this organization, although Messrs. Mac Callum, Reynolds, and Maynard
have taken to it all as if it were preaching. All the elaborate organization of cards and
records and investigation, which social science at home demands, has been kept in
operation, that only the deserving might be helped. This is the Orient.
No men are helped except to be given work, and no workers are used by the Americans
unless they are refugees. No clothing goes to the adult, but for the orphan children there
is direct relief in the shape of ten rubles a month, or about one dollar and sixty-six cents,
a small enough pittance since only one child in a family receives the amount which must
provide for mother and brother and sisters, if there be any. The first allowance was only
six rubles, or one dollar a month, but owing to the depreciation of the ruble and the
increase of gifts from America the sum was increased to ten rubles. Says Mr. Ellis:
I was present when the first distribution of this increased allowance was made, and many
were the blessings rained upon the head of the Americans. Naturally, with the present big
prices, and rubles worth only six to the dollar, ten rubles a month does not buy many
grand pianos.
A building and site for an orphanage have been bought by the committee, and is being
enlarged by refugee workmen. Dr. G. C. Reynolds, the veteran missionary from Van,
whose wife died on the retreat, and who has come out here to end his days in congenial
activity, is in charge of the orphan relief and the orphanage. He conducted a large
orphanage in Van. His purpose, he says, is not by any means to gather all orphans into
institutions, but to train a hundred picked boys and later the same number of girls, who
may become leaders of the Armenian people. There are hundreds of orphanages being
well maintained by the Armenians themselves, through their joint Armenian committee.
Something like 7,000,000 rubles every six months is spent by this committee.
All the work upon the new orphanage is being done by refugees, from the building of the
walls to the construction of the beds and the tables and garments.
Other relief-work for the children is the furnishing of milk for the babies, and the
maintenance of a physician, and the opening of a hospital. Dr. Kennedy is working with
the Americans, he being a Canadian, and representing the London Lord Mayor's
committee. A British Quaker, Mr. Heald, is representing the American committee at
Alexandropol, where there is a center of relief work. In 300 villages hereabouts the
Americans administer and supervise relief for the women and children. In the Yerevan
district, says Mr. Gracey, there are approximately 50,000 persons being aided, directly or
indirectly, by the American committee.
The shadow of Mount Ararat is not so ever present as the shadow of the great tragedy of
the Armenian nation. This man saw a priest shod like a horse, before he was slain; this
one saw crucifixions; this little boy and his sister lived for three months in the mountains
on roots and berries, before they came up with a force of Armenian volunteers; this
woman from Mush witnessed throughout four days, from her hiding-place before she got
away to the mountains, the locking of families into houses, many persons being crowded
into one house, whereupon kerosene was applied and the victims burned to death. The
mind grows numb, and the heart sick, from a constant recital of such tales of horror, as it
is difficult to believe the twentieth century could hold.
There are 200 orphanages established in the Caucasus with about 6,000 inmates and
upward of 300 schools for the refugee children, but, says the writer:
The outstanding factor in Armenian relief has been the American committee. Its work has
been on a large scale, and systematic form. All of it has been supervised by Americans,
and the subordinate workers have been men and women trained in American mission
schools, and known personally to the missionaries. Professors have not hesitated to
become relief agents in villages, or accountants or actual workers in the industrial
department. Had it not been for the fact that there were available a force of American
board missionaries knowing the language and the land and the people, and with trusted
helpers at hand, the wonders that have been wrought in the way of repatriation,
rehabilitation, and the maintenance of life, and self- respect would have been impossible.
Could I write the hundreds of tributes to America that have been given to me by high and
low for transmission, I would need columns of space, and the stories would all be attuned
to the note of America's uniqueness as the brother nation, the friend of the needy
everywhere.