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Wt wMmWW -: WW; mmwmmW ' m m rWmETMmnAimmx, Tuesday, ttPRffi is, 1922 ! "j. m ' ,ri j44 ti .1. " A'.' .s-w.fijri vivj . ..AW r (Editorial from The Literary Digest of April 15th) .-v. Sentenced Te Die r r "i'yJT "r" TWELVE MEN, with grave faces, were met te decide an issue of life or death. Ne burly criminal steed there te receive punishment for his crimes only a little child, beg ging for life. t Her sin was hunger and nakedness. She trembled, and almost fell, as she stretched out thin, bare arms in supplication. "Hunger! Bread!" were the only words she spoke. , A long time passed, while these men. fought te escape the verdict they must render. But then the words came: s. "We have net found any one who will give you bread, little girl. We have told a -great many people about you, but they have given te se many ether boys and girls that they are tired of giving. There is net enough bread, new, te go around no, net even a crust. We are very sorry, dear little girl, but we must let you die ! s A cruel jest? Ne! A cruel fact, multiplied thousands upon thousands of times! If only one such pleading child were condemned te die because we are "tired of giving" it would be enough te blanch the cheeks of every man and woman who reads this page. But upon many thousands of boys and girls the sentence of death has just been passed. In Armenia a Christian race is being blotted out while the world leeks en. In Armenia peace did net come when the rest of the world stepped fighting. Last year 140 villages were destroyed; thousands of mothers and grown daughters were violated and slain; fathers were herded into build ings and burned; multitudes of orphaned children were driven into the wilderness te wander and die, unless, perchance, they might be gathered, like lest lambs, into folds of safety by the Near East Relief. Conditions are worse than at any time since the armistice. Frantic appeals for mere feed te save the children, for mere clothing te cover their naked bodies, for mere hospitals and orphanages te give them refuge come surging ever the cables te "kind, generous America," the hoped-for savior of Armenia. And in the moment of this crisis, when the question of life or death for unnumbered thousands of children must be answered, the tender charity of American mothers and fathers has begun te fail. Their answer te the multitude of little orphans whose only sin is hunger and nakedness and immeasurable grief has been in December and January and Feb ruary and March net mere money and mere cloth ing and mere feed, but less. And se the cruel order has gene forth from the offices of the Near East Relief te reduce all expenditures twenty-five per cent. Twenty-five children from every hundred new receiving care must be turned away. Among the many thousands whose wails of hunger and sickness and cold have net yet been answered net one can be satisfied. And new the 5ries of terror and dismay are reaching America: CABLEGRAM via Paris: "Thousands of deportees filling Near East threshold, receiving crust of bread, hoping for summer peace. Shall we push them off our doorstep? Order of twenty-five per cent reduction necessitates closing March first all general relief." CABLEGRAM, Constantineple: "Appalling increase of need for general relief throughout Anato lia, Caucasus. Reduction in already inadequate appropriations cuts off multitudes who are hopeless without American aid.' y CABLEGRAM from American Women's Hos pital, Erivan : "We have eight hundred and fifty-two cases in the hospital, and children dying in all corners of Erivan. All day long we can hear the wails and groans of little children outside the office buildings hoping we can and" will pick them up. If the sun shines a little while they quiet down; when it rains they begin again. One day when the rain turned into , snow it was awful te listen te them. The note of ter ror that came into the general wail was plainly per ceptible upstairs, and I had the windows closed. They well knew what a night in the snow would mean te them. We are picking them up as fast as possible, but it is fatal te crowd them te such a point that we would lese even these already in orphanage." 1 Erivan that one-time prosperous city of Armenia, net far from Mount Ararat, famous, in days of peace, for the peach orchards and vegetable gar dens that surrounded it ort every side. Walk through its streets today and here is what you will see: "Children walking through the muddy gutters hunt ing for bits of orange peels, apple cores or anything that once resembled feed; little boys and girjs sleep ing in stables, with straw and manure spread ever their bodies te keep them from freezing te death; or, in the early morning, deserted children lying in the doorways of the buildings, wrapped in eld1 burlap bags, some silent, perhaps already dead, ethers sob bing unconsciously in their sleep. They have been placed there during thenight by their mothers who, unable te feed them any longer, have resorted te desertion as a final chance te save their children's lives. There is always a chance that they will be res cued by the Americans, and it is with this one hope that the mothers leave their little children, praying te Ged that they will be saved by the 'kind and generous Americans.' " "Has that story of unutterable suffering, of pas sionate love and gratitude for what has been given, that trusting, prayerful appeal for rescue of children whose lives new depend en us has it all grown wearisome te us? Are we tired of being "kind and generous?" Is there no longer any sacrificial tender ness for little children in our hearts? Is it time te be rid of the burden, te step our giving, and se, through the Beard of Trustees of the Near East Relief, who must act as we dictate, te pronounce the sentence of death en these thousands of boys and girls who have believed te the last moment that we would save them? Mothers and fathers of America, it is net true! Yeu will net allow it! Your hearts have net turned te stone! What are a few paltry miles of distance! They cannot separate youfrem that famine-stricken land, where dead and dying children litter the city streets. They cannot shut out from your vision these hunger-pinched faces and outstretched hands! Yeu can shut your windows, as they did, in very desperation, in the City of Erivan; but the wails and means of little children, waiting in rain and snow "by day and night, te be "picked up" and clothed and hkl cannot be shut out of your heart. Frem far-away stations, by the magic of science, our homes are being filled with song and story and music, for the dance. But there are messages mere wonderful than any controlled by the wizards of wireless. They are coming new from far away, and the story they bring is burdened with tears. The music is net for dancing, for these who make it can scarce stand upon their feet. The song, swelled te a chorus of wee by thousands of little voices that ought te be musical with laughter, is always the same: "Hunger! Bread!" And with the pleading cry of the children there comes a voice, sweet and solemn, saying: "These are MY little ones; ye are My Shepherds; Feed My Lambs.' u Ju C!uCl?thJese messaSes. every American heart MhaBthnlled at the laughter of a little thild or throbbed at its cry of pain is the receiving instru ment, and the messages are breadcasted te us from the very throne of Heaven. Ne mistake can be mere tragic at this moment than for you te say, as you read, "The call is net te me; cannot need net respond this time; ethers will give,, and the children will net have te die." There are no ethers if you turn away. The appeal has gene throughout the length and breadth of this great land, and these "ethers" have heard it and some have given gladly; but tee many have said, " need net respond this time." During the past four months net enough has been given te continue the care even of these children already gathered into the hospitals and orphanages, while thousands mere are waiting te be "picked up" from the streets and countryside. There are no ethers if you refuse. Armenia is surrounded by bankrupt nations, or nations strug gling te keep themselves from bankruptcy. Europe is full of suffering and need. Armenia's only hope is America. A Christian race will die if America fails at this crisis. There are no ethers te love and care for Armenia's little children no ethers but you. The vast majority are orphans. Father is dead; mother, tee, is dead; sister if net dead is praying Ged for death; brother is dead; aunt and uncle, grandfather and grandmother all dead, the home destroyed, and the lonely little girl or boy has no one but you. Yeu are father and mother and sister and brother the only one in whose heart the sad little waif can new find refuge. Hew splendidly you have given, perhaps, some time in the past, and have brought health and laughter te some of Armenia's little sufferers! But for every one saved then, at least one ether was left without feed or shelter or friends. And the child te whom you gave one meal a day last year cannot live new if that meal is stepped. A year age the delivery of supplies for the Alexandropel orphanage was inter rupted between November and May by transporta tion difficulties. Before April the children had te. be placed en half rations, and by the first of May, en the very morning the supply train arrived, the last meager ration was distributed. During these sad weeks, when there was se little feed at Alexandropel, mere than two thousand children died. If you withheld your gift new,' the boys and girls you fed last year may be the very ones "sen tenced te die." Revoke the cruel sentence! Step the order te reduce all relief work twenty-five per cent! Thank Ged it is in your power at this Eastertime te give life in place of deatih, health in place of sickness, laughter in place of tears. Yeu can speak the word of Resurrection which will call back some little child from the dark valley of shadow and flood its new life with sunshine. Twe things will fill your Easter Day with sweetest jey: the knowledge that Armenia's children did net wait for you and trust in you and appeal te you in vain; and the voice of the Risen Christ, the Lever of little children, speaking te your soul, and saying, "Ye have done it unto Me. Ye have done it unto Me." Se deeply have we, as publishers of T H E LITERARY DIGEST, been stirred by the tragedy impending among the innocent children of Armenia, that we would feel a heavy share of responsibility for the needless death of countless little ones if we did net de as we are urging you te de, and give, still again, a substantial contribution te save their lives. Therefore, although we have given several times before, we feel that we cannot we must net de less in the present crisis than add immediately another five thousand dollars te help save the chil dren of Armenia from the death that threatens them Regional Headquarters, N. E. Cor. Bread and Locust streets, Philadelphia, Pa. ;&& .. ;! .s) .:' w. iv. MmmMmmmmMMmi HMliliiiBi - -' in"1- t '