The most terrible winter the world has ever known

              THE MOST TERRIBLE WINTER THE WORLD HAS EVER KNOWN



MORE THAN A MILLION NOW STARVING IN BIBLE LANDS Including Armenia, Syria, Caucasus Persia and Palestine




Aid From Turkish Government Impossible


American Charity Their Only Hope




Extracts From Latest
Cablegrams and Reports





American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief
Metropolitan Building, New York



James L. Barton, Chairman


Samuel T. Dutton, Vice-Chairman


Charles R. Crane, Treasurer


Charles V. Vickrey, Secretary


Frederick H. Allen


Simeon Baldwin


Arthur J. Brown


George Warren Brown


Edwin M. Bulkley


John B. Calvert


John D. Crimmins


Cleveland H. Dodge


Charles W. Eliot


William T. Ellis


James Cardinal Gibbons


Rt. Rev. David H. Greer


Ralph W. Harbison


Hamilton Holt


Myron T. Herrick


Clark Howell


Charles E. Hughes


Arthur Curtiss James


Harry Pratt Judson


Woodbury G. Langdon


Frederick Lynch


Vance McCormick


Chas. S. Macfarland


William B. Millar


Henry Morgenthau


John R. Mott


Starr J. Murphy


Frank Mason North


George A. Plimpton


William Cooper Proctor


Rt. Rev. P. Rhinelander


Karl Davis Robinson


William W. Rockwell


Julius Rosenwald


Wm. Jay Schieffelin


George T. Scott


Isaac N. Seligman


William Sloane


Edward Lincoln Smith


James M. Speers


Oscar S. Straus


William Howard Taft


John Wanamaker


Harry A. Wheeler


Ray Lyman Wilbur


Stanley White


Talcott Williams


Stephen S. Wise




Depository NATIONAL CITY BANK New York






LATEST CABLEGRAMS AND REPORTS



American Consulate, Tiflis, February 28, 1917.




Caucasus Committee already supporting thousand orphans.  Investigations indicate 40,000 FATHERLESS CHILDREN await your answer to our request for support.  Cotton and wool industries in full swing.  Distribution of bedding and clothing well under way and very acceptable as winter is severe.
  —F. Willoughby Smith, Consul




Erivan, February 5, 1917.




Rough estimates place number of orphans or fatherless children between 15,000 and 20,000.  About 7,000 of these in orphanages.  Strongly urge appropriation $275,000 for destitute fatherless children.




Raynolds, Yarrow, Gracey, Maynard.




*Erivan, January 18, 1917.




Consul __________ of __________ has telegraphed that eighty thousand refugees have lately appeared in the towns and villages in the vicinity of __________.  Information which I have lately received from the German Embassy confirms this and states that these refugees have come from the __________ region.  Similar refugees are appearing in the region of __________.




Erivan, January 11, 1917.




We now have upwards of THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND Armenians on our relief lists and probably two hundred thousand more from the Greek and other communities, making in all FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND people, chiefly women and children.




Raynolds, Yarrow, Gracey, Maynard.




* In certain areas it is necessary, for political reasons, to omit names in publishing these cablegrams and reports.





In Ourfa, Marash, Dores, Aintab districts, ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND look to us for bread, while large numbers which cannot yet be approximately estimated are coming from the desert seeking food, shelter and clothing.




Damascus.




I saw thirteen dead in one little alley Wherever you go in the streets of Damascus you see hundreds of such sights.




I had an interview with the head of the municipality and talked over the question of distribution.  By him I was informed that 120,000 have died during the last two years in the city alone.  He told me that they have arranged to have fifty wagons carry the dead from the streets, but the number of dead is much more than they can handle, and many are left in the streets helping to spread disease.




The Lebanon, Syria.




I called upon the Governor of Lebanon who thanked us for work done and begged that I ask for more relief.  He informed me that 200,000 had died in Lebanon alone and God only knows how many more thousands will have starved by the time you receive this letter.




Your friend Rev. __________ fasted twenty days in order to give some food to the hundreds of hungry people and at last he died a martyr.  His family now live with us.  Contagious diseases and starvation together with overwork are threatening the lives of all the missionaries.




On my recent visit to Jumieh I met a representative of the relief work, who informed me that 5,000 have starved to death in Jumieh and its surroundings.  To see hundreds of corpses carried away has become an every-day occurrence.





American Consulate, Tiflis, January 16, 1917.




Committee after personal investigation Igdir Etchmiadzin Novo Bayesid districts reports:  'Acute distress among refugees.  Suffering of widows and children intense.  Thousands of orphans require immediate help.  Government allowance reduced by half.  Cases known of death by starvation.'




Tabriz, Persia.




Destitute increasing.  Other relief funds diminishing.  Eight thousand more refugees.  Aid Sunni destitute imperative.  $100,000 needed spring sowing.




W. S. Vanneman.




Erivan, Caucasus.




In every place the refugees were found to be in great need of clothing and bedding.  Many, many families have but one or two quilts as their total bedding which are used as covering while the members of the family lie on the dirt floor of stables and basements, some of which are very cold.  Others are still sleeping in the open.  Those who have come to the Caucasus as a result of the recent retreat are quite destitute, lacking food and bedding and sometimes even clothing.




We have opened a shop to employ as many as possible.  Thus many provide for their own needs and have the moral benefit which comes from occupation.




American Hospital,




With the taking off of many breadwinners the general distress is increasing and now the people are pouring in from the villages in wretched condition, sick, barefoot, ragged and hungry.  New orphans are coming to us every day with the alternative of perishing or else being taken into Moslem houses, unless we can adopt them.  Must we turn them away?  We
 dislike to force new appeals upon you all the time but the stern facts confront us and what else can we do?  We thank you most warmly for the financial backing that you have given us thus far.




American Hospital __________,




Now that nearly all the men have been taken up, great droves of Armenian women are coming in from the villages; they walk from several hours to two or three days journey, bringing orphans with them.




American Hospital, Dec. 1, 1916.




At __________ there are now 1000 people without roof, clothing and food—wheat can be procured on the spot.




American Consulate, Tiflis, Jan. 30, 1917.




On behalf of local committee:  'Twelve hundred women in Erivan working three rubles a week.  Five thousand men's suits made and clothing distribution begun.




Urumia, Persia,




The number of refugees is from 25,000 to 30,000.  The hardships of this year are greater than last year.  The price of everything is nearly six times more than three years ago.




Der-el-Zor, Syria Desert.




What I have seen and heard passes all imagination.  I thought I was passing through a part of hell.  They arrive by the thousands.  The majority leave their bones here.  As far as the eye can reach are to be seen mounds where 200 to 300 corpses are buried in the ground pell mell.  Thousands have perished here.




Near the place where my carriage stopped, women who had not seen me arriving,
 were searching in the dung of horses for barley seeds, not yet digested, to feed on.  I gave them some bread.  They threw themselves on it like dogs dying of hunger.  Instantly informed by one of them, 240 persons, or rather hungry wolves, who had nothing to eat for seven days, rushed to me from the hill, extending their emaciated arms, imploring with tears and cries a piece of bread.  They were mostly women and children, but there were about a dozen old people.




On my return I brought them bread.




The cold and famine increases the distress and causes numerous victims every day.  After consultation with the Consul, we beg you to send us immediately $50,000.  The amount you sent us is sufficient for only one of our districts.




Many thousands of families have been coming from __________ during the last few days.  I saw them coming like flocks of sheep from the mountains amid the rains and snows.  The poor have been compelled in the heart of winter to abandon their towns in a miserable condition, poor, hungry, sick, old, girls, small children needing protection to save their lives from starvation after escaping death from cold and exposure.




There are over 15,000 of these Greek refugees.  They are absolutely penniless and nearly naked.  The cold here is severe and their suffering is intense.  They often spend the nights in the open fields.  The need is awful.  For the next three months is to be an opportunity to save thousands from actual starvation.  
Something must be done at once.





Der-el-Ior, Syria Desert, January, 1917.




THOUSANDS OF GREEKS owing to Greek Deportations, are now turning to us for help.  Many lives have been lost through suffering and disease.  My attention has been called to a case which is one of the many where of one hundred and fifty Greek peasants deported from the Marmara villages, who have managed to come to __________, eighty have already perished.




__________.




Der-el-Ior, Syria Desert, January, 1917.




The problem, you see, increases in magnitude and complexity.  To what extent shall we attempt to meet the wants of the suffering people of Asia Minor?  You have granted my request for a hundred thousand dollars a month, but already these new features spoken of above, have carried the demands for relief funds far beyond this figure.




The difficult question is where to stop—at what point among equally deserving people can we draw the line between those who may be assisted, and those to whom we must refuse the means for obtaining daily bread?




Der-el-Ior, Syria Desert, January, 1917.




I am longing for an answer regarding the Armenian orphanage in __________.  Is it not possible for you to give something per month for this orphanage?




The number of persons deported coming from outlying villages and from the desert, now in __________ cannot be estimated, even approximately.




Our hopes are tied to the friends in America.
  If possible we urge that funds be raised bearing in mind that it is the widows and orphan girls whom we hope especially to serve.





Mesopotamia.




The poor are dying of hunger, and those of the men left at home and able to work, are unable to secure enough to sustain the lives of their families.




We wait in intense expectancy for reassuring reports from America.  We are in a position of terrible responsibility.  Hundreds of thousands are dependent on us for a little bread day by day.  We have brought these thus far.  Any let up now would mean disaster and defeat and indescribable suffering.  We cannot hesitate, rather must there be larger contributions and increased activities to partially meet the needs.




I spent a week in Van.  For a distance of 15 miles the road, even after a year, was strewn with all sorts of garments and shoes and headgear, and skeletons, bones and skulls of what a year ago had been human beings.




Ernest A. Yarrow.




Our work of distribution of clothing, bedding, fuel and light reached twenty-five thousand Armenian and Syrian refugees.  The condition of the refugees was deplorable, emaciated, and with very little clothing.  The cold was intense and so added to their sufferings.  Many lived in empty shops without bedding, sleeping on the damp ground with scanty clothing and nothing to raise them above the damp earth.




Harrison Maynard.




In the villages many of the refugees lived in houses, hovels and stables, all huddled together to keep one another warm owing to the extreme cold, which few of our people were accustomed to.  We arranged for boards so that they would not have to lie on the damp earth, and bedding, clothing, fuel and light were provided.




The conduct of the refugees was all that
 could be desired, quiet, patient and of good behavior, which, of course, greatly facilitated our work of distribution.  Their gratitude was sincere and at times touching.  Some with tears in their eyes would thank us, others would look up mutely into our faces with an expression that spoke louder than words.  Many would offer us little chains or something dear to themselves, which, of course, we could not accept, but all showing their gratitude.  Many were the prayers that went up for the American people who had helped them in their day of need.




Geo. F. Gracey.





GOVERNMENT AID IMPOSSIBLE AMERICA THEIR ONLY HOPE



These hundreds of thousands of Armenian, Syrian, Greek and other refugees can for the most part cherish no hope of grants in aid or government subsides such as the dispossessed in other lands enjoy to a greater or less degree.




Exiled from their homes, robbed of their possessions, wanderers in a desolate poverty-stricken land, their only hope for the barest necessities of life is in charity from opulent America.




They are an innocent, unoffending, industrious people, and under ordinary circumstances are the wealth producers of the land.  They are victims of cruel circumstances, beyond their control.





$5,000,000 PER MONTH NEEDED



A million souls, (good authorities estimate more than two millions) mostly women and children would be a conservative estimate of the number
 in Bible Lands now either actually starving or on the verge of starvation.




With flour costing many times as much there as it does in America and other prices proportionately high, ten cents per day or three dollars per month per capita should be a minimum allowance for shelter, clothing and food necessary to sustain life.





TEN PIASTERS PER MONTH ALLOTTED



Instead of granting three dollars per month per capita, our commissioners have been obliged to make grants to relief stations on the woefully inadequate basis of ten piasters (equal in normal times to forty cents) per capita per month, 
less than one and a half cents per day.
  Adverse exchange rates and the high prices of food make the appropriation indescribably meager—
and yet even this allotment must be denied to multitudes of applicants until receipts from America are augmented.





RELIEF WORK NOT STOPPED BY WAR



Channels heretofore used for distribution of relief among Armenians and Syrians in the Turkish Empire are still open and it is believed will remain open.




Representatives of the Committee in Turkey are finding government officials increasingly sympathetic with
 the distinctively humanitarian work of the Committee.




Even though the last American should leave the Turkish Empire, the relief work of the Committee would still be carried forward by other reliable, sympathetic neutrals who have heretofore been cooperating and will accept additional responsibilities as required.




Aside from the situation in the Turkish Empire, there are hundreds of thousands of Armenian and Syrian refugees in The Russian Caucasus, in Persia, in Egypt and in the portion of the Turkish Empire now occupied by the Russian army.  These large areas represented by the dispatches printed in this leaflet from Tiflis, Erivan, Urumia and Tabriz could easily use all the resources of the Committee without having sufficient funds to meet their needs.




Moreover, when peace is once more declared and freedom of intercourse between the nations is restored, there will be revealed a desolation of poverty such as the world has never known and America cannot understand,—broken families, homeless orphans, defenceless women, helpless multitudes, exiled from their destroyed villages, and barren fields.  Seed and simple implements must be provided and at least six months continued warfare waged with gaunt famine and disease before the exiles can find new
 lodgings, and the first simplest food stuffs produced from the soil.




Unless large sums are available to provide food, seed and other help in the rehabilitation period, many thousands more will perish in the process and all will endure untold and unnecessary hardships.





EFFECTIVENESS OF RELIEF DISTRIBUTION



All printing, postage, collecting and administrative expenses from New York are met privately.  One hundred cents of every dollar given for relief that reaches the treasurer in New York is cabled through trustworthy neutral agencies to the Embassy or Consuls at various distribution centers.  These government officials together with missionaries and other reliable representatives constitute the commissions that administer the relief without drawing any salary or compensation from the funds.




There are in the Turkish Empire alone at the present time, remaining at their posts in the face of great danger from epidemics and disease, (at least twelve missionaries have already died from typhus and exposure) several score such men and women, who personally see that the funds reach the people for whom they are intended.




From the largest distribution center in Turkey, have come carefully itemized audited reports, accounting for every piaster of the many thousands
 of Turkish Lira which have been administered from that station.




American Consuls and missionaries returning from the relief centers bear testimony after careful personal observation that in their judgment ninety-nine percent and certainly ninety-five percent of all the money contributed for relief through the American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief is used for the purchase of food and other necessary supplies for the destitute people for whose relief the money is contributed.





HOW THEY GIVE



A young bride sends $100, saved by reducing the cost of her trousseau.




A pastor gives one-half his salary.




Another has given more than half of her income of $350 per annum.




Schools and seminaries have sent the savings resulting from reduction of cost of annual banquets.




More than $1000 has come from Korea.  Missionaries have sent generous offerings from South America, China, Japan, The Philippines, Hawaii, India, Porto Rico, India, and South Africa.




Superannuated Ministers (one 82 years of age) send contributions 
For relief of those whose sufferings pass our comprehension.




Others have given watches, rings, bits of old jewelry and family heirlooms that the hungry may be fed and life saved.






SUGGESTIONS



Families in America assume the support of families in Armenia on the basis of ten cents per capita per day.




Wage earners give a day's wages per month.




Business men give a day's income or the profits on a certain department or article.




Farmers set aside an acre of ground.




Sunday Schools give self-denial offerings.




Capitalists surrender a choice investment to make a richer investment in life.




One may save thousands of lives.




Inasmuch as ye did it to one of the least of these my brethren, ye did it unto me.





ENLISTMENT BLANK



Armenian-Syrian Relief Committee




Metropolitan Building, New York:




To provide food for the starving and relief for the suffering in Western Asia I will give .................................. Dollars per month, so long as the need continues or until this subscription is canceled by me.




Name




Address




Date




BEWARE OF SOLICITORS.  This committee employs no collectors and pays no commissions.




Subscriptions and contributions should be sent to the Treasurer of the Local Committee where such committee is organized or direct to CHARLES R. CRANE, Treasurer, 70 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK.






TEN CENTS A DAY WILL SAVE A LIFE



For concrete facts concerning the need, suggestions for meeting the need and illustrations of what others have done, see preceding pages of this pamphlet.





REGULAR MONTHLY CONTRIBUTIONS Desired to Provide for Regularly RECURRING DAILY NEEDS



ALL MONEY GOES FOR RELIEF 
EXPENSES ARE MET PRIVATELY




Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.




Whoso hath the world's goods, and beholdeth his brother in need, and shutteth up his compassion from him, how doth the love of God abide in him?




Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you do ye even so to them.




HOW MANY LIVES WILL YOU SAVE?




See the reverse side of this page




AMERICAN COMMITTEE FOR ARMENIAN AND SYRIAN RELIEF




Metropolitan Building, New York




Names of the members of the committee will be found on the inside front cover