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Show 5- S ,-, Americans Find Armenians Victims of Circumstances, not Beggars . The Armenian government would soon be able to work out it own salvation salva-tion ' if it could enjoy en-joy a brief period of peace, in the opinion opin-ion of an American Commission which has jutat returned to tho United States after an exhaustive survey of the situation situa-tion tn the Levant. This Commission, which was sent out by tho Near East Relief, made a personal per-sonal inspection of conditions f no m Syria to the Cauca- ', eus Mountains. In , addition, the reports of relief workers J who have been long t on the field and of ' government officials i carefully examined. "In those few i districts where the Armenian has been able to live in peace he has thoroughly j demonstrated his1 ability to caro for himself and his own," declares Chas. V. Vickrey, general i secretary of the re-l re-l lief organization, who headed the Commission. "Naturally indus- j trlouG, with an in- 4 herent distaste for accepting charity. It j has been the whole- ( sale disorders of the past year that have prevented the people, from realizing their cherished dream of t stable, independent government. Even in the prei-, prei-, ent crisis, with starvation star-vation and cholera making such rapid inroads 1m the papulation pap-ulation that it seems impossible for any i to survive, the people peo-ple are struggling aJ A Victim of Scabies, Nearly Prevalent a Starvation. Homeless Waifs at Erivan Railroad Rail-road Station. "Time after time since the outbreak of the world war, the Armenians have made a brave attempt to cultivate their land. And time after time some new disorder has prevented them from gathering gather-ing their crops or laid waste their fields before the grain has ripened and been gathered in. "After two years of American relief activity it seemed last fall as if wc would be able to reduce our program in Russian Armenia to the care of tho children we had gathered into our orphanages. But then came the new invasion, crops were trampled down in the fields, live stock was carried off, and the peasant population were driven from their homes. We may not be able to save all of the . helpless refugees who are now crowded .in . this territory, tut wo certainly cannot desert the hundred thousand orphan children who are now in our orphanages or under our protection in the Caucasas, Anatolia, Cilicia and other devastated areas of the Near East. Last spring, when our supplies ran low, 3,000 of these children died out of a total of 20,000 in one of our orphanages. These children are absolutely dependent upon aid from America and will perish If our aid is withheld. Next year, U fufther chaos can be avoided, possibly we will be able to reduce our program,' but prompt action is necessary now or for thousands there will be no next year." bravely against overpowering - circumstances. circum-stances. "Armenia It starving, not because her people are depending on outside aid for their existence, but because occupation of their land by hostile forces and the . consequent interruption of normal occupation occu-pation have made them helpless. |