Morning Oregonian., October 21, 1922, Page 9, Image 9

TITE MOIiMXG OREGONTAN, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1923
9
(Editorial Reprinted from THE LITERARY DIGEST, October 21st.)
"Dm w Out Thj SomI to Ike IHkegry ,
A LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT OF
THE UNITED STATES:
THE WHITE HOUSE
Wa&hingrtou '
October 9, 1922
Gentlemen i
IVot since the great war bag the whole civil I zed world been so shocked
and startled as duVing the pat four weeks. The terrible and appalling .
tragedy which has been enacted in the Near East, leaving in Its wake
hundreds of thousands of shelterless famished men, women and children
makes a call to the heart of the American people which cannot be ignored. ,
From East, orth, South and West have come to me evidences of the deep
seated desire of our people that something be done to give them an oppor
tunity to crystallize their wide-sprend sympathy into a life-saving service.
I am rejoiced to know that the great machinery of your organizations t
has already been started into action to the end that this great body of suf
fering souls may be rescued promptly from the threatened starvation and :
death which they face this winter. . .
As the people of America have given, and given generously In every
great crisis that has occurred in China, Russia, India, and all parts of the
world, so they must give, and give a great sum now millions of dollars '
If the lives of these victim's are to be saved. Ko appeal of real need from
whatever part of the world has ever been made in vain to America.
"Very truly yours,
WARREN G. HARDING.
Judge John Barton Payne, .
Chairman, American Red Cross. 4
Dr. James L. Barton,
Chairman, Near East Relief.
A LETTER FROM THE NEAR EAST
RELIEF:
New Tork, September 26, 1922
Mr. It. J. Ciiddib,
The Iiiterary Digest, .
Sew York City.
Dear Mr. Cuddihy:
In the face of the unprecedented tragedy of Smyrna we turn to you
and the Literary Digest for help. " -
It Is not for the thousands of dead that we plead) they are past our
aid. It is for the living, crushed with despair of spirit and anguish of body,
that we turn to you and through you, to the benevolent heart of humanity.
More than a half million absolutely foodless, shelterless, helpless and
hopeless refugees are landed upon the islands, or huddled along the shores
. of the Aegean sea In abject despair. Terror-stricken groups are awaiting
death In Smyrna and other ports in Asia. Innocent, unprotected girls and
women and children by tens of thousands are being carried into captivity.
Pestilence stalking among the living adds Its horror to starvation.
Many In the nightmare of their crucifixion seek relief in self-destruction,
while others find release in insanity. '
While baffled by the perplexing political situation, we can be true to
our divine instinct of sympathy. Our sympathy, however, will become
poison unless we transmute it into action.
The starving ask for bread shall we respond with a heart of stone f
Sincerely yours,
JAMES L. BARTON,
Chairman.
A LETTER FROM THE AMERICAN
RED CROSS:
- Washington, D. C, October 9, 1922.
My Dear Mr. Cnddihy:
I have received from the President an earnest appeal to use the re
sources of the. American Red Cross in meeting the distress and suffering
resulting from the recent disaster in the Near East. I need not assure you
that the Red Cross, as always, will put its large and inflnential membership
back of this appeal. We, however, feel keenly the need of that type of
eo-operation which the Literary Digest is peculiarly able to give, and In be
half of the American Red Cross I request you to do everything that you
can through yonr pages in placing the burden of this appeal before the
American public. - : '
v Cordially yours,
JOHN BARTON PAMB,
. ; . - Chairman.
Mr. R. J. Cnddihy, . ' '
The Literary Digest, s '
854 Fourth Avenue,
New York City, .."'. ,':
In immediate response the following editorial was
published in The Literary Digest, October 21st:
DRIVEN FROM THEIR HOMES by fire and
. sword beaten, trampled, robbed more than half
a million men,' women and little children are being
swept along to starvation, madness and self-des'truction in
the Near East. .' :
Herded in the streets, like cattle for the slaughter;
huddled on the brink of the sea, and casting themselves,
crazed by hunger and fear, into the dark waters; dragged
from the burning hell of Smyrna, only to be thrust by their
rescuers into the slower hell of Mitylene, and Saloniki, and
other havens of "refuge," which now are crowded centers
of .starvation and breeding-grounds of pestilence these
who are suffering such martyrdom have only one hope "of
salvation from their nightmare of crucifixion. That hope
is YOU Americans! ' " -
Thousands perished when Smyrna was. .bathed in tor
rents of blood. Now. the city, is a vast sepulchre of ashes.
You can do nothing for the dead. But the lives of half a
million others are yours today for the purchase. They are
stretching their "hands to you now out of the horrible pit.
Lift them up to life !
The appeal in their behalf which comes to you from the
President of the United States is to be heeded, because you
are, one of the great-hearted Americans to whom his letter
is written." The appeal from the Near East Relief and the
American Red Gross through their chairmen is to be
heeded, because your ears are open to such a call for help
. in this terrible emergency. But stronger than the call of
- President, or of Relief Committees, stronger than any
. . urgent words The Literary Digest can say to you, knowing
so -well your unfailing tenderness and quick generosity
when the hunger, and sorrow, and gaunt suffering of
mothers and babes cry out to you to comfort, and to save
them alive -stronger than all written or spoken appeal is
the hot, eager demand of your own sympathetic heart that
can not regard such bitter pain and heed without straining
to the utmost for their instant relief.
The picture is so full of terror and anguish words can
not portray it. Mark 0. Prentiss, for the Near East Relief,
cables: "I have seen terrible 'sights until my senses are
numb but the sight of 200,000 people, mostly women and
. children, being penned up and burning, and those escaping
being driven to a barren, devastated country. for starvation
is past all comprehension." That was in Smyrna. Hun
dreds of thousands more, both Christians and Jews, fleeing
from persecution and the sword, are crowding the other
ports of Asia and the near-by islands of the sea awaiting
rescue or death. In Saloniki a hundred thousand are
herded in deplorable, confusion. The city has been in, ruins
since the great fire of 1918 and affords little more shelter
than Smyrna. In the island of Mitylene another hundred
thousand penniless fugitives have sought refuge only to find
there a new danger of pestilence and a more convenient
harbor of starvation.
Panic has seized upon the frightened wanderers. Many
have even cast themselves into the flames of their own
homes. Food is gone, even water to drink is at a premium.
Families are broken up, while parents in frenzy of despair
seek their lost children. Hundreds of mothers have given
premature birth to infants in the midst of terror and death.
Half -fed babies, covered with scurvy, try in vain to draw
nourishment from their mothers' empty breasts.
Quick compassion is needed; delay means-death for
scores of thousands who might be saved. Something heroic
in giving is needed. You are not there in' the midst of the
terror and. the frantic cries for help. If you were, you
i would leap into the sea, if need be, or brave the flames, the
jsword, the plague, to snatch back from death some helpless
woman or little child. You would not see them perish in
agony before your eyes if you could save them, even at the
risk of your. life. Here, in this smiling land of comfort,
where your home is safe, and your loved ones dwell in
peace, that same terror and anguish of helpless women and
children come to you across the sea and call to all that is
' heroic and generous in your heart.
"Whoso hath this world's good -and seeth his brother
. have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from
him" ah, but the Master did not mean you. Your heart
is warm with compassion and your hand will be open wide
with help. Perhaps you will feel. a moment' of shuddering
" pity for those shriveled souls, if there be any such in this
land of plenty, who revel in abundance and refuse to share
it, to whom the Master said, "Woe unto you that are full!
for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye
shall weep." And then you'Nwill seize gladly upon that
other divine word of the Christ and send it across the sea
with your speedy gifts to comfort and save, and your gifts
will make good the message: "Blessed are ye that hunger
now; for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now;
for ye shall laugh!" V
The Literary Digest well knows your "good works; it
well knows that you are tireless and always ready to save
and to comfort. You will now respond instantly to this
call. What The Digest has done while waiting to tell you
the facts has' been done in utter faith m you and in your
overwhelming response. The great ship Clontarf has dis
charged its load of food, and the starving fugitives have
already eaten the bread baked from the flour in that cargo.
It i$ you who did this, because, when, on September 25th, a
committee of the Near East Relief, the Y. M. C. A. and
the Y. W. C. A. called upon The Literary Digest to help
in this awful emergency, and no funds were then available, ;
we discounted our faith in you and borrowed the $176,000
and bought the entire food cargo of the Clontarf. We 'told
the committee to keep on buying other shiploads o,f food
until the pitiful need was satisfied. "He gives twice who
gives quickly," . and we are confidently depending upon
you to make this act your own by a great outpouring of
gifts to pay for this first cargo of food and to' follow it with
others. We appeal to all the churches in America that
have been the depositories of the sacred ideals of our nation ;
we.appeal to the thinking and working classes of our broad
land, to all the institutions and organizations that have for
their object the safeguarding of human rights and human
lives. As God has blessed you, as he has given you happy
homes and laughing children, as he has been merciful to
you, have mercy upon these, his people.
The Literary Digest, standing shoulder to shoulder and
heart to heart with you in. this urgent task, will start the
fund with its own contribution of $10,000 to help feed these
starving fugitives. And now we urge all who read these
words to send a perfect storm of checks to provide food,
and shelter, and medical care for the half million sufferers
in this awful inferno of theNear East.
They can never repay you those homeless ones, those
tortured women and pitiful children. You will never see
them face to face, nor look into their eyes shining with'
gratitude never? "Yes, perhaps you will. But now, the
blessed Christ bids you give, and he will repay, for it was
he who said, "Do good and lend, hoping fornothmg again,
and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children
of the highest." '
President Harding has appointed as a special com
mittee, with Will H. Hays as chairman, the following
representatives of eight national organizations who will
co-operate in this great work of relief: Dr. John R. Mott,
of the Y. M. C. A. ; Mrs. John French of the Y. W. C. A. ;
James A. Flaherty, of the Knights of Columbus; Felix
Warburg,- of the Jewish Joint Distribution Committee ; Dr.
Robert E. Speer, of the Federal Council of the Churches of
Christ in America ; Dr. James L. Barton, of the Near East
Relief; Herbert Hoover, of the American Relief Adminis
tration; Judge John Barton Payne, of the American Red
Cross ; and R J. Cuddihy, of The Literary Digest.
Make All Checks, Money Orders, etc., Payable to "Near East Emergency Fund"
and Mail Them to Either of the Following Treasurers:
NEAR EAST RELIEF, Cleveland H. Dodge, Treasurer
151 Fifth Avenue, New York, N. Y.
THE AMERICAN RED CROSS, Eliot Wadsworth, Treasurer
Washington, D. C.
This Announcement Does Not Cost the Near East Relief , the Red Cross or the Contributors to This Fund One Cent Publishers of The Literary Digest