THE NEAR EAST A Discussion Course for Students 5,000 Children Trek 500 Miles to Safety The recent 500-mile pilgrimage of 5,000 children from Near East Relief orphanages in Harpoot into Syria, to be distributed among the orphanages there or sent on further to Constantinople or Greece. STUDENT VOLUNTEER MOVEMENT 25 Madison Avenue New York City 8 copies, $1.00 15 cents a copy J U\G 0- S L.A B LT\L G A R 1 A BLACK ^MONASXIR SA10NI} <{TlKS3a/dr KAVAL r> Xi R uimi^J S I SEA ^ GALL%>U , Troas y @ BARDIZAG BRU5A pos ^\ <) CONSTANTINop LE ~^- "iSBATUM > ^K '"\<>^% f JS XT DJELAL®OGHLl| V„ " * ? **S ; ALEXANOROP.OL X "V*' ^ 0 (a J"" " I^v^m^r^ \ >- 0 ^ ad ^#A R^I^N-.i ,A fion-Karahissaro. S^'s*^ C \nakhichevan \fp t idin;;;-^r — \Jjf % JKONIA % :[ jrgL, MAlATlA,^^^^JvM5W..,§rTnc^ VA^J..> d^KVKSR'Z \ '* r !."'t, ,„/. ^■^Jconium) ffiwnnu %. \V J — ^ ...to jtS""" OOT jp«*"'oy — vam\"-a»^' V TABRIZ , •Vcifrf'"' MAlAIIA>'^'''<'^aUJ*i«., — AntaklSfo cnrin »w .XiN) / \.T~ #.. RESHl TEHERAN® Antakw ;o 'irALEPp'o V- 4"''°£latak$ fli^™ 0E R y-ZO^ M E D I TERRANEAN GbasX3^ skuf SIDOtoSf® V,DAMASCUS TYR'EJjS> D^rEIKamar, KEY TO MAP Main Stations Now Occupied ® Stations NowPartlyOccupied ® Former Stations NowEvacuated © Main Railway Lines ***** Vvwfl HAMAD ® \ % - ' ' 'V^KER'KlANSHAH NEW YORK TO BEIRUT 5368 m7l6S~" SEA TYREg? DeV-ELKamar Haifa£^N££/ARETH t/ C O C HI x /a) BAkN^BA BAGDAD \\\'%"% A F ALEyAtlDRIA* R I 3RT SAID ?CAIRO Caesarta BETH/UHEM ^,MTfHO/r 0 I 8ab(//on\ V ARAB! SCALE OF MILES 0 SO 10O 150 published bv near east relief i ar fifth ave »tw yorh 1923 1923 By courtesy of the Near East Relief »:.i?fiif. £■•')!■:•■.! ' Introductory Remarks and Suggestions to Leaders ■ t THE purpose of this discussion course is to provide a way and a means whereby one of the gravest, most perplexing and most shameful inter- national situations of the present hour shall receive its due share of thoughtful recognition from college men and women. The un-Christian character of present-day statesmanship has been amply demonstrated, and until this ceases to be we may expect present injustices, confusion and despair to continue. Christ's principles are the only solution in international as well as inter-racial relationships. As George Bernard Shaw, "rebellious, cynical, and skeptical" has so frankly put it— -"I am ready to submit that after 'Contem- plating the world and human nature for nearly sixty years, I see no way out of this world's misery but the way which would have been found by Christ's will, if He had undertaken the work of a practical statesman." Christian missionaries. Christian diplomats, and Christian business men in the Near East have heroically demonstrated this way of Christ. But they at their end are helpless without an increasing number of men and women in so-called Christian lands, who, beginning in their college years and continuing through- out life, accustom themselves to. ' include the whole'' world in their daily thoughts, and to care with sincere, Christ-like concern equally for every nation and every race. . J It has been impossible in the limited time given to the preparation of the course to give an exhaustive and adequate presentation of this most com- plicated international situation. Moreover, it is obviously impossible to fore- cast political and other developments immediately ahead, or to anticipate magazine articles which have not yet appeared.* It is essential, therefore, that members of the discussion group make frequent use of current literature. Questions on present-day happenings should be introduced in every meeting. A list of monthly magazines which promise fullest reports on the Near East situation are listed in the back- of this pamphlet. These should be consulted regularly, especially by leaders of the group. , A list of books and other reference sources also appears on the last page. If not obtainable in the college library, these books may be ordered from the Student Volunteer Movement. •*"'» :ir Many references are given under each topic in the hope that some of this source material will be available in every college. The magazines referred to are those appearing since the summer of 1922. The numbers in parentheses to the right of the references relate to the corresponding numbers of questions under each topic. In most discussion groups we venture to believe that the best results will be obtained if the leader himself, or some one appointed by him, opens the discussion period with a brief presentation of such facts as are related and essential to the discussion that follows. If there are any students on the campus whose homes were originally in the Near East, their participate should be especially welcomed. In the first or second meetings one or more students might be asked to present the cases of the Turks, Greeks, .Armenians, and so on, while the rest of the group act as a jury. It would be well to limit the presentations to fifteen minutes and the discussion period to an hour. Two groups of eight .each will usually prove to be more satisfactory than one of sixteen. Sets of pictures on the Near East may serve as material for attractive posters announcing the meetings of the group, a different print being used each week. A large map of the Near East, similar to the one printed on * For example, material dealing with the outcome of the Lausanne Con- ference. 1 the rnsixfe cover of tin's pamphlet, may be of value also. The price of the prints and map referred to above are listed on the last page of this pamphlet. At some colleges it may be possible to supplement the work of the discussion groups by an address in chapel once each week on the Near East or some: related subject. Throughout this course, the term "Near East" is used in a restricted sense, including in the main also those areas lying between the Mediterranean. Aegean, Black and Caspian seas. The Educational Secretaries have received assistance in the preparation of this course from Miss Sara E. Snell, American Board Mission, Smyrna ; Rev. Ernest W. Riggs, American Board Mission, Turkey ; Mr. Charles H. Fahs, Missionary Research Library, New York ; Miss Mary C. Holmes, for- merly connected with the American Presbyterian Mission, Syria ; Mrs. Minna McEwen Meyer. Near East Relief ; Dr. Paul Harrison, Arabian Mission, Re- formed Church in America ; Rev. Samuel M. Zwemer, D.D., F.R.G.S., Cairo, editor of the "Moslem World," and Mr. Walter Wylie, American Board Mis- sion, Turkey, to all of whom grateful acknowledgments are made. The cablegrams and other material descriptive of present conditions in the Near East, as well as the photograph and map shown in the cover of this pamphlet, have been supplied by the Near East Relief. We are especially indebted to this organization for its very generous cooperation. Educational Secretaries, Student Volunteer Movement. FROM TWO RECENT LETTERS "I spend long spells at a time just sitting with my Bible in bed praying or walking in the dark on the campus, or pacing my room, and praying to God to reveal His power somehow or somewhere out in this land, and I enjoy the thought that maybe if T pray with a mind that is open to see and understand all the forces that are being brought to bear on the Turk that some- how His power can work through all these forces a little more effectively. And so I picture Angora to myself, and I pray for the appointing here and there of officials of good will, for the raising up of men on all sides who will work together, perhaps unknown to each other, for the building out here of an entirely new set of influences. What is going to happen out: here 1 don't know, but it doesn't do any harm to imagine one- self a sort of prime minister of the Kingdom of Heaven, and then study the country and see what one would do if one had the power, and then snend a little effort praying for the happening of that thing."— a Student Volunteer in Smyrna. "We have been passing through one crisis after another, the changing populations making it necessary to build up new contacts every few months. Yet we have been enabled to make the place move along on its own feet, for which I do not cease to marvel, seeing the indescribable poverty on all sides. If only the groans and travail of these eastern nations means a new birth, the sacrifices will be worth* while, for the longer one lives here, the more deeply one feels that only miracles and unlimited sacrifice will pull these peoples an inch upward, sacrifice and devotion to the extreme, and the miracle of the Spirit of God, bursting asunder old traditions and souls of lethargy and hate. We even may not see »t in our day, yet to help in the coming of it is a privilege." — a Medical Missonary in Adana, Turkey, December 12, 1922. 2 THE NEAR EAST L The Tragedy in the Near East i 1. How nearly have the experiences of religious minorities in the Near East during the last one hundred years resembled the account in Hebrews 11? 2. What have been some of the most striking developments in the Near East since the World W r ar, leading up to the Smyrna disaster? 3. What elements in the recent tragedy distinguish it from all previous tragedies? 4. To what extent have American missionary and business interests suffered in this particular instance? 5. Ought missionaries among the Turks remain neutral on such subjects as deportation, massacre, and the breaking of treaties, when by protesting they might embarrass their home governments or be ordered to leave the country? 6. Is any government justified in advancing religious in- terests through political means? Do the same arguments hold for business interests? 7. How far are the Armenian atrocities an expression of Mohammedanism ? What is the Moslem attitude toward mas- sacre ? 8. What more could the Christian Churches of America do than they are now doing to relieve the present suffering of Chris- tian minorities in the Near East? 9. There are reasons for and against the wholesale depor- tation of religious minorities. On which side do you stand, and why ? 10. Do you believe that a righteous, loving God has any part in the Near East tragedy except that of being deeply grieved? 11. In your opinion what is the attitude of college students in general toward present-day international injustices? 5 THE NEAR EAST References Lord Bryce's Report: Nos. 9, 23, 59, 65, 73. Morgenthau: Ambassador Morgcnthau's Story. 287-291, 295-299, 304- 321, 323-325. Pears, Sir Edwin: Forty Years in Constantinople. 14-20. 151-158, 161- 162. Missionary Review of the World. November, 863-866. Current History, September, 950-951 ; October, 25-28, 28-31. (1) Stoddard, Lothrop : The New World of Islam. 225-230. King-Crane Report: II, col. 4; III, col. 1. Review of Reviews. October, 374-376 ; November, 482-486, 494. Current History. July, 586-594. Xew Republic. October 11, pp. 165-166. Literary Digest. October 14, p. 23, col. 2. Asia." December, 957, 989, col. 2, 1013; January, 3-4, col. 1. Outlook. November 15, 470-471. International Review of Missions. (Treaty of Sevres.) January, 1921, 121-126. Literary Digest. December 16. 13-14. Current History, November. 181-183. Asia. November, 857-862. December, 949-953. Asia. January, 117-121. Missionary Review of the World. November, 854-855. Toynbec, A. J. : Turkev, a Past and a Future. 20-23. Williams, Talcott : Turkey, a World Problem of Today. 18-19, 188. Outlook. Januarv 10, 91-92. (2) (3), (9) (4) (7) II. Near East Problems from Within , 1. How far have the following- contributed to the continued unrest in the Near East : (a) The important geographical position of Asia Minor, (b) The desire of the European nations to con- trol resources and transcontinental routes of travel, (c) The different nationalities inhabiting the Near East, (d) The pecu- liar position of both England and France with regard to their Moslem subjects, (e) The religious situation. 2. Would the present situation be different if the Christians of the Near Eastand the Crusaders who went from the West had from the beginning emulated the spirit and methods of Jesus? 4 THE NEAR EAST 3. If you were a Turkish Moslem having representatives of three Christian races within your territories (Armenians, Syrians and Greeks), each with strong national characteristics and am- bitions, how would you proceed to set up a government which would become stronger and more united with the years? Would you be justified in keeping religious minorities in subjection, and expelling them from the country under certain conditions? 4. Why are the Armenians despised? What are some of the reasons for their prosperity as a people until the time of the Great War? 5. What will be the social, economic and religious effects upon Turkey of the deportation of Armenians and Greeks? 6. What Turkish characteristics are fatal to the homogenity of the empire as constituted at present? 7. Is the slogan "Palestine for the Jews" inconsistent with the principle of self-determination? References Atlantic Monthly. November, 703-712. Talcott Williams : Turkey, A World Problem of Today, 40-44, 194-195, Barton, James L. : The Christian Approach to Islam, 66, 95, 96, 175. Rcviezv of Reviews. November, 492-493, 485-487. Hall, W. H. : Near East : Crossroads of the World. 29-43. Jastrow, Morris, Jr. : The War and the Bagdad Railway. 26-30, 78-81, 120-121. Stoddard, Lotbrop : The New World of Islam. 113-116. Pears, Sir Edwin: Forty Years in Constantinople. 195-196. 197-199. Rihbany, Abrabam Mitrie: America Save the Near East. 89-95. Macdonald, Duncan Black : Aspects of Islam. 274-275. Mathews, Basil: The Riddle of Nearer Asia, 115-134. (1) World's Work. January, 237-238. Current History. September, 991. (3) Literarv Digest. October 14, 40. . . (4) Pears, Sir Edwin: Forty Years in Constantinople. 17. Williams, Talcott : Turkey, a World Problem of Today. 95-97. Toynbee, A. J. : Turkey : A Past and a Future. 40-45. Dwight, Henry Otis : Constantinople and Its Problems. 48-51. Asia. December, 989. (5) 5 THE NEAR EAST Williams, Talcott: Turkey A World Problem of Today. 290-294. Pears, Sir Edwin : Forty Years in Constantinople. 292. Toynbee, A. J. : Turkey : A Past and a Future. 23-24, 28-30. (6) Kin (/-Crane Report, VI, col. -J; VII, col. 1; X, cols. 1 and 2; XX, col. 4; xxil. col. l: Jastrow, Morris. Jr.: The Eastern Question and its Solution. 60-63. Kihbany, Abraham M. : America Save the Near East. 101-124. Tovnbee. A. J. : Turkey : A Past and a Future. 64-66, 68-70. (7) III. Extrinsic Factors 1. If the Near East is a trouble-generator in international affairs, how much of the trouble comes from without? 2. How far back do you date the imperialistic ambitions of European nations? Describe these ambitions — past and present. 3. To what extent did conditions in the Near East and rival interests of European powers in the Near East contribute to the causes of the World War? 4. What bearing did the. campaigns in the Near East have on the development of the war? On subsequent treaties? How far have these treaties been responsible for present disturbances? 5. Has any nation the right to force the exploitation of natural resources against the wishes and profit of the people to whom these resources rightfully belong? 6. Will the exploitation of the Mosul oil wells reduce the price of kerosene to the consumer in America or Europe? Will it reduce taxes for anyone? If not, who will benefit? 7. Has there been any close connection between the pres- sure of Christian nations from outside and the oppression of Christian minorities within? 8. How much blame for the present situation can be laid at the door of Greece? To the ambitions of the European allies? To America's avowed sympathies with Christian minorities? 9. What may be said for the Turkish viewpoint? 6 THE NEAR EAST References Washburn, George: Fifty Years in Constantinople. 133-143, Introduction XVIII, XXI. XXVII. XXVIII. Jastrow, Morris, Jr. : The Eastern Question and its Solution, 18-32 38-39. Current History. November, 270. .Review of Reviews. November, 454-456. ; - ., : , ' CO Review of Reviews. November, p. 482-486. Hall, William H. : The Near East: Crossroads of the World. 9-25. • ; (2), (3) Jastrow, Morris, Jr.: The Eastern Question and its Solution. 17-44. (2), (3) International Review of Missions. January., 1921 (Treaty of Sevres.) ' ; : (4) Review of Reviews. November, 493-497. Current History. September, 993-994; October, 32-36; January, 545-551. Woods, H. Charles: The Cradle of the War. 215-243. (8) Asia. November. 857-862. Review of Reviews. November, 489-490. . (9) IV. Mohammedanism and Religious Minorities 1. Is it true that Turkish cruelty and misgovernment are the direct out-growth of Mohammedanism? 2. Judging by what you know of Mohammedanism and Christianity, what characteristic elements and teachings have they in common? Why have Moslems so bitterly opposed the essential truths of Christianity? 3. What elements in the spiritual life and teaching of the Syrian and Armenian Christian Churches have made them in- effective as evangelizing agencies among Mohammedans? 4. What elements in Mohammedanism make it, unlike the Jewish religion, an expansive religion? What are the elements that make any religion expansive? 5. What did the' great war reveal regarding the present strength and character. of Mohammedanism? -How will the re cent deposition of the Sultan and his flight to Arabia affect the unity' of Islam? The future of the Kemalists? 6. What principles and practices of Islam fail to satisfy the more educated followers of the faith? 7 THE NEAR EAST 7. Is a Pan-Islamic movement of any serious proportions possible? Why? What countries are generally included in the term "the Moslem World"? 8. Compare the effects of Mohammedanism and Christian- ity upon native peoples in Africa. Why are pagans led to accept Mohammedanism more easily than Christianity? 9. Compare Mohammedanism and Christianity in their pos- sibilities as a religious basis for world democracy. References Williams, Talcott : Turkey, a World Problem of Today. 18. 19, 188. Barton, James L. : The Christian Approach to Islam. 95, 96, 175, 68-69. Pears, Sir Edwin : Forty Years in Constantinople. 292. Outlook. January 10. 91, 92. Stoddard, Lothrop: The New World of Islam. 70-71. (1) Barton, James L. : The Christian Approach to Islam. 57, 132-150, 166. 115-118, 174-176. Mathews, Basil: The Riddle of Nearer Asia. 96-114. (2) Hall, William H. : The Near East: Crossroads of the World. 63-67, 129-130. Dwight, Henry Otis: Constantinople and its Problems. 130-149. (3) Stoddard Lothrop: The New World of Islam. 158-162. Zwemer, S. : Islam : A Challenge to Faith. 55-58, 78-80. Barton, James L. : The Christian Approach to Islam. 14-15. (4) Barton, James L. : The Christian Approach to Islam. 94-100. Current History. December, 456-463. Williams, Talcott : Turkey, A World Problem of Today. 122-127. (5) Barton, James L. : 1 he Christian Approach to Islam. 123-124, 178-180, 182-195. Missionary Review of the World. November, 872-873. December, 964- 967. (6) Asia. December, 949-953. Literary Digest. October 14, 38-39. Current History. November, 264-267. Stoddard, Lothrop : The New World of Islam. 76-85, 87-88. Zwemer, S. : Islam : A Challenge to Faith. 237. (7) Stoddard, Lothrop : The New World of Islam. 59-60. Zwemer, S. : The Mohammedan World of Today. 43-44, 48-49, 284-285. (8) 8 THE NEAR EAST V. Fundamental Christian Principles and Near East Problems 1. What does the parable of the good Samaritan mean when applied between nations? When applied to the Near East tragedy ? 2. Granted that it is as true of nations as of individuals that to whom much is given of him shall much be required, just how and where have Christian nations fallen short in the Near East? 3. To what extent must competition give way to coopera- tion if the strong are to stand up for the weak? What does this mean in international affairs? 4. What teachings of Jesus imply that the Kingdom of God should be the goal of national as well as of individual effort? 5. Why is the policy of national isolation and selfishness not only un-Christian, but a peril to the peace of the world? 6. What circumstances, if any, justify a Christian nation in going to war? 7. What is your opinion of armed intervention in the Near East to save the lives and homes of Christian minorities? 8. W T hat measures might be employed immediately by Christian nations as preventives against the eventuality of war? 9. What general Christian principles would you apply to the present difficulties in the Near East so that this section of the world will cease to be a menace to international peace? References Rihbany, Abraham M. : America Save the Near East. 20-26. Litcrarx Digest. October 21, 11; December 23, 11. (1) Stoddard. Lothrop : The New World of Islam. 103-105. 206-207. 217- 222. World's Work. November 12-14. Jastrow, Morris, Jr.: The Eastern Question and its Solution. 41-44. 105-113. Jastrow, Morris, Jr.: The Eastern Question and its Solution. 146-150. 156-158. Literary Digest. October 14, 26. Current Opinion. December, 763-766. World's Work. January, 234. (5) Outlook. October 11. 223. Literary Digest. October 21, 34. Atlantic Monthly. January 23, 107-115. (8) 9 THE NEAR EAST VI. Responsibility of So-Called Christian Nations 1. What is meant by a mandate? How does it differ from America's relation to the Philippines? Is the mandatory power consistent with self-determination of peoples ; with the open-door policy? 2. Why did European nations propose the assignment of a mandate for Armenia to the United States? Why was the direct mandate reduced from the whole of the Near East to Armenia, when finally offered to the United States? 3. What reasons would you give for United States accept- ing a mandate for Armenia? What reasons for non-accept- ance? Which of these reasons do you think were really oper- ative in our refusal? 4. In view of the assumption of a mandate for Palestine by Great Britain and for Syria by France, in what condition did America's refusal of a mandate for Armenia leave the Arme- nians? What was the attitude of the Near East people with regard to an American mandate? 5. In your judgment is the mandatory system the best solution of the problem of religious minorities in the Near East? 6. What would be the possible effect of an American man- date upon the Near East? Upon the United States? 7. Have the interests of Christian missions (especially the large educational and medical interests) any claim on Christian nations for protection ? Have they any greater claim than busi- ness interests? 8. Would American public opinion have justified an armed effort to prevent the Smyrna tragedy? 9. Of what concern to America is what happens in the Near East? 10. W r hat elements of Turkish rule are objected to by Euro- pean nations? By Christians generally? 11. Should the nations of the world agree to provide and protect a "Homeland" for the Armenian people? Would the establishment of an independent Armenian state bring a peaceful solution to the Armenian problem? 10 THE NEAR EAST References Hall. W. H. : The Near East, Crossroads of the World. 2(2-213. Jastrow, Morris. Jr.: The Eastern Question and its Solution. 72-77. Williams. Talcott : Turkey. A World Problem of Today. 2. Review of Reviews. November, 496-497. (1) Review of Reviews. November, 455. Williams, Talcott: Turkey, A World Problem of Today. Chapter 2. (2) Rihbany, Abraham M. : America Save the Near East. 57-63, 76-80. Jastrow, Morris, Jr. : The Eastern Question and its Solution. 78-90, 94-100. .Report of American Military Commission to Armenia, 1919. (3) Report of American Military Commission to Armenia, 1919. King-Crane Report. (4) Hall, William H. : The Near East. Crossroads of the World. 215-219. (6) Literary Digest. October 7, 33. Rihbany, Abraham M. : America Save the Near East. 61-63. Current History. January, 596-600. November, 300-302. ' (7) Asia. December. 1018. 1021. Literary Digest. October 14, 11-15. November 11, 11-12. Outlook. October 11, 223. November 15, 463-464. Review of Reviews. November, 488-489. (8) Jastrow. Morris, Jr.: The Eastern Question and its Solution. 47-51. Outlook. October 18, 27. (9) Asia. December, 985, col. 2; 986, col. 1. (10) King-Crane Report. (ID VII. The Christian Church and the Near East 1. What has been the visible result upon the Turkish people of one hundred years of missionary effort? Upon other na- tionalities in the Near East? 2. How did the earliest missionary efforts of American Churches in the Near East differ from more recent efforts? 3. Had you been a missionary in the Near East before the recent tragedy would you have worked primarily for the revival and purifying of Eastern Christianity (Syrian and Armenian Churches), or would you have built up from the beginning a separate Christian constituency? 4. What methods of aproach and types of missionary work would you like to see missionaries adopt in the Near East? 11 THE NEAR EAST 5. What arguments would you advance in support of Chris- tian educational institutions in the Near East ? 6. How important is public health education in the Near East? What would be the effect on this area of more intensive agricultural development ? 7. The United States Government has an official agency for relief in the Near East. W T hat is the extent of its activities, and why is it so enthusiastically supported? 8. To what communities has the Near East Relief gone? Does it emphasize any special forms of relief activity? What effect will the wholesale deportation of religious minorities have upon its work? 9. What advantages, if any, has the Near East Relief over denominational missionary activity at the present time? 10. Discuss the wholesome influence exerted through sav- ing, bringing back to normalcy and efficiently training a hundred thousand children who would otherwise have died or have become economic charges. References Zwemer, S. : The Mohammedan IVorld of Todav. 269-270. Zwemer, S. : Islam, A Challenge to Faith. 200-203. Asia. December, 1018. Barton, James L. : The Christian Approach to Islam. 209-219. Toynbee, A. J. : Turkey, A Past and a Future. 59-60. (1) (2) Macdonald, Duncan Black: Aspects of Islam. 1-8, 11. Zwemer, Samuel: The Mohammedan IVorld of Today 73-76. Zwemer. Samuel : Islam : A Challenge to Faith. 210-212, 245-247. Dwight, Henry Otis: Constantinople and its Problem. 260-262. Barton, James L. : The Christian Approach to Islam. 257-280. Missionary Review of the IVorld. September, 715-716; December 964-967. (4) Washburn, George: Fifty Years in Constantinople. 293, 295, 296-299. Hall, William H. : The Near East: Crossroads of the World. 157-160. Hall, William H. :The Near East: Crossroads of the World 91-94 106, 109, 181-185. Literary Digest. November 11, 17-18, col. 1. National Geographic. November, 554-558, 570. Near East Relief Reports. This pamphlet, p. 22. Literary Digest. December 30, 27-28. 12 (6) (7), (8) (9) (10) THE NEAR EAST VIII. Tomorrow in the Near East L Need we despair of a better understanding between Mos- lems and Christians? What changes in the attitude of both parties are imperative before better understanding results? 2. Considering the present leadership and present develop- ments in Turkey, have we hope of any improvement in local conditions in the near future? 3. What relation has the missionary enterprise to perma- nent peace in the Near East? 4. What are the probabilities of an officially closed door to Christian missions in Turkey? 5. Ought our immigration laws be changed in order to make possible a larger influx of Near East refugees during the next few years? 6. Of the different nationalities in the Near East — Turks, Greeks, Armenians and Syrians — which in your judgment would be most welcome in your home community, and why? 7. The industrial development of China is greatly retarded by the absence of adequate transportation facilities. This is less true of the Near East since the Great War. May we therefore expect a great industrial advance in the Near East? If not, what are the discouraging factors? 8. What are the great and immediate needs of Turkey to- day?, Of Greece? Of other sections and nationalities of the Near East? 9. What will be the influence on the future of Greece and the entire Near East of the forcible deportation and subse- quent settling among friendlier peoples of several millions of refugees, many of whom are orphans today? Will this result in a new and safer Near East? References Literary Digest. November 18, 21-22. Current History. January, 669-671. This pamphlet, p. 14-21. (1) Current History. December, 457-461. Missionary Herald. January 23, p. 4, p. 25, and following numbers. Asia. December, 949-953. (2), (3) Missionary Herald. December, 491. 492, 498, 499-500. Missionary Review of the World. September, 714-716 ; November, 867- 876; December, 963-968. Literary Digest. November 11, 17. THE NEAR EAST Review of Reviews. December, 579. Outlook. December 27, 740-741. Rihbany, Abraham M. : America Save the Near East. 39-47. (6) Hall, William H. : The Near East: Crossroads of the World. 109-112. Williams. Talcott : Turkey, A World Problem of Today. 262-270. Mathews, Basil: The Riddle of Nearer Asia, 190-211. , ■ ■ ^ , < 7 > Williams. Talcott: Turkey, a World Problem of Today, 312. Missionary Review of the World. October, 817. A Picture of Deep Distress Dr. Lincoln Wirt. International Commissioner of the Near East Relief, has just returned from a trip to the Near East. This is his picture of the situation there : "During' the last two months I have been in Hell, — that is, I have been in the Near East. But I have also seen the darkest theatre of man's inhumanity to man shot through with courage and faith and human kindness. I have seen a refinement of cruelty practised openly and widely that would make the story of the Dark Ages read like a Sunday supplement ; but I have also seen men die gloriously, fighting to save the honor of woman and the lives of little children. "I have seen camps containing 5,000, 20,000, 50,000 cowering, frightened, cold, half-starved, wretched human beings stripped of wealth and happiness, reduced to the elemental conditions of savagery. I have seen little children dying like flies after the first frost, — 180 of them a day. I have seen women —refined Christian women — scores of them, lying on the ground in the rain, giving birth to children, without a curtain, without a blanket, without doctor or nurse. "I visited the Greek and Armenian refugees huddled in a dozen wretched camps at Piraeus. The sight reminded me of the Chicago stock yards. Added to the crowded misery, the cold winter rains had begun. The first camp we came to contained 6,000 people, who had escaped the flames and massacres at Smyrna. They were quartered in what had once been a series of ware- houses along the water front. The floors were of dirt, half the walls broken down. The roof was only an apology, through which the rain was admitted through a thousand rents and openings. On the muddy floor sat the refugees in groups so close together that there was not even a passageway. Here was misery to the nth degree. These people had lost everything except the clothes they sat in. Very few had blankets. Some were able to find a piece of reed matting or burlap upon which they could lie. Others were prone upon the wet ground. Half of them had trachoma or conjunctivitis. Half a pound of bread was rationed daily to each person. Water could be found only at a distance. Sanitary conditions are better imagined than described. Through this reeking 'black hole of Calcutta' I passed, my heart torn to shreds to be forced to believe the unbelievable— that in this Christian age, human beings, fellow Christians, pro-Allies, those who had every claim of blood, faith and honor upon us, could be left to rot and die in such a place of contagion and human suffering. Women called to us on every side, clinging to our garments, begging that we take away their bread ration and give them blankets instead. For a single person to sit through a long, cold night, with the rain beating in. clad in a thin dress or linen suit, without protection against the bleak, night wind, is a refinement of torture; but to multiply this a hundred thousand times (a million would be nearer to the 14 THE NEAR EAST truth) is to expose our national selfishness, indict our political expediency and tear the veneer from our Christian civilization. During the hour I spent in this inferno I saw three persons die. "At one place I was struck by the cultured appearance of a gray-haired man and his wife, who sat huddled under a piece of canvas, in what had been an old blacksmith shop. I asked my interpreter if he would get the man's story, but the refugee himself spoke up in excellent English and said he needed no interpreter. And then I learned that he had been a wealthy whole- sale merchant in Smyrna ; his business and property investments had repre- sented a fortune of half a million dollars. All had been swept away. Their children had been separated from them — whether still alive or not they could not say. Both this man and his wife were college graduates, had traveled widely, were as sensitive and high-minded as any person who reads these words. Yet here they were, refugees, as empty-handed and almost as naked as the day they were born, sitting on a piece of canvas in the cold rain. Why, I asked myself, and I ask you, why? Has the world lost every sense of shame? Is the age of chivalry entirely past? This aged couple had done no wrong. They stood for the virtues and principles for which we live, and yet they suffer the loss of all things save self-respect. They are but two out of as many millions who had fled or are fleeing from the land which gave them birth, and which gave birth to the religion of Jesus Christ — in defense of which they perish. "Leaving another camp, a woman rushed to our automobile, thrust her thin face under the top, from which the rain was pouring in streams over her bare neck and down her back, clad only in a thin calico slip. She, too, was speaking English, she, too, had attended an American school, had been a teacher there, and was now a refugee. She asked nothing for herself, but begged in the name of compassion that some place might be found for her daughter, who at that moment was lying on a piece of matting in the dark corner of a shed, in child-birth. "So it was all day long, as I passed from one camp of misery to another. There were between 90,000 and 100,000 of these poor wretches, scattered from Athens to Piraeus. And everywhere it was the same cry, blankets, blankets. I saw a woman whose sweet face and white hair reminded me strangely of my mother. I stopped to speak to her. Through an interpreter I asked if she was in special need, what would make her happy. She pointed to the piece of soiled calico over her feet, saying: 'That is all the covering I have at night.' Beneath her was a flour sack. The ground was wet. This dear old soul, with her sweet face and her white hair, was cold, cold with a chill- ing cold that none of us have ever endured. If I could but give blankets to them all ! But it was not my sphere of service to distribute blankets or relief. I was there simply to see and tell the story, and yet one would have needed a heart of stone not to have handed that dear old lady the price of a blanket. Did you ever have a saint and martyr kiss your hand ? The spot burns yet ! "The thing that seems strangest of all to some of us who have been walking in the trail of the serpent is that the Christian nations of the earth sit supinely by and watch this reign of terror, this defamation of every noble feeling, this flower of Christian civilization tramped upon, spurned and in- sulted — and do nothing to stop it." 15 THE NEAR EAST The Imperative Need for Relief A MESSAGE FROM LAUSANNE At the Lausanne Conference there is one. and only one, opinion on the needs of the Armenians, which is, that they must be cared for — orphans and refugees — until they can be settled in a position to care for themselves. Greece, although bankrupt, is overwhelmed with the burden of her own refugees from Asia Minor, Anatolia and Thrace. Even in caring for her own she must have help from without. Who will make the sacrifice for the Armenians? The remnant of the race is in jeopardy. Even if a National Home should be agreed upon by the Lausanne Peace Conference, their food, clothing and shelter for this winter must come from without, and be provided chiefly from charity. There are now tens of thousands of them on the road or huddled in refugee camps. Their chief reliance is upon the generosity of America. Our responsibilities for the orphans cannot be laid aside ; new responsibili- ties cannot be declined. — Dr. James L. Barton. CABLEGRAMS ON DEPORTATION Aleppo, December 14, 1922. Kemalist instructions all Christians must evacuate Turkish territory has caused general deportation from Anatolia to Aleppo. Fifty thousand Ar- menian refugees already arrived, thousands on way. All robbed, naked wounded, girls violated, misery indescribable. Help urgently needed. Pehlivanian, President Armenian National Union. Constantinople, Dec. 16, 1922. Extreme cold, snow and storms aggravate the plight of Asia Minor refugees. Death is overtaking thousands of the children and the aged infirm on the frozen roads of Anatolia, aboard the tossing rescue ships in the Black Sea, and in the camps near Constantinople. Moving over the worst mud roads in the world, I saw a crowd of broken civilians more depressing than an army in hard-pressed retreat. Women about to become mothers tramped in snow up to their knees. Tired children dropped weary by the wayside, and girls of tender years bore men's burdens. Constantinople, December 21, 1922. Constantinople's quays and waterfront streets thronged with Christian exiles from Asia Minor. Fresh shiploads arriving daily. Refugees crowded every available inch of space and every ship from Black Sea. They are clothed in patchwork garments, dazed and hungry after what was for them a terrifying voyage across the tempestuous Black Sea. Majority do not know where they are going. Sad picture, broken-spirited people who have lost everything. But one thing they do know. It is that American sympathy and assistance are responsible for their safe arrival Constantinople, and their only hope of reaching new land of promise. American workers are with them from beginning of exile to arrival at new homes. Constantinople, January 3, 1923. Kemalist decision to permit Christians to leave Anatolia whenever they desire precipitated fresh rush from interior to Black and Mediterranean sea coasts. Piteous appeals which cannot be misunderstood are hourly snatched from air by wireless operators at American embassy, Constantinople. Each tells story of sorrow, distress, and even death, in melancholy march of terror over snow-covered roads of Anatolia. 16 THE NEAR EAST Constantinople, January 4, 1922. Miss Susan D. Orvis, of Dubuque, Iowa, who has been operating Near East Relief home for Greek and Armenian orphans at Caesarea, in the in- terior of Anatolia, has reached Mersine, which has become the most impor- tant outlet on Mediterranean for Christians fleeing from Asia Minor, "I have never in my whole experience in the Near East witnessed such sorrow, distress and death as are now caused by this vast flight, which is depopu- lating one of the richest provinces in Turkey. It was like a march of terror," she . says. "1 brought out the fifteenth and last caravan of orphans from Caesarea. 250 miles inland. The first half of our journey was made in wagons. I travelled on horseback in order to better watch over the column. We set out from Caesarea at 5 a. m. An hour later we were in the foothills of Mount Argaeus, 13,000 feet high, where snow impeded progress. We were marching- through the historic gates of Cilicia in the Taurus Mountains, when I saw a sight I shall never forget. It was a long, thin column of people coming toward us. As they came closer I saw there were a thousand in the line. Ninety-five per cent were women and children, the remainder old men. A solitary Turkish mounted soldier rode in the middle of the column. "In answer to my questions my Turkish guide almost startled me with the information that they were from Smyrna, and being deported to Caesarea. 'They are being punished,' he said, 'for excesses committed by Greek sol- diers against our people.' I knew from their clothing that they came from another region. Further questions revealed the fact that they had walked from Smyrna, 500 miles away. They had been on the road two months "What a column of agony ! There were 3,000 in the column when they started. Groups had at intervals been diverted to other roads, and many weaker ones had died by the roadside. I now recalled village gossip of wholesale deportation after the Smyrna disaster. Here it was in its awful reality. I have never imagined such a ghastly procession. Every face had a death-like pallor. Women carried babies in arms and were stooped from weight -of all their earthly possessions on their backs. The majority were barefooted. All were unutterably miserable, but they bore themselves with remarkable fortitude. "After they passed on, I noticed some garments by the roadside. No one throws away clothing in this desolate country. Lifting the garments I un- covered two little girls about twelve. They were white, staring skeletons, so close to death that they couldn't move. They were left for dead by the column of agony. We succeeded in reviving them and obtained permission from the authorities to place them in our caravan. After four and a half days we reached Ouloukishla on the Bagdad railway, where we paid full fare for our children to ride in six inches of snow in open freight cars to Mersine." THE PLEAS OF THE PATRIARCHS I have had many interviews, some of them with very interesting and very distinguished people, but none of them stand out more vividly than those which I had in September last with the Greek and the Armenian Patriarchs in their official residences in Constantinople. I have decided to let these fathers of their people speak in their own words. "The divisions among the Christian nations are giving the Turks new life and hope," said the Patriarch of Constantinople. "Great Britain seems to be the only nation which realizes the real situation. If Great Britain should fail to check the Turkish advance, it will be a lasting disgrace to Europe, and even to America, that no nation gave Great Britain co-operation to prevent continued Turkish atrocities. If the American Government thought it to be its duty to 17 THE NEAR EAST intervene to make the world safe for democracy against the assaults of Ger- many and to uphold the ideals on which the United States Government is based, why should she not consider it her duty to continue to uphold the same ideals, and to prevent these awful crimes against humanity, to say nothing of democracy? All the Eastern Christians look up to the United States, and it is hard to understand her refusal to take action to protect the innocent, and helpless from outrages and slaughter. It is believed by our people that the United States could prevent the atrocities if she declared positively that they must cease." And then the Patriarch, with the same feeling which a father would show for his own children, said : "What can be done to save my poor, despairing, dying people? We must appeal to your people to save them from starvation, disease and death. God has blessed you with food and clothing, and you have big hearts. Take your people our thanks, but ask them to continue to help us in this day of death." I told the Patriarch that I would convey his appeal to our people, and furthermore stated that if I had the power I would call upon the manhood of my country to protect them from persecution and extermination. The Armenian Patriarch said, "There were nearly four million Ar- menians before the war began ; now there are less than two million." I asked why the Turks killed the Armenians, and he replied : "Because the Armenians are Christians, but also because the Turks are jealous of the Armenians ; they are more intelligent, they have better schools, and are better educated. There are about five Turks to one hundred Ar- menians in school. Also the bulk of the commerce and business generally is carried on by the Armenians. The Turks hate the Armenians because they are' Christians, are better educated, and are better business men. Jealousy and religious hatred are the causes of the massacres." — Bishop James Cannon, Jr. of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. KING OF GREECE CABLES APPRECIATION Athens, November 29, 1922. Interest and sympathy of American people in sufferings of Greece's mil- lion refugees has been great comfort and inspiration to Greek people. Your aid in ministering to these exiled peoples has been, and will continue to be, matter of greatest satisfaction to us. In time of trouble there is no friend to whom Greek nation turns more gladly confident than to America. Even this great catastrophe of suffering and exile will not be without some compensation if it serves to bind Greece closer to United States in ties of friendship and humanitarian endeavor. It is almost unnecessary to ; say how sincerely we hope and pray for success of your appeal in America for aid on behalf our refugees. It is peculiarly fitting this appeal should come at season of your American fes- tival called Thanksgiving. It will be season for fasting and prayer also among our people, and certainly hundreds of thousands of our refugees can offer heartfelt thanks to Almighty that they have good friends and true across sea. . . Greece today faces greatest refugee problem in history of world. Greek people face it manfully, with confidence, fortified by knowledge that their cause is cause of all united Christian peoples of world. With assistance and cooperation of Christian world we shall succeed because our cause is that of' right and justice. . . " > George, King of Greece. 18 THE NEAR EAST Extracts from Recent Letters Written by Student Volunteers in Asia Minor greek inhumanities "I don't believe you or any others at a distance can be feeling as badly about it as I. The chief responsibility to save them has been mine. It was I who failed', and I've got all the pain, not only of sympathy, but of feeling, that if I had been better, or wiser, or something, they might have been saved. Every day we are running up against the shortcomings of the Turkish gov- ernment and its people. And yet we also see another side which those who are not here do not see. I have traveled, for example, up both railroad lines. I am completely satisfied from the evidence that has come through Greeks, as well as Turks, that terrible barbarities were committed by the Greeks in their retreat, that the Turkish armies for days passed through a region devastated by their enemies, many people massacred, and the rest Jiving unprotected in the hills." THE GOOD TURK "Not only have we seen something here of these special causes that have operated to bring out the beast in the Turk, but we have daily been witnesses to the other side of the Turk. We have seen common soldiers and officers doing acts of kindness for Christians. We have been beseiged by our Turkish friends interceding for help in getting off their Greek and Armenian friends. The other day a police officer came to take the last five Christian students we had, Armenians all. They all stayed behind because of sickness. I went with Mr. S — to the Police' Chief to ask for a delay pending complete recuperation. The Chief heard our story, ordered the boys before him, and although they looked like a husky lot, he wrote an order that the boys be sent off to Greece or America on an American ship. On every side we are running up against the good Turk. And so we see that side also." "To us, knowing and seeing daily both sides, it seems just as foolish, and contrary to truth, to talk about the Turks as being hopeless and all bad as it is to talk as though they were free from blame. Horrible things have been going on. Just as horrible things were put over during the French Revolu- tion. And just as there were French people left still worth working for, so now there are Turks left worth working for. I think and think and think about these things, and at night I spend an hour at a time walking up and down the campus praying to God to guide us aright and to lead us not away from Our friends in other countries, but into closer friendship in God's ser- vice than ever before." WE'RE LICKED "Another thing — about God's love: That doctrine is mighty weak stuff to feed the world in this day unless it's coupled with what seems to me to have been. Jesus' other fundamental, namely, God's power. We've worked here for a hundred years, and at the end of it we're licked — absolutely licked by the devil and all his hordes, and the worst of it is that nearly every letter from the homeland and missionary friends seem only to recognize that licking. We're licked — there's no doubt about that, but are we therefore going to give up? I could stay here with joy this winter working with such wisdom as I can muster, if only I could feel behind me the strong, unfaltering moral support of all my friends. But it's depressing, to say the least, to hear people talk of withdrawal from here. Withdrawal at a time when we're licked!! Good God, is this Christianity? Haven't we got any better hold on the fun- damentals of our faith than that? We've bravely recited poems about spec- 19 THE NEAR EAST ializing in the impossible, about getting up with a bounce when you're knocked down flat. We've practiced the idea in football games. We believe it in our play. But here is one of the most desperate situations in history, certainly in Christian history. It affects the actual way my digestion acts to think that missionary friends, and men of power and influence, professing Christians, are talking of withdrawal now. OVERCOME EVIL WITH GOOD "If God is loving, then He loves the Turks. I don't know what he thinks about the bad ones. But I'm sure he loves all these attractive little kids I see playing about the streets. I know He loves the men and the women who no more approve the excesses that have taken place than you or I do. And so far as I can see, this latter class includes the vast majority of the people. Now, if God merely loves, and has no power, then by all means let's get out. But Christ taught a most peculiar doctrine. — that God had power, bushels of it, power even over sinful men, but that that power operated through love. The Jews must have been a beastly lot to have crucified Jesus, Jesus seems utterly impractical not to have done something. Why in time didn't He call His followers to action, to be up and doing? Well. I don't know. All I know is that the weapon He used was the death on the cross and those last words, "Father, forgive them." "What's going to be my philosophy? I see only three alternatives — (1) pessimism — withdraw and admission of defeat. (2) the philosophy of the world — physical force trying to subdue bad men and make them good. (3) the philosophy of Jesus — conquest of evil by love." CALLED TO A HARD TASK "In the very first place this question of how to conduct our work is going to look differently to different individuals, according to the point of view of each. For example, I. with my distinct feeling that I am intended of the Lord God to be a missionary to the Turks, will naturally view the possibility of continuing work here somewhat differently from one who feels that his or her work lies among Greeks, or even from one who feels simply the general need of work among all classes of people in this country. Of course, you will understand what I mean by saying that I feel called to work for the Turks. I am conscious of no mystic hunches. It is simply that I naturally love things Turkish. For some reason or other the Lord has given me the adaptability to fit into Mohammedan life out here, and in some measure realizes the paradox Dr. Macdonald mentions on the title page of his book, "Aspects of Islam." I love the Turkish language, the Turkish cus- toms, and even the faults of the nation appeal to me. I hope I don't mini- mize them. They are dreadful and atrocious, but steeped as I am in my yet, of course, superficial study of Turkish history and literature and religion and social customs. I feel that in some measure I can understand the reasons why things are as bad as they are, and that makes me feel that there is a certain pathos in the situation. I long with all my heart to try to lead a wayward nation back to a better way. I never pick up an American magazine without turning over its pages and feeling well up in my breast a longing to put over something that will be helpful like that to the Turkish people. I see everything from that point of view. There is so much to inspire us to better living, and so little to inspire them. We have so much cause to love Christ, and they have so many reasons not to understand anything about Him truly at all. All the while my mind is working, not in terms of a single institu- tion or a single piece of activity, but in terms of the influences that are molding a nation. Everything commercial interests me because I see in industry and trade the material foundation for moral progress. Politics I 20 THE NEAR EAST look at similarly. The modern tendency of nationalism and the whole struggle to attain to democratic government everywhere in the world simply brings back to me an understanding in some measure of the situation here in Tur- key. 1 don't mean I feel at all like excusing or explaining away facts here. 1 just mean that this country seems to me to have wonderful possibilities, but possibilities which, so far as I can see, are never going to be anything but dangers to the world unless somehow the philosophy of life that Jesus taught can be gotten over to them. And the Lord has put in my heart the desire to devote my life to thinking and planning and devising ways and means for the persuasive presentation of the message of Jesus to this very wayward people. My prayers turn instinctively in this direction. All my life is unified to some extent at least around this dominating aim of winning the Turkish nation to Christ. If I were of great ability, I'd like to turn to one class of influences after another and try to Christianize them. I'd like to go into politics and swing the policies of the nations around to a point where they might converge in a Christian manner upon things out here. I'd like to go into local politics and be a power of some kind behind a throne, a regular political boss, perhaps wielding political power for the public good. I'd like to go into business and get a lot of capital released in a way that would develop the country. I'd, of course, like to do a lot of publication work, and educational work, especially along lines of citizenship. There are a lot of lines I'd like to work along, and some of them aren't what you'd call definitely religious ; vet in every single class of activity, if I could be work- ing there, my aim would be just exactly the same, the definite and complete winning of the whole Turkish nation to Christ." THE WAY OUT "Only relatively few individuals and institutions, here and there, have ever tried really to practice what Jesus taught. Do you wonder we've ended in this mess? I wish I could see the way out, but I can't. Yet I believe it is possible that some great man, a Turk, perhaps, may arise out here who will show the Turks that the really Christian way is the best one, and its not impossible that before I die I may see the majority of the Turkish nation definitely won to Christ, through the leadership of such a man. But I am afraid that deeper Christian souls than mine must be at work on the task. I can only help a very little bit. I'm not doing much here but looking cheer- ful appearing optimistic and then praying for God to do something Of course my hands and feet are busy with work. There is much to do, and too few to do it But I mean in the way of real work we're not doing much, only stumbling on in the dark. ■ If you are in touch with any real saints over there, get them to pray for us." ISMET PASHA ON FUTURE OF AMERICAN MISSIONS "In a conference last evening with Ismet Pasha he assured me that no hindrances will be put in the way of mission work in all departments. A few days ago he gave out a statement in the following terms : "I hope above all things that the Amer- icans will not worry about the future of their educational and philanthropic institutions in Turkey. We want them to stay, and have no intention of adopting laws which will embarrass the continuation of the admirable American altruistic work among our people now."— From Dr. James L. Barton's most recent letter to the Federal Council of the Churches of ' America. 21 THE NEAR EAST The Near East Relief When the allied fleet was withdrawn from the Dardanelles in 1915, the Turkish empire, over which England, France, Russia and Italy had for a century exercised a restraining influence, became isolated from all the world except her allies in the war. The leaders of the Union and Progress party, who had at first welcomed the participation of the Christian minorities in the government and in the army, but who later conceived a desire to have Turkey a country exclusively for Turks, took this occasion to order the extermination! of the subject Christian peoples. After the men had been ordered from their homes, not to return, women and children were deported toward the Syrian desert, about 1,200,000 being sent away between the months of April and October. On September third a cablegram was received by the State Department of the United States Government from Ambassador Morgenthau, appealing for aid for Armenians ; asking that the Department notify Messrs. Charles Crane. Cleveland Dodge, John R. Mott, Stephen Wise and others, suggesting the for- mation of a committee to raise relief funds. In response to this request there was organized in October, 1915, the American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief. Appeals were issued to the American public, and funds for relief purposes were transmitted through Ambassador Morgenthau, and later Ambassador Elkus and other American representatives from October, 1915, to October, 1919. Shortly after the signing of the Armistice in 1918 a commission was. appointed to visit all accessible parts of the Near East and make a survey of the need for relief. In the following January and February relief car- goes were sent from New York, and on February 16th the giant U. S. Transport Leviathan sailed with a party of 240 relief workers, to which company there were soon added recruits from the American forces in France. Because of the magnitude and variety of the work to be done, it was deemed advisable to enlarge the scope of the American Committee, and with practically the same membersihp in its Board of Trustees, the Near East Relief was incorporated and was approved by Act of Congress August 6, 1919. Each state of the Union maintains a Near East Relief Organization, and Com- mittees have been formed in Japan, China, the Philippines. Australia, New Zealand and Hawaii. Since the first organization was formed in 1915 approx- imately $75,000,000 in money and supplies have been collected and adminis- tered by this organization. The five areas of operation are : I. Northwest Persia and Mesopotamia. II. Russian Armenia or Trans-Caucasia, III. Palestine and Syria. IV. Constantinople and Asia Minor. V. Greece. The relief work has included general distribution of food and clothing to the destitute, clinic and hospital work, reconstruction, such as rebuilding of war-destroyed villages, and the development of agricultural lands, but in recent years special emphasis has been placed on the work done for the orphans who have been gathered into orphanages, where they are not only supplied with food and shelter and clothing, but are being trained to become self-supporting when they are old enough to be released from the orphan- ages. About 100,000 of these children are wards of the Near East Relief. That the need for relief work has not ceased is illustrated by the fact that on November 14th the remaining Christian population of Turkey was "given permission" to leave the land which had been the home of their an- cestors for 2,500 years. This order has cast an additional million people on 22 THE NEAR EAST tthe charity of the world. Like Abraham, they go out not knowing whither tthey go. We rase the words, "Not knowing whither they go," for where can these (people go ? America refuses to receive them by our immigration laws. England and France cannot take care of them. Canada's immigration laws debar them. Germai^, Italy, Bulgaria, Roumania, all other countries, hus- 1>and their own resources and debar them. These people were born in Asia Minor. Their families lived there cen- turies before the Christian era, antedating the Turkish occupation by more than a thousand years. They are literally being shoved off their ancestral lands nit© the sea, with no place to land. Near East Relief has sent overseas since 1915: 46 physicians and surgeons 48 secretaries 95 nurses 39 engineers 13 mechanics 56 supply and transport 17 industrial experts workers 14 bacteriologists 46 army officers as organizers 20 agriculturalists 285 orphanage and general re- 19 teachers lief workers 32 administrators Near East employs an average staff of 300 Americans, many of whom are volunteer workers. Near East Relief shipped overseas up to Novemher 30, 1922, 25,322 tons of clothing, food, medical supplies and other commodities, valued at $4,251,074, The total value of Near East Reliefs toperations to date approximate $73,000,000. BIBLIOGRAPHY j*Lord Bryce's Report f Barton, James L. : The Christian Approach to Islam. $2.00. Davis, Wiliam S. : A Short History of the Near East. $3.00. I) wight. Henry Otis: Constantinople and Its Problems. $3.00. fHall, William H. : The Near East: Crossroads of the World. $.75 and $.50. Jastrow, Morris, Jr.: The Eastern Question and its Solution. $1.50. Jastrow, Morris, Jr.: The War and the Bagdad Railway. $1.50. Macdonald, Duncan Black: Aspects of Islam. $1.50. Mathews, Basil: The Riddle of Nearer Asia. $1.25 and $.57. Morgenthau : Ambassador Morgenthau's Story. $2.00. Pears, Sir Edwin : Forty Years in Constantinople. $5.00. Rihbany. Abraham Mitrie: America Save the Near East. $1.00. Stoddard, Lothrop : The New World of Islam. $3.00. Toynbee, A. J. : Turkey, A Past and a Future. $1.50. Washburn, George : Fifty Years in Constantinople. $3.00. tWilliams, Talcott : Turkey, A World Problem of Today. $3.00, Woods, H. Charles : The Cradle of the War. $2.50. *Zwemer, Samuel M. : Arabia, The Cradle of Islam. Zwemer, Samuel M. : Islam. A Challenge to Faith. $.75 and $.50. Zwe'mer, Samuel M. : The Mohammedan World of Today. $1.50. * Out of print, but may be available in libraries. 23 THE NEAR EAST Monthly PERIODICALS American Review of Revictvs. Review of Reviews Corp., 30 Irving Place, New York. $.35 a copy, $4.00 a year. Asia. Asia Magazine, Inc., 627 Lexington Avenue, New York. $.35, $3.50. Atlantic Monthly. Atlantic Monthly Publishing Co., 8 Arlington Street, Boston, Mass. $.40. $4.00. ^ . . , Current History. The New York Times Co., Times Square, New York. $.25, $3.00." Curent Opinion. Current Literature Publishing Co., Current Opinion Bldg.. New York. $.35. $4.00. International Review of Missions. Order from 27 Madison Avenue, New York. $.75, $2.50. Missionary Review of the World. Missionary Review Publishing Co., 156 Fifth Avenue, New York. $.25, $2.50. Missionary Herald. Missionary Herald, 14 Beacon Street, Boston, Mass. $1.00—12 nos. Moslem World. Missionary Review Publishing Co., 156 Fifth Ave- nue, New York. $.35, $1.25. National Geographic. National Geographic Society, Hubbard Memorial Hall, Washington, D. C. $.50. $3.50. New Near East. Near East Relief, 151 Fifth Avenue, New York. $.50 a year. North American Review. North American Review Co., 9 East 37th Street, New York. $4.00. Our World. Houston Publishing Co.. 9 East 37th Street, New York. $.25, $3.00. Survey Graphic. Survey Associates, Inc., 112 East 19th Street, New York. $.30, $5.00. World's Work. Doubleday-Page, Garden City, New York. $4.00. Weekly Literary Digest. Funk and Wagnalls Co., 254 Fourth Avenue, New York. $.10, $4.00. New Republic. The Republic Publishing Co., 421 West 21st Street, New York. $5.00. Outlook. The Outlook Corporation, 381 Fourth Avenue, New York. $.15, $5.00. MAPS AND PICTURES Maps of the Near East, also pictures Near East Relief, 151 Fifth Ave- nue. New York. $.05. Near East Picture Stories Student Volunteer Movement, 25 Madison Avenue, New York City. $.50. MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATIONS *A mcrican Military Mission to Armenia, Report of; American Associa- tion for International Conciliation, 407 West 117th Street, New York City. $.05. iKing-Crane Report. Editor and Publisher Co., New York World Bldg.. 63 Park Row, New York City. $.25. Near East Relief Reports. May be secured on request from Near East Relief. 151 Fifth Avenue, New York City. Letters and Reports- from Y. M. C. A. and Y. W. C. A. secretaries in Near East. National Board, Y. W. C. A., 600 Lexington Ave., New York. City. International Committee, Y. M. C. A., 347 Madison Ave., New York City. fOf especial value in connection with this course. 24 "To the angel of the church at Smyrna write thus : — These are the words of the First and Last, who was dead and came to life : I know your distress and your poverty (but you are rich !) : I know how you are being slandered by those who style themselves Jews (no Jews are they, but a mere synagogue of Satan!). Have no fear of what you are to suffer. The devil indeed is going to put some of you in prison, that you may be tested ; you will have a distressful ten days. Be faith- ful, though you have to die for it, and I will give you the crown of Life." The Book of Revelation, Moffatt's Translation. All material referred to may be ordered from STUDENT VOLUNTEER MOVEMENT 25 Madison Avenue New York City