SORROW AND DEATH IN TURKEY.
By Editor
WE hear little to-day about the terrible conditions now prevalent in stricken Macedonia, and yet the suffering and persecution of the inhabitants at the hands of the Turkish soldiery is beyond description. The following quotation from Christian Work, commenting on the report of American Consul Norton, of Harput, will give a little insight into the terrible conditions existing there: It is a pertinent inquiry whether our State Department has received any protest from the Turkish Government, because of the publicity which it has first given regarding the awful condition of affairs in the Sassun district, effected by the Turks. Whether it has or has not, the fact of fresh massacres seems undisputed. The information put forth by our State Department is official, and comes from Consul Norton, of Harput. Mr. Norton tells us that, after the tide of massacre swept over that country, the survivors "number nearly 10,000"—he does not tell us how many thousand were killed. These survivors, Mr. Wilson tells us, have "saved little but their lives." These particulars are given: "Nearly every house in the region was completely plundered, and then burned. Worst of all, their flocks and herds, practically the only source of food, raiment, and income, were completely swept away. These unfortunates, after receiving for a short period an allowance from the government of one cent per capita per diem for subsistence, now are without food, and without a prospect of food for the coming winter. The diseases usually following fright, exposure, exhaustion, and insufficient food are rapidly becoming epidemic, especially among the children." Three vital conditions, as we learn from Consul Wilson, remain to be met, namely, want of warm clothing, bedding, and good food. The situation, we are further told, is practically identical with that of many parts of Macedonia twelve months ago, altho, while the number involved is less, the remoteness from the sea-coast and the greater severity of the climate increase the danger of widespread suffering and mortality. The helplessness of this mountain folk in their need is heightened by the enforcement of administrative measures which prevent them from leaving their ruined villages, and seeking assistance or work in more favored localities. It is further to be stated that several thousand destitute villagers upon the great plain of Mush, adjoining the Sassun Mountains, are in equally sore straits. The advantage over the Sassun folk lies in the fact that they are less exposed to the rigor of winter, and they can at least beg from surrounding villages, where the torch has not brought destruction. The distance from New York to Constantinople is 5,800 miles; to the region of the recent massacres some 6,000 miles. Is this too far for the loving arm of Charity, or too distant for the voice of humanity going forth from Washington, to reach? The winter is upon those suffering people, as it is upon us. Meantime the European powers seem to care nothing about disturbances in Macedonia or Armenia. The Macedonian Relief Committee in London exhausts itself in fruitless appeals to Lord Lansdowne, while the sultan gives orders for a hundred batteries of quick-firing field artillery to the gun-makers of England and Germany. And so we go.