TENTS FURNISHED THROUGH THE RED CROSS RELIEF COMMITTEE FOR ADANA.
THIRTY-FOUR ORPHAN GIRLS FROM ANTIOCH BROUGHT TO BEIRUT UNDER RED CROSS AUSPICES FOR THE GERMAN DEACONESSES OF KAISERSWERTH. BEDS, BLANKETS, SHOES AND CLOTHING WERE SUPPLIED.
On July 3 this Committee received an appeal from Miss E. Chambers at Kessab for $500 for shoes, $250 for cotton cloth, and $5,000 for wheat, while urgent requests were made for money with which to rebuild houses. More than 600 houses in Kessab had been ruined by fire and other means of destruction. We have supplied the money necessary to buy the shoes and the cloth, but we are unable as yet to provide winter stores or to assist in rehousing the people.
Regarding the matter of contributions, I would invite attention to the report of July 12 of the Secretary and Treasurer, Mr. E. G. Freyer, inclosed herewith. Your Committee’s first call for aid met with a surprisingly generous response from Syria, enabling us to be the first on the scene of devastation with help from the outside. The contributions were not large, but they came in promptly, and as shown by the financial statement of June 24, from numerous sources.
In the matter of distribution, this Committee has exercised very special care. We have dealt exclusively with American, British, and German missionaries in the field, men and women personally known to ourselves, and in whose trustworthiness and good judgment we had implicit confidence. We have full assurance that the supplies and the cash forwarded have been employed where they would accomplish the greatest amount of good. In that way the piasters or piasters’ worth furnished have been made to serve important ends. We, therefore, feel that we have not striven in vain, although the summary of receipts and expenditures does not run into very large figures.
The number of killed during the recent disturbances is variously estimated at 15,000 to 30,000, leaving thousands of widows and orphans. Business practically is at a standstill in the disturbed region. Hundreds of families wish to emigrate, and some have applied to American consuls for assistance to that end. It is a sad state of affairs. But emigration on a large scale at this time, when brighter days obviously are dawning upon this empire, unquestionably would be both a mistake and a misfortune.
Everywhere the Red Cross has been respected and honored, although the emblem of official relief work in Turkey is the red crescent.