Next to Broussa, as far as the Chapter’s present activities in behalf of the refugees are concerned, comes Salonica. Our relief work is also being extended into Monastir and Koricha in Albania.
Situation in Salonica
Letter from Mr. E. O. Jacob.
Salonica, Jan. 3, 1913.
I trust you will forgive me for not writing you earlier. My trip unfortunately lasted 13 days. I had 5 days’ quarantine in Pireus and then had to wait 5 days for a steamer, so that I did not reach here till December 30. I found, as I had feared, that the most urgent need was over, and the work of relief in Salonica itself was already pretty well organized. It seems, however, that my services will meet a real need at least for some weeks. Some one is urgently needed to visit the towns and villages of the provinces and Mr. Haskell is certainly the best man for that.
I am writing this letter also as a sort of report, any material of which you are at liberty to use. You have already received, I understand, a copy of the “Independent,” describing the work of the “Societe de Secours aux Refugies.” This is a quite modest and impersonal description of the work of Mr. Haskell, Mme. Christo Hajji Lazaro and the association whom they have gathered, namely, Pastor Brunau, Mme. Yenny, the wife of a Swiss merchant; Sister Augustine of the Catholic Mission, and lately Mr. van Bommel. They began at once the collection of funds, the investigation of the condition of the refugees and the giving of bread. It must have been a terrible task to locate 50,000 refugees, scattered as they were all over the city, and still more so to inaugurate a system of distribution, for the imams of mosques and the former Mouhtars of different districts tried in every way to turn the funds into their own pockets. But by frequent and tiresome inspections a fair degree of efficiency is now maintained. The committee has now the aid of three native pastors, who are proving very effective in tracing irregularities, removals and other changes.
HOSPITAL IN CONSTANTINOPLE IN CHARGE OF GERMAN OFFICERS.