North Carolina Newspapers

SECTION TWO? Pages 9 to 12 TURKS KILL 1,200 ARMENIANS.] With "Axes They Slaycd Anatolia Col lege Faculty and Others Slaughter ed for the Clothes They Wore, (iirls Sold for $2 Each. Women, Children und Old Men Carried Away by the Thousands Never to Return. (Wilmongton Star.) New York, Sept. 29. -The slaugh ter with axes of all the Armenian fac ulty members of Anatolia College, ] Marsovan, Northern Asia Minor, to gether with 1,200 others by Turkish peasants whose pay for the work was the privilege of stripping the cloth ing off their victims' bodies, was de scribed here today by the Rev. George E. White, president of the college, re cently returned to this country. The massacres were committed at night by order of the Turkish government, he said, the Armenians being sent out in lots of a hundred or two to their doom and their bodies rolled into prepared burial trenches. "One group of our college boys j asked permission to sing before they died any they sang 'Nearer My God to Thee,' then they were struck down," Dr. White said. "The situation for Armenia became excessively acute in the spring of 1915 when the Turks determined to eliminate the Armenians. The Ar menian question arises from political and religious causes. "On the pretext of searching for deserting soldiers, concealed bombs, weapons, seditious literature or revo lutionists, the Turkish officers arrest ed about 1,200 Armenian men at Mar sovan, accompanying their investiga tions by horrible brutalities. There was no revolutionary activity in our J region whatever. "The men were sent out in lots of j one or two hundred in night 'deporta tions' to the mountains where trenches had been prepared. Coarse peasants who were employed to do what was done, said it was a 'pity to waste bul- j lets' and they used axes. "Then the Turks turned on the wo men and children, the old men and lit tle boys. Scores of oxcarts were gath ered and in the early dawn as they passed, the squeaking of their wheels left memories that make the blood curdle even now. Thousands of wo men and children were swept away. Where? Nowhere. No destination was stated or intended. Why ? Simply be cause they were Armenians and Chris tians and were in the hands of the Turks. "Girls and young women were snatched away at every turn on the journey. The girls sold at Marsovan for from $2 to $4 each. I know be cause I heard the conversation of ] men engaged in the traffic ? I know because I was able to ransom three girls at the price of $4.40 "The misery., the agony, the suffer ing were beyond the power of words to express ? almost beyond the power of hearts to conceive. In bereavement, ] thirst, hunger, loneliness, hopeless ness, the grounds were swept on and on along roads which had no destina tion. , "I received word from Ambassador Morganthau that our premises would * not be interfered with. Next morn ing the chief of police came with arm ed men and demanded surrender of all Armenians conected with the college, girls' school and hospital. We claimed the right to control our grounds as American citizens. "More than two hours we held them at bay. They brought more armed men. They again demanded surren der of the Armenians. I refused. They challenged me for resisting the Turk ish government. They said any one who did so was liable to immediate execution. "They broke open our gates, brought in oxcarts and asked where the Armenians were. I refused to tell. They went through the building, smashing down the doors. Then our Armenian friends, feeling that further attempt on our part to save them would bring more harm probably i than good, came forth, professed themselves loyal Turkish subjects and offered to do what was required. "An oxcart was assigned each fam ily with a meager supply of food, bedding and clothing. The mother sat on the load with her children about her, the father prepared to walk be side the cart. I offered prayer and then the procession carrying 72 per sons from the college and hospital moved away. "These teachers were men of char acter, education, ability and useful ness, several of them representing the line type cf graduates from American and European universities. The com puhy went in safety for about tifty miles. Then the men were separated prom the women. Their hands were bound behind their backs and they wore led away. Th? eight Armenian members of the staff of instruction of Anatolia College were among the slain. The women and children were moved on and on. No one knows where and no one knows how many of them are still living. "The government officers plowed the Armenian cemetery in Marsovan and sowed it with grain as a symbol that no Armenian should live or die to be buried there. No Armenian student or teacher was left to Anatolia Col lege and of the Protestant congrega tion in the city of 950 souls, more than 900 with their pastors were 'swept away. It was a government movement throughout ? a movement against the Armenian people. "These things are typical of what took place through the six provinces of the Turkish empire known as Ar menia. The Armenians are the Yan kees of the East ? the merchants, manufacturers, capitalists, artisans and among the best of farmers. One quarter of a million people succeeded in escaping into Russian Caucasus and among thent" Armenian represen tatives have done wonderful work in caring for the sick, giving bread to the hungry, clothing to the naked, caring for orphans. Probably a mil lion more went to Syria and Mesopo tamia where they have been depend ent upon American relief which is helping this worthy people to pull through alive." The number of Armenians who have been massacred, said Dr. White, is estimated by the Armenian committee for Armenian and Syrian relief in New York City at from 500,000 to 1,000,000 while there are a million still living in need of immediate re lief, for which $5,000,000 a month is urgently needed, without which thou sands will perish in destitution and suffering. The committee is so con ducted, he said, that every dollar col lected goes for relief purposes. Dr. White, now living in Minneap olis, was ordered to leave Marsovan by the Turkish government. He was formerly pastor of the Congregation al church in Waverly, la. Schoolboy Patriots. This is a war of trained men ? a war that is fought largely by math ematicians, skilled mechanics, electri cians, aeronauts, seamen, chemists, sanitaiton experts, surgeons, business men. Thousands and thousands of these educated leaders in the war have been killed or lost to the service through wounds: other thousands may be destroyed. Who will take their places if the war continues long? Certainly it will not be the boys who have dropped out of sehQol. There's another reason ? a big one. The work of the world will go on af ter this war is ended. War or no war, there must be skilled mechanics, elec tricians, aeronauts, seamen, chemists, sanitation experts, surgeons, business men. There will be fewer such after the war. That means there will be an unusually good opportunity for you to gain success and distinction in your chosen line of work. But you can't succeed, you can't pain distinction, if you have been a "slacker" in school. The best reason for your staying in school we haven't given yet. It is not only thr.t you can earn more money when you are a man, if you stay in school; it is not only that you will have a better chance to succeed as an educated man, because so many edu cated men will have been lost. It is that, after this terrible war with its tragic destruction, the world will have to be rebuilt. That will be your }*>b; that is, you must do a part of the job. Which pnrt will it be? Will it be an import ant part because you are fitted by ed ucation to do an important part, or will you just drift along, dointr what others tell you to do, a follower, if not a bungler? Going to school now, this year, and sticking through, are the first essen tials. Don't drop out. Don't be a slacker. Don't be a quitter. "Carry on!" Do it for your country's -sake. ? The American Boy. 0 Denmark's industries and railroads yearly consume 3,000,000 tons of coal. THE ST ATI'S OF PROHIBITION. K. Davis, Superintendent of Anti Saloon League Issues Statement in Regard to Prohibition Laws Poth State and National. The State Laws prohibit: 1. Tho manufacture and sale of in toxicating liquors with two excep tions: (a) Wins may be made and sold in not less than two and one?half gallon lots in sealed or crated pack ages. (b) Cidor may be made by the party who grows the apples, and by no other, and sold by him only. 2. The possession of liquor for the purpose of sale, and this purpose may be proved by the possession of over one gallon. 3. The giving away of liquor for the purpose of direct or indirect gain. 4. Drug stores to handle liquor at all. They can get grain alcohol for compounding medicine but cannot sell the alcohol. 5. The law makes the manufacture of liquor a felony, penalty of at least twelve months in the penitentiary. The Federal Laws prohibit: 1. The delivery of any intoxicating liquors in North Carolina for bev erage purposes. 2. The sending of any liquor adver tising matter or paper advertising liquor through the mails into the State. 3. The manufacture of spirituous liquors (whiskey, brandy or rum), throughout the United States. 4. The Law gives authority to the President to commandecr liquors in bonded warehouses for war purposes, and to ocntrol or forbid the manu facture of beer and wine. If the beer and wine industries continue in the Nation it is at the will and according to the judgment of President Wilson. Seme Things You May I)o. 1. Assist in the prosecution of all citizens who violate these laWs. Re port them to the State or Federal of ficers according to their offense, or report them to this office and we will report them without using your name as the informant. 2. Let President Wilson know that you want the manufacture of beer and wine and the sale of all liquors stopped for the conservation of food stuff -tmd manpower ? efficiency, if you please. 3. Continue the agitation and work for National Constitutional Prohibi tion until it is secured. Follow the leadership of the Anti-Saloon League and this legislation will soon be gained. EXPECT GOOD RESPONSE FROM FARMERS IN LOAN' CAMPAIGN In the First Liberty Loan Cam paign, many of the farmers cf the country were not reachcd, and sub scriptions from the rural committees were few There were several rea sons for this, the foremost of which was that the Loan was put out in the spring, when they were busy with their crops, and it was difficult for the canvassers to interview them. Then, too, they had to borrow money for their planting. Now their crops are in, and at the present high price of food stuffs, they should have a large sum of money in their hands. For a loan of a portion of that money, the Liberty Bond campaigners are now appealing all over the country. The various farm bureaus and" societies are co-opcrating and good results are expected. Albert R. Mann, Dean of the New York College of Agriculture, is one of those who have ben active in this work. Speaking of the Loan and the farmers' share in it, he said: "When liberty came to America, the farmer helped to bring it. He bore the gun, he contributed unspar ingly of his substance, he fed the ar mies. In the present struggle for uni versal liberty, I am sure that he will do no less. He has already made splendid response to the demand for greater food production. I look with confidence on his generous contribu tion to the Liherty Loan. The first loan largely over-looked the farmer; the efforts were concentrated in the cities. The sccond campaign should give every opportunity for farmers as individuals and in their organizations to support the Government in its fin ancial program. It is the highest ex pression of Americanism that all the peopb should help carry the common load in this critical hour." The cattle tick alone is said to cause more than $300,000,000 loss each year. OBSEUVh Ql'ARANTlNK I. AW. MeasK s and Whooping Cough Hin dered l ast Year's School Work and Costs Thousands of Dollars. State Quarantine Law to Protect Schools. (St;1 to Health Bulletin.) Measles and whooping: cough play ul havoc with many of the good school reports that the county super intendents" otherwise would have made for last year's* school term. In their reports to the State Department of Education, many do not hesitate to say that tneir attendance was greatly reduced and the work of their school otherwise .hindered because of these two contagious diseases, Prof. W. J. Privette, superintendent of Beaufort County, says in his report: "During the winter there were sev eral schools closed on account of epi demics. The final Reports from these sch< ols were not complete and for this reason the average length of term was not as long as it would have been. Neither was the daily attend ance as good as it otherwise would have been. Some of these schools are being taught during the summer." Other counties besides Beaufort Were equally as hard hit. Practically the same report came from Graham, Polk, Brunswick, Hertford, Warren, Stokes, Watauga and Sampson. All but two of the schools in McDowell County were closed at one time on ac count cf contagious diseases. Something of the cost of epidemic diseases to the State alone, to say i.othing of what they cost individual families, is here estimated. There are 8'2<?,320 school children in North Caro lina and their schooling costs the State between eight and ten cents per child per day. If each child loses only one day from school because of meas les, sore-throat or any other illness, the State loses a total of about $82, 63"; and in some counties where the attendance at school is decreased 10 per cent, those counties suffer a pro portionate loss ten times as great. To stop this annual drain on the State's c dueational funds when noth ing is gotten in return is one of the objects of the new State Quarantine law, which requires measles, whoop ing cough, and other contagious dis eases to be reported and to be strict ly quarantined. Blackberries and School Taxes. We aro beginning to hear of coun ties here and there in North Caroli na voting down school tax proposi tions and bond issues for better school buildings. We arc slipping a cog just when wo can least afford it. We are taxed to death for schools and everything these days, said a timid citizen on the train some time ago in explanation of his vote against a special tax for schools in his dis trict. Now, what are the facts about pub lic school support in North Carolina? Are we really burdened by the cost of popular education? Are we spending too much or too little for this pur pose ? Superintendent J. F Webb of Gran ville answers for his county ? which, by the way, stood ahead of 59 coun ties of the State in 1916-17 in total school expenditures. Granville is do ing well when compared with other counties but after all Granville is not doing much for public education. Taking as a basis for comparisons the amount of general school taxes collected in his county last year, the total acres of land, the acreage in corn, the population of the county, the anual cost of food per person, and the current prices of common commodities, Mr. Webb brings out the following startling facts about Granville: For every dollar's worth of food consumed in Granville one ccnt is spent for education ? only one cent. If the whole school tax rested on land alcne, one b'arrel of potatoes would pay the tax on 130 acr?s of land! A barrel of corn would pay the school tax on 150 acres! But as it is, the general school tax rests only partly on land ? to the ex tent of 2 cents an acre! and a single barrel of corn paid the school tax on r>00 acres! In Oak Hill township, %a barrel of corn paid the school tax on 800 acres! And a single quart of blackberries was enough to pay the school tax on 4 acres! In Granville County last year a single medium cabbage head paid the general school tax on 10 acres of land; a sinjjK' pound of fat-back paid the tax on II acres; a good water melon or a dozen eggs, on 15 acres; a cord of wood, on 200 acres; and a thousand feet of ordinary house framing paid the school tax on 000 acrcs! If the average corn yield of the county were 12 quarts more per a< re, the increase would equal the genera! school tax paid by the entire popula tion! Thirty quarts more of canned fruits per family or six dollars worth of vegetables per garden would do it! It conts more to fed the dogs than to support the schools of Granville. The upkeep of the automobile of the county costs nccrly 4 times as much as the schools. It costs more to deliver the mails than to run the schools of the coun 'y It costs more to deliver the goods purchased by the people of Oxford than to run the City Graded School. Uo wo spend too much for the ed ucation of our children? asks Super intendent Webb. Manifestly not ? not in Granville nor in any other county in North Car olina. We must double our school taxes (his year, says Clarence Poe. And so we must, if we would extend and en rich the areas of intelligence in the State wi love.- University News Letter. The Old North State. Charlotte Observer. In the September 1G issue of the Observer, there was published for the first time by permission of the author "Our Fli'g Song," the latest poem from th? pen of Leonora Monterio Martin (Mrs. Harry Culver Martin), once an adopted daughter of North Carolina, now residing in Knoxville, Tenn. A musical arrangement for the po em setting to the tune Lohengrin wedding march is being prepared for the author by the well known South ern musician, Frank Nelson, of Knox ville. Already permission is being sought by various patriotic and other organizations to include the presen tation of the stirringly patriotic peom in their programs. As soon as the Knoxville chapter of the Red Cross Society has placed the souvenir post cards of "Our Flag Song" on sale, which will be done as a benefit, the public will be allowed to use the po em in conformity with copyright laws. Like "Our Flag Song," which the author says, "marched right out of my heart," the famous toast to the Old North State was dashed off in a moment of patriotic fervor. The toast was written by request for a banquet of the North Carolina society of Richmond, Va., on May 20, 11)04, and was quoted at the close of his speech at that banquet by Rev. Walter W. Moore, D. D., president of the Union Thc^ogical seminary of Richmond. The next morning the toast was published in the Richmond papecs, was promptly reprinted in all the State papers, the patriotic enthu siasm it aroused, sweeping full-tide throughout the State. Written straight from the heart, the lines of the toast strike a responsive chord in the heart of every native or adopt ed Tar Heel. It is still quoted at ev ery public function and on occasion when the glories of the Old North State are being extolled: Here's to the Land of the Long Leaf Pine. The Summer Land, where the sun doth shine; Where the weak prow strong, and the strong prow groat ? Here's to "Down Home," the "Old North State." Here's to the land of the cotton blooms white. Where the scuppernongs perfume the breeze at night. Where soft moss and jessamine piate, 'Neath the mummuring pines of the "Old North State." Here's to the land where the galax grows; Where the rhododendron fosete glows. Where soars Mount Mitchell's summit great, In the "Land of the Sky," in the "Old North State." Here's to the land where mnidenc are fairest, Where friends are truest, and cold hearts arc rarest; The near land, the dear land what ever our fate. The best land, the best land, the "Old North State." United States in 1916 consumed 4.r>, 720,800 barrels of salt of 280 pounds each. LENOIR COUNTY PUTS ON WOKK. Or. Mitchener Will bo Assisted by Dr. Ellington. Ufe Extension Work Begins Early in October. Lenoir is the next county in the State to include life extension in its program of health work for the fall and winter. Or. J. Sam Mitchener, Lenoir's active whole time health of ficer, will do the work, but will be as sisted by Dr. A. J. Ellington, who is director of Life Extension Work for the State Board of Health. Work will start in Lenoir about October 8, says a State Board of Health Bulle . tin. This health movement Nv ill consist of a thorough medical examination which will be made free for any per son in the county between the age of 20 and 05 years. Its purpose is to pro long human life and to do it when life is most valuable to the individual. When any oncoming disease or inju rious defects are discovered through the examination, the patient is advis ed what treatment to seek or what course to follow in his daily habits to prevent or offset the approaching ill ness. No operations are made and no treatment given. In addition to the physician's advice, the patients are given the instruction they need in free health pamphlets, which treat~ fully the most common degenerative diseases. The first week of the campaign will be given to organizing and explain ing the work to the people. Dr. Mitch ener will have a well equipped office in Kinston for making the examina tions as well as any laboratory tests that may be needed. Lenoir's Life Extension Work will be similar to that done in Vance and Alamance Counties by Dr. Ellington this spring. Liberty Bonds Preferred Stock. Likening the United States to a great corporation with more than a hundred million stockholders and with capital stock and resources of more than $250,000,000,000 and an annual income of $50,000,000,000, each American citizen is a stockholder in this great corporation. Even those whose only assets are their earning capacity own shares in our public do main and property and are working on a profit-sharing basis, with a vote and a voice in the management of the corporation and with the right "to acquire more stock at any time. A Liberty Loan Bond may be liken ed to a share of preferred stock in gigantic corporation. Like preferred stock in other corporations, it may not return, at times, so large a divi dend as common stock, but the divi dend from it is certain and sure. It is stock that pays 4 per cent dividend, and while in some years crop fuilures may decrease the farmer's dividend from his land to less than nothing and various causes may lessen or destroy dividends from all other sorts of prop erty, tha dividend from the Liberty Loan Bond is certain and sure, sub ject to no failure. The owner of a Liberty Loan Bond holds written tangible evidence of be ing a preferred stockholder in the United States, the greatest, the most glorious, the most honorable, and the most successful corporation in the world. He holds the certificate of be ing a citizen willing to support his Government and to lend money to his country when it needs and calls for it. Do You Know These? When is it easy to read in the woods ? When Dame Autumn turns the leaves. Which is the largest room in the world? Room for improvement. Why are laws like the ocean? Because most trouble is caused by the breakers. Why are the stars the best astron omers? Because they have studded (studied) the heavens since creation. Why is a schoolmistress like the letter "C?" Because she forms lasses into classes. What two words contain all the vowels and in their proper order? Facetious, abstemious. What is that which works while it plays and plays while it works? A fountain. What two flowers should decorate a menagerie? The dandelion and the tiger lily.? Selected. Som" people so blind their eyos with tears for yesterday's faults, that they stumble all through to day. ? Ex.