Hope America will Aid Greeks in Asia Minor

The New York Times, November 19th 1917, page 4.

HOPE AMERICA WILL AID GREEKS IN ASIA MINOR
Minister Roussos Declares That Oppressed People Place Reliance in This Nation.
First-hand stories of the sufferings of the Greek population of Asia Minor under Turkish persecution, a fervent tribute to the works of American philanthropy among the rations suffering by the war, and a veiled intimation by G. Roussos, the Greek Minister to the United States, that the Greeks subjected to Turkey expected the influence of this country to be used for their reunion with their fellow countrymen, were the features of a mass meeting held yesterday afternoon at the Amsterdam Opera House by the Relief Committee for Greeks in Asia Minor. It was the first public gathering brought together by this organization; and about $1,000 was subscribed in cash and several thousand more in pledges.
Mr. Roussos had praised the works of American benevolence, and told of the pathetic reliance placed on America for alleviation for the sufferings of the Greeks under Turkish rule. “But are you going to stop at relief?” he asked. “I hope not, because if this were the only object of your program it would be better to let them end their lives of misery and martyrdom. It would not be human to allow them to live under such an odious yoke in future.
“The loud voice of the United States, when, entering the war, she promised liberty to all the oppressed nationalities, reached them, breaking through the distant spaces. They have heard in the depths of these distant lands the noble and generous voice of your country. They believe in America as their redeemer, and their sufferings seem to them much lighter because they are confident in the outcome of this worldwide war, and in the promise made by the United States.
“When the day of victory shall arise, America will hear from those distant countries the voices of all those martyrs imploring the Almighty for the prosperity and greatness of the United States, who by their unselfish intervention will secure liberty to the world.”
Dr. Jacob Gould Schurman, President of Cornell University and Honorary Chairman of the Committee, who was Minister to Greece from this country during the Balkan wars, presided. He referred to Eleutherios Venizelos as “the greatest modern statesman,” and praised the ideals of Greek foreign policy in both of the conflicts which preceded the war of 1914.
Henry Morgenthau, former Ambassador to Turkey, told of the treatment of Greeks, Armenians, and other subject nationalities by the Turks, and said that the death from starvation of many of the Christian population who had been deported and maltreated was inevitable unless relief were speedily sent.
Mr. Roussos said that before the war influential Greeks of Asia Minor occasionally disappeared without leaving a trace, but that since the war began a general extermination had been decided on by the Turkish authorities.