Disgrace To Europe

Marseilles, Sept. 29.- [Copyrighted, 1S96, by the Associated Press.]- There exists a condition of affairs in this city ivhich is a disgrace to Europe and to the Armenian associations generally throughout the world. Subsisting upon government, municipal or private charity here are 500 unfovttmate Armenians, men, women and children, young and old, healthy and sick, who have succeeded in escaping from the bloody massacres at Constantinople and who were one and all buoyed up by the hope on landing here of being able eventually to reach the land of freedom, the United States. But weeks have already elapsed and nothing definite 'appears to have been done for their relief, rauch less toward finding them homes, by any of the many associations for the relief of the suffering Armenians which have been organized in England and America. These unfortunates, however, seem to be the very class to which the hand of charity should be flrst extended. Thev are homeless, nearly all are penniless.many are enduring the pangs of hunger, and vet nobody seems willing to step in and g-uide this band of refugees to some place where they can begin life anew and under more promising circumstances. No JFriends in the World. Large amounts of money have been raised in the past for the destitute Armenians in Armenia, but the situation of the latter is not a whtt worse than that of the half-starving people here, if as bad. The Armenians in Armenia certainly had their co-religionists and fellow countrymen tó fall back upon, but the poor people here seem to have no friends in the wide world, yet they are as honest and industrious a class as you can find on the shores of the Mediterranean. Some South American speculators, it is true, taking advantage of this deplorable situation, have pre'vailed upon 300 of the refugees to allow themselves to be transported to the Argentine republic, there, in all probability, to meet the fate of thousands of the Hebrews of Russia who, thanks to the philanthropy of the late Baron Hirsch, emigrated to South America, only to flnd themselves, figuratively speaking, tossed from the frying pan into the fire. It is true that the climate of Argentina is said to be more healthy than that of the regions the poor Hebrews tried to settle in. But the end is likely to be the same in the case of the Armenian refugees, who are not a class of people likely to thrive in roughly founded colonies. Few Able to Get Away. Only about cighteen of the 800 Ar-menians who reached here have as yet been able to start for the United States. These few emigrants are of the better clas of Armenians; they are fairly well equipped with funds ar.dwill probably start for New York via Southampton. But what is to be done with the remaining unfortunate Christians, fleeing from blood-stained Turkey, who are living on charity here with their eyes turned longingly toward the United States? It would seem that these poor people may be barred from reaching the United States and they may be forbidden to land there, even if they succeed in obtaining transportation.. Surely, if there ever was a case in which iron rules, necessary no doubt, might be relaxed, it is in the case of these stricken people flymg from the persecutions and butcheries that have prevailed in their own land. There is material here for the foundation of a strongr American colony, and it would appear that there must be some spot on earth where these victims of the bloodthirstiness and misgovernment of Abdul Hamid, Sultan of Turkey- who, according to generally credited reports, must have caused the massacreof some 50,000 Christians during the last few years- can earn an honest living.