File No. 867.48/895
The Secretary of State to the Chamber of Commerce, Columbus, Ohio
Gentlemen: The Department begs to refer again to your letter of June 12, 1918,1 regarding the work of the American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief and to reply as follows to your inquiries.
The funds of this Committee are forwarded to Western Asia through this Department and under licenses granted by the War [Page 560] Trade Board. The work is conducted for the relief of Armenian, Syrian, Greek and other subject races of Western Asia and it is administered by more than one hundred American citizens, educators, physicians, missionaries and others who have remained at their posts for the purpose of administering this relief. The field of activity of the Committee includes Persia, Mesopotamia, and Palestine, as well as the subject races of the Ottoman Empire. No food or actual currency is sent into Turkey but credits only which permit the Committee’s representatives to secure food locally and to administer relief to the subject races.
The work of the Committee is conducted with the approval of the Department of State, which, however, does not assume any responsibility for its activities.
The Department has been informed by the American Red Cross that the Red Cross has contributed from its war fund considerable sums of money for the use of this Committee in Turkey, Serbia, Persia, Armenia, Mesopotamia, and adjacent countries. The Red Cross expresses the opinion that the Committee is well organized and that it administers these funds for relief measures in an efficient manner. The Red Cross states that this Committee operates in a territory where great suffering and great need for relief are prevalent and that the Committee is the only relief agency with the exception of the Red Crescent recognized by the Turkish Government.
The Red Cross adds that their relationship to the Committee has been very close. A statement regarding the interrelationship of the American Red Cross and the Committee is contained in the publication of the American Red Cross, “The Work of the American Red Cross No. II,” on page 92, enclosed herewith.1
I am [etc.]
Assistant Secretary