The following is from the pen of Dr. Herbert Adams Gibbons, who tells us what the Armenian ex-soldiers were doing and how they were treated by the government which they were serving: “In the autumn of 1914, the Turks began to mobilize Christians as well as Moslems for the army. For six months, in every part of Turkey they called upon the Armenians for military service. Exemption money was accepted for those who could pay. A few weeks later the exemption certificates were disregarded, and their holders enrolled. The younger classes of Armenians, who did not live too far from Constantinople, were placed, as in the Balkan wars, in the active army. The older ones, and all the Armenians enrolled in the more distant region, were utilized for road, railway, and fortification building. Wherever they were called, and to whatever task they were put, the Armenians did their duty and worked for the defense of Turkey. _They proved themselves brave soldiers and intelligent and industrious laborers._... “... In order to prevent the possibility of trouble from Armenians mobilized for railway and road construction, they were divided into companies of from three to five hundred, and put to work at intervals of several miles. Regiments of the Turkish regular army were sent ‘to put down the Armenian revolution,’ and came suddenly upon the little groups of workers plying pickaxe, crowbar, and shovel. The ‘rebels’ were riddled with bullets before they knew what was happening. The few who managed to flee were followed by mounted men, and shot or sabred. “Telegrams began to pour in upon Talaat Bey at Constantinople, announcing that here, there, and everywhere Armenian uprisings had been put down, and telegrams were returned, congratulating the local officials upon the success of their prompt measures. To neutral newspaper men at Constantinople, to neutral diplomats, who had heard vaguely of a recurrence of Armenian massacres, this telegraphic correspondence was shown as proof that an imminent danger had been averted. ‘We have not been cruel, but we admit having been severe,’ declared Talaat Bey. ‘This is war time.’”[167] FOOTNOTES: [159] See the footnote on p. 129. [160] See _The North American_ (Phila.), Mar. 8, 1915. [161] Members of the “Deutsch Orient-Mission.” [162] Toynbee, “Armenian Atrocities,” pp. 85-86. Published by Hodder and Stoughton, London and New York. [163] This interview was published in _The North American_, Phila., Feb. 14, 1916. [164] Von Reventlow’s article was published in the _Deutsche Tages Zeitung_, reported in the Dailies. I quote from the _North American_, Oct. 15, 1915. [165] The Armenian population of this city was 12,000, but all the males between 18 and 50 were drafted into the army and taken away before this. [166] Toynbee, “Armenian Atrocities,” pp. 10-11. This quotation is from Lord Bryce’s report, published by Hodder and Stoughton.