Cablegram from Harold Jaquith, Constantinople, July 20, 1921

Context

Pacific–Atlantic Commercial Cable Company cablegram on standard Form 50 stationery, sent from NER's Constantinople station to the New York office on July 20, 1921, signed JAQUITH. The cable reports receipt of a New York wire indicating inadequate funds for the present emergency and asks, with rising directness: "What shall we eliminate? Shall we turn out children? Close hospitals? Stop feeding refugees? Give us orders. We are afraid to assume the moral responsibilities involved!" A red handwritten reply runs across the lower portion: "Neither can WE assume the responsibility - The individual American Contributor must decide. Near East Relief."

Harold Clarence Jaquith (1888–1947) served as NER's Director-General at Constantinople during the Anatolian crisis years. The same cablegram, with the same red overwriting, was used as the body of a published appeal poster; this single sheet is the source artifact from which that poster was produced. It documents both an internal field-to-headquarters communication and the editorial moment at which NER's New York publicity team converted private correspondence into public appeal.