The daily Alaskan., 1914-04-03
WANTS TO GRAB
 SCANDINAVIA

being thoroughly threshed out ln the campaign that is now on looking to the election of new
 Riksdag. A good many facts have been broughtt forward, which de- spite semi-official denials from St, Petersburg, tend to support the belief prevalent throughout Sweden and to a certain extent in Norway that there is real and imminent danger of Russian aggression, and
 consequently ample justification for an immediate and heavy in
 crease of expenditure for the na-
 tional defence Here are some of tue charges
 against Russia that are made by the Conservatives who are support ing King Gustays program for a Ilengthening without delay the term of compulsory military service as well as extensive appropriations for enlarging the navy and im- proving the land Qualifications Finland, just across the Gulf of Bothnia, is now being permanently garrisoned by the Twenty-Second Russian Army Division-25,0O0 men Two other divisions are stationed just over the Finnish border,
 near St. Petersburg, from which To- cality they could be drawn and thrown into Sweden within ten days
 by means of the new military railways which have recently been
 completed in Finland and which eX- tend right up to the Swedish iron tier Army strategists assert that within three weeks Russia could place 15O,OOO men in the field
 against Sweden.
 In the past three years Russia
 has been secretly engaged in build
 ing extensive Notifications on the
 Finnish West coast, and is now
 said to be violating tne treaty of } Paris of 1856 whereby the Aland , Islands were to remain unfortified. For several months past there has been an unusual increase iE the
 number of Russian tramps and ped
 lers throughout Sweden, especially
 along the eastern coast in the
 North. A number of these when
 arrested were found to be in pos
 session of military maps similar
 to those used by the Swedish gen.
 eraI staff. It was noted that others
 who professed to be merely wander
 ing Russian peasants looking for
 work, ont only bore no signs of
 manual labor on their hands but
 could speak Swedish fluently. In
 this connection the espionage scan
 dal of last fall is recalled as the result of which the then Russian ' minister and his military attache
 were compelled to leave the coun- try. It was also openly charged
 that the former Princess Maria Pavloyna, wife of Prince Wilhelm,
 second son of King Gustav, was 8 particularly active Russian spy. She, too, has fled, and the Prince is now suing for a divorce.
 | The Swedish Conservatives are
 making good use of their campaign
 Of the words of Dr. Fritjof Nansen,
 the Arctic explorer, who in ad-
 dressing an anti-gOvernment mass
 meeting the other day in Christian ia attacked the Radicals for pre- ] ferring the promotion of all sorts
 of social reforms instead of in . Creasing Norway's defenseS, and said: q fear that the day will
 soon come when Norway and Swe- den will have to unite against
 common enemy for the defence of
 their neutrality and independence" "
 In the meantime Russia is do- ing all she can to allay the Swed- 1 ish suspicious. Says rhe Noyoye Vrenya, semi official organ of the ? St. Petersburg government: "If the
 Swedes should exercise a little
 more perspicacity they would read
 fly see that their potential enemy
 is Germany, and that it is from
 the Wilhelmstrasse that their base , 1 less suspicious of Russia's ulterior 0 designs against its Scandinavian D friend and neighbor have been fos-
 tered. In case of an armed colli-
 sion between Russia and Germany
 the latter power would at once en- , deavor to establish a naval base ! at some point on the Swedish coast;
 consequently it behooves the Swedes - to be prepared for such an even- 2 tuality by rendering their coast | defenses as far as possible impreg- < nable. This is the precautionary 5: task of the Swedes, instead of use ! leessly lavishing their treasure