The Hawaiian gazette., 1916-08-04


war began. They are convinced AT last
that their king and government are
determined 70 maintain strict and
impartial neutrality until peace shall
have been declared and they are plung
ing with renewed vigor into n prospect
~ unprecedented in the history Of the
country.
That Sweden would give ny this
prosperity and the happiness whrrh has
come with il for the perils, the p"vrrty
and the misery of war seemed unthrnk
able TO the foreign observer. bat it
cannot be denied that the political and
International crisis through With tn"
country passed tue latter part "f May
brought il Dangerously near I, the
brink of catastrophe. Not that the
people wanted war--far from it-hut
the anti Russian propaganda carried
forward by an iuflue initial group Of P".
htieians known as the Activists attain.
ed for a time momentum which
threatened all the dictates of ncutrali
~ and was outspOkenly an effort t"
force Sweden into war with her trndi
tional enemy, Russia, and thus ally this
part of Scandinavia with the Central
Powers
Pro-German Propaganda
This Activist movement was drnoun.
eed by the Socialists and Liberals in
the Swedish Parliament as more pro.
German than pro-Swedish and was re
ferred TO on one occasion by Socialist
leader Brnnting as having n Changer.
Ously strong financial backing. The
pro-German press of Sweden carried
the campaign ut times TO n violent PX
IRENE and bitterness engendcr"d be
tween these papers and those repre-
senting the liberal and socialist elr-
ments of the country may not be effac
ed for years 70 come.
The Liberals and Socialists frankly
feared for time that the influential
Aetivists would win over the support
of the Conservative Party, which still
controls the upper house of Parliame Mt
aud is supposed to more than hold the
balance of power in what is thPOreti-
cally a coalition cabinet. But when
the test came. when the situation was
at its worst. the Conservatives threw
their strength with the other two par,
ties in a determination to keep Sweden
out of the war at any cost.
II so happened that the Activist cam
paign, designed 10 upset the neutrality
Of. Sweden. actually brought about an
agreement among the contending poll.
teal factions Of the Swedish Parha.
ment which has given Swedish neutra-
lily a stability and standing before
the belli gerent nations il had not en-
joyed before. This agreement was the
immediate result of an Activist inter
pellation in Parliament calling atten,
tion TO the alleged permanent character
of Notifications being erected by the
Russians on the AMnd Islands in the
Baltic, and asking what the govern
mont proposed to do about it. At night
the lights of the Alands are visible
from the easternmOst points of Sweden
and the nearest of these isles is but
six hours sail for Stockholm. Russia
had given informal assurance to Swe,
den that the Notifications were only
temporary, being erected for the pur-
pose of protecting certain mine fields
and thus defending the islands from
possible capture by the Germans. Swe-
den was further assured that the for
tffications would be removed at the
end of the present war
Command Bothnia Gulf
The Aland islands command nhs",
lutely the waterways entering the Gulf
Of Bothnia and az n naval base they
also command the entrance to the Gulf
Of Finland, and hence the wav to the
Russian capital Strongly fortified and
in the hands of Russia they practical,
" make it possible fer Germany to
use her Navy in the Northern Baltic
waters. They also give Russia the OPP
portunity for an outflaUking movement
in the event of German naval or mi
litary diversion north Of the Gulf Of
Riga. Military strntcgists attach much
importance TO the Baltic the coming
summer and realize that it NAV play
q very prominent part in the German
campaign against Russia. All these
facts, consideredd together led the Ii.
befals and Socialists TO the conclusion
that the agitation Of tn" AInnds qucs-
ton was designed wholly in favor Of
the Germans. Sweden, and Russia, too,
for that matter. fully expected when
the war broke out that Germany "a.
once would seize the Aland Islands as
a base for naval operations. The is
lands were entirely without protection
at that time and their possession would
have enabled Germany to bottle no the
Gulf of Bothnia and safeguard all her
operations in the Baltic-thr very
Operations she must now undertake IL
German arms are to pass Riga in the
direction of Petrograd.
But at the outbreak Of the war Ger.
many seemed to fear a British fleet
mi Oht enter the Baltic throuoh the