Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1918-03-27
Traders Run Goods From Finland
Into SWeuen, Bringing
Enormous Returns.
AIDED BY FRONTIER LAxITY
Haparanda Is the Dawson of Sweden's
New klondike Where Gold and
Wine Flow FreeIy-Typieal
Night Scene.

Tornea, Russia.-The Tornea river
good in smugglers' haven. From far
up In the Arctic tundra of Lapland
down TO ice-tilleG TOrnea bay. 30
miles south of the circle, sledges
drawn by reindeer, dogs and ponies
are crunching across the river by
night. laden to the runners with tea.
coffee, rubber and sugar, all bound for
Sweden, where they are worth almost
their weight in gold.
Their sources are Russia and Fin
land, and their iuc'a Late destination
Haparanda, on the Swedish side of the
Tornea river. where ex-saiIOrs. hotel
walters and a typical collection of
frontier town types are making money
hand over fist and drinking champagne
for breakfast.
Haparauda is Swedish, as different
from war distracted and revolution.
ridden Russian Tornea as If it were
hundreds of miles away, instead of
being separated only by a ten-minute
sleigh ride in winter and a ten-minute
ferry trip In summer, across the mile
wide. salmon-filled river. Haparanda
is the Dawson of the new Klondike,
and its gold comes from sledges that
slip by the Russian frontier guards,
full of the commodities Sweden needs.
II Is nearly Arctic and in the heart
Of winter. there is daylight only FIVE
hours
Frontier Customs Post.
Before the war Haparanda was a
tiny village. a frontier customs post.
The Russian frontier gendarmes were
sigilant and those who slipped through
from Finland with smuggled goods
were very few and far between. and
there was less incentive to smuggle,
for Sweden imported freely FROM
across the seas. The war made Tor
nea the rival of ArchangeI and
Vladivostok as a port of entry into
Russia. Haparanda shared the gain.
Business buildings of wood and a large
hotel that looks like typical Amer
lean small town hall sprang up almost
overnight. 1t is still growing.
The goose that lays the golden egg
that buys wine and keeps the poker
games going lives over in Finland,
which, although short of food itself,
permits II iliOns Of kroner worth to
slip through every month.
year ago Swedish preacher, on
an innocent mission. was shot by a
Russian frontier guard. The trouble
that resulted led to almost complete
laxity at the frontier. and now on
any dark night scores of slelghs slip
across the river. unmOlested, and de-
post their cargoes on the Swedish
side. Some of the goods go through
the Swedish customs houses, and the
duty is paid. Even with the Swedish
duty there is tremendous profit on the
shipments.
Coffee that the Finnish agents Sc
cure for ten kroner a kilo GEO
pounds) brings 20 across the frontier.
Small boys, mufiied in great overcoats,
waddle across the river on skis with
rubber tires for automobiles wrapped
around their waistS--and rubber is the
most difficult of all commercial prod
ucts to obtain In Sweden. Its exl ort
from Russia is forbidden.
Gay White Way" Always Filled.
The smugglers axe the richest, but
Haparandas Gay White Way"-the
hotels filed always with other
spenders.
Here is a typical picture of any
night In Haparanda when business is
good on the TOrnea. The coffee room
Is crowded early. a Serbian "kappsI-
meiSter" tunes up his Violin. A young
Austrian with Il bass viol and three
plump, smiling German girls. with
mandOlinS. the rest of the orchestra.
play American ragtime, Swedish bar
maids hurry about with champagne
and other wines. just as expensive.
young Swede. with a blank-look-
ins face. who has just made 10000
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