Catoctin clarion., 1918-09-05
MAKES FORTUNE (.
BY SMUGGLING
Swedish "Rubber Baron" Tells
How He Profited by Trad
ing on Frontier.
WAS CLERK BEFORE THE war
Made His First Money Dealing IN
Russian Rubles-Then Engages in
Smuggling Rubber From Fin
land and Gets Rich Quickly.

StOcknOlm, SWeueH. I'u N'''' w.
know what people smuggle? Go up
the river then, and you will soon ma
out. They smuggle nearly everything
so it is rather difficult to answer the
question offhand" So said custom
house officer at Haparanda. the little
Swedish town on the frontier of Fin
land. to Herbert Ericsson, Swedish
writer, who went up the Tornea valley
to investigate the smuggling stories.
"While I was waiting for the over
Tornea train to start, a motorcycle
chugged into the station yard said
Ericsson,
"rhat Is one of our rubber harons,'
remarked an acquaintance to me. "A
.ubber baron, in Haparandn talk, is
man who suddenly gets rich on
smuggling rubber In from Finland.
was in luck. for the baron--Karlsson
! will call him-traveled north in my
compartment. He was pleasant TEL
low. He did not remind me OF the
smart spectators had met In Norr-
land. He even looked embarrassed
when ] began 10 talk ABOUT SihusshhS'
Clerk Before the War.
"Presently he told me that at the
outbreak of the war he had been n
clerk In one of Norrland's coast towns.
He had earned his money In rubles.
at is not generally known that
many hundred Swedes have made big
q T hnnnnnnH
like this: After the occupation OF
Poland and other regions of Russia.
the Germans found that the population
refused to take marks In payment for
such supplies as We're paid for. The
people demanded rubles, and rubles
the Germans did not have The only
way of getting them was through
Sweden. The Russian government
permitted no more than 800 to be TAX
IN out of the government by each
traveller, but with the incentive Of
good reward Smugglers We're not lack
ing. The Haparanda agents bought
up these ruhles and sent them down
to Germany by bales.
"Whcn the Germans had bought all
the rubleS they wanted KarIsSon tried
to smuggle drugs to Finland. That
failed absolutely. He met with n dis
aSter Mt the outset. His first consign-
ment of several kiloS Of acetylSalicy-
lie acid and 100 clinical thermometers
was seized by the Swedish customs au-
thorities and heavy fine was i'm
posed.
$50 he got into touch with some
Finnish merchants who. for a price,
guaranteed to have a large quantity
of rubber rings on the Swedish side of
the river at certain minute on a GER
tain day.
entering into relations with firm
in Stockholm and fni,ng that he could
make many thousand kroner profit
thereby, Karlsson told the Films to 90
ahead. One night he went to Mattila,
where the rubber was to be ready.
Mattila is tiny station on the Hap
aranda Over-Tornea stretch of rail
way, and almost on the bank of the
river.
No Sign Of Customs Officer
"When he arrived there was no sign
of Russian custom house officer
across stream. The revolution has al
tered matters. The Cossacks VIII
used to patrol the Russian shore had
disappeared. The new guards appoint
ed by the revolutonaries found 1t more
interesting to stay in Tornca. X, rlsson
picked up the rubber. This was only
the first of a chain of such transac-
tions he managed with financial sue
cess.
"Karlsson has meticulously taken the
goods so smuggled to the Swedish GUS
toms authorities, to be assessed for
duty. Quantities of tin, -four and lin
seed oil have similarly come over the
river for many months past. Tin gives
the Firms an advantage. | found one
case where druggist had come to
grief by taking delivery of and paying
heavily for Il thousand kilos of cheap
alloy. The flour smuggling seems to
indicate that the Firms engaged must
be blackguards OF particularly OBJ
h'Aious iHp'' loI tlc! snip louI oul
of their land while they know that
tens of thousands of their fellow
countrymen are nearly starving and
that their government Is sending out
commissions full of piteous appeals to
other lands, America included, to spare
them little -four. 1t seems curious
that these commissions could not have
tarried week at the frontier and or
ganized a guard to put stop to the
drain of flour there"