The Dayton forum. [volume] (Dayton, Ohio) 1913-1949, 1918-08-16
MAKES FORTUNE
BY SMUGGLING
Swedish "Rubber Baron" Tells
How He Profited by Trad
ing on Frontier.
MAS CLERK BEFORE The WAR
Made lfis Flret Money Dealing In
Russian Ruhlee--Then Engages II,
Smuggling Rubber From Fin
Land and Gets Rich Quickly.


know what people smuggie5 60 up
the river then. and You VIII soon iina
out. They smuggie nearly everytiilila,
so il ls rather difficult to answer the.
question offhand.n So said cusfan
house officer at Haparanda. the httie
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 was waiting for the Over
Tornea train to start, motorcycle
chugged Into the station yard said
Ericsson.
.'That Is one of our rubber barons.
remarked an acquaintance to me. a
rubber baron, In Haparanda talk, II
d man who suddenly gets rich on
smuggling rubber In from Finland. l
was in luck, for the baron Karlsson
will call faim--traveled north In my
compartment. de was a pleasant fell
low. He did not remind me Of the
smart spectators I had met In Norr-
land. He even looked embarrassed
when began to talk about smuggling.
Clark Before the War.
ssPresently he told me that at the
outbreak of the war he had been a
clerk in one OF Norrland's coast towns.
He had earned his money In rubles.
''Tt Is not generally known that
many hundred Swedes have made big
fortunes out of rubles. 1t happened
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 were 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 500 TO be TAX
en- out of the government by each
traveller, but with the incentive Of d
good reward smugglers were not lack
ing. The Haparanda agents bought
up these rnbles and sent them down
TO Germany by bales.
"When the Germans Ind bought all
the rubles they wanted Karlsson tried
To smuggle drugs to Finland. That
failed absolutely. He met with d dis
aster at the outset His first consign-
ment ef several kilos of acetylsalicy-
lie acid and i00 clinical thermometers
was seized by the Swedish customs au-
thoritles and a heavy fine was I'm.
posed.
SO he got into touch with some
Finnish merchants who for price
guaranteed to have a large quantity
OF rubber rings on the Swedish side o.
the river at certain minute on GER
tain day.
Entering into relations with firm
In Stockholm and finding that he could
make many thousand kroner profit
ahead. One night he went to Mattila.
where the rubber was to be ready
Mattila Is tiny station on the Hap
aranda- -0yer-Tornea stretch of rail
way, and almost on the bank of the
river.
No Sign of Customs Officer.
ssWhen he arrived there was no sign
of Russian custom house officer
across stream. The revolution has al
tered matters. The Cossacks whf
used to patrol the Russian shore had
! disappeared. The new guards appoint
| ed by the revolufionaries found 1t more
interesting to stay in Tornea. X, rlssor
| picked mp the rubber. This was onl,
the first of chain of such transac
| tions he managed with financial sue
| cess.
| ssKarlss0n has meticulously taken til,
1 goods SO smuggled to the Swedish Gus
!, toms authorities, to be assessed TO
! duty. Quantities of tin, flour and lin
seed oil have similarly come over th
riyer for many months past Tin give
| the Firms an advantage. / found on
/ case where Il druggist had come t.
/ grief by taking delivery of and payin!
/ heavily for a thousand kilos of cheal
i alloy. The -four smuggling seems 4
/. indicate that the Firms engaged mus
I be blackguards of a particularly oh
noxious type, for they ship flour on
OF their land while they know tha
| tens of thousands Of their fellow
! countrymen are nearly starving an,
that their government Is sending ou
commissions full of piteous appeals +
other lands. America included, to spar
them little -four. 1t seems curlou
that these commissions could not hay
! tarried week ut the frontier and ol
ganized guard to put stop to tn
drain of -four there