The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1918-06-27

the feudal expressions under which the
great mass of the people suffered were
vetoed by the czar, through the int1u-
ence of the aristocracy, which was in
close contact with the Russian bureauc-
racy. Finland was grand duchy of
Russia. The czar meanwhile was at
tempting the classification of Finland
through system of military terror
ism, which was being opposed by the
strong Socialist organization.
There was a clause IN the Finnish
constitution providing for the indepen-
dence of the country when the govern
ment of the cazr ceased to rule In
accordance with this, after the down
fall of czarism, the diet declared Fin
land independent. The aristocracy,
seeing in this the end of their privl-
leges, managed to persuade the then
Russian government to dissolve the
diet This wholly illegal action was
carried out by the sending of Cossack
troops to Helsingfors to crush the rep
resentaives of the Finnish people.
New illegal selections were held, in
which for one reason or the other
large numbers of electors did not take
part, and so called government
was formed, precursor of the white
Guard government" of today. Recent
dispatches from Finland show that i'm
mense election frauds We're perpe-
trated in that election in order to de-
feat the labor party, 1t has been
maintained by the supporters of the
white Guard that it only recently
became pro-German and then merely
because they were faced by the neces-
sity of 'saving their little farms and
factories" from anarchy at home. The
| fact is that the junker elements in
Finland. forming the White Guard"
leadership. were covertly plotting for
German intervention in Finland from
the early days of the war and actually
sent thousands of Finnish young men
to Germany to be trained in the Ger
man army. Today the White Guard"
leaders are openly boasting of this. In
the issue of "kaleva," the official
White Guard newspaper, of March 2
last, now on my table, appears copy
of laudatory telegram sent to the
German chancellor by the White
Guard" prime minister. 1t begins:
"On this day, when the Finnish
| Chasseurs who have been drilled in
Germany, are returning to their faith
erland to fight on Finland's soil for the
freedom and independence of their
country, the government of Finland is
sincerely impelled to express to his
majesty. the German emperor, and to
the imperial government not only its
admiration of the glorious deeds of the
German people and their illustrious
leader, but also the gratitude, yelling
from the bottom of the heart of the
Finnish people because of all which
Germany has done for our country and
for the Finnish 'chasseurs who three
years ago today voluntarily entered the
military service in Germany.
The coup whereby the Democratic
diet was dissolved angered the Finnish
people. As time went on they saw
that reaction was in the saddle. Revo.
luton was in the air, and late in Janu.
ary of this year great uprising of
the people took place, beginning in the
general strike. The White Guard
government" fled to the sparsely set.
tied northern part of Finland, leaving
the capital and all the agencies of gov.
ernment, and all the popular manufac.
turing districts in the hands of the
peoples forces. A Peoples Republic
was declared, and provisional govern
ment formed. which has appointed me
its representative in the United States.
This government WAS Immediately rec.
ognized by the Soviet government of
Russia.