Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1920-01-23
FINLAND
NOW TO SETTLE
ALL HER BILLS
Country Preparing Impreg-
nabIe Defenses Along Red
Russian Frontier
GREAT ARMY STRENGTH
BY W. L. MALLABAR,
STAFF Correspondent, International News
Service.


Service.
LONDON, Jan 23-"Finland is able
to pay all her debts with her exports
and all her taxes with the revenue de
rived from her imports" was the state
ment made by Dr. Rudolph Holsti min
lister of foreign affairs for Finland, at
Helsingfors, to the correspondent of the
International News Service as the latter
was about to leave Finland for England.
The statement was made by DR.. Holstl
in answer to questions put to him re
garding the present and future situation
of Finland in the worlds markets, to-
gether with a query as to the reason
for the big depreciation of the Finnish
mark in the money market.
1T must be remembered" continued
Dr. Holsti, that Finland has had to
finance civil war. 1t has cost hundreds
of millions and as much more has been
spent in the reorganization of national
defense We are now in the happy pO-
sition of not needing loans to organize
a political machine as are SO many other
states The loans we are now seeking
are for the purpose of increasing the
value of the Finnish mark by Investment
in Finnish manufactures, which will of
course, increase our exports and i'm
ports. 1 am confident that within the
next two or three years Finland will
be the most 1ourshing country in
Europe
ALLIED ASSISTANCE
is LOOKED FOR.
Should the warfare against the boil
shevists continue we look to Great Brit
ain and France to see that the bolshevist
feet is held harmless. The feet can not
attack before next May. and in the mean
time we will take steps to improve our
costa1 defenses. In this respect we have
had the best foreign advisers and are not
in the least anxious As regards the land
defenses. there are more than thousand
kilometers of land frontier. extending
from the coast to Lake Lodego, which is
absolutely untr8velable; there are no
roads and vast forests. The territory the
bolshevists could cross If it were left
defenseless Is very small indeed. 1t Is
also worth while remembering that north
of Lodego there are a few thousand Fin
nish volunteers who have crossed the
frontier into Russian territory and are
we'll able to hold their own
THUS the Finnish regular army would
be needed only for garrison duty, with
ments sent to the Karelian Isthmus be
tween Viborg and Petrograd- We would
not have any difficulty in defending Fin
land against the bolshevists even though
they had an army of twice the present
size.
WHITE GUARDS STILL
FORMIDABLE FORCE.
1T must not be forgotten that in addi-
ton to the regular army we have the
white guards, a volunteer organization OF
10000 men, under the command OF Col.
Essen. This gives a strong backing to
the regular army and means that we are
able to prevent any civil war and to re-
sist the attempts of the bolshevists to
get control of the country
1T is also worth while to remember
that the Finnish general staff. the flying
corps and the tank regiments have all
been organized by French officers who
are still in the Finnish service. great
number Of Finnish officers have taken
courses in the French and Italian mill
tary and naval academies.
eff the allies decide to make peace
with the bolshevists we must fall in with
them, but we are confident that in such a
c se the allies will back US up IN taking
proper measures to guard against boil
shevist encroachment. Propaganda must
be prevented and all precautions taken
to see that the evil does not again spread
through Finland.
SWEDISH AND GERMAN
AGENTS BIG PROFITS.
eve have suffered from the fact that
until we attained our independence we
had no proper foreign representation
and in too many cases had to use Swe-
dish and German agents, who made huge
profits. This year we have organized our
own consular and diplomatic service
which has been especially selected and
instructed to see to cur exports and es-
tablishlng markets. We expect that dur
ing next year our exports will amount
in value to over two mtlliards of marks.
We have not been able this year to ex-
port our goods TO any extent, these in
Guiding a large quantity of sawed logs.
We now have plenty of logs and wood
pulp to supply to the United States as
soon as we get shipping accomm odatlons.
VERY little is known of Finland, espe-
cially in the United States, where, I IN
derstand, you have had but few of the
best class settling. Still, 1t must be ad-
mitted that the Firms are a hard work
ing and saving race and an asset to any
country. We hope to make ourselves
better known to America by our exports
not Of people. but of these necessities
which America needs. We feel we owe
a great debt to America and our thanks
go out to Mr. Hoover and his staff for
the great assistance they have given us,
both in food and clothing. Our thanks
are also due to the American relief ad-
ministration and the American Red Cross
for all they have done to aid and as