Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1920-07-05
lBy g. s. s~tr.ndvoad.l

~
q full Of . number OF things'': There.
is war going. on between Ruesia and
Poland; Germany Is turbulent be-
cause Of the elections last Sunday; q
cabinet crisis II agitAting tho minds
OF he Italian people; the Knudsen
cabinet in Norway ID preparing t re-
sign; Sweden sis facing m important
election; h Republicans IRE meeting
nsChicaso to nominate . presidential;
candidate. p~lebisciess are causing dif-
ftculttes in various parts OF Europe;
new strikes are being Illegally declar-
advance information can Sc trusted,
Gensr3lt Brussloff 40 paving the way
Q q sensational coup d'etat's In RUS
assdesignated$to be sprung upon the
Nvorldgb before the week ID ended.
Tremendous issues are At stake
everywhere. and, yet, n OF the most
serious problem. facing q troubled
world originates from1the ttniest terri
tory In the world-the groub OF
islands in the Baltic SEQ, known as
the Asland islands. Sweden and I'm
MAJ eve get into a fight abdul
this matter for Finland insists that
the islands a~refFtnnish territory. while
the Aalanders themselves maintain.
the right to be finally disposed Of In
with the principle Of. the
80 VI FRSOHAO05 .l dIIO
claim that they want TO belong to
their old. mother country, Sweden.
The situation has become So acute
that It lis being discussed; more than
anything else In Europe just now and.
It is i~ndtc1fsdSin reliable sources that
American ands pano-Norwegian med
alton may ke Sought because 1t does
not seem as though the League Of
Nations is sufficiently effective to
take care of the question. At all
events. a secret council will be keld
between representatives Of the swed-
ish government and the Danish and
Norwegian ministers at Stockholm,
probably tomorrow, and It'll expected
that Finland will-b asked very defi-
nitely to recede from the rigid atti-
tude she has hitherto maintained.
Some of the Dotaua
Not many days ego when I visited
HelsingforA, I heard1A lot about the
Aaland islands. BUTT was Impossible
to approach anything like an un-
prejudiced viewpoint because Of the
present agitation.
Impartial judgment is possible only
when you compare what you heard,
with the actual details such as his
tory has preserved them: They seen
to favor the AA1anders and the swed.-
The testimony Of history plainly
shows that the Aaland islands are
ewedish: when the Swedish kings
during the twelfth and the thirteenth
centuries had Chrdstianlzed and
conquered Finland (Which was never
an Independent state Unity, the Fin
nish PROVINCES we're. Incorporated in
70. the Swedish realms without pre-
Deriving n separate political status.
For practical reasons the Aaland
.islandsrwere placed within the bish-
eprice Of AAbb T1nlAnd), and politi-
cally they remained 4 Swedish prov
ince until 1884 when they passed into
thei district reigned by the Swedish
government at Aabo. A little more
than a hundred years ago they were
united with the Stockholm and the
Upsala, districts, but were shortly
thereafter conquered by Russia and
ceded to that country at the Erfurt
peace. 5
Until lately, the, Aaland islands
have shared the fate Of Finland un-
der Russian rule, but as 500 asRus-
sia collapsed. the Aalanders claimed
their hight to belong to Sweden.
s. Popular Sentiment.
Afemultankously. with the drafting Of
tho fsF4nnieh fdec4arlttQns Of indepen-
denge In 1p1z theAAalandArss Aeld a
pleRlSctto winch x showed 54nsa over
wheiming majority in favor or reunion
with Sweden. In January two years
ago delegation Of Aalanders went
to the king Of Sweden presenting their
wishes; q little later they appealed
directly to the Allies and to the peace
| conference at Versailles. julius Sunds-
blom, an Aafand Editor. was the head
of the delegation: he was arrested by
the Finnish authorities, shortly there
after released-and two days ago hS
was arrested once more on a charge
Of high treason.
Meanwhile the A%alanders, to make
sure of their sentiment, arranged an
other plebiscite, with exactly the same
result as the first. Again . delega.