The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1922-02-01
Karclia: A Little Finland


----22---z
karelia. or more properly East
Karelia, where Bolshevik troops
have been fighting tothold this Tat
est OF the old Russian units to seek
it's rcedom from the Soviet govern
ment, isSti1e Subject, Of the following
bulletin from the Washington, D.
c., headquarters Of the National
Geographic Socity:"
IF stubborn bou.adary questions
could be solved by the simple de-
vice Of applying descriptive names
says >thc bulletin, East Kareiia,
now politically Part Of Russia.
would be included in Finland. For
Finland CT name applied by out
Siders TO what the. Firms call
Suoni) means the land Of fens or
swamps,' and East Karelia has as
many swanlps and bogs, consider
ing its size, as its western neigh
Dor. The undistipctive boundary
between fsuss3 and Finland cuts
directly across many swamps and
rivers and for very few Of it's 500
or more miles does itAcoincide with
geographic dividing. line.
And just as this imaginary line
divides geographic features, SO it
divides people Of the same race.
The eastern portion 5of Finland is
often spoken of as Karelia, and it
is fo,.a this reason that the ada
cent Russian territory is distin-
guished as East Karelia. So too.
the people of eastern Finland are
! known as Ka-relians and are one in
blood and traditions with the Ka-
! reliansl in Russia IN fact Russian
Karelia, free from the Swedish in
tiuence that has rselded much, OF
/ the culture OF Finland, and large
! ly neglected by the Russians, has.
preserved in purer form the an
cient customs OF the Finnish race.
From East Kapelia were collected
some OF the most important Of the
old runes sung by generation after
generation, that make up the great
Finnish epic, the Kavafa, which
ranks as one OF the e>greatest Of the
racial epics.
Long before the, Slavic Rus
slams moved westward 20 the Bal
! tic the Karelians occupied the pres
ent East Karelia,s the territory
eastward to Lake, Onega and the
White Sea, and nortnward to the
Arctic Ocean. They occupied. TOO,
+! the. region in which st. Petersburg
was built; and hezstones OF that
magnificent city We're laid in an
guish largely by captive Karelians
taken by the armies. OF Peter. the
/! Great in forays along the Finnish
border y
In the st. Petersburg district
the establishment Of 2 great city
| largely drove out the former in
habitants, but throughout the re-
mainder OF the old Karelian terri
tory north to the Arctic they have
been little :interfered with. Even
! on the Kola peninsula between the.
White Sea and the Arctic ocean the
4Karelians in 1915 made sitp 50 per
centsof the populatien2and the Rus-.
SLAMS only 27,..the remainder being
composed mostly Of Gapps.
1t was through the edge Of Ka-
relia that the Russians built their
famous railroad in19sfG after Ger
man successes had, cut them off
from contact with then allies
through>the Baltic. This road az.
fords an outlet TO an Arctic port
!. the year round
American expediticnary forces went
into northern Russia through Muir
nsansk and We're Kept supplied
over this northern road.
The difficulties encountered in
building the Murnlansk. road form
an excellent Indication TO the char
actcr Of the country IN Karelia.
Throughout it's southern section
the line had TO zigzag ats was
among countless lakes and swamps
and in the norht it was necessary
TO build it across mahy permanent
bogs Parts of the original road
bed in the far north, constructed
in winter, was supposedly built on
rock, but when summer came the
material turned out to be ice. and
the rails sank into ,aire
East kareiia is somewhat colder
than southern Finland but though
it is rs far north as southern
Greenland it's climate is by no
means extremely rigorous. Like
adjacent portions Of Finland. it is
tempered by proximity to the Bal
tic and by winds from the. far
reaching Gulf Stream. 1t is this
stream. incidentally, ), sweeping
across the Atlantic from Americas
southland. that makes year-round
commerce possible at MurmanS&
and along the entire Murmah coast.
:Finlands interest in Fast .ISa-
relia is a double one. Not only
does she wish TO be united to her
own kinsmcn. but She also desires
an open port in the north. One of
TIN, principal reasons for desiring
an Arctic port is said to be wish
10 establish closer relations with
the United States which by this
direct. open route is closer than
By the somewhat tortuous way
through thc English Channel, the
North Sea, and the Baltic