The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-08-05


 the country and pillaged the larger estates. This continued until the lat ter part ,pf 1917, when the Films de- clared their independence of Russia and began to fight for their liberty. They had only edged tools at the start. but they disarmed the Rus sian garrisons and under the name of the White army. routed the Rus sian troops and the Finnish red guard. At the end however, they were able to maintain their republic, and by the middle of 1919 they had formed new constitution and estab- lished parlia ment. They now have a president and cabinet Just as we have and are making their way along the path of the nations as a live, up-to-date political entity.
 The Films cannot be compared to the Russians. They look, think and act differently, and have had diff ferent experience and civilization. The Russians arc naturally social ists. For generations the peasants have lived in villages where much of the land was held in common. The Films have owned their own farms. They are indiyidualists and they have always had more or less freedom. They had a congress Nbe- fore the war, and in it they demand ed their rights of the Car and of the Parliament at Petrograd. Most of them succeeded in keeping out of the Russian army. and they were not subject to draft. When the war be- gan 1t brought commercial pros- peprity. The Films manufactured supplies for the troops. and they sold timber and wood fuel to Russia. They shipped in wood-pulp and paper, and their industries were paying divi- dends of 50 per cent and upwards until the revolution came on. The .r,I~ l fn tNftt 10 ruble, and today it is on level with the best of the second class cur rencies or Europe. The peoule are aoing all they can to create sta bilized mark and they are gaining ground right along.
 Finland Compared re Alaska.
 The Finlanders are an interesting people. Living as they do way up here on the roof of the world, they breathe ozone, and their hard strug- gle with nature has made them one of the strongest of races. Their country is in just about the same latitude as Alaska, but while Alaska has less than 50,000 white citizens, Finland has more than 3.000.000, and it does a manufa cturinG and commer- cial business running into the tens of millions of dollars q year.
 We have just begun to farm Alaska. Finland has more than quarter of million farms, and 1t is now annually raising tens of millions of bushels of rye, oats and potatoes, and large quantities of hay, hemp and flax. It Is live stock country, having cattle, sheep and goats by the hundreds of thousands, and it's dairy cows an nually yield several hundred million pounds of butter for export.
 The republic Is just about one fonrtb ei of Ia and If Our territory did as well 1t would have a population twice that of Holland, with fine cities and towns and fac tories of every description. All the railways of Alaska and the Yukon joined together are 100 miles or so shorter than the distance between New York and Cincinnati. Finland has enough iron tracks to reach from Boston to the Great Salt Lake. and leave some to spare. Almost all the railways belong to the state. and they carry each year about 5,000,000 tons of freight and 17.000,000 passengers. In addition there are something like 5000 miles of public roads and about 2,500 miles of canals. Many of the roads are macadamized, and one can of the railways run through the for ests, and the canals and waterways are so many that one can go over most of the republic by boat.
 O O O The Land of Ten Thousands Lakes.
 Finland has been called the Land of Ten Shousand Lakes" This name gives but a faint conception of it's waterways. It has by actual count over 35,000 lakes, and it's waters suit able for the driving of logs, if joined end to end, would reach from Seattle to Shanghai, Some of the lakes are large and one, Lake Saimo, has 1000 Oa1 with the sea.
 The country is land of water powers. At the Imatra Falls can be generated 40, 900 horse power and the fall of Pyhakoski has a drop of 200 feet, giving potential force of 200,- GOO horse power. 1matra is the Mi agara of Finland. The drop is only 60 feet and the stream is so narrow that one can throw a stone from one bank to the other, but the water roars as 1t flies through the rocks with a noise that can be heard five miles away, sending up volumes of mist and foam that vie with the clouds. The Finnish Bridge.
 Have you ever heard of the Finnish Bridge? That Is how scientists speak of this country. It is a huge penin- sula hanging down from the Arctic ocean into the Baltic between Russia and Scandinavia, forming an isthmus or bridge from one to the other The bridge is a granite plateau more than ! twice as big as Missouri and its lakes fill the holes gouged out of the gran ite when the glaciers moved down and covered the half of north Europe. There is granite everywhere in Fin land. In coming here from Stockholm I travelled most of the way through red granite islands. and the whole
  One can dig down anywhere here and find rock fit for his tombstone, and the granite will take polish that will outlast the ages. The tomb of Napoleon under the Hotel des In- valides, in Paris. is of granite from Finland. Forests And Farms.
 The chief resources of this country are forests and farms Finland is one of the great lumber yards of the world. More than half of the country is covered with woods If you could lift. up its stretches of timber and transport them to the Mississippi Valley they would cover an area larger than Kansas, and you would find that everywhere the trees are well cared for. The forestry Is better than ours and it Is said they have even counted the trees. They have more than three hundred mill lion, of which 70 per cent are pine. The government knows just how many big logs it can furnish. It has more than twentyssix million large pines and thirty million sammer ones fit for railway ties. It has fir trees and spruce fit for wood pulp and paper. Nearly all the newspapers of Europe are printed on Finnish wood pulp. and train loads of news print may be seen moving over the railroads to the ports. The largest paper making plant of Europe Is To- cated here.
 As to lumber. Finland has about three hundred work saw mills, and three hundred sawmills, a n every description. The logging ia