New Britain herald., 1930-07-24
WE7.DRY QUESTION S7IRS F|NNS, TOO
Baltic Country Hacked by Pro-
 hibidon Arguments

London, July Elf President Re- lander of the Finnish Republic ever meets Herbert Hoover, the two chief executives will have plenty in com mon to talk about Not the tariff, nor farm relief. nor weekend fish ing trips-but prohibition.
 Both countries are grappling with the same pressing problem. Prob ebly nowhere in the world is there such striking parallel between na- tions in the enactment and enforce ment of an important law.
 The only difference is one of scale. The United States comprises a vast continental area, while Finland is only about as big as the state of Montana, and has only about 3,500, coo inhabitants.
 In the United States the prohihi- ton law was put over during the World War. In Finland it was put over in 1919, after the country had endured the horrors of a Red Terror and a White Terror. In'the United States practically all alcoholic drink was taboo, but Finland banned only drinks with two per cent or more alcohol. In Finland. as in the United States, doctors were permitted to prescribe liquor for their patients. and in both countries the govern ments had to cut down on the num- her of prescriptions each doctor could write.
 The women, the bulk of the Co ob jp both nations were strong for dry laws. So also were the Finnish city workers. But with them it is a matter of political strategy. The workers are mainly Socialists or Communists. and hate the middle classes which are wet. Hence they gre dry. In America regardless of their private practice, most of the political leaders lend lip service to dryness. In Finland all the politi- clans do, except the leaders of the Swedish party who are out and out wet
 In America smuggling of forbid den liquor was made easy by reason of the Canadian and Mexican borders and the easy access by sea, especial ly from the West Indies. In Fin land smuggling was made easy by reason of the Russian frontier, but more especially by sea from Latvia, Esthonia and the free city of Dant- zig. To cope with the problem, both countries made arrangements where by their prohibition navies could go beyond the international three-mile line and go out as far as twelve miles. Finland went step further and got all the countries bordering on the Baltic Sea to agree to try to help it suppress smuggling.
 Flew All Flags
 But the booze runners were too smart for the Finnish government. They ceased flying on their boats the flags of countries which agreed to the Baltic Sea convention. Directly they were flying the flags of Greece, Turkey. faraway Chilli and even Czechoslovakia, which is a land locked republic and has no mercan- tile marine at all.
 In the United States the vets are always quoting figures to show that drunkenness is on the increase since prohibition, that the jails are being filled, and that crime is growing. Official figures, which nobody dis putes, show the same state of af- fairs in Finland.
 In 1927. o4,5la persons were. con- 6emned for violation of the liquor laws, in 1928 the figure had gone nearly to 30,000 and last year the figure was 33,056. In 1910, before there was a prohibition law, 12,220 persons were condemned for drunk enness. In 1928 the figure was 10l,- o71 and last year 01,500. In Hel- singfors, the capital, town of c5O,- GOO people, there were 28,962 cases of drunkenness, or an increase Of 10 per cent over the preceding year.
 Just as in the United States Am hassador Dwight Morrow came out in his New Jersey senatorial cam paign for modification of the dry laws, on the ground that they could not be enforced against the will of the people and that the promised improvement had not taken place, so two of the most prominent public men in Finland also recently have made themselves storm centers by attacking the dry laws.
 Against Prohibition
 M. Jalander is governor Of the province of Nyland, which includes the capital city. In a recent arti- cle in the newspapers he said the people were being poisoned by the stuff that was being smuggled into Finland. He said breaking the dry laws had become the favorite spor; of the citizens and smuggling had