Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-11-15
A Hero of the Northlands
for a

pie. Many lawsuits which involved
the issue of what he regarded as I'M
lawful Russian regulations he took and
tried carefully without fee. Through
Finnish authority he was appointed a
judge OF the Court of Appeals in 1906
This court was the scene of a series
of activities that began one of the
stoImieSt periods of his life.
AS lawyer and judge leading all
efforts to curtail the entertainment of
foreign power in his country, he well
knew the penalties suffered by those
who too openly objected to the high
handed way of the Cars officials. He
was aware of the fateful visits the
Czarist police paid the homes of Fin
nish patricts-the ominous rap on the
door beforer dawn, the search of the
premises, the service of papers, and
then oblivion in nameless prison for
the victim. But despite the inevita-
bility of this end, Svinhufvud, in his
capacity of judge. violently challenged
an imperial edict.
Ignores Chiefs Order.
The Russians, in an autocratic mood
during the early days of the World
War, had issued ukase allowing Rus
sian citizens in Finland equal business
rights with the natives. Litigation in
volving this ruling was before Svinhuf-
vud for trial. He held that because
the law was made in fragrant viola
ton of the Finnish-Russian agree
ment. it was void and illegal The
Russian procurator directed Svinhuf-
vud to reverse his decision, but the
stubborn judge ignored the commune
cation of his chief. Another decree
from the procurator followed, dismis-
sing Svinhufvud from office-and this
one he also ignored. Svinhufvud's
claim was that the procurator's office
was held by a Russian when legally
it could be occupied only by a Finn
Therefore he said all orders issued BY
the Czarist officials were void. Or
this contention he continued holding
court. The Russian authorities un-
able to appreciate the juristic reason
ing of the patriotic Finn, took the
immemorial recourse of an offended
autocracy.
Svinhufvud's court was in session
he was at his bench. Six Russian po-
lice officers of the feared Ohrana en-
tered the chambers and drove the peo-
pie from the room. Svinhufvud was
arrested, led out of his court, and the
doors were locked and sealed with the
seal of Imperial Russia. Between the
guards he was marched away to join
the endless file OF political prisoners
who made the routine journeys from
jail to Jail and ultimately to Danish
ment in an Arctic town of Russia's
vast hinterland
He paid with his own liberty for the
dream of liberty for his people AL
the indignities and hardships anc
hopelessness of an imprisoned mar
were his. First lodged in a Finnish
jail at Viipuri, he awaited transfer tc
the cZarist capital.
When the explosion of the revolu-
ton shattered the decadent bureau
cracy of the Gear, Svinhufvud in the
Spring of 1917 found himself free
man.
Takes Office of Procurator.
He went Immediately to Helsingfors
and began the organization of an in
dependent Finland. The local gov
crnmental structure was a foundation
but there was no administrative head
nor was there constitutional provision
for the creation of one. All of thi:
had to be done, and it was to be
finally constructed under hectic stress
Svinhufvud took the office of procura.
tor, the head of the law enforcement
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