Evening star., 1933-07-09

T
European nations. stepped
NN forward on June is and paid
in full the due installment
on her debt to the United
States. grateful editorial writers pounced
on their typewriterS-for the drama of
the act, in times like these, was un-
escapable-and a lot Of Americans to
whom the little northern republic was
scarcely more than a name and who
vaguely associated it with polar bears,
reindeer and ice, said to themselves:
Gosh! Those Firms must be real
people!"
The Firms are, indeed. real people,
although their polar bears are nom
existent and there's no ice outside of
refrigerators in these swift weeks Of the
Northern Summer, when Finland blooms
for almost "a hours a day under the
squandering sun, and even in the brief
interval during which the sun drops
below the horizon lies in the amber
enchantment of the white nights"
And the practical importance of their
recent gesture. as well as the admirable
spirit behind it, speaks for itself.
They could have found the same
excuses as those used by other debtors,
but in justice to the latter 1t seems only
fair to point out that there is differ
ence between such complex burdens ss
those CT England's, for instance. at least
partially incurred in a common cause
with ourselves, and Finlands debt
for American food shipped during her
famine days after the Great War was
over. Moreover, the Firms had had
little private depression Of their own,
so to speak, before the world depreS-
sion began AS a debtor country, used
to borrowing from abroad and more
than ordinarily dependent on foreign
markets. she had been forced to take
the only course open to such country
to cut her internal expenses to the
pare bone and to use every method to
maintain the export trade which was
her only means of supporting her
credits.
Typical of the Race.
That the Firms did pinch and pare
and find seemingly impossible ways
of reducing their production costs is
as much to their credit as it is typical
of this thrifty. hard-headed people.
The fact remains that they had had
n head-start. SO to say. in the dis
agreeable business Of meeting an eco
nomic crisis So We find the Finnish
Trade Review, for example, in recent
summary of the situation. reporting
inevitable fall in the standard of living
and other conditions that can't be
described as normal, surprising as it
may seem. Finland enters the fifth
year of the depression with greatly
improved prospects. Actually, her posi-
ton is stronger than during the late
period of prosperity"
1t isn't of economics. however. that
I am supposed to speak here, but as
a more or less "old Baltic hand" to
give few frst-hand impressions of
the land itself and-in view of the act
Of June l5-its extraordinary people.
Writing to this newspaper from Hell
singfors several years ago. after a
Summer spent in Soviet Russia. I said:
Here is one spot in a chaotic Eastern
Europe on which both eye and mind
can rest with comfort and delight
Finland always did have the air of
something just created-a sort Of
northern Venus, rising full-blown from
her lakes and granite rocks Helsing-
fors is still one of the brightest and
Clearest of capitals-a place without a
slum. without beegar. without so
much as an unsightly billboard or a
shabby court or backyard. All the
new buildings going up-and there are
many-have the characteristic Finnish
air of so,ldity and architectural sound
ness. And such pink cheeks quick
steps and happy voices! Such an air
Of vitality ard go-aheadness! The
crow ds one meets on the Esplanade
have the air. to one just out of the
illness of Russia, of holiday makers
going skiing or skating"
! have come into Finland many
times. from Russia. from Esthonia,
from Sweden, even down from Tornio
ana the edge of the Arctic Circle. and
always, at least in the lovely northern
Summer, I had that same impression
of somethirg clean and fresh. grown-up
and ci-r'l:Led, yet just created There
are natural reasons for this impression
of course. as we'll as those lying in the
health. thrift and general sturdiness
Of the people.
Land One Of Lakes.
The country. about as large as Cali
fornia. is land of lakes There are
thousands of them. and where there
aren't lakes and fields. there are clean
granite rocks. pines and white birch
trees and delightful little islands
Although Helsingfors lies on the same
parallel Of latitude that runs through
the southern tip of Greenland and the
northern tip of Labrador. its climate
is rather like that of Maine or North
ern Minnesota.
With the sun shining most of the "a
hours during the Summer months.
comes with a rush, and all at once
there are lilacs and all sorts of flowers.
rye, barley, potatoes. hay-for Finland
is a dairy country-and, in the scrub
that covers the round granite rocks,
oceans of blueberrieS. 1t is never what
New Yorker would call hot" and
vet there Is fine swimming everywhere
in the southern part, and people make
up for the long Winter by rushing out
of doors like children out of school.
and staying out of doors as long and
with as few clothes as possible In
the white nights they seem to get along
without sleep-just stroll endlessly in
that magic hush which is neither night
nor day. but an liberalization of both,
and at hours when even our Summer
resorters would have turned in, the
white sails of pleasure yachts are still
moving dreamily against the purple of
the Baltic waters.
Finland is an industrial as we'll as an
agricultural country, but its paper mills
are mere Specks in the vast expanse Uf
pines and lakes, and its log RATS seem
natural parts of an unspoiled land
scape. Moreover, the Firms, like their
neighbors. the Swedes, of whose do
main Finland was once a part, have
a gift for municipal housekeeping If
they must have gas tank. they build
granite house around it and turn it
into something almost decorative and
suggesting Rome's Castle Angelo. If
there must be show bills, they tie them
round columns built for that purpose,
and when the announcement has served
its end, bills and string both disappear.
Helsingfors, city of about 300, 900 peo-
pie, knows all about communism and
labor disputes. and following the Red
and White Civil War in 1919, knew
all about starvation. Yet you will
tramp all over it without finding any
thing that could be called a slum or