Evening star., 1933-07-09


who had filtered in, were practically
all Firms. Even as late as 1918, when
the Red uprising was put down with
the aid of the German detachment of
Gen. Won der Goltz, the hero OF the
Whites was the Swedish" Gen.
Baron Mannerheim. and there was
even a time when it scanned possible
that Finland might accept a German
prince as king. Germanys defeat
ended all that. and although the
honorary title Of field marshal has
since been conferred on Gen. Man
nerheim. implying a certain softening
Of what once were pretty bitter feel
ings, the progressive "Finniflcation" Of
Finland has proceeded more or less
automatically, as in the nature of
things 1t must, with the Firms so far
outnumbering the colonial" Swedes.
The names of the athletes who have
made Finland so important in the
world of sport-Paavo Nurmi, Hannes
Kolehmainen. Ritola, Lehtinen Jar
vinen. Elmo Purje and the rest-are all
Finnish names. and the official name
of the country itself is not Finland"
of course but Suomi
In summarizing very briefly in the
letter from which l have already
through which the little republic had
recently gone-the famine of l9l8-l9
the hideous civil war, the breaking
away from her former dependence on
Russia wrote:
Many Problems Solved.
"Yet here she is today. sound as a
nut. her budget balanced. her state
owned railways paying a substantial
dividend; the land hunger which has
been a main cause of revolution in
neighboring countries being met by
laws passed in the normal parliament
ary way; her volunteer civil guards,
the same White guard which helped
to save the little country from Bolsle-
vism, gradually losing its class charac-
ter and going in more for physical
training and sport, although no less
determined to protect the state when
it needs protection. In short. Bolshe-
vism is not necessarily fatal illness,
even half hours Journey from Petro-
grad, and the individual qualities of
energy. industry and depenoab.Nty
which build up a civilization in times
of peace-and the Firms had them
will save it when the storm comes
These words, written in December,
1923, might. with certain minor
changes in accent. perhaps. be those
which visitor to Finland would write
today. The inherent and eternal
virtues Of capitalism, as that word
was understood in the comparatively
complacent days of nearly a decade
ago. have undoubtedly been a good
deal shaken of late and the present
moment is scarcely one in which the
nf ho ,inIo orfa alvo
by anybody, but an egomaniac. but
clicking to merely human qualities. /
have the notion that if ever there was
a race hard to bend from an intransi-
eeant nationalism, they are the hard
headed Films.
They reveal this quality even in their
athletics. Every Finnish runner who
ccmpetes abroad carries all Suomi on
his shoulders as he strides down the
cinder path-it has even been suggested
at hcme that this sense of nationalistic
responsibility is too intensely felt. that
1t amounts at times to moral handi-
cap. But as rule Tinns are not much
bothered with nerves" The beautiful
Nurmi-"wcrth sl0,000,oo0 to Finlandr'
as shTewd. if somewhat matter-o f.
fact Finnish diplomat cnce Observed
was a transcendent example of indi-
vidualism. Will. purpose. plan were re-
vealed. not only in his preparation but
in every stride he ran. Il am Paavo
Nurmi!' he seemed to be saying. Il
know what I can do and it will be
done!" Never mind the crowd. to hell
with pacemakers-Nurmi runs his own
race. his only competitor is his own
watch. And sure enough. he carried
cne in his right fist. and coolly stole a
glance at it from time to time!
When the so-called Lappo movement
arose in Finland year or so ago and
there was march on Helsingfors which
finally had to be checked by troops,
foreign correspondents wrote about the
Finnish FaScists. the latter being the
fashionable term for anti-Communist
movements of all sorts. But the Lappo
men and women were not Fascists in
the sense Of advocating definite
Fascist philosophy. They were not. and
still are not, political party, and they
had no arms. They were simply farm
ers out of the northern lakes and woods,
determined that there should be no
trlf1ing with communism.
But there are lot of other things in
Finland, and we must hurry along to
mention at least some of them. The
Firms have fair for whatever is social
ly forward looking" Having given
women the vote long before the English
and Americans did, they went far in
the development of co-operatives of
various sorts. Some are marketing CO.
operatives, similar to the dairy associ-
ations Of our own farmers, and some are
for buying purposes as well, the stock
holders sharing the advantages of
wholesale buying as well as the COM
pany's general profits. One of the bet
ter known associations, for instance, is
"Elanto,' which operates a chain of
bakeries and restaurants. Automats. by
the way, were found in Finland long
before they were heard of in New York.
Rid of Prohibition.
The, Firms tried prohibition and after
pretty dire results had a referendum
last year and got rid of it. Esthonia
just across the narrow Gulf of Finland
is sometimes nicknamed The Potato
Republic" and it has been the custom
in Esthonia to turn most of the ex-
portable surplus into potato alcohol
This fact. plus the fact that the south
ern Finnish coast Is streWn with little
bays and islands, plus the fact the
Ffnns like most northern peoples, are
pretty hard drinkers anyway, was just
too much for any such unpopular law
Spirit smuggling became a solid south
coast business. Just what the results
of doing away with prohibition may b,
does not as yet seem very clear One
hears conflicting reports In any case
the Firms have adopted a modified
Swedish system, in which liquor is made
government monopoly and sold only
with food or to be taken away from
government shops. But they haven't
as the Swedes did, restricted the
amount that the individual can buy
tprovided he goes to several differen,
government shops) and the whole ar.
rangement Is still in a stage of expert.
ment.
Books in many languages are prob.
ably easier to find in Helsingfors thar
in almost any other European capital
One difficulty Finland's writer's ane
publishers face is the fact their Ian.
guage is understood by almost nobody
but its natives and that the entire
Iar~ k,,x, l.