The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1935-05-15

ftSNGC W IkGO G0NIIGk cO' wv"
BY H. r. KNICKERBOCKER
Copyright. 1888, by International
News Service)
HELSINGFORS, Finland, May
15.-Finland is one capitalist
country that is flouriShing in
the year of depression 1885. Her
name should be written in letters
Of gold in our state Department,
because Finland was the one
country on earth that paid its
debt to America.
Today, as though to prove
that honesty is the best policy,
Finland is one of the few coun'
tries in the world which have
definitely recovered from the
crisis and are. enjoying normal
prosperity. Her trade abroad is
booming, her business at home
is active, her population is
occupied, her mills and factories
are working at capacity, and
actually expanding.
How has she done it?
Operating at Capacity
The answer should interest any
inhabitant of less economically
lucky countries. But it also
bears directly on our problem
of comparing the standard OF
living in these capitalist countries
with that in the Soviet Union.
Finland enjoys higher standard
not least because she is oper-
ating her economic machine at
capacity.
There is one person in Finland
who can best give the answer. He
is perhaps the foremost Finn. In
America he is certainly the best
known nonrunning Finn because
he was largely responsible for Fin
land paying us while the whole
world WEIGHED.
He is Risto Ryti, president of
the Bank of Finland. Though ne
looks like a young student, with
his high, fair brow, agate-blue
eyes, small light mustache, and
his modest direct manner. ne is
in fact the most important bank
president in all north Europe.
English Building Boom
He sat in his office surrounded
by portraits of ancient bearded
men, presidents of the bank since
its foundation in 1911 and back
to the time when it was branch
of the Swedish RikSbank, founded
in 1868. He said:
"The building boom in Eng
land helped us most. 1t gave
us an important market for our
wood. But our paper and pulp
exports also increased consider"
ably, and this, as also in the
case of wood, has been made
possible largely by our lower
costs of production.
"One factor in this cheapness
Is the fact chat Finnish work"
men prefer to have job at low
wages than no job at all. This
also meant we avoided serious
unemployment"
BONUS FOR WORKERS
The Finnish trade unions, he re-
marked, we're no longer able to
rush or hold wages above an eco,
nomic level. On the other hand
he cited the example of the Kemi
Company which this year distri'
buted one months wages and sal
aries as a bonus to its employees
after a profitable IL months. This
in the year 1885 was certainly
striking evidence of Finnish pros
perity.
Of particular interest for New
Workers were Mr.. Ryti's further
comments:
"Another factor in our recOv.
ery is the small cost. of distri-
Luton and one reason for that
is our cooperative movement.
Because of this movement mid
dle-men here probably take less
from the economic substance Of
the country than almost any
where else in the world.
"Take an example from milk
prices. You know that the trade
in milk, butter, eggs and meat
is almost totally in the hands Of
cO-Operatives here. Now, in New
York, If I recall correctly. the
retail price of your milk is
around Is cents a quart. But
your farmer gets about Az cents
D quart.
DIFFERENCE IN MILK
"Here, as you have seen in our
market, the retail price Of milk
is 1.5O Finnish marks a liter.
But our dairy farmers get 1.35
marks a liter. Your consumer
nays a bare 10 per cent more
than the dairy farmer gets.
Your middlemen's costs are 800
per cent Of the production cost.
Ours are only 10 per cent.
"And this is true not only in
the case of milk, but Of all
articles, chiefly food, handled by
the cOOperatives. 1t is obvious
that this must be an effective
factor in keeping down our cost
of living, especially in as much
rs you must remember that the
cOOperatives selling in free CON-
petition with private enterprises,
determine the general price level
for the private enterprises as
well, and that, roughly. one.
third of all retail trade in Fin