The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1939-10-19

vote. Our guide took us through
the various committee rooms, each
in every way surprising anything
that know Of, save the Ways and
Means Committee Room in WASH
ington, which Is also in a class by
itself. The deliberations of the Fin
ish Parliament are in both the Fin
nish and Swedish languages. A
number of the newspapers in
southern Finland are printed in the
Swedish language. This is due to
the fact that there are a large
number of Swedish speaking Firms
in the southern part Of the coun-
try.
In Finland a large number Of
women are employed In work or
dinarily done by men in this coun-
try. They even coal steamers, al
though, there is a strong move
ment afoot to prohibit their con-
tinuation in that line. The reason
for all of this is that there is a
real shortage of manpower in Fin
AoAu' i nat 10 dioO lluC VI 4NoA way
and Sweden.
Helsinki is one of the chief ports
of the Baltic and lies within a
nights travel by steamer from
Danzig, Leningrad, and other East
Baltic ports. 1t has a population of
about 5000, as recall. Modern
hotels, four or five daily news
papers, well-stocked stores, really
beautiful residential districts, all
combine to make Helsinki an at
tractive place to live. Like the 9TH
err Scandinavian countries, the
Firms are hospitable and courteous.
They are unusually intelligent and
well informed, thanks to a SPLEEN
did educational system that has
practically done away with litter
acy.
Finland is the only Scandinavian
country that is a Republic. She en-
joys another distinction. She is the
only one of the debtor nations that
has not reniged on the debt owed
us.
The tonnage handled at Helsinki
is very considerable but I am I'M
able to give exact figures. The ex-
ports consist in large part of print
paper, pulp, granite, considerable
quantities Of fish, and some agri-
cultural products. Like Norway,
Finland is a heavy importer of
food. The cost of living in Finland
is considerably lower than in Swe-
den and Norway, due to the fact
that the wage scale is not so high.
Agricultural production is con-
siderably restricted owing to eli
matte conditions. Southern Finland
reminds me very much of northern
Minnesota and was informed that
northern Finland is even more like
the northern part of our own state.
A very large part of Finland is
water and forests. I was told that
Finland has $4,000 lakes, which is
three times the number in Mime
sofa.
It had been my hope to visit Viii
borg, another large port city, sit
uated near the Russian border, but
on the day following our arrival at
Helsinki I was told by American
legation officials that they had that
morning been advised by London
that war was imminent. This news
changed our plans completely and
within six hours we were back
aboard ship returning to Stock
holm. The following day we sail
ed from Goteborg for England.
War was declared on the following
day, while we were on the North
Sea.
AS this letter is being written it
looks very much as though Finland
may be in for trouble with Russia
but we are all hoping and praying
that nothing will come of it. Any
attempt to conquer that country
would meet with stiff resistance,
not only from Finland but also
from Sweden and Norway as there
is a very close bond of friendship
between those three countries. War
in Finland would not be a pink
tea affair because the terrain of
the country lends itself admirably
to defensive and guerrilla warfare.
A mechanical war, such as crush
ed poor Poland, is cut of the ques-
ton in Finland. Neutral military Of
ficers over there say it would re-
quire an army of at least 21a mil
lion to conquer the country and
they expressed doubt as to whether
it could be done at all because of
the topography of the country and
the re.nforcements in men and sup
plies that would come from Sweden
and Norway. One thing is certain,
If war comes to Finland she will
not have any trouble in raising
money in this country as her Gre
dit rating over here is AL.
Our trip home was without event.
We spent nearly a week in Lon
don. The English have gone to
great expense in preparing home
defenses. At night the larger cities
are blacked-out. Nc lights are per-
mitted and over head are thou
sands of blimps from which are
suspended strong steel cables an
chored to trucks. During the day
these blimps are stationed at a
height of about 5000 feet but at
night they are let out to distance
CT $4,000 or more feet. With such
defense air-raiders would be COM
PEELED to remain at a height where
1T would be almost impossible for
them to bomb any definite objec-
tive. Nearly all buildings are pro-