Evening star., 1939-11-29

HJALMAR PROCOPE.
dinavian countries is one of strict
neutrality and impartiality.
Position of Cornerstone.
I'm the Northern European po-
litical system Finland has in some
way the position of cornerstone,
In the Southwest the Aaland Islands
form bridge over to Sweden. They
are like friendly hand stretched
out toward our good neighbor, Swe-
den. They are not only key to
Finland and to the Gulf of Bothnia,
but also a point from which big
power could break up the co-opera-
ton in the North and threaten the
other Scandinavian states.
I'm the North again Finland is
connected with Sweden and Norway.
There we find Fenno-Scandia s most
important mines and ice-free ports
at the Atlantic Ocean only a few
hundred miles off the British Isles.
Thus every attempt against Finland
may aim much farther, affecting
not only our country, but the whole
situation in Northern Europe.
Under these circumstances it is
only natural that all the Northern
states, Finland, Sweden, Norway and
Denmark, maintain a particularly
close and intimate contact. To-
gether they form a quite distinct
group in the international system
Of Europe, the Scandinavian group.
When the present war broke out
these countries issued identical neu-
trality declarations and the recent
meeting some weeks ago in Stock
holm of the heads of these states
emphasized still more this solidarity
The line of all these countries in
the present conflict in Europe is to
maintain strict neutrality.
Neutrality Must Be Protected.
But nowadays for a country in
Finland's position the will to neu-
trality must be coupled with de-
termination to protect it. There
fore Finland has taken upon her
the heavy burden of ornaments and
has prepared for all contingencies.
But. as 1 like to emphasize, all
our ornaments and our protective
measures are purely defensive.
There is not the slightest threat of
aggressive intentions in them.
Other countries have done the same
as Finland in order to be prepared
for all contingencies, and in the
light of recent events I think these
precautionary measures on our part
cannot be considered unwarranted
or provocative
Toward Russia Finland's aim
was always to establish good and
normal neighborly relations. TAX
ing this general trend of our pol
icy into consideration, 1t appears
natural that we took up the con-
versations when Russia invited us
some weeks ago to Moscow.
Finland is fully disposed to try
to give all her neighbors every feel
ing of security and incidentally,
may mention that Finland already
in the treaty of Tarttu pledged her
self to keep the small Finnish
islands in the Gulf of Finland out
side Leningrad demilitarized. Fin
land has also in the recent negotia-
ttons agreed to very considerable
concessions. But it is absolutely
evident that Finland as free
and neutral country cannot go out
side the limits of her independence
and her neutrality.
I'VE could not destroy our sys-
tenn of defense on the CareIian
1sthmus. We could not open places
in Finland for foreign troops with
out giving up our independence and
neutrality.
Defenses Away From Border.
May I in this connection point
out that our defense system on the
Carelian 1sthmus is situated several
tens OF miles from the Russian from
tier. Statements to the contrary are
not true. May I add that since Rus
STA got the two Estonian islands un-
der her control, Saarenaa and Hill
dumaa and also basis on the south
OF the Finnish Gulf, there can be no
threat to the entrance to Leningrad.
From Finland Russia is not
threatened. This is the truth and
nothing but the truth. We have
read in the last few days about Incl
dents on the Russian Finnish from
tier. Last Sunday the Russians
accused us of having fired seven gun
shots against the Russian troops on
the other side of the frontier. This
is not true. A careful investigation
established that the discharge Of
cannon shots did not take place on
the Finnish side.
From the sounds caused by the
charges heard on the Finnish side,
1t was possible to establish that the
gun or guns that were used were
situated about one and one-half to
two kilometers southeast from the
place Of the bursting of the shells
on the Russian side.
May I further mention that we
have no artillery within range to
reach the Russian frontier. This
is the truth and nothing but the