Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1939-10-19


the capital city of -
Sweden late in the
afternoon of August %, on Finnish
steamer. Shortly after our departure
we entered a group of islands that
continued on almost to Abo. The
scenery reminded me very much OF
the Canadian portion of Lake of the
Woods, islands on all sides, rising
out of the water to varying heights.
They are of granite and covered with
pine. For some distance out of Stock
holm many of these islands are oc-
cupied with summer homes. The
whole enchanting picture was illum-
ined by a full moon that was as clear
as crystal.
We landed in Abo the following
morning. I had expected to find a
small village of perhaps several thou
sand inhabitants. Instead, / found
Abo to be a modern city of 10000.
It is highly industrialized and among
other modern conveniences they have
an excellent street car system. Wom-
en- are employed as conductors be-
cause of the acute shortage OF labor.
We did not tarry long in Abo as
we were anxious to get to Helsinkl,
(Helsingfors) the capital. We ar
rived there at noon and were met by
the secretary of the American lega-
ton. After lunch we were taken on
a sightseeing tour, and again met
with number of surprises. Hell
sinki is in every way modern city
and whoever laid it out understood
his business. The streets are wide
and we'll kept. The buildings are
comparable to the best anywhere.
Fine Parliament Building.
Perhaps the parliament building
and the art gallery are the two out
standing features of Finland's capital.
In my time 1 have visited a number
of art galleries, both here and abroad,
and while there are many that con-
tain larger and more valuable COL
lections l have yet to see one that
surpasses the Helsinki gallery in quail
ity. Unfortunately, 1 have mislaid
the notes made during my all too
L
give the name of one artist whose
work is as fine as anything to be
found in Europe or America. His
paintings look as though they are
about to speak. The gallery also
contains some fine sculpture work.
The Parliament building was built
a few years ago and is the last word
in beauty and acoustics. 1t cost
S6,OOO,OOO and l would say the Fin
nish people got value received. The
chamber, where the Finnish Parlia-
ment meets, is circular. l would
say it is about 125 feet in diameter.
The voting is done with an electric
voting machine, each desk being
equipped with push buttons. AS l
recall, the progress of the vote does
not show on the tallyboard until the
voting has been completed. In this
way no member is influenced by the
tide of battle in casting his vote.
Our guide took us through the var
ious committee rooms, each in every
way surprising anything that know
of, save the Ways and Means COM
mittee room in Washington, which is
also in a class by itself. The DELHI
erations of the Finnish Parliament
are in both the Finnish and Swedish
languages. A number of the news
papers 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
country.
In Finland large number of wom-
en- are employed in work ordinarily
done by men in this country. They
even coal steamers, although, there
is a strong movement afoot to pro-
hibit their continuation in that line.
The reason for all of this is that
there is real shortage of manpower
in Finland. That is also true of Nor
way and Sweden.
Helsinki Modern City.
Helsinki is one of the chief ports
of the Baltic and lies within nights
travel by steamer from Danzig, Len
ingrad and other East Baltic ports.
II lids d pOpuldtlOii VI dOOut lto,oOo,
as l recall. Modern hotels, four or
five daily newspapers, well-stocked
stores, really beautiful residential
districts, all combine to make Hell
sinki an attractive place to live. Like
the other Scandinavian countries, the
Firms are hospitable and courteous.
They are unusually intelligent and
well informed, thanks to a splendid
educational system that has practi-
cally done away with illiteracy.
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 am unable
to give exact figures. The exports
consist in large part of print paper,
pulp, granite, considerable quantities
of fish and some agricultural pro-
ducts Like Norway, Finland is a
heavy importer of food. The cost
of living in Finland is considerably