Evening star., 1939-07-18
BY WILLIAM McGAFFIN.

the Olympics merit year,
BY WILLIAM McGAFFIN,
Associated Press Feature Service Writer.
HELSINKI.-The staccato rum
BILE OF the workman's drill splits the
crisp air of this northern capital.
1t is the signature tune of nation
rushing to the task of preparing, in
half the customary time, for next
years Olympic Games.
War brought Finland the coveted
chance to play host to the athletes
of the world.
War may spoil that chance.
But Finland. although frightened
as all Scandinavia is at the prospects
of a European conflagration, has
been going ahead swiftly and reso-
lutely with her plans ever since that
July day when Helsinki succeeded
Toxic as the official site of the
games.
Nearly thousand Workmen now
are engaged on construction Jobs,
while down at headquarters building
in Railroad Station Square a hun
dred clerks in 16 different depart
ments are handling the endless de-
tails of the l6 sports on the pro-
gram.
Hundreds of volunteers are donat-
ing their services. The national gov
ernment and Helsinki municipality
are chipping in with financial and
other assistance
Cost ~ Million.
Finland figures the games will cost
her about s7,5O0,0OO.
The Finnish railway department
plans to buy $31: 900 worth of i'm
provements, the Helsinki Streetcar
Co. has asked for a hundred new
buses and the Post and Telegraph
Board hopes to spend million dol
lars on telegraph and telephone
systems
One of the first building Jobs to
be tackled, entailing the laborious
task of hewing into the solid granite
which underlies the city, was filling
in the Olympic crack" in the
stadium.
The earliest date Finland possibly
could hope to have the games when
the stadium was temporarily fin
lshed last year was 1914. So there
was no urgency about walling up the
eastern end. The present capacity
OF 10000 will be doubled when this
is completed-and even then there
will not be nearly enough tickets to
go around.
Besides the partially completed
stadium, Finland's assets at the
time she was awarded the games
were an exhibition hall, where
wrestling, boxing and weight lift
ing matches could be held; a shoot
ing range at Malmi, where the 1887
world championships were staged;
riding arena at Laakso, which
was the scene of the Northern Eu-
ropean championships in 1887, and
the Westend Tennis Club. whose
indoor and outdoor courts are ideally
suited for fencing.
Quarters for $4,000.
Work is under way now on the
Olympic village. cycling track,
swimming stadium and a rowing
stadium, while the municipality of
Helsinki is putting up training
grounds and various other facilities,
the unheard of departure
for Finland of an indoor arena for
riding.
BY autumn everything will be
ready except the Olympic village,
which will not be completed until
next spring.
In keeping with the spirit of the
day, several of the streets leading
to the stadium have been renamed.
Visitors, for instance, may find
themselves walking down Olympiaite
Olympia Way. Maratonite Mara
thon Way) or Hellaantie the Way
of Hellas).
The Helsinki hotels will hold only
the official visitors and newspaper
men. but the housing commission
already has located quarters for
more than 10000 others, and has
made feeding arrangements for
100000 daily.
These will be accommodated in
private homes, schools and similar
public buildings, tents and floating
hotels" Twenty-one liners have re-
served anchorage in the Helsinki
harbor.
One of the first moves after Fin
land received the glad news was
the formation of the Olympic
Games Organizing Committee, un-
der the Craftsmanship of J. w. Ran
gell, president of the Gymnastics
and Sports League of Finland and
former hop-step-and-j Jump cham
pion.