Evening star., 1940-02-02

rims. It Is OF utmost importance
friends Of Finland in every neutral
democratic country. Without several
hundred pursuit planes, and without
ground crews to keep them in the
war, relief funds for Finnish
divisions are almost as futile for the
cause of Finnish freedom as it is to
bandage the body of man who is
dying from hemorrhages.
Today, 3,500,000 Firms are crying
and praying for airplanes. Only the
other day more than 100 persons
were killed by Soviet bombers In
less than seven hours of daylight.
Soon there will be 10 and IL hours
of daylight Then three or four
times as many Red bombers will
come every day. For every 100 lives
that may be conceivably saved from
starvation by foreign relief contribu-
tions between now and August, 1t
must be estimated conservatively
that 5000 or 10000 Finns-more
than half of them invaluable and
irreplaceable front-line soldiers
stand to be wiped out as the direct
or indirect result Of Bolshevist air
raids. '
Too Proud to Want Charity.
1t is plain fact that very few
Firms are in danger of death,
starvation or malnutrition before
next autumn, however welcome any
medical aid may be. The fact is
even more cruelty apparent that,
while millions are being given for
relief, the only relief for which the
whole Finnish nation hopes and
petitions is relief from the mass
murder of Russian bombers. The
Firms would gladly starve if only
they had planes with which to fight
back.
I make this statement simply as a
report Of existing conditions, a re-
port of an actual and universal
state of mind among the Finnish
people. They are too proud and
self-respecting a people to want
charity. They want nothing more
nor less than the opportunity to de-
fend themselves to fight back in
the air. Rightly or wrongly, they
have got the idea that the American
people are among their bess friends.
Rightly or wrongly, they look to the
United States as the one great neu-
trail nation which has large quanti-
ties of fighting planes-and which
If it desired to do so, could sell
enough of them to Finland to put
an end TO the Red terror from the
air and turn the tide.
Finnish public opinion knows that
victory against Soviet Russia is i'm
possible without hundreds OF fight
ing planes. For some reason, the
Firms are pinning their hopes on
America. They think that the
Americans do not want the Firms
to be massacred from the air as the
Spanish Republicans and the Poles
were massacred. They think that
the Americans must intend to send
planes-the chief instrument for
their salvation in the coming air
war, but privately. Finnish officials
are filled with doubts.
Time is getting terribly short,
one OF them said to me the other
day. Then he added, with touch
of bitterness; do you believe these
stories about planes shipments?
wis l could Maybe a few have
come, but I can tell you this:
have seen none to date"
Planes One Big Need.
On the train coming down from
Haparanda to Stockholm I sat with
a Swedish colonel and a Swedish
businessman. why doesn't Amer
ica send us planes?" asked the COL
onel. "Airplanes are the one thing
we need to stop the Bolshevists
We can produce everything else
here-all kinds of guns and NUM-
tions But we haven't got time to
build the planes. and fast enough
Surely, your Army doesn't need
thousands of planes right away. It's
a matter of life and death for the
Firms and ourselves.
"Why don't you tell your people
that this is the one thing they can
do for us? Expressions of sympathy
don't mean thing. We don't un-
derstand. Why don't the Americans
do something where it really counts?
You sell to France-that won't get
you into the war. Why don't you
sell planes to Finland and Sweden. -
The businessman had suggestion
of his own. He said, two hundred
planes for Finland and 400 for us
would make an enormous differ
ence." That seemed a fairly accu-
rate reflection of many Swedes' con-
ception of the relative dangers al
present being run by Finland and
Sweden. Nevertheless, the same
fundamental idea was there-mysti-
(See PLANES, Page A-1D