Evening star., 1940-03-13

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Foreign Minister Vaino Tanner
announced the end of the Russo
Finnish War to the Finnish nation
by radio at IL o'clock. It was the
first governmental statement to be
broadcast by a member of the gov
ernment since peace negotiations be-
gan week ago.
No Emotion in Voice.
Tanners voice betrayed no emo
ton. Inside one of Helsinkis CO.
operative Elante restaurants a
throng of men and women, who
were an exact cross-section of the
Finnish population, sat quietly and
listened eagerly. Almost immedi-
ately the foreign minister declared
that the result was peace.
A dark-haired Young woman in a
red-checked sweater near the win
dow began to weep silently, hiding
her face with her hands.
All around me other faces stared
and most of them were 'impen-
etrable. Tanners voice continued
strong and firm. He began to
enumerate the conditions. An Eng
disappearing secretary across from
me lost self-control for only mo-
ment. my God" she exclaimed.
A middle-aged woman in gray
coat WINGED and fought to control
herself, then began to rub tears
from her eyes. Even before that
they were filled with unspeakable
agony. A little bald-headed man,
as Tanners voice rolled on, shook
his head violently in the negative.
I could see nothing else but stony
faces and staring eyes.
I'm 10 days We shall give up Ham
ko-" words like that came like
the echo of doom. Two other WON.
en- were sobbing but without making
a sound. There were two Finnish
officers, their faces as expression
less as Indians. Never once did
their features reveal what was hap
pening inside them.
Tried to Paint Hopeful Picture.
Tanner was explaining why 1t
seemed that peace had to be made,
how foreign help had failed and
how courageously the Finnish troops
had fought alone. He tried to paint
the picture as hopefully as possible,
but some Of the terms which no
Finn could ever bear to contem-
plate had to be revealed.
Then the radio voice added that
the Scandinavian governments had
refused fatty to allow British and
French troops to pass through their
territory even after allied interven-
ton had been promised to Finland.
My eyes were drawn back again
to the young woman in the red
checked sweater. Now she lay back
limp and her chair with her face
averted toward the drawn window
curtains. Her shoulders were shak-
ing slowly but ceaselessly.
When saw her face again it con-
tanned all that misery and disillu-
sionment which can only be felt by
an undefeated people who have been
compelled to accept the victors'
peace long before ever accepting de-
feat within their own inner con-
sciences.
Then, soon Tanner was pleading for
renewed faith in Finland's destiny.
We must start our lives again, he
was saying: We are going to rise
again.
All about me the stony eyes and
faces remained unchanged. How
could one know what thoughts
leaped and famed behind them?
But over to the right another young
woman uttered a sharp, fierce ex-
clamation to her companion. One
could feel her anger. Elsewhere
aside from the few instances of
tears, there was neither resignation
nor acceptance-simply the battling
Spartan armor of this Far Northern
people.
Sacrifices Unbelievable.
1t was soon ended. Strains of the
hymn God Is Our Castle" poured
from the microphone. No one
cheered, not soul spoke. In a
moment scores were filing out into
the street. Once on the sidewalk
some of them conversed rather
vehemently. Others talked with the
same restained quietness which is SC
(See STOWE, Page A-5.)