THE FINNS ARE LIKE THAT

New Zealand Listener, Volume 2, Issue 35, 23 February 1940, Page 23

THE FINNS ARE LIKE THAT

-From "The Christian Science Monitor"

hundred Finns can read and write. Finland’s high literacy owes much to religion. During the Reformation hundreds of years ago, leaders of the Finnish Protestant Church wanted all Finns to be able to study for themselves the newly translated ‘Bible and other religious books. Hence the emphasis upon education. To-day more books are said to be sold per person in Finland than in any other country. Stockman’s bookstore in Helsinki is rated the world’s largest. N INETY-NINE in every one During 1938, more than 350,000,000 pieces of mail were handled in the Helsinki Post Office, not counting inter-urban mail. This alone means an average of one hundred letters and newspapers for every man, woman, and child in Finland. Finland has always insisted on selfgovernment or at least a large measure of autonomy. Tsarist Russia gave Finland a semi-independent status. After the war of 1914-18, Finland received full independence from Communist Russia, now again seeking to subjugate the country.

Finns are great linguists. Many of them speak five languages, most of them two or more, They are intensely serious, but have a sense of humour withal. Finnish honesty is a proverb. One of three American travellers left his camdéra in a train loaded with soldiers. He did not discover the loss until reaching his hotel. No name was on the. camera, nor any identification. In about fifteen minutes a Post Office official arrived in a taxi with the camera. He had made the rounds of hotels in the small city of Kuopio, until he found one where three Americans had just checked in. When asked why they pay their debt to the United States, although many nations, including Britain and France, have defaulted, Finns reply: "We owed it." Apparently the thought never occurs of trying to avoid payment. Finland’s financial budget has always been balanced as soon as possible at whatever sacrifice. The national debt has been reduced steadily. A reserve fund of about 1,000,000,000 finmarks ($20,000,000) has been built in a few years. Americans and others who arrive with superiority complexes soon have to change their notions. Hotels are ultramodern. Apartments’ have sun decks, There are no slums in Helsinki. The Finns are like that.