Monday, Sep. 08, 1930

Lapua's Vihtori

The most important place in Finland last week was not Helsingfors (Helsinki), the capital; not the seaports of Vasa (Vaasa) or Viborg (Viipuri), but the farming village of Lapua. The Finns who speak Finnish and the Finns who speak Swedish all spoke of Lapua last week, as did all of Finland's 624 newspapers and magazines. Acute observers saw emerging from Lapua a minor Mussolini, possible Dictator of the country, by the name of Vihtori Kosola.

Finland, a country some 30,000 sq. mi. larger than Italy, stretches north from Leningrad to the Arctic Ocean, a sort of buffer between Soviet Russia and the Scandinavian Peninsula. It is chiefly known to the U. S. as one of the only three governments in the world* which maintain absolute Prohibition of liquor, and as the country whence come great endurance runners (Paavo Nurmi, Willie Ritola et al.) and house servants who are either very fine and faithful or extremely stupid. Correspondents have described it as a country riddled with lakes, bootleggers and Bolshevik propagandists. Official Finland, puny before the armed might of Soviet Russia, regards the Soviet agents with a sort of affable apathy. Not so Vihtori Kosola and his fellow villagers of Lapua. They hate the sight of a Communist.

Six months ago the name of Vihtori Kosola appeared in Finnish papers when well organized bands of Lapuan peasants under his leadership kidnaped Communist agitators, dumped them over the Russian border. Kosola's prestige grew by leaps & bounds. Last month 12,000 of his followers journeyed to Helsingfors by train, motor, horseback and on foot, formed ranks, marched in military formation to the Parliament building, demanded the immediate passage of laws to suppress Communism, and to make the government more economical by halving the number of representatives in Parliament. Statesmen were impressed by the size of Kosola's army. They introduced the bills, failed to get the requisite two-thirds majority, then dissolved the Diet. Vihtori Kosola bided his time, assured of the growth of his power, realizing that the coming general elections (Oct. 1) will have but one issue: the demands of Lapua's Vihtori Kosola.

Reporters found him last week in his huge, white-washed farmhouse in Lapua, surrounded by innumerable children, for possible Dictator Kosola, like positive Dictator Mussolini, is firmly opposed to birth control.

"We are not a party," said he, speaking of his followers. "The immediate program is to influence the elections by pledging the candidates of all parties, but I am pessimistic about the result of the election.

"We are determined to stamp out the agents of the foreign power who are destroying our industry and corrupting our youth. . . . They came here and held meetings in which they mocked God and parodied religion in a most brutal way. We are determined to stop this.

"The farmers have pledged not to employ Communists, and the industries are coming into line. We have not touched the question of Prohibition because we want a solid front. . . . Our sole purpose is to destroy Communism."

* Prince Edward Island is the third.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.