Tourist Business

Finland was worried last week lest reports of her recent annihilation of two Russian divisions lead other nations to think she needed no help. But help on a small scale became more concrete each day. The French Government announced that not only was it shipping material to the Finns but that Italy and Spain were also sending arms, airplanes and volunteers via France -- in Spain's case, shipping Russian material that had been captured in the Civil War. (This was promptly denied in Madrid.) Argentina authorized the shipment of 50,000 tons of wheat to Finland, that country to pay when she pleased. Both Brazil and Colombia announced donations of coffee. The Canadian Red Cross set aside $50,000 for relief work.

Outnumbered six to one, Finland above all needed fighters, and a few of these, too, arrived. A company of Danish volunteers joined the Swedes already under arms.

Some Italian "units" (whose strength--probably trifling--was kept a military secret) reached Helsinki. Prince Aage of Denmark, who once fought with the French Foreign Legion, volunteered, as did his brother-in-law, Prince Rene of Bourbon-Parma. Two other volunteers were Prince Ferdinand Andreas of Liechtenstein and Sweden's tennis champion, Karl Schroder. Aland Island Novelist Sally Salminen (Katrina) returned to Helsinki from abroad and offered her services to the Finnish Government.

From Paris went five American aviators : Fred Ottesen, Marcus Clark, George Folds, Vincent Schmidt (who fought for the Loyalists in the Spanish Civil War) and Charles Stehlin (who flew for Franco).

Airman Stehlin is the son of Brooklyn's soldier-of-fortune, Josef Stehlin, who has fought under five flags.

To get its report of the rush of volunteers to Finland past the French censor, the Paris bureau of the New York Times executed a neat journalistic backhand lob.

Reported the Times: "Due to the fact that Switzerland is now closed to skiers, there is a marked tendency on the part of winter sports enthusiasts to go to Finland. These tourists comprise all nationalities, including Poles, White Russians and Czechs exiled from their habitual vast skiing grounds. The Finnish Tourist Agency, which still remains open in centrally located offices on the Avenue de l'Opera, reports it is doing a brisk business, with steadily rising interest in Finnish tourist resorts. Reports that volunteers are leaving here for Finland are emphatically denied. . . ."

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