Autumn Cloud

Last week a "high Finnish source" let it out that Moscow wanted a new trade agreement, would like to start negotiations in October. It was a cloud on the horizon, and no one could say--yet--whether it was bigger or smaller than a man's hand. The Finns hoped that Moscow was not disturbed by the fact that,-on one recent day, there were 17 U.S. ships in Helsinki harbor.

Of all Russia's defeated enemies, the Finns are paying the highest per capita reparations: $300 million, ending in 1952. But Russia, though tightening every possible screw in the treaty terms, has not sprung any surprises and has permitted the Finns, by & large, to run their own country in their own way. Under this treatment, which calls mainly for hard work, the industrious Finns have thrived.

In 1945, 70% of Finnish exports went for reparations; in 1946, 30%; and the expected figure for 1947 is only 15%. This mushrooming trade, now largely with the U.S., has enabled Finns to paint their shutters, fix the roof of the sauna (Finnish bath), refurbish their wardrobes, repair streets and roads.

Said , bulletheaded, 76-year-old President Juho Paasikivi, who still swims in the ice-cold bay beneath his villa and who admires solid sculpture: "We now have unrationed meat, and it has worked very well. The farmers get higher prices. Our crop in 1946 was 63% of prewar, but it should be up to 70% for 1947--and remember we lost 12% of our arable land under the treaty. We are expanding industrial production. Our Communists are sometimes noisy but so far they have not succeeded in forcing nationalization beyond the point of maximum effectiveness."

Train Trouble. Of course the Russians, though soothed by the fact that all of Finland's wartime anti-Russian leaders are in jail, or otherwise out of action, can still be annoying. Recently the Finns asked Moscow to let them run five trains a day in each direction across the Porkkala Peninsula (leased to Russia for 50 years as a naval base), which would cut three hours from the time required by the roundabout route to the north. Moscow agreed--if the trains were sealed, if they could be inspected by Red officials on entering and leaving the leased area, and if the Finns paid $50 (U.S.) for each train. The Finns installed wooden shutters on the cars, but it was not enough; the Russians held out for steel shutters. Then the Finns discovered that inspection delays were cutting the time saved to a mere half-hour. So they decided not to run the trains, after all. "Well," said one Finn, "in only 48 years we'll get the whole peninsula back."

The Finnish Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee wanted to join the "Marshall approach" discussions in Paris, but President Paasikivi knew the Kremlin would not stand for it, and the Finnish delegation stayed home. Despite this, U.S.-Finnish trade has continued to thrive. The Finns hoped that Russia was not preparing to demand heavy imports on top of reparations--a move which would surely diminish (or even abolish) their trade with the U.S.

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