| OCR Text |
Show FINLAND MAY BE 1HE1EN1 Demands Place Among Sovereign Sov-ereign Nations of the Earth Time Is Ripe. HELSINGFORS, Finland, Monday, May 21, via Petrograd and London, 'May 22, 1:55 p. m. A congress of the Swedish political party, representing a majority of Finland's wealthies and most influential classes, yesterday passed a resolution favoring a complete com-plete separation of the Grand Duchy of Finland from Russia. The resolution reads: "The Finnish people havo progressed progress-ed so far in cultural and political development de-velopment that Finland is entitled to mako a demand to take her place as an independent state among the number num-ber of sovereign nations." This radical resolution is only the latest development of the separatist agitation which started after tho revolution rev-olution and which is occasioning anxiety anx-iety in Petrograd and bringing out sharp comment in the Russian press. The agitation began when Finland's new premier, M. Tokoi, a Social Democrat, Dem-ocrat, in a speech in parliament, used an expression Implying that Russia had ceased to be a suzerain power and how become a friendly neighbor and possible ally. The temporary government govern-ment in Petrograd, in restoring tho Finnish constitution on March 20, claimed that the now Russian government govern-ment had succeeded to all the rights of former Emperor Nicholas as grand duke, but the Helsingfors parliament during the debate on tho food bill last week declared it was open to question whether the claim of the temporary government was correct and whether, therefore, that government had inherited inher-ited the former emperor's rights to sanction Finnish parliamentary acts or to refuse Its sanction to them. In addition the Finnish government has suggested to Russia the immediate immedi-ate passage of measures increasing Finland's present measure of independence, indepen-dence, but the temporary government holds that this action -must await tho moeting of the constituent assembly. Prominent among tho advocates of complete Finnish independence is Professor Pro-fessor Erich, who declares that Finland Fin-land attained absolute independence by the fact of tho revolution when tho revolution occurred, adding that Finland's future relations with Russia Rus-sia would depend exclusively upon the will of the Finnish people and could bo regulated only by voluntary Finno-Russlan Finno-Russlan treaties of an international character. Although some mombers of the Swedish Swe-dish parties and of tho Socialist group oppose the Independence claims as premature and as likely to cause irritation irri-tation in Russia, the only party solidly solid-ly opposing tho independence program Is the old Finnish party, which always al-ways has been persistently Russo-phlle. |
