Le Nord : revue internationale des Pays de Nord - 01.06.1942, Side 40

3°
LE NORD
in the lives of the two branches of the Finnish race. In the eyes
of those at home, the emigrants were little different from what
they were when they went away; and similarly it was not easy
for the emigrants to realize that their home country had devel-
oped during their absence; sometimes they judged it from the
standpoint of their own, often rather remote, primitive districts.
There were, of course, no organized attempts to supply in-
formation about each other’s conditions — at least in earlier
periods. Literature describing the lives of Finns in America
developed only slowly, and at its best it was not very important.
Lecturers and speakers went fairly frequently from here to
America, but they usually confined themselves to religious and
educational subjects and thus did not convey much information
of topical interest. Lantern slides and films only came to be used
later and then not very systematically.
Of course, newspapers have all along reported current events,
and their work has often been praiseworthy, but it has been
hampered by the weakness and ephemeral character of the cor-
respondents’ work; only in recent times have attempts been made
to organize a press service dealing with contemporary develop-
ments for citizens overseas. The occasional contacts between dif-
ferent spheres of culture on both sides have been somewhat in-
complete, and thus not as effective as they might have been.
Generally speaking, the presence of a Finnish population on the
other side of the Atlantic has not been exploited to the full for
the benefit of either side.
It is first and foremost in the religious and educational spheres
that the Finns in America have developed an ordered manner of
living which has been their strength as a special, respected part
of the great American people, while worthily representing the
home country and causing its name to be regarded with esteem
among the numerous competing nations.
They have everywhere their own churches, cultural organi-
zations, national Sunday Schools and Summer Schools, a college
chiefly for the training of the clergy, their own newspapers and
literature, as well as humanitarian and economic institutions, such
as welfare and co-operative societies.
Their cultural life in all its forms reflects very much that of
the home country and is in its way an “export” which is much
valued. These activities have not been assisted or directed offi-