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A MODEL T FORD, ROAD The Rural Police Confront a New Kind of Challenge BARRIERS AND A PETITI- ON FOR A MACHINE GUN The technical equipment and the means of transportation for the police force in the
OVERVIEWS The Police Force´s response to Finnish countryside were very modest in Spirits Smuggling between 1923 the 1910s and the beginning of the 1920s. and 1932 in the Police Districts When prohibition3 came into force in 1919, of Merikarvia and Siikainen the local police force faced a significant challenge: large-scale spirits smuggling4. Many people disregarded prohibition be- Anni Ruohomäki cause it did not conform with their sense of justice. Further, there were many people In these research notes, I will examine how who saw prohibition as a great chance to spirits smuggling affected the development earn some extra money or even to make a li- of a certain rural police force´s equipment ving. There had already been some amount from 1923 to 1932. Spirits smuggling de- of spirits smuggling before the prohibition veloped into a huge problem in Finland in era, however, the phenomena grew a great 1919–1932 during the era of Finland´s pro- deal larger during prohibition.5 In the first hibition. I will take a closer look at one par- years of prohibition, spirits were brought ticular area, the coastal municipality of Me- mainly from Estonia and the smuggling rikarvia, which is located on the west coast concentrated6 in the Gulf of Finland.7 The of the country, in the Satakunta region. In situation changed in the summer of 1923, 1923, the police district of Merikarvia con- however, when the smugglers started to use sisted of the municipalities of Merikarvia large smuggling ships that could carry up and Siikainen.1 I chose the year 1923 as the to 100,000 litres of spirits as well as smaller starting point of this research as that is the amounts of finer alcohol such as cognac, year when spirits smuggling also expan- liquor and whisky.8 Those smuggling ves- ded to the Gulf of Bothnia. Prior to 1923, sels also travelled to the Gulf of Bothnia. smuggling was concentrated in the Gulf The spirits that were brought to Fin- of Finland. 1923 was also the year when land in 1923 were mostly exported from the number of cars started growing rapid- Germany and Estonia9 and wealthy foreign ly in Finland, a trend for which smuggling companies were often behind the smug- contributed to. These research notes will gling operations.10 The biggest corporati- shed some light on how the police reacted on that exported spirits from Estonia was to this development on the local level. Kuljus & Sinisoff, which had eight ships These research notes are based on the for smuggling spirits.11 The spirits ships articles I wrote for the local history of Me- anchored just outside the territorial waters rikarvia: Kuunarin Kryssi. Merikarvialaisten of Finland where the Finnish authorities historiaa 1860-luvulta 2000-luvulle.2 As sour- could do nothing to stop them from sel- ce material for the articles, I used reports, ling their product.12 The buyers in Merikar- official letters, statistics and district court via were local fishermen and other people documents that I found in the National who owned motor boats. They brought the Archive in Turku. Newspaper articles pro- liquor to the mainland through the archi vided another important source group for pelago of Oura.13 When they arrived at this article. the shore, they either handed the product
58 Tekniikan Waiheita 4/17 OVERVIEWS
The police force of Merikar- via and Siikainen in 1926. In the front row sits the Police Chief Erik Fager and Deputy Chief Paul Lilja. The woman in the picture is the Police Chief´s office assistant Sig- rid Salo. The police officers are Väinö Häggroth, Aalto Vuorenmaa, Frans Alastu- pila, Juho Salonen, Taavetti Haapakka, Heikki Virta and the police reinforcement officers, Arvo Vuorinen and Frans Koskela. Photo: Merikarvia-seura.
straight to the retailer who packed it in their Answering the Challenge with car or carriage or they hid it somewhere to New Means of Transportation be sold later.14 The Merikarvia police already had a motor The police and other authorities had boat in 1923 but it proved to be too slow. great difficulties controlling the smuggling In autumn of that year, the Police Chief of both on the sea and on the mainland. In Merikarvia pleaded with the local governor the rural municipalities in particular, the to allocate a fast, motorized-boat equipped vast size of the police districts alone made with a machine gun to his police district. it impossible for the local police to keep a The chief justified his plead by emphasi- watch over all maritime routes and roads.15 zing that the rural police lacked the resour- The combined area of Merikarvia and Sii- ces to tackle the growing amount of spirits kainen was around 900 km2 (land), and being smuggled into the area. He stated Merikarvia also had around 795 km2 of sea that with their current technical equipment, area, more than 1,700 islands and around the policemen of Merikarvia couldn’t con- 450 kilometres of coastline.16 As prohibi- front the smugglers at even a satisfactory tion continued and smuggling increased, level.18 However, the governor declined the the local governor assigned extra police of- request. It is possible that he didn’t realize ficers to the areas where the situation was the gravity of the problem on the local level the most severe. Merikarvia was one of or it was simply a question of money. In these areas and in 1926, Arvo Vuorinen and May 1926, when the police of Pori received Frans Koskela, were assigned there as poli- a new motorboat, they gave their old motor ce reinforcements. In 1926, the police force boat to the Merikarvia police.19 of Merikarvia and Siikainen consisted of By 1926, almost all the fishermen in the rural police chief, the deputy chief and Merikarvia had a motorized boat.20 Their eight police officers, five of which operated motorboats enabled them to participate in in Merikarvia and three in Siikainen.17 smuggling operations and provided a fairly easy way to earn some extra cash. Fisher- men make their living fishing the sea, so it hardly seemed suspicious when they headed
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The landscape in the Oura archipela- go in May 2017. One can easily imagi- ne that if you are unfamiliar with the archipelago you must stick solely to the marked routes to avoid crashing on the stones. Photo: Anni Ruohomäki. OVERVIEWS
to the open sea late at night. They also had a good chance of avoi- ding the authorities because they were well acquainted with the sea, the islands and the shores of their region and thus were able to use the unmarked routes where the authorities sia, was closed and exports to Estonia had couldn’t follow them.21 diminished. Because of overproduction, In the late 1920s, the deteriorating the price of salted Baltic herring had sunk economic situation of the fishermen also so low that the fishermen were forced to get pushed them towards smuggling. The other jobs. Many fishermen started to work fishing trade was growing less lucrative year in the harbours as stevedores or sailors, but after year and the main reason was over some of them turned to smuggling.22 production: the largest export country, Rus-
Police Chief Erik Fager and Officer Väinö Häggroth pose for a picture on a boat with confiscated spirits containers in 1926. The man in the forefront is unknown but presumably he was a witness asked to come along on this quest. Photo: Merikarvia-seura.
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Officer Väinö Häggroth posing with the new Ford Model T in 1926. Photo: Merikarvia-seura.
1926, he then purchased a Hupmobile that was re- gistered to seven people.28 Sometimes the smugglers had to settle for a horse and carriage.29 In the autumn of On the mainland, the country police 1926, the police of Merikarvia received their didn’t have any better resources for cat- first automobile, a Model T Ford, which was ching the smugglers than at sea. In the be- relatively early compared to other country ginning of the 1920s the police were still municipalities.30 It has been estimated that getting around with bicycles and horse car- before the First World War, there were only riages while many smugglers already had 40 police cars in all Finland, half of which cars.23 Cars were still quite rare throughout were in the Helsinki metropolitan area.31 the whole of Finland, as it has been cal- Merikarvia received the car because it was culated that the total number of cars was a coastal municipality where large amounts only around few thousand.24 However, of illegal spirits were brought from the sea from 1923 the number of cars imported to to the mainland. The Police Chief of Me- Finland started to rise rapidly. Most of the rikarvia wrote to the municipal council in cars were affordable and mass-produced the summer of 1928 detailing how impor- brands such as Model T Ford and Chev- tant a car would be to the police. He stated rolet.25 And by the end of the decade the that law breakers didn’t dare to show their number of cars in Finland exceeded 30,000. faces at public events because they couldn’t Tapio Bergholm has argued that one of the know when the police would dash to the incentives for importing more and more scene with the car. He also emphasized that cars to the country was spirits smuggling as there were too few policemen in the district the smugglers needed to transport alcohol considering the challenging circumstances quickly inland and the automobile was the and the low number of the police had to be most convenient option. With the money compensated by the ability to move around earned from their illegal trade the smugg- fast. The purpose of his letter was to con- lers were able to buy new, bigger and better vince the council to allocate money for the cars.26 expenses incurred by the car. The current In some cases, people who alrea- government allowance was insufficient to dy owned a car (mainly taxi drivers) also cover the expenses and the police chief had started smuggling. The smugglers often had to pay the bills from his own pocket. Thus, cars that were rare and exotic in Finland, the council later accepted his request.32 such as Buicks, Hudsons, Willys-Knights, Packards and Chryslers.27 In Merikarvia a smuggler named Jonne Leppäluoto first bought a simple Ford, but in the summer of
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Fighting the Smugglers Armed In 1926, the police officers of Merikarvia with New Equipment, Old and Siikainen had the following weaponry: Weaponry and the Help of the Väinö Häggroth, Aalto Vuorenmaa, Frans Temperance Board Alastupila and Frans Koskela all had Brow- ning pistols. Though the pistols of Vuo-
OVERVIEWS In the second half of the 1920s, spirits renmaa and Alastupila were not in working smuggling became more organized and order at the moment the inventory was smugglers more brazen. The police had made. Häggroth had also a Mauser pistol been given signal lanterns for stopping sus- and Alastupila had a Winchester rifle. The picious vehicles, but the smugglers didn’t Police Chief had both a Browning and a care about the signals. They neither wanted Mauser pistol and two Winchester rifles. to lose their valuable cargo or to be prose- All the police officers were equipped with cuted in the court.33 To stop the smugglers` handcuffs.38 cars, the police started to build road bar- At times, the police were forced to use riers. In July 1926, the police of Merikarvia their guns when confronting smugglers. In received a tip-off about a car that was going September 1928, Officer Aalto Vuorenmaa to pick up spirits from the coast. They pla- was patrolling the highway with two other ced the barriers on the road and waited. men. They had positioned the police force´s The car sped through the first two barriers Ford in the middle of the road with the but was stopped at the third. The three men headlights pointed in the direction where that were in the car escaped into the forest. they were expecting a car with smuggled The car was from Tampere and inside were spirits cargo. The car approached and disre- 30 spirits containers (300 litres).34 In Au- garded the light signals shown by the police. gust 1926, the authorities of Turku and Pori The driver smashed straight into the police Province, including the police of Merikar- car and bumped it off of the road.39 The via, were given steel cables for stopping the speed of the car slowed down in the col- smugglers` cars.35 The cable was stretched lision so that the police were able to jump between two trees or posts and if the dri- on the car´s side board. They tried to stop ver drove through the cable he could only the car by shooting at it but ultimately failed continue driving a few kilometres because to stop it. They followed the tracks of the the cable would have broken the radiator.36 car and found it after some kilometres in a The Police Chief of Merikarvia ne- ditch. The car was empty, but it reeked of ver received the machine gun he reque- spirits. The police caught the driver, Kaarlo sted in 1923, but in November 1927, the Aleksanteri Maijala of Luvia and later they governor´s office sent binoculars to the po- also found 40 spirits containers in a nearby lice of Merikarvia specifically to help cont- basement. The car was a Hudson and was rol smuggling at sea.37 Sometimes the police owned by a man named Arvo Kivimäki managed to catch some smugglers on the from Tampere.40 water or they found the hidden spirits on In 1926 the smuggling situation was the islands, but most of the smugglers slip- so severe in Merikarvia that the municipal ped through the surveillance. council appointed a temperance board.41 I did not find any evidence that the The members of the temperance board prohibition era affected the weaponry of could be given the right to perform home the police force in Merikarvia. In all likeli- searches and to confiscate illegal substances hood, the weaponry they already had before as well as tools and equipment needed for prohibition was considered to be adequate. making home-brewed alcohol.42 In 1927,
62 Tekniikan Waiheita 4/17 OVERVIEWS the temperance board arranged 82 patrols Conclusion of its own, in addition to 10 patrols together with the police.43 The patrols were carried During my research, I observed that on the out by car, bicycles or skis and lasted 10-24 local level the police saw the effects of the hours.44 The temperance board had around arrival of the large spirits ships in the sum- 25 volunteers who participated in the pat- mer of 1923 straight away. The local police rols. In 1927, they managed to confiscate of Merikarvia pleaded with the governor two cars and three horse carriages, appro- for better equipment but it took three years ximately 1,675 litres of spirits and five fire until the issue was addressed. In 1926, the arms.45 The temperance board always hel- police of Merikarvia received a new motor- ped the police when asked and even shared boat, their first car and extra police officers. a secret sign language with the police.46 I can argue that without prohibition, the po- In 1930, the police of Merikarvia lice of Merikarvia would probably not have received two spike strips for stopping been issued a car as early as they were. The smuggling cars. At the same time, they most important finding of my research is also acquired equipment for taking finger that the fight against the smugglers affected prints.47 The police, however, did not re- the means of transportation of the country ceive any other new equipment during the police force and, as a result of prohibition, prohibition era. After the prohibition era the police also received new technical equip- ended, they received a new car (in 1936).48 ment such as binoculars, steel cables and The longer that the prohibition era lasted, spike strips. A little bit surprisingly, I found the more that people became opposed to it. that the fight against the smugglers did not The prohibition law did not seem to serve seem to have an effect on the country poli- its purpose.49 At the end of 1920s, around ce force´s weaponry. 80,000 people were prosecuted for drunken ness every year and around one million lit- res of smuggled spirits were confiscated.50 It was clear that the authorities could not 1 prevent all smuggling.51 In December 1931, Arkiston muodostaja: Merikarvian nimismiespiiri.
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to several estimates, the authorities managed to 1928, MKA, Merikarvian Khall I Eg3:1 Nimismiehen confiscate only around 10 per cent of all smuggled kirjeet 1889–1950. alcohol during prohibition. 33 Pulkkinen 2015, 128. 6 In 1921, 74 per cent of all seized alcohol was confis- 34 Satakunnan Kansa 3.7.1926. cated in the customs area of Helsinki. See Rasinaho 35 2006, 18. Satakunnan Kansa 12.8.1926. 36 7 Pullat 1993, 34; Pulkkinen 2015, 115. Pulkkinen 2015, 128.
OVERVIEWS 37 8 Pullat 1993, 35; Sillanpää 2002, 54. Turun ja Porin läänin maaherra. Lääninkanslia 9 Turussa 26 p. marraskuuta 1927 No 3559 [kirje], Satakunnan Kansa 3.8.1923; T. & P. l. Maaherralle Merikarvian nimismiespiirin arkisto, TMA, Eaa:4 (Merikarvian nimismiehen kirjoittama kirje Turun Saapuneet kirjeet (1927–1929). ja Porin läänin Maaherralle) päiväämätön., Merikar- 38 vian nimismiespiirin arkisto, TMA, Muut konseptit Luettelo Merikarvian piirin nimismiehen ar- 1925–1952, päiväämättömät Df:1 kistosta ja valtiolle kuuluvasta kalustosta v. 1926, 10 Merikarvian nimismiespiirin arkisto, TMA, Bba:1 Simpura 1982, 95. Kalustoluettelot 1926–1952. 11 Pullat 1993, 40. 39 Liite A 18 Ilmoitus. Vuonna 1929 tammikuun 15 12 Saarinen 2007, 49. päivänä alotettiin Merikarvian ja Siikaisten pitäjien 13 T. & P. l. Maaherralle (Merikarvian nimismiehen käräjäkunnan varsinaisten talvikäräjien ensimmäi- kirjoittama kirje Turun ja Porin läänin Maaherralle) nen yleinen istunto Österbyn talossa ensimainitun päiväämätön, Merikarvian nimismiespiirin arkisto, pitäjän Ylikarvian kylässä, Ulvilan tuomikunnan TMA, Muut konseptit 1925–1952, päiväämättömät arkisto, TMA, Bf3:103 Merikarvian käräjäkunnan Df:1. tuomioluettelot (1929–1929). 40 14 Saarinen 2007, 49. Satakunnan Kansa 2.10.1928. 41 15 Pulkkinen 2015, 127. Pöytäkirja, kirjoitettu Merikarvian kunnanvaltuus- 16 ton kokouksessa kunnanhuoneella helmik. 27 p:nä Merikarvia. Tilastokeskuksen www-sivut; Siikai- 1926, MKA, Merikarvian kunnanvaltuuston pöytäkir- nen. Tilastokeskuksen www.sivut.
REFERENCES PULLAT, Raimo ja PULLAT, Risto: Viinameri. Pir- tusotaa Itämerellä 1920- ja 1930-luvulla. Suom. Vanhanen, Jouko. Kustannusosakeyhtiö Tammi, Archives Helsinki, 2012. Turun maakunta-arkisto (TMA), Turku. RASINAHO, Kirsi: Alkoholin salakauppa Helsingissä Merikarvian nimismiespiirin arkisto. vuosina 1919–1932. Alkoholin vuosisata. Suoma- Ulvilan tuomikunnan arkisto. laisten alkoholiolojen käänteitä 1900-luvulla. Toim. Matti Peltonen, Kaarina Kilpiö ja Hanna Merikarvian kunnanarkisto (MKA), Merikarvia. Kuusi. SKS, Helsinki, 2006. Tellervo Vuorelan kotiarkisto. RUOHOMÄKI, Anni: Pirtukuningas Jonne Leppäluoto (1904–1971). Kuunarin kryssi. Merikarvialaisten Printed sources historiaa 1860-luvulta 2000-luvulle. Toim. Anna Sivula, Anni Ruohomäki ja Riina Haanpää. Otava, Asetus alkoholipitoisten aineiden valmistuksesta, Helsinki, 2017a. maahantuonnista, myynnistä, kuljetuksesta ja varastossapidosta annettu Pietarissa, 16/29 päi- RUOHOMÄKI, Anni: Pontikankeittäjiä ja pirtutroka- vänä toukokuuta 1917. Suomen Suuriruhtinaan- reita. Kuunarin kryssi. Merikarvialaisten historiaa maan Asetuskokoelma 1917 N:o 29. 1860-luvulta 2000-luvulle. Toim. Anna Sivula, Anni Ruohomäki ja Riina Haanpää. Otava, Helsin- Kieltolakitiedustelu vuonna 1923. Toim. Tilastollisen ki, 2017b. päätoimiston sosialitilastollinen osasto. Valtio- neuvoston kirjapaino, Helsinki, 1925. RUOHOMÄKI, Anni: Poliisitoimen alkutaival Meri- karvian ja Siikaisten nimismiespiirissä. Kuunarin kryssi. Merikarvialaisten historiaa 1860-luvulta Newspapers 2000-luvulle. Toim. Anna Sivula, Anni Ruohomä- Satakunnan Kansa 1923; 1925; 1926; 1928; 1932. ki ja Riina Haanpää. Otava, Helsinki, 2017c. SAARINEN, Olli: Pirtua ja muilutuksia. Ooli, 2007. Interviews SILLANPÄÄ, Merja: Säännöstelty huvi. Suomalainen ravintola 1900-luvulla. SKS, Helsinki, 2002. Veneranta, Veikko A. 17.7.2016. (Interviewer Juhani Mellanoura, recording). Merikarvia-seura, Meri- SIMPURA, Jorma: Vapaan viinan aika. 50 vuotta karvia. suomalaista alkoholipolitiikkaa. Kirjayhtymä, Helsinki, 1982. Suomalaiset poliisiajoneuvot. Autot ja moottori- BIBLIOGRAPHY pyörät – merkkejä joka lähtöön. http://www. AHONEN, Jukka: Raittiuden voima. Raittiuden poliisimuseo.fi/instancedata/prime_pro- Ystävät 1853–2003. Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava, duct_julkaisu/intermin/embeds/poliisimu- Helsinki, 2003. seowwwstructure/24437_5200_Ajoneuvot. Arkiston muodostaja: Merikarvian nimismiespiiri. pdf?857f9017a47bd288. Luettu 26.4.2016. http://www.narc.fi:8080/VakkaWWW/Selaus.act Tilastokeskuksen www.sivut.
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