The Foreign Service Journal, May 1924 (American Consular Bulletin)

Photo by Monje THE HARBOR AND TOWN OF VIGO, SPAIN MAY, 1924 ^II11111111111111111111111 n 1111111111111111111111n111111111111111111ii111H1111iii■i■i■1111111■111n11111n n i!n 1111111111111111! 1111111111 n I i 111111 11111111 ■ Washington’s Department Store or Finance Modern Banking demands prompt and efficient methods for the transaction of daily matters Banking by Mail Foreign Exchange Letters of Credit Travelers Checks Commercial Accounts Savings Accounts Trust Department and a friendly interest in each depositor has made our Bank a leader among Washington’s Financial Institutions We shall be glad to render any possible aid and assure you of a friendly interest Federal-American National Bank WASHINGTON, D. C. RESOURCES, $14,000,000.00 W. T. GALLIHER, Chairman of the Board JOHN POOLE, President Illllllllillllllillllmiiiilllllllllllliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniimiimiiiiiiimiiiiiimiiniiiimiiiiiiiillll imiiiiiillilliiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiillllllllllliiiimiiiillllliiiiiiiimiiiilliiiiiiiNI ~ Press of Ransdell Incorporated Washington, D. C. 1* CONSUL; LLETIN PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY THE AMERICAN CONSULAR ASSOCIATION VOL. VI. No. 5 WASHINGTON, D. C. MAY, I 924 A Contrast in Light and Shade By FRANK P. S. GLASSEY, Helsingfors ASNOW-covered city, muffled by a white may be thawed out before a cheery wood fire in cloak and shivering under a lowering a beneficent Finnish tile stove. gray sky—such is Helsingfors on almost Even the broad esplanade is almost empty, any January day. and the only sounds to echo through the sharp A city of darkness and brooding twilight, air are the bright tinkle of the bells on a where the sun rises hesitatingly at 9 o’clock and droshky as it glides smoothly and rapidly over the then follows a quick course, always near the snow, or the deep guttural warning affected by horizon, until it sinks rapidly again in mid-after¬ the driver as his horse makes a sharp turn at noon, as if eager to be on its way to a more some corner. hospitable land. The droshkies themselves, reminiscent of Rus¬ With the few daylight hours usually veiled by sia, still strike the most picturesque note in the life of Helsingfors. This old method of trans¬ heavy clouds, electric lights burn overtime in portation by sleigh has successfully battled offices and homes. Finland in winter does not against the competition of the taxicab, and present a smiling face to the casual traveler and every American who visits Finland wishes he although its capital is located on the southern could take back to the States just one such shore of the country its residents pass a long vehicle with its sturdy horse, high-curved col¬ and dreary period, from December until April, lar, and stout befurred driver, and place the in surroundings popularized in fiction under the combination at the corner of 42nd Street and all-inclusive and descriptive caption of “the Broadway some wintry morning! frozen North.” Although the Helsingfors winter is milder The city seems to be sleeping, even during the than one might imagine from its situation as busiest hours of the day. Early in January the the northernmost capital in the world, the city wide harbor is frozen over and the last vessel nevertheless has an abundant share of snow, of the season scurries out in the trail of an ice¬ particularly during the first three months of the breaker, fretful of delays and anxious once more year, when hardly a day does not witness a for the open sea, safe from the danger of spend¬ further fall of white flakes. ing several inactive months in the tightly-locked A street-cleaning system which is a marvel of embrace of an icy gulf. efficiency and speed copes with this situation. The streets of the city itself are but sparsely Every person owning a home, apartment or populated, and that only by a hurrying few in¬ office building is responsible not only for the tent on reaching a warm home where fur coats cleanliness of the sidewalk in front of his prop¬ and caps may be laid aside and chilled hands erty but also for the removal of the snow from 1S7 ERIC AN (^ONSULA^ jyilXEXrNT that part of the street on which his building snow-coated ice of the harbors to the islands fronts. that fringe the city in every direction. Every property owner may either engage pri¬ Occasionally in large parties, but more often vate firms to keep clean his portion of public in couples or alone—everyone is skiing. Girls thoroughfare or may pay to the municipal in flamboyant sports costumes, men in sweaters authorities a fixed annual sum, thus shifting the and knickerbockers—all push along. You may entire responsibility to the shoulders of the follow one crowd to a hill, where you can wit¬ city street cleaning department. ness marvellous and hair-raising jumps, and Law violation in this respect is almost un¬ equally thrilling falls, as some unhappy individ¬ known. An hour after a heavy snowfall a force ual turns over and over and, if he does not con¬ of men and women is at work on every street, clude his journey by forcible contact with tree rapidly shoveling the or rock, finally appears snow into box-like upright again on the sleighs, which are then two wooden runners. driven to the harbor, Probably he will re¬ their load is dumped peat the experiment and they return for a until he meets with suc¬ further supply. cess. For skiing is a In addition to the serious sport, not to be method mentioned, a taken frivolously, but far more interesting always demanding a and unique plan of full measure of devo¬ snow removal is fol¬ tion from its disciple. lowed. On the more What baseball is to important streets the America, skiing is to snow is literally burnt, Finland. or melted, by machines It is not, of course, which originated in the only winter sport, Finland and which have although the dominant since found a market one. They skate on the in other countries. large public rinks in These machines are the harbor, they have fired with logs while spirited ice-hockey con¬ three men shovel the tests, they even stage snow into a large hop¬ automobile races on the per and as fast as the ice—and these, it may snow is offered to the be remarked, are as huge maw it melts and productive of thrills as the water runs through even the most blase de¬ an outlet into the gut¬ votee of sport could ter and down a drain. desire. In the evenings Although the contrivance is no novelty in Finland, the restaurants with dancing, the opera and the its operation is always followed with the keenest movies all draw an appreciable patronage from interest by several curious bystanders. Human the city’s population. But skiing is still unthreat¬ nature once more shows its omnipotent desire ened by any formidable competitor and one feels for amusement and the apparently simple that winter is ushered out as it was escorted in— method of melting a large mass of snow is by a throng whose banner bears two crossed skiis always sufficient to attract a few admirers. rampant on a field of snow. Helsingfors in winter is for the most part The transition from winter to spring, and silent and subdued, white and ghostlike, austere from spring to summer, is something startling and forbidding; yet it has its moments of relax¬ to an outlander, for a new world seems to be ation. created under his eyes almost overnight. He On Sundays, particularly, one emerges from has welcomed the first warm days of early April, his home to find a world on skiis. Man has watched with a feverish joy the melting of the abandoned the stiff and formal walk to glide, snow, and has developed a somewhat fiendish generally grimly intent on progress, over the obsession that makes him count every trickling 158 Iff AMERICAN rOWSULAIL RULLETIN stream which forecasts the dis¬ appearance of the crust of ice from street and sidewalk. And then it has snowed again, and the thought of spring dwindles to a forlorn hope. In a like manner, the rapid lengthening of the days loses much of its meaning, for there is still a sharp tang to the air morn¬ ing and evening. Yet this con¬ stant flood of light, prolonged through the greater part of every twenty-four hours, has an un¬ canny effect upon the trees, grass and foliage. For one night, after watching the sun set about 8 o’clock, you will go to bed longing for a cli¬ ‘IF WINTER COMES ...” mate that would afford a relief from a continually gaunt, dreary and bleak out¬ sembling the old Victoria. One feels that in look. And you will awake to find that spring has order to make a proper journey in this vehicle arrived unheralded; that the trees show a tinge of cheering crowds should line the streets and green and that the grass is actually prying its way force a dignified rider to bow at intervals of through the blanket of snow. Patches of warm some seconds. earth appear in the parks, a few venturesome The ice pack in the harbor finally disappears individuals ride to their work on bicycles, the altogether, the first vessel of the year steams ice in the harbor loses its steadfast aspect, office in, and Finland’s short spring gives way to managers order the removal of double windows summer. A cool summer, it is true, and often —spring has come to Finland. a rainy one; but summer for all that, with end¬ Within the next few days all the outposts of less outdoor life, endless daylight and endless winter make an inglorious retreat.

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