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in its terrible situation. The Swedish promoters of the
plan apparently entertained great hopes. In addition
to recruiting this corps, they wanted me to collect
twenty million dollars from leading Americans in
business and industrial circles to finance the corps
in Finland, and for other expenses connected with
this activity. This was a rather difficult task I admit,
and in spite of the fact that my wife shook her head
in warning — and she naturally knew more about
American conditions than I did — I accepted the
suggestion and put myself at their disposal. Through
the newspapers I had learned about the extraordinary
enthusiasm for Finland that dominated the attitude
at home in Sweden, and I felt great sympathy for
the thought expressed in the slogan, ”Finland’s cause
is ours”.
I telephoned to Stockholm in order to
securesupplementary information. For example, what was
the attitude of the Swedish government to the
project? There were other practical questions that had
to be answered before I could commit myself
definitely. After a few days I received a definitive answer.
No obstacles existed as far as the Swedish
government was concerned.
The next three months were hectic. My first step
was to go to Washington, in order to find out what
attitude toward our project would be taken by the
United States Department of State. I had long
conversations with President Roosevelts advisor on
European affairs, and he declared at once that from
certain points of view, the project was impossible.
Under American law it was expressly forbidden to
set up an armed corps in the United States for ser-
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