Page:Lars Henning Söderhjelm - The Red Insurrection in Finland in 1918 - tr. Annie Ingebord Fausbøll (1920).djvu/128

 which all houses of business were forced to deposit all their returns in the Bank of Finland, but it was not obeyed. An attempt was made to get hold of the foreign dues of the bank, but it failed. Finally, the largest private bank was burglared and its stock of drafts taken over. The bills due were not honoured. The want of money was felt most because the army must necessarily be paid at the proper time and in full, so that the men should not become discontented. And yet it was at last necessary to retrench on this tender point too. The men only got part of their pay in cash, the rest in cheques drawn to the order of certain persons, and to be paid "later on."

In the meanwhile, already on the 8th February it had been resolved to follow the way shown by the Bolsheviks—a forced printing of paper money. As soon as the printing press had been set going the work was kept going indefatigably with a working day of twelve hours for the workmen, and up to the 8th April, when the Government fled from Helsingfors, notes at a nominal value of 77,288,000 Finnish marks were printed. These notes must be considered counterfeit, as the Red did not dare write their own names on the notes, but furnished them all with the signatures of the officials they had themselves dismissed. When they fled from Helsingfors the Red took all cash, about 17 millions, with them, and, besides, about 13 millions had some days before been dispatched east. It is also worth mentioning that the Red Government, shortly before they disappeared to Russia at the beginning of May, made preparations for a continued printing of paper money at St. Petersburg. Whether this led to any result is not known.

The financial rule of the Red was not successful. It began by burglary, and ended by theft. But, besides, the opposition of the "bourgoisie" was specially