168 RURAL MICHIGAN 



haps also to a close connection between Finnish and 

 German higher education and philosophic thought. 

 Tendencies acquired in the Old World may have 

 persisted in iVmerica through a failure thoroughly to 

 assimilate the Finn in this country and to his 

 subordinate position in economic life. It is believed 

 that education, proprietorship, and the breaking down 

 of isolation will counteract his interest in Marxian 

 doctrines. On the other hand, the Finn's willingness 

 to dwell in isolated communities and to perform hard 

 labor under rough conditions adapts him to rural 

 life in the undeveloped portions of the State, and 

 it must be remembered that these areas are still very 

 extensive. The fact that these Finnish farmers are 

 at the outset often ill provided with capital increases 

 their readiness to settle on cut-over lands, when those 

 in a more favorable financial situation would prefer 

 to purchase improved farms. With little capital 

 save their physical strength, they are credited with 

 great reliability in meeting their financial obliga- 

 tions. The agent of one large land company in the 

 Upper Peninsula informs the writer that he has en- 

 dorsed promissory notes on behalf of many Finnish 

 clients of his, aggregating some $30,000 in amount, 

 and never lost a dollar in any transaction. 



Bearing in mind the conditions under which the 

 Finn lives in the Old World and the tenacity with 

 which he retains his habits, one is not surprised 

 to find transferred to American soil practices from 

 eastern Europe. Thus one sees in northern Michi- 

 gan instances of those curious combinations of house 



