FOSTERING COMBINATION 189 



saw the Russification of their once independent 

 land proceeding with relentless vigour ; they 

 saw a country naturally poor in danger of being 

 crippled by an expanding military budget ; they 

 saw it suffering from severe depression, the 

 result of frosts, inundations, crop failures, and 

 other causes ; and in their youthful ardour they 

 concluded that the best service they could 

 render to the land they loved would be to help 

 in the development of its natural resources, 

 creating, at the same time, a closer bond of 

 union among the people themselves. While, 

 therefore, in Russia political and economic con- 

 ditions had done so much to foster Nihilism and 

 conspiracies in general, in Finland the same 

 causes had converted the youth of the country 

 into the most practical of patriots. 



So the students hastened to impart enthusi- 

 astically to others all the ideas they had them- 

 selves imbibed as to the advancement of agri- 

 culture, and they were soon joined by members 

 of the agricultural community whose attain- 

 ments or whose views were in advance of those 

 of people round about them. The whole sub- 

 ject, too, was discussed in newspapers, periodi- 

 cals, books, and pamphlets, and in these various 

 ways interest in it was rapidly spread through- 

 out the land. 



