15 DECEMBER 1939, Page 2

Sweden's Neutrality Government

The National Coalition Cabinet formed by Hr. Hansson, the Swedish Prime Minister, on a broad basis includes two Conservatives and two Liberals. Hr. Sandler, recently the object of violent German attacks, and the protagonist in the late Government of the pro-Finnish cause, has no place in the Ministry. The new administration thus comes down firmly on the side of neutrality, choosing what it believes to be the less dangerous of two possible courses. Yet public opinion in Sweden, especially in the urban districts, has evinced its profound sympathy for Finland by gifts of money and goods, and its enthusiasm for the volunteers who have offered to fight on the Finnish side. There would have been strong support for a policy of intervention, which to many seems the safest course in view of the disturbing possibility that Russia's attack on Finland is only the pre- lude to an attack on Norway and Sweden. But what of Germany? If Russia attacked Sweden, might not Germany attempt to play the same part in Sweden as Russia played in Poland—with as much left of Sweden at the end of the campaign as there is of Poland today?