Northern Europe After Fifteen Years
VI.—Latvia and Lithuania
TRAVELLING through Latvia and Lithuania you are constantly reminded of pre-War Russia ; the same slow trains—and how resting they are ; the same crowds at the railway stations who come there to break the monotony of their lives and to inspect the passengers ; the same wooden houses and the same hard-working peasants, cultivating their fields early and late. As in Russia, the train stops for fifteen minutes at meal times at wayside stations and an inviting repast of steaming hot dishes is already laid on the table as you rush from your train to the station restaurant. For those who have vegetarian dietetic principles, bowls of excellent sour milk and fruit are provided.
Riga, the capital of Latvia, is the largest town in the Baltic Republics, although its present population is little more than half what it was before the War, when it num- bered half a million, and consequently it is a depressing place to visit. Previously it was one of the western . gateways of Russia, through which much of her Baltic trade passed, but now that Latvia is an independent country, Riga is cut off from its natural hinterland and the small Republic of Latvia cannot support all the industries of former times. Hence the empty factories which you see on all sides. There are not so many motor cars as in Scandinavia and Finland, and many old-time Russian droshkies, some of them almost falling to pieces and drawn by poor thin horses whose mouths are tugged unmercifully by their drivers, ply for hire over the cobbled streets.
The hotel I stayed in recalled the West of Ireland of thirty years ago. There was no lift, no bathroom, and a general atmosphere of dirt and slovenliness. But if the city of Riga depresses you, there is much that is encouraging in Latvia, and the Government is rightly concentrating on the development of agriculture, feeling that sooner or later the capital, by reason of its position, must share in the better times in Russia when they come. As a result of the Latvian-Soviet trade agreement it is hoped to recapture some of the Russian trade. The Prime Minister of Latvia, or Minister President as he is called, Monsieur Skujemieks, is a businesslike man. All sorts of persons were waiting to see him and the average inter- view he granted was of only a few minutes' duration, but somehow he managed to send away his callers satisfied.
Although there is a Prohibition Party, there seemed to be no general desire to follow Finland's example. The public-houses are, however, shut during the week-end and several friends told me that there was much less drunkenness as a result. During their short summers the people of the Baltic Republics make the most of the fine weather and the votaries of the fresh-air cult are very numerous. It would be salutary if some English people could see how much these Northern people believe in exposing their bodies to the sun and fresh air. On the main road to Petrograd the workmen were stripped to the waist despite the fact that the sun was not shining, -and their bodies were bronzed from exposure. I went out to see the farms on one of the big estates which have been broken up. The scenery was reminiscent of Canada ; every now and then there were clearings in the forest with tree stumps still visible in the fields.
The rulers of Latvia have realized that no country can be prosperous which does not possess a population of contented farmers owning the soil which they cultivate. Would Latvia go " red " and follow the example of Soviet Russia ? That was the problem which confronted her rulers after the War, and they dealt with the situation in a drastic manner. The big estates were taken from the landlords without compensation. The land thus acquired was sold to the hundred thousand peasants on favourable terms, so that in sixty years' time most of the land will be peasant-owned. I remarked to a Latvian friend that to an outsider this land policy seemed very drastic and I wondered what Irish landlords would have said if they had had their property taken and had received no money in return. The Latvian landlords were permitted to retain forty hectares (about a hundred acres) and any industrial undertaking on their property which had survived the various wars and revolutions. The Conservative Party is still agitating for compensation for the landlords, but there seems little likelihood of a revision of the terms. " You must remember," a friend said, " that the only way we.kept out Bolshevism was by giving the land to the people. Our business men and professional men had lost everything during the wars, and it was only fair that the landlords should lose something too."
Undoubtedly the Government has done much to improve the methods of farming, but the peasants in these countries, which were formerly part of the Russian Empire, have still much to learn from Denmark, Sweden, and Germany. Motoring off the beaten track in Latvia recalled the early days of motoring at home. As one passed by, dogs rushed out and barked, geese cackled and horses took alarm, and their drivers shouted.
Kovno, the capital of Lithuania, does not depress you like Riga, because it is a much smaller place and has no' pretensions to being anything but a moderate-sized provin- cial town. To drive along in a droshky over the cobbles past the one-storey houses, made of wood, and the shops with pictorial descriptions of their contents on the outside, reminded you of the Russia of twenty years ago ; even the woe-begone dogs were there. Down the main street ambled a one-horse train which seemed to suit its surroundings. You are, however, suddenly reminded that you are living in 1927, and not in 1900, by the flaming poster of Miss Dorothy Gish at the local cinema and by the up-to-date large American cars which dash by. Lithuania, apart from Poland, is the only Roman Catholic country in North-East Europe. All the other Baltic countries are Protestant. On the first day of my visit, a Saturday, most of the shops were shut, and I asked a Lithuanian friend if a local Saint's day was the cause. He smiled and said " No, all the trades- people are Jews." However bad some branches of trade may be in these Baltic countries, the hairdressing industry is undoubtedly prosperous. The young ladies in the towns of Esthonia, Latvia, and Lithuania arc as particular about having their hair shingled as their sisters elsewhere. The Lithuanian policemen are dressed like London " bobbies " ; the only difference is that their uniform is of a lightish blue grey. In one respect Lithuania is like Poland, for it possesses a dictatorship. The present Government is Nationalist. Parliament has been prorogued and no one knows when it is going to be called -together again. Poland and Lithuania arc still at war, despite the fact that no fighting is go impossible to go from Kovno to Vilna asingt hLithuanian a nd iit is -frontier is closed. Lithuania is very sore over her treat- ment by Poland, who applied the doctrine of " might is right " in taking Vilna from her. All the leading Lithuanians I spoke to were bitter about the Polish breach of faith and they felt they had a real grievance. The suggestion was made to me that Polish-Lithuanian rela- tions should be examined by an International Conference, on which the Great Powers should be represented.
There is enthusiasm for the League of Nations in the Baltic Republics. In Lithuania no further aggression on the part of Poland or of Russia is feared. Poland's claim to have direct access to the sea by way of the Danzig corridor is thought unnecessary by many Lithuanians. They point to the fact that Czecho-Slovakia has no such access. Like her two other Northern neigh- bours Lithuania depends for her prosperity on agriculture and she is rapidly developing her dairying industry. Great Britain is her second best- customer, but I was told, as in every country I visited, that British merchants do not make the most of their opportunities. There is a good opening for a British shop for men's clothes and sports wear in Kovno. My Lithuanian friends said that in trade and national propaganda we had much to learn from Germany and France. They asked me to invite British merchants to come to their country and study trade conditions on the spot.
[A final article will deal with Poland.] J.
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