Helsingin Sanomat 100 years ago: The principles of a new newspaper are explained to its readers

print this

"That which should be written is rarely printed, and that which is printed, is rarely printed as it could be written."
      The editorial writer of Helsingin Sanomat made reference to these words of J.V. Snellman in the sample issue of the newspaper published on Saturday, September 24, 1904. The new paper had been given permission to appear on September 20th. Permission was granted after long consideration by the new Russian Governor General Ivan Obolenski, who had been named the successor to the assassinated N.I. Bobrikov.
      The identity of the writer of the editorial is not known for sure, but historian Seppo Zetterberg postulates in his biography of Eero Erkko that he was Professor Emil Nestor Setälä, a researcher of folk poetry and later a state councillor. According to the editorial, "Snellman’s words apply to our time precisely" - to the Finnish Grand Duchy of the time.
     
The ideological line of the paper was defined already in the editorial of the first sample issue on July 7th. The paper was to deal with economic and social issues with an emphasis on the importance of the banking and insurance institutions. The cause of temperance would be promoted, and especially the educational and spiritual strivings of the nation would be supported in every possible way.
      In the new editorial the writer elaborated on the goals.
      "We want to focus all of our attention on the different aspects which are of importance in the life of a civilised nation."
      The importance of the Finnish language was emphasised, and the paper also wanted to open windows "to the west and to the south".
      "We want to make the Finnish public familiar with currents that are moving in the centres of civilisation in the world, movements in the life of society, in the fields of literature and art, in the quest of the best of humanity for greater knowledge, greater freedom, and greater mutual understanding among nations."
     
"We want to support all strivings aimed at freedom, spiritual freedom from the mind-shackling power of prejudice, and freedom from the distressing weight of external conditions."
      "We want to set as our highest instruction in all of our work the striving for justice. Justice for the underprivileged, justice for those suffering injustice, justice for all - that is the goal which we, for our part, shall strive to achieve, if our mouths are permitted to speak."
     
A second declaration of editorial policy was in an article appearing next to the other one, headlined "Debt to be paid". Beneath it was the name Heikki Renvall, the paper’s second editor, who was responsible for content. In a text two columns in length he writes that much had been demanded of the people in recent years, but that in the midst of it all, those who are better off had received more, and managed better through the tribulations.
      "The individual and the upper class must, in order to reduce their social debt, be ready to forego their pleasures and interests whenever satisfying those pleasures or holding on to the interests directly affects the distress of needy citizens."
     
"Its ethical duty is also to act in such a way that existence will become tolerable for the lower classes, decent life possible, and spiritual and material progress easier than before."
      "It must use its influence, so that legislative and administrative actions are implemented to secure, for every citizen who wants to work, the possibility to exist, for every family the possibility of having a home, for every victim of misfortune or old age a dignified sustenance."
      Renvall emphasised that affluence was not an entitlement to privilege, but rather it brought with it an obligation: "Whoever has received more from the common treasure than what can reasonably be seen to be his right, shall be the debtor of all those who have been given less."
     
Established as the successor of Päivälehti, which had been shut down, Helsingin Sanomat began to appear from early October 1904, but before that it published two sample issues in September.
      Both the September sample issue and the first few regular issues were eight pages in length, but at times the paper appeared with four or six pages, as needed. In its final years Päivälehti was only four pages long.
     
The newspaper appeared on six days a week, from Tuesday through Sunday, at seven in the morning.
      Subscriptions to Helsingin Sanomat were offered for the three remaining months of the year. The subscription price in Helsinki was 2.75 markka. For subscriptions to rural areas the price was 4.30. A three-month subscription to Russia cost two roubles, and to America the price was 1.50 dollars.
      A monthly subscription was 1.25 markka to Helsinki, 1.50 to rural areas, and 70 kopeks to Russia. No one-month subscriptions were available to America.
     
The editor with legal responsibility for content was Paavo Warén, a teacher of languages at the Finnish Businessmen’s School. He was politically unblemished, but knew nothing about producing a newspaper.
      Therefore, the editor who saw to it that the paper actually appeared was Dr. Heikki Renvall, whose achievements included being named a member of the Diet in 1904, representing the estate of burgesses. Later he became a member of the unicameral Parliament, and was in Parliament when Finland became independent.
     
On the front page of the newspaper, beneath the title, there was a notice that Warén could be seen at the newspaper’s offices between six and seven in the evening.
      Eero Erkko, the founder of Päivälehti, the forerunner of Helsingin Sanomat, had been expelled from Finland in the spring of 1903. He was still in America when the new newspaper started out, and did not return to Finland until 1905.
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 5.10.2004


Links:
  The Erkko Family and Helsingin Sanomat

Helsingin Sanomat