society did try to do its best. Finally, when the financial burden that membership in the Brotherhood entailed grew too heavy, the society terminated its activities in 1932. By the following year, however, a new society was already started, the Elontoivo (Hope for Life), and trying to ensure itself a longer existence it joined only the Minnesota Temperance League; it managed to live for about a decade.

A hall had already been built by a group of Finns in 1913, among them Elias Hautala, Alex Mutru, John Salberg, John Takala, Vick Latvala, Vick Luoma and Eli Koivula. Having built it, their question was, who was to get the use of it, the workers or the other side? The `other side' won out in the voting, and so the building was named the Farmers Club Hall. There farmers held their meetings, and some years also they used it as a cannery.

The question of `which side' was not an academic one, even in this rural area, for there were Finnish workers' societies in Cherry, Clinton, Corbin, Iron Junction and Mäkinen. In all of them, there was brisk activity and the spectrum of auxiliaries. When the schism came, most of them became IWW supporters; one, in Mäkinen, later became communist.

More recent organizations have been the Civic Club in Lavall, the Finnish relief committee in Cherry (John Wiitanen, chairman), several choral groups, a cooperative guild.

Finnish businesses, of course, have been relatively many. The first grocer in Cherry was Martin Virta, who sold his store to Anton Tonkanen, who sold it to John Kartu, who sold it to Väinö Salo. The local cooperative was established in 1919 by Andrew Mattson, Matt Talvitie, Einar Sepponen, Carl Härsilä, Carl Tamminen, Matt Halberg, Henry Johnson, Nestor Holmi, Alex Sompakka, Albert Hill and Oscar Kerttula. The first business premises were in the Farmers Club Hall. William Nieminen, from Floodwood, was the first business manager, and he was succeeded by Koivisto, Jack Anderson, and Edward Newman. Later, the enterprise was incorporated as the Cherry Farmers Cooperative Association and joined the Cooperative Central (1923). New business premises were built, and Ero Saarela became business manager, to be succeeded after 25 years of service by Toivo Pentti (in 1957). In Mäkinen, incidentally, the cooperative store was a branch of the Markham Cooperative Association.

In civic affairs, it might be noted that the Lavell administration in 1920 was made up of the following Finns : Jack Hellman, Matt Korpi, Herman Lampi, Alex Narva, Fred Rekkala and John Turkula.

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