were high, literature about general social problems had a wide circulation. Such writings were bought, and they were read. They were also purchased for the lending libraries set up by the local organizations in almost every instance. An even greater circulation was given to literature as such, for which the demand was insatiable. In addition to their own publications, the workers' newspaper offices procured large quantities of books from Finland, with orders amounting to tens of thousands of dollars in the most flourishing years. A conservative estimate would put the sales of books produced by the three dailies, the Raivaaja, the Toveri and the Työmies, plus their imports from Finland, at about $70,000 per year during their most active years. Even party line changes did not end this liberal and profitable stream but merely changed the character of the literature sold."

Even before the party newspapers entered this field, individuals had built up profitable bookselling enterprises. Among the first to sell in the social studies, and particularly socialist, field was Vilho Leikas, who had set up a small business in Laurium, Michigan, near Calumet. Leikas used to travel throughout the country, giving speeches about socialism and selling books about it. He was also engaged in publishing, and among his outstanding books were Finnish translations of Walter T. Mills' "Social Economy" and Clarence Darrow's "Innocent." Characteristic of the period is that in 1900 the Amerikan Työmies advertised two books in particular: Englishman F. W. Farrar's "Biblia Its Worth and Credibility" and Frenchman Camille Flammarion's "Urania," both of which were anti-religious. After that came the publication of Robert Ingersoll's essays and pamphlets. Ingersoll enjoyed a more than average success - and in one single day in New York, F. Broman sold 140 copies of Ingersoll's "The Devil."

In 1905, Taavi Tainio had begun publication in Finnish of socialist literature, and even the various newspapers urged their subscription salesmen to sell these titles, such as Karl Kautzky's "The Erfurt Program" and his "History of Socialism," Werner Sombart's "Socialism and the Socialist Movement in the 19th Century," Robert Blatchford's "Merry England," two volumes of essays edited by N. R. of Ursin, "Toward the Future" and "Labor Questions," Wilhelm Liebknecht's "Attack and Defense" and A. W. Ricker's "The Economic Policies of Jesus." In 1907 further titles became available, including works both written and published in the United States, like Moses Hahl's "Modern Economy" and Alex Halonen's "Fundamentals of Socialism" and his "Materialistic

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