organizations are harmful toward themselves, dangerous to the country, and a shame to Finnish-Americans. In these critical times we renew our pledge and acknowledge unequivocally our loyalty to this, our new country, its laws and its institutions."

This declaration was noted in American circles, too, and the Duluth Herald wrote a week later that "apparently not all Finns have an indifferent attitude toward the responsibilities which their new homeland places upon them."

The Duluth meeting also resulted in the starting of a new Finnish organization, the Lincoln Loyalty League, which indicated its purpose in an article of its by-laws : "The purpose of the League is to aid, urge and direct Finnish-born residents of the United States to become citizens of this country; to urge and direct Finnish-born citizens of the United States to fulfill the obligations of their citizenship and to uphold its institutions; and to disseminate among all residents of Finnish origin, whether citizens or not, knowledge of American principles and ideals and to implant in them American spirit and to foster in them loyalty toward the United States, its government and its institutions."

The by-laws of the organization called for annual meetings to be held in Duluth and called for a board of directors of 26 members. A year later, following a meeting held in Chicago, this organization expanded to embrace all Finnish-Americans, to be joined by the New York Finland Constitutional League and finally to embrace not only Finns but several other minority nationality groups in the United States.

War Hysteria and the Case of the 166: In addition to this large-scale loyalty movement, numerous individuals from socialist groups had applied for citizenship, too, under the strong general pressure to do so. All at once, however, they realized that a consequence might be the drafting of naturalized citizens into the armed forces. With this awareness, the socialists began their opposition to war on an even stronger scale and urged their supporters to refrain from registering for the draft. Several applications for citizenship were even withdrawn, and the Päivälehti on 18 September 1918 printed a report naming two Finns who had presented themselves in Duluth to withdraw their citizenship applications. This aroused a storm of anger among the loyaltyminded and the Päivälehti asked that "both these men, who are unfit to be citizens of any country, be branded with a mark of shame," and indicative of the passion of the moment was the

270