"I know our duties toward the maimed war victims and dependents of those heroes who offered their blood for their country. I also know the duties toward the citizens who have been forced to leave the soil of their fathers and seek a new home.
"In this connection I want to thank former President Herbert Hoover, without whose grand help we could not have secured new homes for our evacuees. I give thanks to the Swedish people for their unselfish help with equipment for the army, navy and many other things.
"I also thank the Western Powers for the incalculable aid which came to us from them.
"It was a huge, unsolvable problem to fight against this huge enemy and expected help did not come, This circumstance proves clearly what value an alliance with Sweden and Norway would have had. Now we know the way.
It will be necessary in the future to have an alliance with these neighbouring countries.
"Our future is in our own hands and we will rebuild it, We are now carrying out a mission for western culture," the Finnish President concluded.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.