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In June 1904, a week after Governor
General Bobrikoff had perished of the bullets shot by Eugen Schauman,
Päivälehti wrote in its editorial how light will always
overcome darkness at Midsummer. This was a sufficient reason to
suspend Päivälehti for ever. The work of the journalists
continued, however: a sample issue of Helsingin Sanomat appeared
already on July 7, 1904, four days after the last issue of Päivälehti.
Sanoma Corporation was established in this connection as the publishing
company behind the paper.
Eero Erkko, an active opponent of the assimilation measures of
the czarist regime, had been forced to resign as Editor-in-Chief
of Päivälehti in 1900. Bobrikoff deported Erkko in 1903
with the authority based on a dictatorial decree as ”the most
prominent agitator of the secret opposition and disseminator of
underground literature”. Eero Erkko moved to the United States
and could return to Finland in 1905 when the repression was temporarily
released. He was appointed Editor-in-Chief of Helsingin Sanomat
in 1909.
At its best, Päivälehti reached a circulation of about
7,000 in 1889 – 1904. In 1905 – 1920, the circulation
of Helsingin Sanomat increased from 6,000 to more than 40,000. The
growth was dramatic especially in the first year of World War I.
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