Jacob Emil Perttilä (born Ahlberg, since 1909 Palander, 18 February 1875 – 21 August 1933) was a Finnish politician and trade unionist.

[1] Emil Perttilä was born in Isokyrö, Ostrobothnia as an illegitimate child of a housemaid.

[1] In March 1909, Perttilä quit his post and took a small sum of money from the party treasury.

According to Perttilä, he fled because irregularities had been discovered in the party accounts and his life had been threatened.

[clarification needed] In December 1909, Perttilä arrived in New York with a Swedish passport under the alias Emil Palander, eventually settling in Seattle in 1914.