Kueiyang, Jan, 12.
At last people seem to be waking up to the necessity of dealing with the great distress due to dear prices. Two rice-gruel kitchens have been opened by benevolent people who seek to help to feed the starving, while the society mentioned in my last letter for selling Tice at a lower price to the poor will begin operations on the first day of the 12th lunar mont! But these are after all very li adequate remedies for meeting the situation, and many people fear things will come to a very critical state later on. Meanwhile politicians and military men are concerned mainly with their own gains and spoils of office. It is a pitiable'® thing, especially at such a time as this.
I am afraid that the wave of patriotism among the students is not as thorough-going as it might be, for surely true patriotism would lead to their being careful in their general deportment, not to bring the good name of their country into disrepute. I have lately heard of several instances of students of middle school grade behaving rudely to girl student: and, in one case at least, to lady teachers, as they pass along the streets. It was suggested that the Police be asked to send out detectives in private clothes to catch one or two as a deterrent, but the reply was prompt: "The police dare not do it as the students are all-powerful, having the secret backing of prominent military officers who have privately encouraged the students in their lecture and boycott campaign with a view to mal ing difficulty for the civil authori ties." Whether this be true or not, the moral training of boys "Korean Day of Mourning The following has been sent by the special correspondent in Korea to the Bureau of Information of the Republic of Korea at Shanghai.
In Seoul. Beginning on Jat uary 20 the students of all the pri-vote schools struck work in order to observe the first anniversary of the death of the late Emperor of Korea. All the stores were closed, and Korean flags tied with black ribbons were seen everywhere from early morning. A group of girl students, with mourning crape on their breasts, wept before the Dai Hun Gate in front of the Duck Soo Palace where the late Emperor lived. Many Koreans joined the girls in their mourning. The Japanese rapidly dispersed the gathering. All the girls of the West Gate Industrial Training Station built by the Japanese Government, struck work and wept in the compound of the Station. There were also several collisions between Koreans and Japanese, and as a result many Koreans were arrested, shopkeepers also being arrested for closing their stores.
Seoul was in a high state of excitement and tension for many Aays, the stores being closed until the 92nd.
In Pengyang. Early in the morning Korean flags draped with mourning were seen on the Mansoo Hill. Flags were also seen on the jtop of many telephone poles. The streets were vacant, and the stores were all closed. The Japanese began to take down the flags and forced the shops to open.
There were like occurrences in all the leading cities and towns. It may be added that the Koreans did not weep so much for the Emperor as for their country.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.