Recent manifestations of restiveness under Japanese rule in Korea have, brought-the attention of the world to this relatively unfami Tand and aroused considerable spatulation as to the pr ise policy of the Japanese in respect of its development.
What has Japan done in Korea, or Chosen, as it is" now known to} all Japanese, durin the quarter-century. of possession? What is Supin doing there to-day, and what is the Japanese attitude toward the physical welfare and toward the nationalistic ambitions of the Korean people'
Before considering these questions Tet us glance for a moment at] Korean: history and at the tate of the country prior to Japanese occu-Tt Is an ancient land, this, and-an ancient "people. They. are, fas has often been said, more Chinese than the Chinese themselves, in much as they were able to' resist the encroachments of the races which, a thousand years ago, shattered' the fabric of the ancient civilization in China itself.
The Koreans kept their racial integrity intact, and that fact, no} doubt, is the foundation of the back} of whatever restlessness now exists under Japanese domination. Yet the Tand was ever the scene of internal strife, and its government was never vee from corruption and selfishness, Moreover, the Koreans Ingged far chind most of the Oriental peoples: in their cleavage to superstition and cumbersome tradition.
The result was that Korea, nomina ally. independent, was to all intents! land purposes vassal state, of) Ching for centuries prior tw Japanese domination. In the last decade] of the past century the disregard of the rulers of the land for the welfare of their people, the ever-mounting corruption in government] and' the unconcealed selfishness of the upper classes culminated in a vevalt' which brought the Chinese, under guise of protecting a depen dleney, Into th Ten years} providing not only its own needs-but assisting Japan besides—can grow a [dozen spears to-day where they grew tone yesterday, because Japan has) developed an irrigation system that meets all the requirements. The) tax upon them, against which the Jextreme nationals inveigh, is a tithe fof that collected under their own corrupt ralers of the past. And the [young men of the country are not foreed to abandon their work and) Join the armed forees of some tyrant or other at an instant's notice, as through centuries in the ast history, of Korea.
brief, as one of the members of the Cartegie Foundation party, which visited Korea a year ago well said, "In 19 years Japan has bridged, 8 gap of centuries here."
When one notes, from the windows lof his train of Pullman ears, the well-watered countryside wi abundant crops, the sufficiently] Housed and sufficiently clad peasants, the long bare hillsides now being] clothed through Japan's elaborate and costly afforestation schemes, jand finally when he comes to the fine capital of Seoul, wondrous} combination of the old and new, delightful and fascinating city. of the Orient, he can scarce avoid the things here and that she remain But, it is asked, there must_be another side, or why this recent] widely broadcast revolt. The declares itself in three words, "taxa. tion without representation," slogan certain at once to commend itself to American sympathy, to]
betty lovers everywhere. The corean "independence party," has its newspaper "organ in Seoul, calls the attention of the world— ind to such visiting publicists as it can get at—to the fact that Koreans have no hand in their own government, that the Governor-General—the very uble and astute Admiral] Viscount Minoru Saito, who privileged to cover himself with so} nny decorations that, in court} dress, he glitters like' the Shwe Dragon Pagoda—is practically gan absolute monarch and that Tokyo cod at Tientsin had had in view some 4o%, "yeh, On an ar ream fa ty SiN] rales Wi ton hand."
Sich poweilty as ths, and now the|., xck (i argued, every Moreat Sapaane, declaring. this trouty ized, tad Sach," degree of violated, embarked upon a warfare) intolerant to _likerty-loving against' China, This, naturally] negpi enough, resulted. disastrously for|""What are the facts? It is true China, and among other conditions that the Korean has no voice in his] of the peace was the establishment own Government, no final voice, that} nee of Kore. idence, being won fan "advisory!
bby Japan, was not apt to But endure for very long, especially as, they are appointed by the Viscount] tunder it the ancient' conditions in himself, and there is no Korean and] The of the peasantry grew the peninsula in no way improved. very few Japanese who could oppose] successfully this statesman's power-ever worse until a large portion of fal personality and large ability. it" existed under conditions not] Outside this the Indictment of the itt wing. greatly from those main-tag ey nah most tosa era tid Ato the nationalists against Japan is not}
ult of Che amounts to about $1 gen the case of about 19 out of Korea's that, from Japan's point of much more, in fact.
And that] 20,000,000 population, nor has Korea much more" was the advancing itself begun to meet the expense of] host of Russia which had already) the vast. improvements made here] y tke grasped Dairen and Port Arthur, and by @ process of economic pene the degree of espionage exercised] tration and political chicanery was wer the Korean people are questions rapidly securing an octopus-hold fonly to be answered after a long] upon morally weak Korea. The idence and close investigation, menace to Japan was alarmingly} the superficial observer there are} patent, Cannon stayed the Russian dvunce—and Korea very logically) 10 evidence of any such things, nor there in the atmosphere that} wcume a colony of Japan, her} vestruint und resentment found in largest colony. not a few Oriental colonies of the background. western powers. sands forth impressively the striking] achievement here in Korea of 25) yours of Japanese effort; effort toward the physical building of the country backed by the energy, determination and careful planning characteristic of the competent Japanese. The outward dences of that achievement de clare themselves to the visitor in many ways, not least in the immeasurably' improved condition of the Korean peasantry, of the mil who all but starved under Korean "independence," and who to-day are relatively well off In 20 years Japan has brought! about here an economic rehabitation, The masses of the people have! benefited, ind benefited greatly, they are satisfied with the Japanese yule and not concerned with the "independence movement'
Here the eolonizer- finds his justification.
This country, this "land of morn 1 as the name "Cho-sen," being interpreted, is, to-day really merits that softly rippling designa-Contentment prevails in the Jand like to that in Japan itself, and markedly contrasted to that in Ma bija across the border at Antudg.
Among the people as a whole there is every evidence of content. "The rationalists," so-called, include the usual student group and a few of the merest dilettante Communist, No doubt there are a few agitators about to make the most"of what] rootlessness exists. The recent disturbance appears—and so the Japan. ese insist—to have started in a clash] between Korean and Japanese students in some of the schools, of which, incidentally, Japan has placed " an average of more than 100 new ones annually during the past 20 years.
The great point is not that Jo is ruling Korea energetically: "Japanizing" it—nor th of the former Korean roy: are inter-marrying with Japanese of the royal blood, nor even that laws passed in Tokyo for Koreans to obey, and that they are made to obey them..No, the great point is that the lives and destinies of more than 80 per cent. of the Korean] people, 15,000,000 or so of them, have been completely revolutionized, that these millions live to-day. where they only. existed 20 years ago and in anuny cases did, not long even do that, a
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.