The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-11-27
COREANS ARE BLED
The People Grievously Imposed
Upon by Government Officials.
high Priced Omces Bought BY Them
Are Afterwards Paid for by the Mer-
chant and Farmer Through Ex.
tortionRte Taxation.

a residence of eight years in Corea,
lays Seoul correspondent in the New
York Sun, has given me the opportuni-
,y of studying the character and dlspo-
Etion of this and neighboring peoples
which comparatively few strangers
have had The characteristic which Is
most marked in the Coreans is their
patience. We hear of their turbulence,
their uprisings in one section or
another, the lawless outbreaks OF the
mobs, but most people fail to examine
the causes of these disturbances. Here
is an illustration:
A governor is appointed to the south
srn province of Kiung Sang. He has
bald twenty million cash for the office
That twenty million cash means about
eighteen thousand dollars, Now, II
you take into consideration the rela-
live cost of living in Corea and America
sou will find that eighteen Thousand
dollars means to Corean what Two
hundred and fifty thousand dollars
would mean to an Ameri cana prlncely
fortune. Well. the governor goes
down to his provincial capital. About
him gathers an immense retlnue OF his
Immediate and mere distant relatives
who live off his bounty during his term
of Office. The term averages perhaps
three years. During that time the gov
ernor has Just four things to do. First,
De must get back the twenty millions
cash which he paid for his Office. Sec
ord, he must forward 20 the central
Af hn tai
product of the province. Third, he
must support his immense retinue and
the district ma gistrates and their suites,
who, by the way, have paid for their
offices and carry out the same plan as
the governor, only on smaller scale.
And fourth, he must lay up enough
money to support himself IN ease after
be has retired.
The question arises, from whom does
this money come? 1t comes out of the
farmer and the merchant and, as be-
tween these two, the farmer pays prac-
ticallv the whole. l suppose 1t would
be a conservative estimate to say that
every producer in the country is
rnulcted to the extent of sixty per cent
of his gross eernings. | do not say
sixty per cent. of his savings, but Of his
gross earnings. Can an American con-
ceive of the patience and forbearance
Of a people that will endure such
treatment? You may ask in what way
are these enormous taxes collected
The governor is surrounded by body
Of men whom we usually call yamen
runners, whose business it is to collect
The money. If a merchant has made a
successful transaction the yaman run
hers, who are spies as well as tax col
Iectors. are sure to know OF 1t, and
they come to him and ask him to I'M
load. If he refuses, which he is gen.
orally too wise to do, h@ is likely to be
arrested on a false charge and thrown
into prison and beaten every morning
until the sum is paid, and in such a
Ease the sum increases every day.
Americans say that this is an exsg-
Verated statement, but a knowledge OF
the workings of things here would
show that my language Is conservative.
a Corean friend of mine had one thou
sand dollars which he wanted to in
vest, and he was thinking of buying
from the government the right to cut
Grewood on a certain tract of govern
menJ land and sell il in Seoul. As
was acquainted with the president of
the foreign Office put him in the way
of buying the franchN;e. He estimated
be would realize ten per cent. on the
investment. He paid the money TO the
president of the foreign Office, who, in
addition 70 his regular duties, had
81. lou IL
Now, before this Corean could begin
work he received word from the for
eirn Office that the same franchise had
been sold again and that he must di-
vide the work with the other purchaser.
OF course he was ruined. 1t may be
asked what my Corean friend did
about it. Did he rave and tear his
hair, mediate revenge, or curse the
existing order of things? Not bit OF
1t. He shrugged his shoulders and
said: "Halsu espo." which means: III
can't be helped" and went to work &c
earn living for himself and large
family on a salary of six dollars q
month. Nov do you see why l say the
Uoreans are among the most patient
Of people?
But there are limits to the patience
even of a Corean. When they are driven
to the wall they viii turn and show
their teeth. The one essential quality
n a successful Corean official is the
ability to see inst how far he can grind
the people down without causing a re
volt.
An instance of this came under my
observation once ! was taking little
pleasure trip in the saddle 20 the
northern metropolis, Ping Yang. One
iay. as | was sitting IN my room, q
Corean came in to call. lie said that {
iay or two before the governor hao
sent an official down to the cotton mer
chants and asked for a loan The
answer was not verbal, but the mer
chants arose, rushed to the house ot
the official pulled it down, and scat
.ered the debris along the street. That
was a characteristic answer for tht
men of Ping Yang, but they are much
more energetic than the southern Co
teams
Now. he idea of the japanese is &c
change all this. The idea Of the Chi
nese Is TO keep things as they are.