The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1900-08-02
A VISITOR IN THE HERMIT KINGDOM.
Little Will Assist Japan the Great Business
Wiping China.
Charles Edward Schulz. Special Correspondent.

corea VIII soon be the center of the
war Close neighbors to both Japan
and China and the cause, as it was, OF
the Chinese-Japanese war OF hve years
ago If is no more than fitting that ia
nan should call upon Corea in TINS mo-
ment of emergency. nor that Corea
should reply not only with her arms
but with her vast sea coast advantages
which are of more beneht TO Japan @1
this time than arms or ships
If is evident to all observers that
there is coming a crisis in the East, a
vivid situation in which Japan VIII
come off much the conQueror OF emma
China sees this and is committing her
atrocities upon the nations out or ven
~raarca RI Tanan whom it hates and
fears. both on account of the great de-
feat Of 'e5. and because the Powers side
with Japan.
And Corea. small but powerful, the
Hermit Kingdom, jutting out into the
Pacific, will aid her.
entered the Hermit Kingdom by the
back door. getting there by way OF the
Japan sea-
NV first view of Corea's bald, color
less and forbidding headlands was OBJ
tanned from the deck of the steamer
wa Choo Foo, and my first contact
with Corean life was received at Fu-
san.
As we approached the shore the lazy
natives. clad all in white, stalking
about on the hill sides resembled moth
ing so much as exaggerated types OF
penguins Fusan, as a port, is purely
Japanese 1t is a mile or more distant
from the wretched collection of novels
which constitute the Corean village OF
Fusan 1t is said that since Hide
yosha's destructive invasion, more than
two hundred and fifty years ago, the
fOnthnl6
san and to-day not less than eight
thousand Japanese of a rather indiner-
ent class have permanent homes there
A small body of Japanese troops are
garrisoned there
A stroll along the road in the direc-
ton of the Corean town gave me an
opportunity to study the character of
the natives. I saw the stately Corean
in white dress. his head surmounted
by the black, comicaI head covering so
familiar in the pictures, perched upon
a high saddle upon a diminutive DON
key, his white-robed attendant in pom
derous straw hat, whipping and cack-
ling behind.
saw groups of natives squatting
like geese along the roadside; women
who hid their faces in their white
gowns or took to their heels I ap-
preached; droves of dirty, unkempt
children, some of them entirely naked
as 1 peeped into the wretched huts of
the Iowly.
The Corean sleeping apartment pro-
foundly interested me. 1t is no more
nor less than a large stone and mud
built oven. It has stone floor, and
is destitute of ventilation, save as to
the paltry hole, through which the in
terror is reached. A trench passes be-
meath the structure. which is connect
ed with a straw mud chimney at the
further end, and in this a fire is built
which warns the floor, and in this a
dozen or more people crawl at night
and sleep. Physically they are robust
and strong.
never saw coolies who can carry
such burdens as those have encoun-
tered in Corea. A Corean hut is US
ually matched with straw. A few
chickens and some black pigs bury
themselves in the litter, and long
haired children roll in the dust
The captain of the steamer, who had
a dozen Coreans in his crew, told me
that he found them better sailors than
either the japanese or ChineSe-always
quiet, docile. amenable to discipline,
and industrious to a degree. All the
testimony that ! nave thus far taken
convinces me that all the COreans re-
Quire is stable, honest, enlightened
government.
At Fusan one sees droves of coolies
coming into the town from adjacent
rural villages. carrying on the peculiar
chairs on their backs loads of the cur
rency Of the realm to be used in paying
for merchandise. This money, similar
to the Chinese cash. is strung on a
stout straw cord, and it would require
as much of it as the strongest coolie |
can carry to pay for an ordinary
luncheon.