The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1904-02-14

reveI in riches, if she is bad enough.
The Land of the Morning Calm is
what the subjects OF Emperor vi Heui
! call his kingdom. Travellers call it the
pigsty of the cirilzed globe. W hatever
the japanese have initiated in Western
| civilization, they have never tried TO in
ocuIate upon the people of Korea. Their
! excuse has been that it was not worth
trying. Fusan is the principal shipping
! port Of the empire. Women who have
been turned down in royal favor or by
the official life FOUNDERS in Seoul go there
to corrupt the sailors. The first railway
built in Korea starts from Fusan. At
present it wanders to a barren end on
the banks of a river, but an effort is being
made TO push it through 10 Seoul before
nostilities begin. Fusan Is more japanese
than Korean, except in its inhabitants.
The architecture and streets are lap
anese A distinguished traveller has called
the villages that lie between Fusan and
Chemulpo to the northward fostering
scabe upon the EARTH They are masses
of low matched novels, windowless and
iowerless, where five persons sleep con-
tentedly in a space scearcely big enough
for one. Their filth and sqqalor. under
blue skies and brilliant sun. are scarce
~ to be paralleled in the world.
Chamuipo is the seaport for Seoul. II
looks out over vast and shallow bay,
where the tide rises and falls nearly thir-
ty feet. Behind it the great river comes
rolling slowly down from Seoul which is
twenty-seven miles distant. You may
ride this twenty-Seven miles in a one
track railway. equipped with American
locomotives and American cars. You see
no trees except stunted pines. which are
scattered all over the dunes. There are
vast stretches of 1atlands, covered with
the graves Of dead Koreans, some of them
thousands of wears old. Graves are never
disturbed there. The railway had to build
curves around the cemeteries. In the dis
lance, toward the unexplored interior. IS
the Great White Mountain, in which turks
the man-eating Manchurian tiger. The
train comes TO dead stop at the foot of
u crenelated wall The passengers alight
and are conveyed in rickshaws to the
fantastic gateway of Seoul.
Inside the gate is a curious attempt to
combine the advanced ideas of the new
West with the crumpled conservatism of
the remote and ancient East. The En-
peror's palace is the largest and finest
building in the town, and is of true ORR
entail magnifcencc. The other houses, with
the exception Of the foreign consolates.
the homes of the missionaries and the
buildings in some way or other associated
with them, are shabby and small. open
drains run through the streets. In the
dry season the air is thick with clouds of
baciIli-laden dust. The natives, in their
baggy white clothes and horsehair hats,
are unwashed and unkempt. the women
more so than the men. 1t is not difficult
to understand why the Emperor wants no
native women in his harem. The men are
not bad looking lot all told. They are
big fellows, with plenty of vigor, who
take pleasure in brutal fights and rough
games. Silent and strong, they ever sub
nit to the most tyrannical bullying from
little Japs that they could almost put in
their pockets. Why they do it is a mys-
terry TO the European, but so is almost
everything else they do for that matter.
The Korean wears a horsehair hat to
shield his holy topknot, which is as sacred
to him as queue is to a Chinaman. The
Japs tried to do away with it once, and it
raised almost as much of riot as though
the people of the Land OF the Morning
Calm had been told to cut off their noses.
The topknot looks like a simple, rough
twist of hair. with a coral pin jabbed
through it. such as one often sees among
Negro women. But simple as it looks, its
compilation is said TO be a work of art
which requires the service of more than
one pair of hands. If woman Of the
royal harem wishes to please the En-
Deror she effects the toplnot. She can
have as many maids as she wants then
TO wash and dress her hair
This is the rotten little empire from
which Minister Allen, who is an envoy eX-
traordinary for the present critical oc-
casion. cables to Washington for more
American marines to protect American
citizens and American interests. 1t is be
lieved by persons here familiar with Korea
that other foreigners will seek protection
claiming to he Americans, because they
know that this government is likely to
afford it more quickly than their own.
When their skins are saved nothing can
harm them much if they fail to prove
their American citizenship. At last ac-
counts there were about $1,000 foreign
population in Korea. the bulk Of them be-
ing Russians British, Germans. Ameri-
cans and French, in the order named
The missionaries are chiefly British,
American and French.
The one hundred marines sent on the
Vicksburg in response to Minister Aliens
first call for assistance are al at Seoul. \
legation guard of thrty-five was sent as
soon as the Nickshurg reached Chemulpo.
ADMIRAL Evans. it is report l. found in
structions when his squadron reached Ma
Mia last week. to send another warShip
and a company Of marines 10 Chemulpo
If he sent the Wilmington. which had
been ut Hong Kong. it would take her
about ton days TO reach Chemulpo.
Korea has "a standing army of about
700 men, poorly armed, badly drilled
badly clothed and badly fed All that
Emperor VI wants an army for is 70 make
a show when he goes on parade. He never
cared about their fighting equipment All
the training they have had has been from
Russian officers. according II the wishes
Of tho dominating and domineering lady
rreGe. es-or in 1864 He did not assume
the title Il Emperor until 1885,. He is The
thirteenth successor since the founding Of
the present dynasty. in 1SS2 The esti-
mated area OF Korea is SZ.epJ square miles.
with population Of 100000 The popula-
ton = Seoul Is 1885, SIS. which : a little
larser than Providence. r. New York
Press.
WEIGHT FOR AGE.