Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1907-07-30
HERMIT
KINGDOM
OF KOREA

Having s3, 700 Square Miles--Jap-
anese Most Numerous Foreigners
Women Are Beasts of Burden III
Theory and Practicc--Administra-
tive Glasses Are Weak and Cor
rupt-Paradise of Quacks.
Korea. called by outsiders the
Hermit Kingdom" is known to its
own people as Chosen, meaning
"morning calm" or morning fresn-
ness"
II comprises a peninsula OF ASIA
northeast of China, 500 miles long,
1876 miles broad and including an
area of about $4,000 square miles.
The population is estimated at from
S,OOO,OOO to 100000 people, In
cluding foreigners, of whom the
greater number are Japanese. There
are about 800 Americans resident IN
the country.
The Koreans are of Mongollan or
igln. tall, robust and rather prepos-
sessing. Their language is polysyl-
Liable. In dress, customs and archl-
lecture they show the influence ot
Chinese civilization. The Chinese
claim to have civilized Korea in the
18th century b. c.
Korea has been under the suzerain-
ty of China from earliest times, eX-
cept a brief period between 1892 ana
1893, when It was under japanese
protection, until 1876, when Japan
signed a treaty recognizing 1t as an
Independent nation.
The burdens of life fall more heav-
ily upon the women of Korea than in
most countries, even in the orient.
Indeed. It would be difficult TO point
to any nation where the lot of wom-
an Is more completely unenviab!e
than in Korea. The male Korean,
except in the highest classes, regards
his wife as the burden bearer of the
family.
Curiously enough, however, the
male Korean does not attain to the
full dignity of mans estate until he
marries. No matter how long he
may defer that event, he Is compelled
to bo bare-headed and to wear his
hair in a plg-tail until his wedding.
He Is treated as boy, excluded from
the councils OF men and Is a person
of no consequence during the plg-tail
period of his life.
Korea Is the paradise for quacks.
AS medicine the ground skull of n
tiger Is high In favor for all ills,
while ginseng, pulverized horns of n
fawn, materated spiders and similar
mixtures are consumed in great
quantities with trust and confidence
In their virtues. In surgery their
practice is limited to the crudest
operations.
Religion In Korea, as far as there
may be said to be any, is modelled on
Chinese patterns with such results
as might be expected Law and the
administration OF justice are utterly
feeble and reeking with corruption
The reins of government, as in China,
are in the hands of class which,
by family tradition, lives 10y the
shameless OPPRESSION and robbery of
the poor.
The land Is generously blessed
with animal life There are no
oxen. however. and Koreans never
use milk or any OF its products. The
work is all done by bullocks, which
usually attain magnificent develop
ment, Without his bullock the
Korean would be helpless, and this
fact is cited to prove that the Kor-
cans have never been a nomadic peo-
pie.
Korea produces no sheep, but none
la that country is so poor as not TO
own at least one dog. No family
would be complete without dog.
Koreans, unlike the Japanese, love
a good fire when the chill blasts OF
winter sweep across the barren ooun-
try. This fondness for warmth Is
the cause of that barren appearance
which so often has been referred to
by travellers The Koreans keep their
forests cut 10 the quick to provide
fuel, while the canny Jap let their
forests grow and shiyer.
The Koreans are essentially an az
rioultural people. They come from
a stock entirely different from their
two great neighbors. China, the mer-
chant nation, and Japan, the fighting
people. They are undoubtedly of
Turanian origin with a strong ad-
of Chinese aud Manchu
blood.