The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-05-25
THE NEW SEOUL
By FRANK G.
HOW THE CAPITAL OF KOREA rs
CHANGING UNDER JAPANESE
RULE.
BY FRANK G. CARPENTER

&N&FxA>0KN~ III c4A1 f4SfL
RULE.
Signal Fires Versus electricity
Praying to Telephone POIes-A City
Gate rs y Commercial Museum
The e Government Buildings and
the Japanese Quarter-The Reor-
Sesnization of the Finances-Queer
banks and Rankers-High Interest
Rates and the Money Sharks.
copyright, 100. by Frank G.. Carpen-
teri
Seoul. Korea, 1909.
! want to tell you what the Japanese
are doing in Korea. They have taken
the Hermit Kingdom by the neck and
are shaking its dry bones into action.
They are establishing courts, abolish
ing squeezing and r~eorganizing the ii
nanCes They D to build roads,
to Tetorest the mountains, to open the
mines and to turn this h~alf-barren
country int a garden. All these things
are IN their beginnings. but a start
has been made and signs of progress
are everywhere to be seen.
The~New City of Seoul.
The capital, Seoul. is fast becoming
Il new city When | came here tWenty
years ago the trip from the apo
Chernulpo, took over twelve hours.
| had to have a pony and eight
men to bring myself and wife to he
NattS. l Toue the pony ana the
madame came in a chair, borne on the
shoulders of fOur coolies. with a relay
of tour others to help them. Toward
the end of the journey we had to push
on tor fear We might not get to Seoul
before the gates closed. The city Is
sur ounded by a massive wall nine
miles in length and thirty feet high.
At mat time this wall was entered only
by gates, and these were closed at
might by the heavy doors plated with
iron, which were not opened again un-
til n next day. We got in Just in
time to see the gates close. There
was no hotel. and we had to be met bV
the soldiers of our legation. and were
chartered there during our stay.
he city still has its walls, but the
pIt+@ now stand open day and night.
and an electric street car line RUS
through two of them and on out into
tft country. An electric tight globe
prty-nts the closing of the one Wnich
We entered. ana another g2t2 has
prcred toe small to ACCOMMODATES the
traffic and has been cut GU bN the
ia. anese. wide roads being made
TIN ugh the walls on each sid. The
gaty itself. which is a temple like
structure with a double roof or heavT
titles, has been faced with stone; and
il is now proposed to put d commercial
museum in the soldiers gnaEdraorn
above it. In that old gate Ri rl1t1 minus
tries of the new Korea viii DO shown
Size oy side with those of other ma
ticTts, and the people will thus be
tauEht the various methods OF manu-
fatIure and sale.
Signal Fires vs.. Electricity.
- we came INTO Seoul that night We
co-l1 see the signal fires blazing o.
the mountains which surround t1v
citv, and were told that they We're the
las of the long ser.es of watch fires
hG5 + upon the hills of thu other parts
of korea to notify the king that the
country was quiet and all was II
pea"e. Today there are watch tlres n"
lon.rer. but in their place Korea haE
its wireless telegraph stations and the
caT ital is covered with lepho
wires. One of the oldest buildings OF
the palace, in which the emperor no"
liv~S, has been turned into a
honth. and japanese hello girls Slt
the and AXE messages from" all
parts Of the city. There are telegraph
wires to every large village Wltn
m'Te than two thousand miles or ililt
open, n cables across to Japan.
Electric Lights and Street cars.
rrne old Seoul was pitch dark al
nient. The laws were hat the ordl-
nay man should not go about after
darn, only officials and anu
their servants being permitted 10 ~
50. Women were never seen on tne
str. cts in the daytime. and the nlgh|
VS. supposed to be their time Tor eau
i1g When we went out we took the
kero Of the legation to carry our ian
teri, and this consisted OF a frame,
work, holding a candle with a RED,
white and blue gauze cloth thrown
over =. The Seoul of TODAY Is 1alflt
wen lighted. Many of the stores Keep
open during the evening, ana most VI
the houses have an oil lamp or al elt'-
trio light globe at their front gate
Locking down the wide main streets o.
the city makes one think OF one OF tle
larger towns of our country, lor Tue
lights alone are to be seen. ana tne
1nv- one-storv buildings are lost IN 1n1
DARKNESS. ao
Soul has now an electric car llht
run by Americans. 1t was put IN IONS
49, 1nnnnoca took hold OF the