Evening star., 1909-05-29

dollars The sale has been much criti-
cised by the Koreans. who claim that the
ground was worth several millions and
that the sale was forced one. Never
theless. the Japanese government has row
A clear title to it. and is exploiting it. in
much the same way that the Russians
built their new town Of Dalny at the end
of the Manchurian railroad which is now
owned by the Japanese. In the shuffling
of the international cards for the stake Of
Korea there is a bare possibility that at
some time in the far future Yong-san may
be one of the prizes which will go into
the hands of Russia, taking the place
that Dalny has now in the hands of
Japan.
At the present Yong-san is about the
liveliest Japanese spot in Korea. great
deal of grading is being done. Korean
laborers, under the direction of Japanese
overseers, are cutting down the hills and
leveiing the valley. They are putting up
dirt walls about some of the big build
mgs. which look almost like Notifications
They are making drains and digging
foundations. system of waterworks
has been put in which supplies the mill
tary city with pure water from the noun
tains nearby, and wide streets, crossing
one another at right angles have been
laid out, covering almost the whole ter
ritory. Roughly speaking, ! should say
there is room on the site for several hun
dred thousand people, and it is believed
that all the ground not devoted to the
military establishment will be taken up
with Japanese buildings.
The new barracks now going up, many
of which are already completed, show
that the Japanese intend to keep a large
military esta blishment in Korea for
long time to come. They now have 20O 900
men in different parts of the peninsula
and several thousand of these are here in
nf
great two-story brick structures already
erected, which are now occupied by the
men, and there are similar buildings for
the subordinate headquarters filled with
offices and barra cks for non-commiSSioned
officers in every branch of the service.
l doubt il Uncle Sam houses his troops
anything like as well as the mikado does
these young Japanese. The barracks are
as substantially built any structures in
the United States. They are well de-
signed and well lighted. and every man
has the right amount of air space. They
are heated by Russian stoves which are
built up in the corner of each room. The
soldiers sleep on spring beds, they take
hot baths once a day and their food is
carefully prepared.
During my stay 1 went through the
kitchens of some of the establishments.
1t was about time for dinner, and great
from the fire. while fried fish and vege-
tables were being ladled out on to plates
OF polished aluminium. In order to make
the camp equipment as light as possible
all the dishes used by the men are of this
metal. the rice for each being served in
an aluminium box of about the size of that
which holds 100 cigars. Each man gets
such a box of rice at every meal and
fixed supply of fish. vegetables and sauce.
which Is varied In character from day to
day. The food was put up in such por-
tions on trays, each of which carried
twentyfour plates and rice boxes, and
these trays were carried by men to the
dormitories nearby. All of the japanese
soldiers now wear European shoes l
judge they still find them uncomfortable.
however, for l noticed at the entrance
to each barracks great rows of these
shoes outside in the halls, and that the
men, as they jumped from their couches
and stood at attention as l passed with
their colonel. were in their stocking feet.
The barracks / have referred to are
built around great parade grounds. at
one side of which is an office building.
where l was presented to the commanding