The sun., 1919-10-15

of their land II they do not know where
and how much of II there is. Up to
1903 the Coreans had never taken the
trouble to find out even that much about
their country. But they did have an
army and navy.
The army numbered a few thousand
men equipped with dozen different va.
rieties of rifles, many of which were
muzzle loading. This army lacked two
essential things-courage and discipline.
The Corean War Department has not
bothered to provide any artillery, but did
maintain sort of cavalry made up of
few hundred men who had no mastery
Of their mounts and less knowledge Of
the use Of their weapons 1t usually
takes two Coreans to ride horse-one
of them leads it. What movie a
Corean cavalry charge would make
Twenty AdmiraIs on One ship.
Then the navy. All! here is inspira-
tion. This navy was comparable to [ lat
Of the Swiss--it consisted of one CON-
verted steel coal barge. What the Co.
reans lacked in ships they made up in
officers and supported some twenty Ad-
mirals. If gold braid could have main
tained Corea's independence she would
still be independent
The dashing brilliancy and yigor of
the Corean army and navy in 1903 Ia
indicative of the Corean character.
Through their laziness and aloofness the
Coreans earned for their country the
sobriquet--Hermt Kingdom. Individual
| hermits are usually ignorant, lazy,
listless individuals who contribute moth
Ing to their own welfare or to the ad-
vancement Of society. 1t Is well to not
forget that nations are merely groups
| of individuals.
But to revert to Corea's spirit of in
dependence. History says that from
very early times until 1895 the King of
Corea was a vassal of, the Emperor of
| China" As a matter of fact, it was
through no fault OF the Coreans that
they gained their independence then. II
was thrust upon them at the insistence
of the Japanese at the close of the
Chino-Japanese War. Japan gave the
Corelns what they had never had the
gumption to get for themselves, and
after they received it, they so abused Il
made sort of Far Eastern Mexico
out of their country, as 1t were-that
the Japanese, largely out of self-protec
| tion, established a protectorate over the
country In 1905, but finding the Coreans
so indolent and lawless, finally found il
necessary to place themselves in a posi-
tion to demand and enforce peace ant
constructive effort This they did II
1910, and since then the Coreans hav,
had to york. This seems to be the real
down underneath, sore spot with tn,
Coreans.
Japan as Pacifier.
As a matter OF fact, Japan has deal
rather generously with Corea and tn
Coreans. They have maintained peac
which would have remained unbrokeI
except for the misguided efforts of en-
thusiasts working under the instigatioi
OF foreigners and they have mad
assassinations OF members of the roya
family and the nobility decidedly un
popular.
/ When annexation was finally effected
the Japanese gave the Coreans a rea
voice in the Government through rep
resentative body made up of fifteen Ad
visors, twenty Councillors. and thirty
five Junior Councillors.
Naturally the old Emperor and hi
sons could not be expected to becom
self-supporting. so the japanese CIV
them a gratuity of S75o,000 a year
} which is far more generous than tn
Dutch treat the Sultans in Java
The japanese confer peerages upo
distinguished Coreans, and the monetar