The citizen. [volume] (Berea, Ky.) 1899-1958, 1919-04-24

aclually Dullt by the Koreans as
they shed their blood and tears.
They suffer painfully by the heavy
labor as the Hebrews were afflicted
under the labor of the Egyptians.
u reflects in my memory that the
ungrateful and boastfuI Japanese
bosses cruelty laid down switches
and paddles upon the Korean la
borers. Thousands and thousands
Of acres Of the rich rice fields were
taken from the people to build the
roads on, and the Japanese Govern
mcnt paid not a single penny. II
was no less than robbery.
Korea built the first railroads in
the country. After the annexation.
OF course, the railroads were taken
and monopolizcd by the japanese
Government. The japanese extend
ed the railroads not to bring
civilization to the Korean people
but to increase their own wealth
] and commerce: to push their arms
into Siberia, Manchuria, and China:
TO accomplish their imperial ambi-
ton.
Japan says, boastfully but falsely,
to the world that she is doing
wonderful works in educating the
Koreans. Let us stop here for a
| nlnmnnt anH annutHA,
of the Japanese education in Korea.
There are two distinct aims. The
first aim is to destroy the Korean
national spirit and assimiate the
people to the Japanese. To illus
trate this, | may say that the Jap
anese Government absolutely for
bids the teaching of Korean history
and language in any school and al =
lows only those textbooks which are
written in Japanese. The second
aim is to make the young people
OF Korea their tools and to meet the
needs of their own selfish interests.
In the peninsula, there is not a sin
gle college established by the Jap
anese, while three colleges are
established by the American Board
of Foreign Missions. The Jap
anese have put all the public and
private schools under their absolute
control and made special laws TO
deal with their own schools in or
der to prevent the educational &C.
Invites of the high ideals. Many
schools which opposed these new
laws We're harshly forced to shut
their gates. Three years ago, the
missionaries in Soonchun, a mission
station which is near to my home,
built two fine schools. One for the
boys and the other for the girls, to
educate the Christian children OF
that section. But there arose a
serious conflict between the mis-.
sionaries and the japanese Govern
ment, caused by the school law, and
the schools were shut by barbar-
Gus act of the japanese Government.
The Japanese established many pub
lie schools to convert the Korean
youngsters into slaves of Mikado,
but did they found any schools
ranking with the technical schools
or colleges?
Our privileges of the educational
world are taken. We have no free
dom of speech or of press. How can
we educate our people in a foreign
tongue?
The young p0ple in Korea, as us
ual in any country, have the Wig
orous enthusiasm and desire to fol-
low the ideals of the new world.
Their ambition to reach the high
plane of civilization is very great.
But, alas, their freedom and oppor-
trnity is checked, their activities
of life are restrained, by the Jap
anese. In this world of civilization,
the Korean young people are exclu-
slNely under the shadoWy clouds o.
the conquerors' peril. They are
hopelessly imprisoned in the bond
age of the japanese tyranny like the
spring bird in the cage. Many Of |
the young people want to come over
TO America to obtain the high edu-
cation but the japanese Government
does not give them the passports
Many, who came to this country in
recent years, had to escape. Many
Of the unfortunate ones were arrest
ed by the japanese in their escape,
and some Of them are now living the
exile life.
We are exceedingly grateful to
the Government of the United States
for her great sympathy and well
come in that she has kindly allowed
our students to land in this country
without passports.
In recent years, the sad conditions
of the Korean people are hardly
known TO the world. A missionary
said: The associate press man here