The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-09-12

an inferno little better than TartArus
fitted with prison bars and torture
chambers that might well daunt thu
stoutest patriot. Korea knows this
| She has not lived ten years without
sensing the kind Of Ogre who has her
| in his grip"
| This missionary states that the Ko.
| rean Independent movement Ia the
outcome Of the ideas enunciated by
President Wilson In regard to self-de-
termination for small nationalities
For many years these people have sui
fered indignities at the hands Of the
Japanese rulers. They are discrimi-
mated against In the courts. deprived
| OF the right of free speech and free as
sembly, their press Is controlled by n
strict Japanese censorship. and a
studied effort has been made to eradi-
Gated everything Korean.
To all Of this the people have sub
mitted only because they were unable
to resist the power OF japan.
When, however, President Wilson al
the peace conference gave utterance to
doctrines concerning the liberties OF
small peoples, the resentment which
they had been carrying for ten years
famed into an ardent hope and the
peaceful revolution has come as a. re-
suit.
Movement In widespread.
In explaining the spirit which seems
to possess the Koreans everywhere
one Of the statements submitted to
the Methodist board makes this ex-
planation:
"A definite conviction has mysteri-
ously come to possess the poor peo-
pie that their cause Is right and that
the right will win. They have no
hatred of their oppressors, no desire
for revenge. II they had they could
soon exercise it and kill every Jap
anese in sight, as they did in 1884,
but that is not 1t, The conviction
among Christian and non Christian
alike il that God Is on the side OF
right, and that he wiz move their
cause to win. So the former dies
with no resentment in his soul against
any individual Japanese. l know the
case OF a man whose young nephew
was shot and killed by gendarme. The
people OF the town captured the Jap
anese and threatened his life because
he had shot an innocent boy, but the
old farmer arrived in hot haste and
said, Let him go; killing would only
add crime to crime; let II GO Thus
! they come to the Severance hospital
shot through the neck. abdomen. LAGER
! ated with bayonets thrust. or hacked
with a sword"
| This missionary states that Tho
movement has taken hold OF all this
| provinces of Korea and all of the PEG
| pie, The Korean aristocrats are
among the leaders. practically all OF
the students in the nation have gone
on strike, and the merchants re-
fused to open their shops until forced
/ TO do so by the japanese authority
! Farmers are almost n unit in favor al
! the revolution, and the intellectual
. element OF society are all favoring It
( One of the reports states that ever
the prisoners In the various jails and
/ prisons OF Korea have managed ir
some way TO manufacture small Ko-
rean flags. and from their cells they
are continually waving their flags and
shouting for the Independence OF thei,
/ country
| Investigations which formed the
basis of the reports submitted to the
Methodist board of missions were un-
der the direction OF one of the leading
missionaries OF that church in Korea
In submitting the document to TIL.
board he appended a statement givins
I his idea OF the situation
| The Real Situation
The real situation he saws, ZIG
that outwa-dly' the situation is under
control, hu. the Koreans at heart are
| ten times more determined than they
ever were before, and their hatred OF
! the. Japahese is intensified heyont
| measure. Besides this, these troubles
have served TO bring before the masses