The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-04-06
By, DOROTHY SCARBOROUGH.
THE MASTERY OF THE FAR

4 EAST, by Arthur Judson Brown,
contains a wealth of historical and socio-
logical information given in style that is
both scholarly and entertaining. This is
not volume to be read in haste, for it is
over 600 pages long, and is weighty in
material, though not at all heavy in man
ner. 1t should be studied leisurely, and
then consulted as a reference work when
information concerning the Far East is
desired.
Mr.. Brown is something of an authority
in the history of the East, as shown by his
previous works, Neir Forces in Old China,
The Chinese Reroltstion, and The Neiu
Era in the Philippines. In those studies
he showed the profound significance which
the problems of the Far East have for the
world, and discussed the relations of
China and the Philippine Islands to the
new alignment of races that is developing.
In the present book he treats of the rela-
ton of Corea and Japan to the mastery
of the East. His central idea is that the
Corean Peninsula constitutes the strategic
point in the struggle. r
Corea, the despised, or at least neg
lected country, small in comparison with
its neighbor China, yet has an area one
and one-half times that of New England,
and is of considerable value
"The tide of the worlds travel has
hardly more than touched Corea. In
ereasing numbers of travellers are visiting
China and Japan, but most of them pass
by their lesser neighbor No famous tenn
pies, no beautiful palaces of the living or
historic tombs of the dead attract the
globe-trotter: Squalid towns and villages
and wretchedly poor people offer faint
lure to the seeker for the artistic or the
picturesque. And yet to the thoughtful
student of human life, to one who would
understand the deep Inducements of in
ternational affairs, and to one who would
observe that most wonderful thing in the
world, the spiritual transformation of
people, Corea is deeply interesting
land" :.
Mr.. Brown describes the vanished DAYS
Of old Corea, the people, their customs,
their education and lack of it, their lit
erature and their religious beliefs. He
shows that while, the Coreans are squalid
and uncleanly in their poverty, immoral
and uncultured, yet they possess many ad-
mirable traits, and most of their short
eomings are due not to their own weak
ness so much as to the system under which
they have been forced for generations TO
live.
He tells us that in Gorea there is no
family life as We know it, and women have
lower place there than even in China or
Japan, possessing less freedom and less
influence. Yet there are amusing conces-
sions made for them.
"When the missionaries first went to
Corea, they found a quaint method Of
permitting women TO go abroad without
scandal. Instead of having a curfew for
children, there was one for men. They
were to be in the house by 9 o'clock, so that
their wives and daughters could prom
enade the streets without reproach. If
man had to be out after that hour and
met woman, he was expected to shield
his face with a fan and hasten from her.
To touch her or even to speak to her in
such circumstances was a punishable Of
fence"
Mr.. Brown relates the struggle for the
possession of Corea, which has brought