New-York tribune., 1920-08-15
By Frank A. Vanderlip

Oy dIAN <1s dlA0CIIlP
There is one charge in the indict
ment against Japan which those having
anti-Japanese sentiments are confden
will stand unrefuted. That is tn,
charge of brutality in the administra
ton of Corea. The anti-Japanese con
fidence in the correctness Of tha
charge will go unchallenged. In the
best circles of Japanese thought to-day
there is as sharp condemnation o1
Japan's military conduct in Corea as
there is condemnation in similar cir.
ings of negroes.
Even here, however, there has beer
unfarness in the anti-Japanese propa-
ganda. The photograph which has
been so extensively circulated in
America by the Friends of Corea, indi-
eating in horrible detail the death OF
two Coreans, and used to illustrate
current Japanese administration ir
that country was in fact the photo
graph Of a scene enacted in 1904, wher
two Corean spies had been detected ir
giving military secrets to the Rus.
slams, and were condemned jointly by
a Corean and japanese judge, and
were executed in q manner that woulc
not be described as nice,
The friends of Corea revived this old
photograph, and, although it had beer
published fifteen years before, it CON
veniently showed japanese in uniform
standing near the bodies of the ex.
ecuted men, and it formed effective
material for their propaganda
Corea Weak, but Annoying
1t is unnecessary to go into the his
tory of Corea in brief newspaper dis
cussion Of the subject. For centurie.
she was a weak vassal nation, with {
government passing from one degre,
to another of contemptibleness. She
paid tribute to China and then tribut,
to Japan, and later to both. Her owl
government sank to the lowest conceiv
able depth of inefficiency By every
measure of civilization. she was want
ing. Her government was corrupt ant
contemptibly weak. She was withou
! railroads, and her financial system wa.
not worthy of the name.
In the light of our new system O
international ethics, in which self-de
termination is the major theme, Core;
should have been left to stew in he
own inetficency. She was the closes
mainland to the Japanese islands, and
Of
threat to Japanese national life; an,
so, IN perhaps quite an unethica way
she fell in due course completely un
der the domination of Japan. The rul,
was military, and Japanese militar,
rule is naturally harsh The Corean
were weak in almost every character
istc except in their ability to be an
noying. Their annoying methods reached
considerable height when they assas
sinated the Firest Statesman of Japan
Prince Ito. After that, the harshness O
the military methods was intensified.
Japanese Improved Conditions
The best people in Japan admit al
this, and they seem profoundly ASHAMED
of many things that were done. The,
see, too, that they made one mistak,
that was more fundamental than ever
their repressive military measures
They devoted a great deal of at
tention to improving conditions il
Corea. They built railroads, reforestet
the denuded hills and built up ,
school system. But while they wer,
looking after the material advancement
of the country they paid absolutely M
attention to getting into any spiritua
harmony with the people Their ad
ministration was wholly materialist;c
and in it were fundamental injustice.
and determinations.