378 



KOREA. 



them so. Mr. Bryan was declared a Populist, and 

 Mr. Sewall a subsidized shipbuilder and a high pro- 

 tectionist. The resolutions said further in justifi- 

 cation of the attitude of the party : 



" We hold that Democratic delegates appointed 

 by the State conventions to represent the party in 

 national conventions are the mere agents of the 

 Democratic party of the United States, with powers 

 delegated to them to apply the fundamental prin- 

 ciples of the Democratic party to the solution of 

 existing political problems, and limited to the 

 selection of candidates for office who are members 

 of the party and are true apostles of its teachings ; 

 that the Chicago convention, by declaring the prin- 

 ciples of Populism to be Democratic principles, and 

 by nominating as its candidate for President a con- 

 fessed Populist, exceeded the authority delegated to 

 it by the Democratic party ; and that its unauthor- 

 ized and revolutionary action in thus betraying the 

 party is not binding upon the Democratic voters of 

 the country. We believe that when a convention 

 willfully repudiates the fundamental principles of 

 the party no Democrat remains under any moral 

 obligation to support it, nor is there any tradition 

 of the party that requires him to do so. On the 

 contrary, it is evidence of moral weakness for any 

 free man to vote to enforce policies which his judg- 

 ment tells him are inimical to the welfare of the peo- 

 ple or the integrity of the nation." 



In the election, the vote for McKinley was 218,- 

 171; for Bryan, 217,890; for Palmer, 5,114; for 

 Levering, 4,781 ; giving McKinley a plurality of 

 281. One Democratic and 12 Republican electors 

 were chosen. J. D. White, Democrat, was elected 

 judge of the Court of Appeals from the First l>is- 

 trict by a vote of 40,653 to 25,085 for Landes, the 

 Republican candidate, and in the Fifth District A. 

 R. Burnam, Republican, was elected by 37,664 to 

 36,508 for W. S. Pryor. Democrat. The" Republic- 

 ans elected 4 of the 11 members of Congress. The 

 Republican candidate in the Third District filed 

 notice of contest in December. 



KOREA, an independent kingdom between the 

 Japan and Yellow Seas, bordering on Russia and 

 China. It is an island, though usually reckoned as a 

 peninsula, the Tumen and Yalu rivers flowing from 

 the same lake in the top of the Long White moun- 

 tain on the northern central border. The coast line 

 measures over 17,000 miles, and the area is over 

 82,000 square miles. A census to be taken on sci- 

 entific principles is now in progress. The people 

 inhabit the 8 provinces and hundreds of fertile or 

 occupied islands among the thousands forming the 

 Korean archipelago, which are counted as belong- 

 ing to the kingdom. In 1866, when the present 

 dynasty came to an end in the male line, power 

 centered in the hands of the regent Tai- Wen-Kim 

 ('Great Royal Prince"), father of the heir of the 

 throne, who was then a boy of fourteen. . This Ko- 

 rean Mayor of the Palace, the head of a powerful 

 party and clan, has been the chief political figure 

 during the past thirty years in persecution of the 

 Christians, in antiforeign measures and edicts, in 

 plots and counter-plots, in outbursts of Korean 

 Chauvinism, and in the violently pro-Japanese Cab- 

 inet of 1895. Opposed to him, as his implacable 

 enemy and counter-foil, has been the Queen Min, 

 head of the powerful pro-Chinese clan of that name, 

 who repeatedly nullified the measures of the Jap- 

 anese, of the King's father, and of the pro-Japanese 

 party until her assassination. Oct. 8, 1895. Direct 

 Chinese influence, so powerful from 1882 to 1894, 

 was annihilated after the decisive battle at Ping- 

 Yang, Sept. 16, 1894. The Japanese prestige, main- 

 tained at court by force from June, 1894, to Feb. 

 11, 1896, has waned to a shadow. Russia now holds 

 the chief influence in the peninsula. In the recent 



reforms already carried out or in process, old Korea 

 is rapidly passing away, and new theories and con- 

 ditions prevail. 



(woverninent. Korea is a constitutional mon- 

 archy, the King's powers being limited by his own 

 oatli of Jan. 8, 1895, in which he bound himself to 

 a programme of reforms founded on modern and 

 Western ideas, lie is assisted by a Cabinet, or 

 Council of State, called the Kuye-Chong-I'u, con- 

 sisting of 13 members, including a Prime Minister 

 and a Vice Prime Minister (who is also Minister of 

 the Interior), who preside over the various depart- 

 ments Foreign, Home, Finance, Army, Justice 

 and Agriculture, Trade and Industry. With these 

 are 5 counselors well versed in diplomacy and a 

 chief secretary. They hold their appointments di- 

 rectly from the throne. The King or the heir ap- 

 parent attends the meeting of the ministers, at least 

 two thirds of whom must be present to form a 

 quorum. The ordinance giving the details of the 

 Constitution of this Council of Stale were formu- 

 lated and published in the "Official Gazette" of 

 Sept. 26, 1896. In place of the 8 provinces, which 

 are now only geographical expressions, and mainly 

 river basins, and instead of 23 prefectures of 1894, 

 are now 13 provinces. 



Finance. Korea has a silver standard. The 

 unit used in this article is the Japanese yen (50 

 cents). In 1895 the revenue of the kingdom was 

 4,809,410 yen; expenditure, 6,316,831 yen, showing 

 a deficiency of 1,507,421 yen. The 'Government 

 loan amounts to 1,507,431 yen. In the budget for 

 1896 the items of revenue are : In land tax, yen, 

 1,477,681 ; house tax, 221,338 ; miscellaneous, 9.'l32 ; 

 ginseng tax, 150,000; gold-dust licenses, 10,000; 

 customs, 429,882; uncollected taxes of 1895, 130,- 

 000; various incomes, 5,000 ; output of mint, 1,282,- 

 450; surplus (unexpended portion of loan from 

 Japan), 1.093,927: estimated deficiency, 1,380,669; 

 total, 6,190,079. The items of expenditure are (of 

 ordinary expenditure): Civil list, 500.000; foreign 

 office, 71,932; home affairs, 1,446,630; treasury, 

 1,740,106; army, 1,028,401: justice, 47,294; agri- 

 culture, commerce, and public works, 183,416 ; total, 

 5,017,779. Adding extraordinary expenses Queen's 

 funeral, 70,000; home affairs", 19,300: treasury. 

 282.300; army, 700; reserve fund, 800.000 the 

 grand total of expenses, balancing expenditure, is 

 6,190,079. Notable reforms in the matter of levy- 

 ing and collecting local taxes, including a rigid 

 inspection, have been introduced. Dr. McLeavy 

 Brown is foreign inspector of the treasury. There 

 is a foreign debt to Japan of 3,000,000 yen, which 

 the Government is to pay by borrowing the same 

 amount from the Russo-Chinese Bank. 



Foreign Trade. The total net trade coming 

 under the cognizance of the maritime customs dur- 

 ing 1895 amounted to the sum of 12,884,232 yen, an 

 increase of about 2,000,000 yen over 1894 "and of 

 nearly 5,000,000 yen over 1893. Allowing for un- 

 doubted expansion due to the presence of the Japa- 

 nese armies in 1894 and 1895. there are evidences 

 of improved economic conditions. The ports open 

 for foreign commerce are Chemulpo (near Seoul), 

 Fusan in the southeast, and Won-Sen in the north- 

 east. Owing to the absence of the Chinese traders, 

 the native merchants of Won-Sen attempted an un- 

 precedented active enterprise in going to Shanghai 

 to purchase foreign goods, while a large class of 

 petty venders is springing up to distribute foreign 

 goods in small quantities, buying up with the pro- 

 ceeds native produce suitable for export. The dis- 

 charge of many thousands of unnecessary employees 

 from Government service compels to new enter- 

 prises for livelihood. Transportation from the in- 

 terior to the ports is great ly hindered by the absence 

 of roads, the primitive means of moving freight 



