398 



KOREA. 



June, 1894, the Chinese greatly diminished in 

 numbers. Most of the heavy business contracts, 

 and all with the court, in 1893 and previous- 

 ly, were with American and German firms at 

 Chemulpo, though the Japanese sell steam and 

 sailing vessels to the Koreans. In 1893 the im- 

 perial palace was lighted by electricity, the Edi- 

 son company, at a cost of $60,000, furnishing the 

 American machines, boilers, dynamos, engines, 

 etc., under the superintendence of an engineer 

 from Schenectady, N. Y. A steam paper mill 

 with foreign machinery has been erected on Han 

 river, near Seoul. 



Government. In theory the Government of 

 Korea is an absolute monarchy, every attribute 

 of power centering in the King. Beneath him is 

 the triple premiership, consisting of Ministers of 

 the Middle, Left, and Right. The old Six Boards 

 of Administration are now practically superseded 



and literary Mosaic work. To get rid of the in- 

 cubus of rapacious and oppressive officialdom is 

 the great problem in Korean reform. Only a 

 certain number in the higher grades of office re- 

 ceive a stipend, the others being obliged to get 

 their support in various ways, which mean loss 

 to the people. As matter of fact, however, many 

 of the roots of feudalism, with all the passionate 

 instincts of clanship, survive among the nobility 

 and gentry. There being none of the appara- 

 tus of representative government for effecting a 

 change in policy or party, one method has been 

 in vogue for centuries. The conspirators, when 

 numerous enough, meet at the palace and by 

 force or craft seize the sacred person of the King 

 and the seal of the state. They strike off the 

 heads of the ministers, and then compel his Ma- 

 jesty to sign the death warrants of the old and 

 the commissions of the new ministers. Li Hsi, 



FU-SAN, KOREA. 



by the two departments, Nai Mu Pa and Oi A 

 Muri, for home and foreign affairs respectively. 

 Each of these two departments has 8 officers of 

 rank (2 being foreign advisers) and 25 clerks. 

 For administrative purposes the kingdom is di- 

 vided into 8 provinces and 332 prefectures or 

 districts, in each of which, as in the capital, is an 

 excessively large number of salaried function- 

 aries, clerks, spies, prison functionaries, etc., be- 

 sides hangers-on of all sorts. In reality, the 

 highest places are held by relatives of those in 

 great places at court, and nepotism is the rule of 

 appointment, lineage being more than merit. 

 Nominally, promotion to office is through excel- 

 lence at the civil-service examinations, which 

 annually bring 15,000 applicants of all ages to 

 Seoul, the competition being in essay writing 



the present Hap-mun or King, is the twenty- 

 eighth sovereign of his line. The heir apparent, 

 the eldest son by the Queen, Li Hsia, was born in 

 1873. and celebrated his majority March 14, 1894. 

 Revenue. The revenue is derived from vari- 

 ous sources : 1, a land tax, which varies annually 

 with the crops ; 2, a house tax ; 3, customs revenue 

 at 3 open ports, which in 1891 amounted to 

 $450,000 ; 4, proceeds of the sale of ginseng, which 

 is a Government monopoly ; 5, licenses granted to 

 gold miners and trading guilds ; 6, various irregu- 

 lar taxes. Attempts have been made to reform 

 the currency. Mints have been begun and con- 

 tracts for casting " cash " let by the Government 

 to speculators, but as yet the old copper cash in 

 the interior and Japanese silver yen and Mexican 

 dollars at the ports form the staple of the 



