KOREA. 



359 



actual amount expected to be realized from the 

 land taxes is only $2,227,758. Furthermore, in- 

 stead of getting, as the Government ought to, $688,- 

 674,208 on the house registration tax of the 13 

 provinces, only $229,558 is placed in the budget, 

 and the other two thirds are rejected as fictitious 

 and unreliable assets. The reason why there are 

 arrears of $3,578,000, of which only one tenth, or 

 $358,000, are set down as collectible, is on account 

 of the defective land survey, made three hundred 

 years ago, and the ever-present yang ban. Hun- 

 dreds of poor people pay taxes on land long ago 

 washed away or ruined by flood or landslide, while 

 many influential yang bans pay little or nothing 

 for the use of their rich land. The miscellaneous 

 taxes are from the sale of licenses to boats, butchers, 

 salt makers, fishermen, seaweed gatherers, and 

 raisers of ginseng. 



In the expenditures, $560,000 are for the Imperial 

 House, $132,296 for the Foreign Department, $1,- 

 251,745 for the War Office, $892,197 for the Finance 

 Department, $1,225.655 for Home Affairs, and the 

 remainder for the other departments. In the ex- 

 traordinary expenditures we note $70,000 for sac- 

 rifk-ial rites and $30,000 for improvement of the 

 roads and streets in Seoul. The new money of the 

 Korean mint is steadily displacing the old perfo- 

 rated " cash." The Japanese silver yen, formerly in 

 circulation, is giving way to the new coinage of 

 Japan, calculated on a gold basis, and to the new 

 native metal money. 



Foreign Trade. The total shipping for the 5 

 ports of Korea in 1897 amounted to 2,417 entries, 

 with a tonnage of 601,275 tons; of this the Japanese 

 flag covered 1,785 vessels and 462,904 tons, so that 

 a very large proportion of Korean trade is carried 

 in Japanese bottoms. The year was prosperous, the 

 trade being almost double the highest figure it had 

 reached at any time in the past. We give the 

 figures in dollars for coiwenience, though the basis 

 is the silver yen. The increase was from $7,986,- 

 840 in 1893 to $23,511,350. The total net trade in 

 1896 was $12,842,509, the increase being due partly 

 to the stimulus given to trade by the war of 1894- 

 '95, the interest in public works, the suppression 

 of smuggling, and the opening of the two new 

 treaty ports. Instead of the imports being far in 

 excess of the exports as before, there was something 

 like a balance in 1897. The trade with the United 

 States is mostly in petroleum, machinery, flour, 

 provisions, household goods, and personal articles, 

 amounting to at least $400,000 in gold : petroleum, 

 $232,385 ; machinery for mines and railways, $100,- 

 000 ; flour, $25,000 : household supplies, ' $25,000. 

 The English import trade amounted to about $2,000,- 

 000 gold, of which three fourths was for cotton 

 goods ; Japanese cotton goods. $500,000 ; piece goods 

 of the United States, nearly $25,000. Further pos- 

 sibilities and great promise are seen in the native 

 paper, straw braid, tobacco, and the rhea-plant 

 fiber. The market appears to be open for foreign 

 plows and agricultural implements. Wheat has 

 appeared among the exports. The Japanese yarn 

 has almost wholly displaced the British yarn, be- 

 cause it is twisted from left to right, which suits 

 the Korean spindles, English yarn being twisted in 

 the opposite direction, and thus getting loosened 

 and tangled in the process of weaving. The im- 

 ports of the Japanese yarn at Chemulpo in 1897 

 doubled in value over the previous year. The new 

 seaports-Mokpo, in the rich province of Chulla, 

 the most fertile in the empire, and Chinampo, on 

 the Ping- Yang inlet, 15 miles from the sea and near 

 a city of 40.000 people have proved very successful. 

 General foreign settlements, of 225 acres each, have 

 been laid out, and colonies of about 200 Japanese 

 settlers, each with consulate, post office, and other 



accompaniments of Japanese civilization, have 

 been formed. 



Gold Mines. The German gold-mining conces- 

 sion from the Government gives the firm the right to 

 select " anywhere in Korea, a few places excepted, a 

 tract 20 miles long by 13 miles broad, and of working 

 all mines for a term of twenty-five years on pay- 

 ment of 25 per cent, royalty on net profits." The 

 export of gold dust rose from $1,390,412 in 1896 to 

 $2,034,079 in 1897. An estimate made by an Amer- 

 ican expert puts down the gold known to be an- 

 nually obtained in Korea at $3,000,000, but there 

 is reason to believe that the amount leaving the 

 country clandestinely is at least as large as that de- 

 clared at the customs. The increase in export of 

 gold dust in 1897 from Chemulpo is accounted for 

 by the fact that a rich mine was discovered at Ho- 

 Yang, where 40,000 people were working. Gold is 

 a duty-free export, though coal and all other min- 

 erals are dutiable. An American company, employ- 

 ing about 20 men from the United States, with Cali- 

 fornia machinery, obtained the concession for 

 working twenty-five years an area of 25 square miles 

 in Ping-Yang province, the richest district in Korea. 

 They are able to do what the natives could not do 

 control the water and carry on shaft mining 

 and have been very successful. 



Railways. The railway between the capital and 

 the chief seaport, begun under American auspices 

 but sold to Japanese capitalists, is nearly finished, 

 and the long steel bridge across the Han river is 

 under way. This road will have 5 stations, the 

 chief being at Yong-San, Orikol, and Pupyon, with 

 2 flag stations. It runs from the river bank at 

 Chemulpo, near the English consulate, to the little 

 west gate at Seoul. A French syndicate has ob- 

 tained the concession to build a railroad from 

 Seoul northward, to the Chinese frontier at Wiju 

 on Yalu river, with also the right to open mines. 

 This road is to be 500 miles long, run through the 

 mining region, and connect with the Russian road 

 to be built in Manchuria, while the Japanese are 

 making their preparations to build from Seoul to 

 Fu-san. The American Oriental Construction 

 Company have begun the building of the Seoul 

 Electric Street Railroad, which will be 6 miles in 

 length, operated by the overhead trolley system, 

 with cars half open and half closed to accommodate 

 two classes of passengers. A Korean company has 

 been formed to light the city with the electric 

 light, using the trolley company's power. 



Land Survey. To supply one of the greatest 

 needs of Korea, the King issued a decree on July 8, 

 organizing a bureau of land surveying and cloth- 

 ing it with extraordinary powers. The ministries 

 of Home Affairs and Agriculture, with a staff of as- 

 sistants, some of whom must speak English and 

 Japanese, are charged with the work. The chief 

 surveyor must be a foreigner with at least 10 as- 

 sistants in practical work, with 20 students from 

 the English and Japanese schools, the chief sur- 

 veyor's assistants being either foreigners or natives, 

 and his employment is for five years. 



Politics and General Events. On Jan. 10 

 mourning for the King ended and black hats were 

 seen on the street. On Jan. 22 an attempt was 

 made to assassinate Kim, the native Russian in- 

 terpreter. On Jan. 27 Tai- Wen-Kan, the greatest 

 figure in Korean history since 1864, died. On 

 March 8 the British consulate was raised to the 

 grade of a legation. On March 10 began a great 

 anti-Russian demonstration which ended in the 

 total withdrawal of Russian influences from the 

 peninsula. The Russian military commission and 

 drill instructors soon afterward departed, and the 

 Russo-Korean bank was closed. The correspond- 

 ence of the Russian minister showed that Russia 



