360 



LIBRARIES, PUBLIC. 



120-kilowatt rotary converters from the West- sunk, the loss of life being 17 Koreans, 6 Jap- 



inghouse Manufacturing Company, with boilers anese, and 1 American the Rev. H. G. Appen- 



of the Babcock and Wileox type, produce a direct zeller, for many years a most valuable missionary 



current of 550 volts for the use of the cars, and and teacher in Korea. The coasts of Korea are 



at the same time alternating currents of 385 volts not yet furnished with lighthouses, but the Gov- 



for the electric lighting. The consulting engineer ernment program calls for 30 lighthouses and a 



is a Japanese, a graduate of the Massachusetts lighthouse steam tender, at a cost of 1,000,000 



Institute of Technology. The official opening of yen. The first private-owned Korean steam- ves- 



the section from Seoul to Sangdo (the ancient sel entered Chinnempo this year, 



capital) of the Seoul-Wiju Railway (under the A monument to the Japanese killed in the 



auspices of the Korean Government, with French Chino-Japanese War of 1894-'95 was erected on 



engineers, etc.) took place on May 4, 1902, with the great mountain of Nansen, near Seoul. 



ceremonies and speeches by Cabinet officers in A vein of fine anthracite coal was opened in the 



the presence of 200 persons. But it has since summer of 1902 at Muan, in Chulla province. 



been temporarily abandoned for want of Korean In a great storm, Sept. 24, 115 lives were lost 



f 11 mis. The railway from Fusan to Seoul, under and 4,012 houses destroyed. 



Japanese direction, is steadily proceeding, with A revival of Buddhism is noted in the dedica- 



a great army of workmen, and is to have 40 tion of a great monastery outside the East Gate 



stations. The first section, 1 mile, from Fusan to of Seoul, in which 800 Buddhist monks took part, 



Chonyang, was opened to travel early in Octo- and in charge of which 50 soldier monks are to 





her, 1902. 



Politics and Events. The year is noted for 

 a lack of rain and a general famine that has 

 caused great suffering and loss of life, together 

 with the desertion of whole districts of country 

 by the hungry people, accompanied by outbreaks 



be permanently kept. 



About 100 Korean students are pursuing their 

 studies in Japan and 40 in the United States. 



The custom of saluting by discharges of can- 

 non on royal birthdays and other national holi- 

 days was introduced on Sept. 18, in honor of 



of anarchy and robbery. Considerable Govern- the fortieth anniversary of the Emperor's ac- 

 ment help was required for the people, there cession to the throne. The Emperor made dona- 

 being 20,000 needy persons in Seoul, where last tions in aid of the sufferers from cholera, on ac- 

 winter 90 persons were frozen to death. On Aug. 1 count of the prevalence of which disease in Seoul 

 the prisons in Seoul were full to overflowing, the national celebration was postponed until 



and there were 40 executions that day. 



March, 1903. 



A new monument to Kija, the founder of 

 Korean civilization, already begun, is to be 



The ginseng-crop for 1901, amounting to 68,120 A memorial intended to commemorate the bril- 

 pounds, was sold to a Japanese firm for $625,239. liant events of the present Emperor's reign was 

 The supply being in excess of the demand, the begun in April, and will be set up in the capital, 

 purchasers at once burned 13,100 pounds. The 

 market is limited, the Chinese being almost the 



only consumers. It is asserted that only that erected in Ping- Yang. On the site of Kija's an- 

 raised upon the imperial farms at Sangdo have cient home a new palace to be built by the Em- 

 real medicinal virtues. Here the soil is a disinte- 

 grated granite, and the farms are guarded with 

 great care, but the annual crop has been steadily 

 growing larger. The normal annual quantity is 

 19,650 pounds. In some years $8 a pound is 



paid for Sangdo ginseng, but always a very much 

 lower price for other grades of the root. 



peror is to occupy a site 1,200 by 800 feet in 

 area. 



Equalization of weights and measures through- 

 out the empire, in accordance with imperial de- 

 cree, is being carried out. 



The raids of Chinese bandits on the northwest- 

 ern frontier were numerous in 1902, but most of 



On June 11 the Japanese steamers Kuma-gawa them were successfully driven back by the na- 



Maru and Kiso-gawa Maru, belonging to the 

 Osaka Navigation Company, came into collision 

 85 miles south of Chemulpo, and the former was 



tive soldiery armed with modern rifles. 



A great fire at Fusan, early in November, made 

 1,400 people homeless. 



LIBRARIES, PUBLIC. Statistics for 1901- 

 '02 relating to public libraries owned and con- 

 trolled by municipalities are given in Bulletin 

 No. 42 of the United States Department of Labor 

 (September, 1902), covering cities having a popu- 

 lation of 30,000 or over 137 in all. The accom- 

 panying table gives figures for the principal cities, 

 and indicates the nature of the information. 



Gifts. The record of gifts and bequests to 

 American and English libraries, July 1, 1901, to 

 June 1, 1902 (single gifts of $500 or 250 volumes 

 and over), covers 721 gifts, representing a money 

 value of $11,974,298.54. Of this amount, $7,604,- 

 000 were contributed by Andrew Carnegie to 234 

 libraries, including $6,359,000 given to 214 li- 

 braries in the United States. Mr. Carnegie, dur- 

 ing about a decade, made gifts to 368 cities and 

 towns for public libraries. 



Commissions. Four new library commissions 

 are to be noted, those for Nebraska, Washington, 

 Idaho, and Delaware. 



Legislation. During 1901 106 laws were 

 passed in 31 States and Oklahoma Territory. 

 " Much of this legislation aims at the extension 

 of the use' of existing libraries, cooperation be- 

 tween municipalities, and the formation of new 

 libraries in small towns, schools, and rural dis- 



