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Show a cJOKES ALL SET UP TOTHS SAME 8INq SONS CHANT Rise and Beeline of an Enterprise That Was Terminated Occidental Journalism in the Comic Opera Orient D. HULBERT Dr ARCHER MOST people an American newspaper in Korea seems aa incongruoui ai an iceberg in Panama Bay. No one looking for a field for newspaper pro motion would think of locating a plant however small, in a little, un civilised land which contained only a And so, at few score Occidentals. the start, it is plain that this odd story of the rise and the decline of the Korean Independent is a chapter of political, and not of commercial, history. The Independence Club of Korea has played an important part in the awakening of that land since the Japsn-Chin- a war. By mass meetings and through the press this club of genuine patriots has stirred the conscience of an almost conscienceless people profoundly at times. Mistakes nave, no doubt, been made; false positions may have .been assumed, and false men may have been trusted. But as an organization, the Independence (lub of Seoul has had a marked influence in modern Korean life. One of the material benefits of the club is the monument erected without the walls of Seoul to commemorate the day when Japan freed Korea from the sovereigiity of China, in 1895. One of the leading spirits of the Independence Club was Or. Philip American. Jaisohu, a naturalized Graduating from an American college, Or. Jaisohu took his medical course and became an expert in bacteriology of more than local reputation. Iiis career in America was interrupted by a call from his native Korea which he could not resist he returned to become Adviser to the The position was Korean Cabinet. one of power and importance. In his interest in the work of the newly formed Independence Club, it occurred to him that a medium of information between the club and the people, such as a newspaper, was an imperative necessity. With Ilia usual enthusiasm Dr. Jaisohu put his plans in working order and soon a small press with the necessary type and ac TO companiments were shipped from America to Korea, and the Korean was born, April 7, Independent 1896. It was the organ of the Independence Club and stood for a new and a free Korea. Dr. Jaisohu was father of the of the plant end editor-in-chipaper. At a later day, in 1897, he secured the services of an assiatant or local editor, who earns from America to take up the work. 1 shall never forget that little office of the Independent and the jolly days spent within its alight walla. A newspaper office must be the same reckless sort of a place under whatever clime it may be erected; but that office, measuring only about six by ten feet, was at once the most commonplace and most wonderful room I ever entered. It was locsted near the palace gate on the principal street of Seoul, in the foreign quarter. Behind the office was the composing and printing room, where Korean type setters worked away to the strange rhythm of their Koreans sad songs. unutterably eannot work except to music. A gang of coolies digging in the streets always selects a leader who carries a continual refrain while the entire gang now and again join in the chorus. 1 was amused to find it to be the same with the Koreans when they learned to srt type. Deaths, marriages, wars and rumors of wars, jokes and advertisements all were set up to singsong chants. Such, then, was the music that forever rang in mir ears. No matter what the task or who the visitor, all was strangely set to the tune of the typesetters in that other room. Our paper was printed in two editions, one in English and one in native Korean nr minimi. This native language is agglutinative and very (lexilile. Our English edition of the Independent circulated among the foreigners in Korea and in the chief ports of the Far East, and we issued some twelve hundred copies. The native editions ran often up to three thousand, and these copies were eagerly read throughout the peninsula. In a number of instances we found that towns far off in the mountains had subscribed in the name of some resident who had a powerful ef ly Where the Reporters Come From believes there Turks burn his The at the countrymen average person could be nothing more typically stake. He distinctly remembers the Russians driving the Sultan's soldier American than the New York news- out of his town in 1877, and how he class a As Row. on men Park paper tore the fez from his head and went they arc, but individually they form bareheaded until he could grt a Russian fur cap. He came to America strong contrasts to their profession. he was fifteen, went through On one big daily paper there is an when Harvard and entered into newspaper Icelander, who, until he was twenty work. Then there is an Indian who, until years old, fished for mackerel to earn his brand. A strange accident turned he was seventeen, never saw a white man except along the barrel of a gun. the course of his life into a new di- He wa- raptured front a band of rection which ultimately made him a Sioux raider ami afterwards hecante Park Row reporter. a student at Carlisle. While he is not on the regular staff of a newspaper, he It was during the Franco-Prussia- n e hv work, and nas writWar. A German gunboat picked him lives ten a book. up one day and forced him into the In San francisco a big daily has a German Navy. The gunboat was Chinese reporter who turns out quite the star reporter. captured by a French cruiser, and he as much copy as is Chinatown news. His specialty In France a to as taken was prisoner. Through him the paper leads all the Paris he met a British newspaper cor- others in Chinatown "scoops. respondent who interested himself in his case and got him released. From A Country of Linguists. his friend he learned English, and Almost every native of Iceland, even proved so apt a pupil that his protec- the peasants and fishermen, can speak one foreign language besides tor paid the cost of two years' tuition at lrat Danish dialect. Some years local his in a London school. it became a fad to study lanago Finally he became a compositor on guages. and now a person speaking an English paper, then a cub repor- only one tongue is looked down upon ter," and later came to New York, as extremely ignorant. where he naturally drifted into newsEnglish leads, then come German nd French. Paper in tlie-- e three paper work. On another paper there is an as- languages are read extensively in Icesistant city editor who, when a boy land, and may hr found in all the ten in' Samakov, Bulgaria, saw theiage reading rornu free-lanc- ssian TTiK room voice, and nightly the entire male population of yeara of discretion gathered at the subscriber's home, and, all, he read the standing among them news of the day. ' I would prize highly a picture of that belittered little offiee by the palace gate, but a picture of a whole town listening to the reading of their one paper, in which we pleaded for a free Korea and fought the Russian Advanrc hand to hand, would be prised as no other Koresn picture I could nsme. Our English edition was, at best, a small affair, some twenty inches long and fifteen wide, with four pages, containing three columna each. Our most important mission, ostensibly, was to get and print Reuter's cablegrams containing the news of the world at large. Dr. Jaisohu made it possible to secure these by obtaining from the various Legations and certain important local officials subscriptions to a circular sent out each day from the Independent office containing all the Reuter news received that day. The Reuter messages came early in the day, and these were instantly put into type. A galley proof was struck off and a "boy took this proof around to each Legation and individual subscriber. As a consequence, though each Legation had, of course, its own intelligence from its home government, at such time aa at the outbreak of the Spunisli-America- n war the Independent oihre took oil the appearance of a big city daily's office on the night of a Presidential election. Next in importance to our handling Reuter's messages was the Independent's publication of the "Government GaJtcttc." announcing the decrees, and appointments of the Em' peror and his household and Cabinet. Though we published our paper three times a week, it was sometimes diffi cult to keep up with the Hippity-flo- p style of Korean politics. As one of our editorials stated, much to the amusement of the foreigners in Ko rea. cabinet changes were of as regu Permitted us to haste only onb visitors chatr lar occurrence as if ordered by a po- was clearly seen some weeks before, litical physician to be made three when Dr. Jaisohu sent me to interview the newly installed Russian Minister times a day after eating. Society events had a place in the columns of the Independent True, they were comparatively few and far brtween, but if so, they were the more intensely appreciated and enjoyed by the exiles who attended them. No one can feel farther away from home than when once buried in Korea, and among many foreigners the failure of to make its appearance the was a casus belli. The advertisements in our little sheet were of interest, suggesting in material ways the slow opening of Korea to foreign influences. But the paper was an organ and stood for political and not commercial gain. Here lay what power it exerted, and Dr. Jaisohu' editorials plsyed a vital part in holding the Independence Club together and directing its It was an odd Jiolicy. in Korea in the spring of 189R when Russia had the King in Both Russia and her Legation. declared that Korea was free; Japan Russia her slyly protracted scheme to enslave the land. The Independence Club awoke, due, it may well be believed, to Dr. Jaisohu's editorials, and gradually encouraged and awakened public conscience, until the Emperor found the courage to ask the Russian Minister to terminate the ofRusso-Korea- n fensive agreement whereby Russia had virtually gained control of the rein of the Korean government. It meant the end of Dr. Jaisohu's usefulness in Korea and the rnd of the Independent all of which proved the power bnih had been. Dr. Jar sohu a contract with the Korean government was cancelled by his being paid in full for five years on agreeing to return to America. This was an effective method of suppressing the paper, and Russian influence was at the bottom of it One of the shadows which portended to me the suppression of the paper three-corner- ed I the Russo-i(ora- n agreement was ter-minated. For reasons known only at St Petersburg, the Minister to Korea was recalled and a new emissary was sent to take his place. Dr. Jaisohu immediately detailed me to the Rus' sian Legation. 'Give him a regular New York in Ask him what the terview," he said. change means for Korea, and what his policy will be. If he won't answer you, we can say that he won't, and that will have its meaning. If he questions you, tell him this is en American paper and tell him its circulation is ten times as big aa it is." I had no difficulty in reaching my man, but strangely enough, did encounter some difficulty in securing an exact statement as to Russias entire plan with reference to Korea. Our plans do not change," said the Minister, with the blandest smile. My policy will be that of my predecessor." In the meantime, he asked fully about the paper. "Rather far away for an American paper, is it not?" he added.. When the interview was over I felt sure the days of the Independent were numbered. When Dr. Jaisohu asked me if I had interviewed the Minister, 1 replied, "I dont know, but I'm sure the Minister has interviewed me' Foremost among the things we lacked in our venture was a good, strong rival paper. There was no Pewee for our Peeje. Think of it running a newspaper without any one to denominate your editorials drivelling nonsense. True, there were a number of native papers-- - in Seoul, but few, if any, foreigners read them, and so this did not help matters. Of course, the F.nglish papers at Kobe, Yokohama Shanghai and Hong Kong noticed the Independent, and in feeble way denounced some of our by Ru- Influence remarks as lacking in knowledge. I judgment, common sense and other qualities editorials always lack; but such hitting as, this across seas, with the reply coming so long after his editorial was written that the editor had himself learned that he had erred, did not help ua out But if the Independent lacked a real rival, we certainly had an interesting assortment of visitors. Our little room permitted us to have only one visitor's chair; but the procession was rather steady throughout our working hours, which were from nine to two. The most interesting" to me were Korean noblemen in their magnificently elaborate silk cloaks, who came quietly and talked in the native language to Dr. Jaisohu on the burning questions of the day. No matter what the occasion or what the question, they were ever remarkably cool and composed, as if fortified stolidly against failure of the Independence dream, but confident of ultimate victory. The foreign Ministers in Seoul and the Conluls were frequent visitors, dropping in to discuss Reuter' messages, or to learn from Dr. Jaisohu the latest vagary of the Korean cabinet and seek an interpretation thereof. The American Minister, Dr. Allen, was a frequent and pleasant caller. And there were the missionaries. Our little office meant much to them, especially to those buried far out in the mountains, to whom our sheet was a godsend. Many of them were fresh from American college and sang their college songs end goi-- il printing establishment that has intef millions of pages of Christian lit ture. The Repository was a mostt-lmagazine filled with articles ei Korean history, literature and ut After several years of successful operation the magazine passed into hands and is now issued u flic Korea Review. In the case of the Independent ft Repository and the Korea Renew, the editors attempted to miintuti independent political positioa ad merely tell the news. This was local to be difficult in a land of misgom-men- t and foreign intrigue, and sometimes merely "telling the news raised a hurricane in official circles. if the news was not well dressed in honey and sugar, it read pretty bluntly. It has been easy for all editors ud writers to overlook the puerilities of the Korean government, bnt when questions of Japanese or Russian politics in Korea were concerned the pen of more than one scribe ran riot, and his article or editorial produced 1 sensation. Students and advocates of publicity and free speech would learn something to their advantage by operating a newspaper on true American lines in an Asiatic capital y Oftet-time- . (Copyright, 1904, by A. B. Hulbert) ly Korea. No ewi letten ports, such aa Chemulpo, Genian and r usan. These were written for ns by missionaries at those points. American missionary enterprise in Korea has saved to the world a great deal of material, that would otherwise have been lost, by the publication of The Korean Repository by the Methodist Trilingual Press, a JV r I h'J ?" 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Well, he came down in ten minutes. KwsIM NORTH AMERICAN Money 'I don't mind wrastling with a ton MINER DM ArnwThat's the Question. "4 for U"nted. fhIf ihdei yi of canvas on an upper topsail yard,' he SMITH yiwt U surrwsi. Astor G.Joot. inf. had HwfuU. New York. Library, witling If a man calls you a liar or some- said. 'where you dont hold on even hm4 laTYHawf . iffeli yva t eetwrryI lb Rapping p(m a aurreraafwl hf. SLlitnlf , thing pleasant like that the correct with one hand, and viour feet are At BiilH Sia BMlhi free. r!gNMt r. THC HOW"f-retort is to knock him down. But and the GENEALOGY-- M u ing along slippery NORTH AMFRITAN MINI R was he right? j. inat are whipping from fide to aide alettes'. ellril inran -, Dept- tt Broadway, Nea York A Meiv Superstition "Speaking of freaka of superstition and that sort of thing, said a professor of psychology the other day, "there was one which came to my notice a short time ago that beats anything I have ever seen. Frobably everybody remembers that as child he had some kind of superstition about stepping on the cracks in the sidewalk, but this man with the new 'bug' is absolutely unhappy if, in his walk'ng downtown in the morning, he sees less than ten hairpins on the sidewalk. He never picks them up just counts them and if he finds ten H not, then he says he is content. he's uncomfortable the rest of the day. So expert has he become that he can see a hairpin on the sidewalk half a block away. The mental attitude which makes this sort of thing possible gets to be entirely mechanical after a time, and my friend says he can think a whole lot better if he keeps one part of his brain busy hunt ing hairpins while the other is doing the work which is worth while. As he expresses it, the foolish part of the brain is kept busy so that it doesnt bother the serious part. Its just like giving a habv some feathers and a little molases on hi finger. They keep him out of mischief." Why Sky Workmen Are Dyspepsia - nand ilycozone KngWB-ScUcM- la.. Howard!? effete tzb Wdtth Reading 1 tie-- L w o t f r7.v. - |