| Show SELLS SLAVE GIRLS how the queen of corea sustains Soa her royal parse there are slave girls innumerable around the royal palaces of the hermit kingdom of corea says the philadelphia pre press it is difficult to find out how many there are one official will r say a y hundreds another thousands A consul who has had opportunity the facts in ia the case says there are about fifteen hundred it is equally difficult to learn where they come from their appearance shows that they are not from any one stock some are coreana and some are Tong haks from guing gning shang do in the sou south th of the kingdom some show japanese blood others chinese and still others manchurian they are of all sorts and types all speak corcan and nearly all have a smattering of chinese they are all well brought up and quiet polito and industrious they begin their career as domestic servants e a ILI t alen when mere children and ar are e seldom 1 found in the royal establishment after they aye are twenty five years old A few who are unusually good looking become royal concubines and a 1 large ge number ber are taken for the same purpose by the princes and lords of the realm and it is said for a very large price the rest are arc sold as commodities to the highest bidder and the proceeds paid into the royal treasury tho tha latest available blue book of corea in summarizing the royal income includes these articles nin ninety ety one thousand nine hundred and seventeen stone of best rice forty one thousand four hundred and eighty four stone stohl of beans one hundred and seventy two thousand seven hundred and thirteen hyang in money twenty four thousand hyang from sale of slave girls A hyang is ia a string of one hundred copper coins whose value in american money ranges from fire hundred to one thousand to tho the dollar the market value of a girl in corea varies fromsen from ten to forty dollars upon these figures the monarch must raise and sell in the public market every year from thirty to four hundred and eighty young women the general average would be about two hundred per year the custom is not so bad as it seems at first sight the majority are purchased by in men for their wives and a small minority for immoral purposes this trade in human beings Is considered perfectly legitimate and has come down from time immemorial it is not confined to the royal palace but is practiced deed to a certain extent all over cocrel the custom is followed likewise in china and seems to character nearle every Man mongolian Frolian race |
