Topics of the Moment

TOPICS OF MOMENT. BY DR. J. M. TANNER, SUPERINTENDENT OF CHURCH SCHOOLS. The End of Korea. The last days of November witnessed the end of the Hermit Kingdom, which for years has been one of the most corruptly governed nations of the world. Intrigue, deception, cruelty, and profligacy have been the terms very generally applied by writers to the administration of its government, and the conduct of the Koreaft court. Seoul, its capital, just before the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese war, was the scene of foreign intrigue, which finally ended in the supremacy of RusFian influence, Japan very well knew that if Korea were left to deal with other countries on her own account, there would be no end of trouble by reason of the constant efforts made for supremacy and for special favors by bribes which a corrupted monarch was ever willing to take. Seoul's foreign diplomacy has been, perhaps, the greatest burlesque in modern times. The administration of the finances of the kingdom has also been one of unmitigated graft, in which a few favored appointees of the emperor enriched themselves at the expense and degradation of the masses, and to the exclusion of all public improvements. The Japanese have just been going through the formality of a conference with the Korean emperor and his cabinet, in which the Koreans acquiesced to the four following demands: 1. The appointment by Japan of an administrator, whose duty it was to govern Korea under the Korean emperor. 2. The appointment of Japanese for the administration of the duties collected at all Korean ports. 3. The assumption of all diplomatic affairs by the

TOPICS OF MOMENT. 241 Japanese at Tokyo. 4. No arrangements to be made between Korea and foreign governments without the consent of the Japanese. In the first place, the Japanese administrator, who is to govern Korea under its emperor, will be the real, if not the nominal head of the empire. The emperor will be in a similar position to the khedive of Egypt— a mere figurehead. The arrangement will at least gratify, in one measure, the vanity of the Korean emperor, who may ride about in his carriage of state accompanied by the royal guard, and may hold social functions at the palace; but with the real administration of government he will have but little to do. His consent and his signature may be necessary, but they will be purely formal. What is of far-reaching consequence, however, to Japan is her ability, hereafter, to conduct the foreign affairs of the Hermit Kingdom from Tokyo. There will be no intrigues for exclusive concessions in the matter of building railroads and cutting down the forests along the Yalu, such as Russia was enabled to obtain during the time when her influence controlled at Seoul. Korea, hereafter, will be merely a province of Japan, and, perhaps, when the present emperor dies, the Japanese may conclude to do away with the figurehead altogether. This is an important announcement to the world, as it means the development of the resources of Korea, and the growth of the foreign trade. This change is no less advantageous to the great masses of the Koreans themselves, as they will, hereafter, enjoy enlarged privileges, and some opportunities for intellectual growth. Their liberties will be extended, and the country in which they live will be greatly improved. The Revolution in Russia. The revolution that has been on for some months in Russia is unlike anything with which history has heretofore made us familiar. In the first place, Russia represents, today, the greatest state socialism, in that a considerable number of industries are directly under the management of the country, which guarantees the employment of hundreds of thousands of men. One of the reasons which influenced Russia, perhaps the strongest reason, was

242 IMPROVEMENT ERA. the monopoly of an industry, and the income that would naturally accrue therefrom to the government. Perhaps one of the most enormous monopolies, in a country like Russia, where the drinkhabit is so universal and so strong, is the liquor traffic, which in that country, today, is in the hands of the government. But the activity of the government is not confined simply to the manufacture and sale of liquor, it enters the industrial life of the empire itself. Railroads, iron foundries, and hundreds of machineshops operated by the government, make the relationship between the workmen and the government closer in Russia than in any other country. The advocates of Socialism are not likely to find much comfort in the sort of socialism that obtains in Russia today. A secondary purpose, in the state socialism in Russia, has been to make the employees more dependent upon the government, and, therefore, more loyal. In the recent revolution, however, the power of state socialism has acted like a two-edged sword. It has cut both ways; and by strikes, the workmen succeeded in effecting a revolution in the dominions of the Czar, and of demonstrating how effective their oganization is in compelling concessions to its demands. The example of the industrial class in Russia today will give courage and aggressiveness to the industrial masses, not only in the United States, but in European countries. The character of the Russian people is so unlike that of other nationalities, where revolutions have been successfully engineered, that no safe prediction respecting the outcome from the general disturbances there can be made. The Russians themselves incline somewhat toward anarchy, and have shown little respect for any permanent institutions which have signalized the growth of liberty in other countries. It is not easy to regard self-government among the Russians with the same assurances with which it is regarded among the Anglo-Saxon or Germanic races. What a Slav will do under enlarged liberty can only be guessed at. What seems remarkable, in view of the prediction of the past about his natural tendencies toward anarchy, is that it must be said he has shown remarkable conservatism during these troublous times in Russia. The revolution itself must prove largely successful, since the

TOPICS OF MOMENT. 243 discontent with the government, and the settled determination that liberty must be enjoyed by its people, have taken root in all departments of the government service, as well as among the educated classes and the peasants. The last named class, it was supposed, were so chained to their miserable conditions, and so intoxicated with admiration for the Little Father, that it was impossible to drive them, by any excesses, into a revolution. Disaffection has found its way into the ranks of the army, and the soldiers can no longer be depended upon to maintain the autocracy in their corrupt and tyrannical government. There are, perhaps, 450,000 Cossacks whose loyalty to the Czar will be the last to be questioned; but disaffection will enter their ranks, as it has entered the masses of the peasants. They have been favored by the Czar, and when that favor is seen to diminish in value to them, they will prove to be what they always have been — self-seekers. The break-up in Russia is altogether a most interesting phase of a modern tendency, not only again t governments, but against class and wealth distinctions. Count Witte has shown considerable firmness in maintaining a middle course, which he believes to be the only safe one for Russia's future welfare. If Count Witte loses his hold upon the revolutionary movement, it will be difficult to imagine to what extent it may go. Russian promises of enlarged liberty, in the past, have been so shamefully disregarded that the socialists and liberals do not give much credence to the manifesto of the Czar. The contentions between Witte and the people run in a circle. Witte says. Be quiet, and you shall have the liberties you are contending for. The people reply by demanding their liberties and saying that when they are given, then will they be stilled. In the meantime, the situation in Russia remains more perplexing than ever. The Jews in Russia. The present revolution in Russia has worked a hardship upon the Jews, compared with which the massacre some time ago at Kishineff pales into insignificance. The thousands of Jews that have been mercilessly slaughtered in Odessa and other southern cities of Russia, as well as in Besarabia; the shameful outrages perpetrated against womanhood, and the savage treatment of little children, constitute one of the most horrible pictures of inhu-

244 IMPROVEMENT ERA. manity ever known since the dawn of our present civilization. Pouring oil upon human beings and setting fire to them, reminds one of Nero's days, when burning Christians was a favorite pastime. At the very time when the Russian people are guilty of these outrages against the Jews, Russia joins the great powers, and sends a war vessel to the Turkish waters, in order to compel the Sultan to accede to their demands for better treatment to his Christian subjects of Macedonia, and to put his finances of that province under international control. No wonder Abdul Hamid exclaimed: "However ill my Bashibazuks may have treated my Christian subjects, ^hey have not treated them so ill as the Czar's Christian Cossacks have treated the Czar's Jews!" The responsibility for the wholesale massacres of the Jews is quite generally attributed to the city and provincial authorities of Russia; a class of officials who prefer to see the present government and condition of affairs continue. They belong to those reactionaries who would throw every possible discredit upon the revolution now going on in Russia, their purpose being to convince the conservative and moderately liberal element that any change in the pre ent government of Russia means anarchy. There is always a very large class among the Russians whose fanatical intolerance of the Jews has been kept alive as a sort of protection against Jewish aggressions in commerce, and against Jewish demands for enlarged privileges. It may be that some responsibility attaches to the organization in Russia known as the Jewish Bund, many of whose members have been active revolutionists, and a few of whom hnve been among the most radical socialists; but the root of the difficulty is to be found in the racial hatred that has been kept alive for centuries against the Jewish people. There are, today, something like 5,000,000 Jews in Russia. They are mostly located within what is known as the "pale," that is, within Poland, and the western part of Russia, adjoining Poland. Their forefathers left Germany nine centuries ago; and Russia has kept them as much as possible from the districts in which St. Petersburg and Moscow are situated. The Jews, therefore, have expanded naturally towards the

TOPICS. OF MOMENT. 245 south until they have become quite numerous about the shores of the Black Sea. Since the Zionist movement began, the opponents of the Jews in the Czar's empire have undertaken to create the impression that the Zionists really meant to have western Russia as their home' rather than Palestime, and that the move in the direction of Palestine was really a disguise. The sentiment, therefore, in Russia against Zionism has been strong, and the government has forbidden the Jews to propagate the Zionist ideas within the empire. It can, therefore, be easily imagined what the prejudice against Zionism would do among the Russians who live within the Jewish ' 'pale, ' ' as that district has only about one-eighth of its population Jewish. HOPE'S REALIZATION. Brown autumn's gone with all its gladness, With all its beauties rich and sweet; Now winter comes with gentle sadness, And lays the snow beneath our feet. A snowy pall now hides the flowers, And keeps them from our longing eyes; The fairest blossoms of earth's bowers Are blighted now, 'neath winter's skies. Yet will the genial glow of spring Revive the spirit of the flowers ; Again their fragrance sweet will bring Fond memories of happier hours. Thus, in life's precious spring of gladness, When skies are clear, our flowers bloom ; Then winter comes, with dreary sadness, To lay them neath her snowy tomb. Oft with the flowers our loved ones perish. At winter's chill they droop and die; Those darling ones we loved to cherish, Now in their silent graves must lie. Still, as the sunbeams raise the flowers. And bring them back to life again. The blessed King will bring us ours, When he returns on earth to reign. Annie G. Laukitzex. Richfield, Utah.