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3
Praise God from whom all blessings flow. May this year be a year of peace of mind as the year just gone was a year of so much worry and anxiety.
4
Snow all the day. Paid my card visit to the Governor Genl., Vice Gov. Genl. and a few others.
5
Mr. 張奎明 of 宣川 Y.M.C.A. called on me at the Y. by appointment. The Executive Committee of the Korean National Council met yesterday afternoon decided to send a conciliatory note to the 平壤 Y. expressing, however, the hope that they (the 平壤 people) might retract their statement accusing Dr. 申 and Mr. barnhart of having those "false" reports to New York. I asked Mr. 張 to convey the letter to the 平壤 Y. He fears that the 平壤 people wouldn't do that. Lunch with Mr. 張 at 百合園.
7
2nd. Friday. Cloudy. Snow on and off. Mild.
8
Seoul home. 孫昌植 the inventor to whom I gave ￥300.00 last Spring wants me to give him a note of hand(手形) to the tune of ￥2,000.00. He once told me last Summer that he had made ￥2,000.00 by the sale of portable table. I asked him this morning what he had done with the money. He said he had invested the sum in new tools and more apparatus etc. If he goes at that rate he will never have any capital laid aside for carrying on further experiments. Whenever he gets some money he will invest it in tools etc.(supposing his statement were true) and then go about begging again ad infinitum. What's the matter with these Koreans! Last Spring I loaned ￥500―in all to Rev. 柳一宣 for certain inventions. Not a sen back!
10
3rd. Saturday. Foggy early a.m. Pale sun p.m.
11
Seoul home. Mild but chilly. Went outside East Gate 2 p.m. to see 璋善 trying to learn skating on the Gold fish pond. The weather so mild that there was hardly any ice firm enough to skate on.
12
Mr. Snyder desires to lease the school orchard to Candler on following terms:Candler to invest no less than ￥3,000.00, 2,000.00 yen in building and 1,000 yen for working capital. Of the gross sum obtained by the sale of the fruits, ￥1,000.00 is to be laid aside for working fund, the balance to be equally divided, between Candler and the school. When, at the end of 3 years, the contract may be renewed; but in case it terminates, any additional buildings and equipment shall be equally divided. The terms are almost unfair. Sent 明燮 to Song Do to find out more about the affair.
14
4th. Sunday. Rain a.m. Mild as a Spring day.
15
Left Seoul 1:25 train for Song Do with 璋善 and 埼善. All well here. Thank God.
16
Mr. 李常春 called after supper. He told me that Mr. Snyder had asked him to accept the principalship of the Song Do Higher Common School; that he(李) wouldn't accept such a precarious position; that he was willing to manage the school affairs under the nominal principalship to Mr. S.; that the new budget putting all the teachers on salaries not higher than ￥110.00 a month would provoke another rumpus in the school; that Mr. S. is too dictatorial; that Mr. S. wants to start a vocational dept. at the cost of the school. The fact is that the Song Do Higher Common School has a dark outlook. The reduction of appropriation to half, the cutting of salaries, the lack of a suitable man for its principalship.
18
5th. Monday. Cloudy. Chilly.
19
Song Do home. From 10 a.m. to 12:30 and from 2 to 4 p.m. the Board of Control of the Song Do Higher Common School had meetings, in the Board Room. The most important items in the agenda that were carried were (1) the proposal to start a vocational department with half of the mission appropriation given for the Higher Common School was squashed on the ground that cutting the appropriation for the school by one half would triple the school; that a vocational dept. couldn't be started with so little capital; and that we must find out more thoroughly what the government proposes to do in the matter of vocational courses in the Higher Common School curricula. (2) Mr. Lim's resignation accepted. (3) Mr. Snyder reappointed the principal. Mr. Lim seemed to resent the fact that Mr. Snyder had promised or announced to the strikers and their parents that the office of vice-principal would abolished and that Mr. Lim's resignation would be accepted the end of March 31. I thought Mr. Lim had consented to that men that was the only means of pacifying the strikers. Returned to Seoul 4:42 p.m. train.
21
6th. Tuesday. Snow. Mild a.m. Gloomy p.m.
22
Seoul home. The snow melting as it hit the ground the city turned into a world of sticky and slippery mud.
23
The American members of the B. of Control of the Song Do H. C. School actually believed that the Song Do citizens would gladly come to the financial relief of School when necessary. That would mean that the Song Do people would have to supply at least 4 or 5 thousand yen, the coming school year and that they would, thereby, obligate themselves to support the school by subscribing as much hard cash as the mission cuts its appropriation viz: 16 thousand yen in a few years. An impossible supposition. The Korean members seemed to have sense enough not to be fooled by any such illusion. The Song Do people wouldn't give much as long as the mission control its policy.
25
7th. Wednesday. Gloomy. Mild. Chilly.
26
Seoul home. 金澤鉉 the son of my sister is a perfect fool and a perfect rogue in one. His grandfather, Mr. 金□榮 left him some good rice fields off which he could get a hundred bags of unhulled rice a year. During the last 25 years, by careful economy he could have doubled the proceeds. Not so; he must get rich quickly. He ran through what he had inherited by rice-stock speculations. I have been giving my sister 20 bags of rice and a hundred yen a year. That wouldn't help a parasite who wouldn't help himself. Sister wails me that her house was foreclosed by a creditor to whom 澤鉉 owes ￥300.00. She, of course, wants me to redeem the house by sending the amount.
28
8th. Thursday. Snow. Mild.
29
Seoul home. Snow all the morning. Muddy streets. Snow all the afternoon far into the night.
30
Two factions(the North-Western faction and the 畿湖 or Central faction) , which have kept Koreans divided into two hostile camps in Hawaii, the States, in Siberia, Manchuria and Shanghai―in fact wherever Koreans are found, are assuming more and more alarming attitude in Seoul. Mr. 安昌浩 the leader of N.W. Faction is reported to have said "Kill the Central Koreans first―then independence." I can hardly believe that and I have always tried to keep myself aloof from these sectional and factional strifes. Yet along with Messrs. Cynn and Y.O.K. I am suspected to be one of the leaders of the Central faction. I like some men of the other side―for instance, Mr. 李光洙 the writer, Messrs. C. and Yu don't even speak to him.
32
9th. Friday. Cloudy. Cold.
33
Seoul home. Big snow on the ground.
34
Cousin 致昞 from 牙山 called. He tells the unhulled rice sell for 3 1/2 sen at Chemulpo and 3 2/10 sen in our villages! Terrible. The suffering of the farmers is intense. The irrigation associations(水利組合) which the Government Genl. have established all over the country are ruining Korean landowners by the hundreds. That is a fact everybody admits―even Japanese―Yet the Government Genl. will go on multiplying these irrigation associations until all the Korean landowners are forced to sell out dirt-cheap to the Japanese sharks―the Oriental Development Co. and the Industrial Bank and other land-grabbing Co's.
35
5 p.m. went to 信行旅館 to take the monthly supper with Dr. 吳兢善, Messrs. 金一善 and 金炳贊. Mr. 鄭 absent.
37
10th. Saturday. Bright. Biting―Sudden cold.
38
Seoul home. Papers report 1.7˚ below zero was the lowest the mercury went. I must be no less than 15 or 20 below zero today.
39
Stayed in bed with a touch of cold.
40
The irrigation system is one of the cunningest and at the same time cruelest means by which the Japanese Government is dispossessing the Koreans of their rice lands. They practically confiscate at a mere nominal price millions of tsubos of the finest rice fields first in making the reservoirs and then by levying exorbitant water rates from the Korean landowners thus compelling them sell or rather throw them away to the Japanese. All this in the name of promoting agriculture for the benefit of the poor dear Koreans. Don't tell me wickedness don't pay. The magnificent soulless of Japan in Korea is an irrefutable proof that injustice backed by sagacity and might work like a charm. A Mr. 宬 of 禮山 whose rich fields are within the cursed area of an irrigation company, actually offers to sell them at 15 sen a "tsubo" which he wouldn't before part with for 60 sen. Even at 15 sen a tsubo no Korean dares to buy and of course no Japanese would by knowing that soon he will have to beg some benevolent Jap. to take the rich fields for nothing just to escape the terrible water rates plus the exacting taxes.
42
11th. Sunday. Sun. Very cold.
43
Seoul home. Papers say the cold weather of the last two days has broken the record of some years past. Yesterday morning between 7 and 8 the thermometer registered 22˚ below zero according the 每日新報.
44
5 p.m. I invited to a sukiyaki supper the voluntary teachers of the Y. Night School.
46
12th. Monday. Gloomy. Snow between 8 and 9 a.m.
47
Seoul home. Snow again between 5:30 and 7 p.m.
48
6 p.m. went to the Station Restaurant to attend the December (30) meeting of the Board of Managers 理事會 of the Japanese Y.M.C.A. Whenever I attend a business meeting of this kind held by a group of Japanese, I am compelled to admire the compactness; the efficiency, the business-likeness of the gathering. What a pity that the cold hearted-cruel-national policy of Japan toward Koreans keeps me from fully enjoying the friendship of some of these Japanese whose gentlemanly character I can't help admiring. The strict economy of the Japanese Y. and the unjustifiable extravagance of the Korean Y. are illustrated by the kind of letter papers and envelopes both use. our Japanese friends who are richer, by 1,000%, than we use envelops that sell at 5 or 7 sen per 100 while the Korean Y. people use or misuse the highest grade of stationary for the commonest purpose. It is this vanity this love of beggarly show that makes the Korean Y. always come out short in its yearly balance. It is this vanity, this love of show that devoured the hard-earned reserve fund which Gregg and I so jealously guarded and plunged the Central Y. into ￥4,000.00 debt. Those people whose motto was "Spend so that we may earn" were exactly those people who knew how to spend but who failed to earn any.
50
13th. Tuesday. Bright. Clear.
51
Seoul home. Cousins 致昭 and 李普相 are hard hit by or irrigation curse―especially the later. A talk with them made me blue all day.
53
14th. Wednesday. Cloudy a.m. Milder than yesterday.
54
Seoul home. Found a layer of snow on the ground early in the morning. Continued snowing until 8 a.m.
55
Tell one of my(on anybody's) employees that "Honesty is the best policy." He will smile in his sleeve for he knows better. He gets, say, ￥50.00 per month by honesty; but he can and does double or triple that amount by wise dishonesty. All the great nations of the world―got great by dealing dishonesty with weaker races. Tell a Japanese that war-like-ness is wrong and barbarous. He knows that's a lie; for by war-like-ness Japan has become what she is: one of the "civilized" nations of the world. It's hard to preach theories that don't square with facts.
57
15th. Thursday. Bright. Cold.
58
Seoul home. wrote to Dr. Gale.
59
7:30 p.m. went to the Evangel Centre to meet Dr. and Mrs. Johnson, two important personages in the mission and social activities of the M.E. Church. They are specially interested in childhood and laymen movements. Mrs. Johnson emphasizes the necessity of producing child-literature so cheap as to place it within the reach of the largest possible number of children all over the world. She suggested that the "children's magazine" 어린이 生活 which one of her societies is or has been subsidizing is printed on too good paper and that the material is too hard for children under 10.
61
16th. Friday. Cloudy a.m.
62
Seoul home. 11:30 a.m. went to the 檢事局 under an oral summon. A Korean procurator―a Min somebody―asked me questions as a witness in a case in which cousins No. 1(致旿) and No.2(致晠) are involved. The former cheated some ￥1,100.00 out of a fellow named 具 five years ago on the condition of giving him the 舍音 ship of my 和順 lands. Of course the pledge was not redeemed and cousin No.1 was send for damage by 具 some years ago. 致旿 who was and is on intimate terms with the police got off to the country where he stayed hid(?) for nearly a year. Then cousin 致晠 fooled a 金潭 to pay off 具 with the promise of giving a valuable concession(貸付) he had gotten from the Government Genl. But 金 lately found out that 致晠 simply lied to him. So he(金) had filed a suit against 致晠 for the money. The 檢事 suggested I and 致昭 who are able should pay the poor fellow 金 the money so to clear the precious cousins No.1 and 3 from the criminal charges. Well these two are hand in glove with the police and judges will get out of the situation unharmed.
64
17th. Saturday. Bright. Mild.
65
Seoul home. Lunch at 百合園 with Messrs. 申 and 兪.
66
Brother 致旺's baby, hardly a month old had to be taken to 河野小兒科 in the afternoon. Dr. 朴啓陽, 金容採 and 河野 all at a loss to give an adequate diagnosis. The little thing gave no sign of any ailment until early this morning. He vomited blood―which made his breathing hard. Well, he passed away about 10 p.m. His mother seems to stand the bereavement bravely.
68
18th. Sunday. Mild-Snow from 8:30 a.m.
69
Seoul home. Snow stopped about 10 a.m.
70
To the 漢 River with 璋, 埼 and his two school mates for practicing skating. From 3 to 5 p.m. boys enjoyed the outing.
72
19th. Monday. Mild. Sun and cloud alternately.
75
20th. Tuesday. Bright―Cold.
78
21st. Wednesday. Lovely. Biting cold.
81
22nd. Thursday. Cloudy a.m. Chilly.
82
Seoul home. Snow from 11:30 a.m. till 5:30 p.m. One of the biggest snow falls in Seoul so far this winter.
84
23rd. Friday. Bright. Mild. Sunshine.
87
24th. Saturday. Bright. Cold.
88
Seoul home. This 許載厚 called on his way back to 南原 where he has been teaching in the Common School for the last 6 months, or so. He says the Namwonites are still Rip-Van-Winkles with top-knots, only, in waking dreams instead of being in perpetual sleep. They―the scholars―are still devoting their time and thought to the composition of Chinese essays and poems―with their faces toward the golden past. They look, with distrust and also a measure of disdain, the teachers in the school―regarding them as officials to be kept at an arm's length. When he called on the parents―fathers―of a student, he wasn't invited to enter the 舍廊. The Namwonites still revere officials as they used to do under the Korean regime. His surprise was great when he visited his native district of 吉州 and 珹津. There the whole population―especially the youths―are obsessed by Bolshevism. They don't want children attend the common schools. Every little fellow who can talk can lecture on Communism. No respect for the aged or even for parents.
89
Thus senseless Conservatism is ruining the South, while equally senseless Communism is raining the North. While the Koreans are ruining themselves by going one extreme of senselessness to anther, the Japanese are by cool-headed and cold-hearted policy, rapidly taking everything the Korean has in the way of livelihood.
91
25th. Sunday. Cloudy. Mild.
92
Seoul home. All Korea(?) Skating Match on the Han River under the auspices of Korean Athletic Association from 12 to 5 p.m.
94
26th. Monday. Bright. Cold.
95
Seoul home. In Nehemiah's Confession, we find the following words: "See, we this day are but slaves in the land thou gravest to our forefathers that they might eat its fruit and enjoy its good gifts, and it yields a great income to the Kings whom thou hast set over us because of our sins. They too have power over our bodies and over our cattle to do what they please and we are in great distress." A perfect picture of the political and economic condition of the Korean people. An American writing under the caption "Whose Home is Palestine" has this to say about the Zionists: "They(the native Palestinians or Arabs) see in these intolerant penniless and over bearing emigrants from Poland, Russia and Roumania, Zionists crusaders bent upon reclaiming by conquest their promised land and inspired with a fierce conviction of possessing a divine mandate to it. The Zionist's inordinate lust for more and ever more political and economic control leaves the natives no better conclusion. Nor only do these new comers demand preference in the economic opportunities of the country which means Jewish monopoly pure and simple, but they aim also at the complete control of its government and the substitution of a Jewish culture that is yet to be born for the Arabic culture which for centuries has dominated the life and the spirit of the native population." Isn't this a perfect picture of what the Japanese are doing in Korea? The Jews who have been the objects of unjust discrimination ever given the Babylonian captivity during the last 25 centuries are dealing out unjust discriminations to other races as soon as they get in power.
96
Oh the meanness of human nature!
98
27. Tuesday. Bright. Very cold.
101
28th. Wednesday. Gloomy―Chilly to the bone.
102
Seoul home. Mr. 李鍾元 came from the country. To my surprise and disgust he said something like this: "You gave me the sa-um(舍音) ship of your land in 任實 as a matter of friendship. But I have incurred a debt of over ￥1,000.00, because of that. I have to feed so many visitors―tenants who bring the rent and those who desire to become tenants. Besides the women of my family become somewhat thriftless seeing I have to handle so much rice. Now I want you to appoint two sub-sa-ums and me the general superviser. That will enable me to economize my income. Then you must give me ￥1,000.00 to pay off my debt". Here is a man whom I once thought the most reliable man I had in my service. I made him a sa-um of land that give 300 石 of rice a year,―paying him 30 bags. I have also continued the gift of 30 bags from 鎭安 farms for the ten years past.
104
29th. Thursday. Gloomy. Chilly but thawing.
105
Seoul home. To 淸涼寺 to open the Y. Secretaries Conference. The topic: To study the various turns and twists of "Thought" among the young people indifferent sections of the country―to evolve some sort of plan for meeting or solving these "thought"―problems.
106
Last night's snow lie on the ground at least 1/2 inch thick―As the snow melts the streets of Seoul are as muddy as a paddy field.
107
The 第一高等女子普通學校 have selected two of the students, our 恩姬 and another girl, by the request of the Bureau of Education, to proceed to Tokyo to receive the Dolls which the girls of Tokyo send to the Korean children. Our 恩姬 and her companion under the chaperonage of 孫先生 left Seoul 10:30 p.m. train.
109
30th. Friday. Gloomy―Pale sun now and then.
111
Wife had sings of travail from 2 p.m. A midwife called. About □ she gave birth to a girl―but still-born. Wife's suffering intense.
112
I had to tell 李鍾元 that I would gladly relieve him of the "burden" of 'Sa-um' ship, since he was running into debt for that; but that I couldn't give him the money he asked. I reminded him I have been giving at least ￥600.00 a year besides his unlimited power to cultivated any number of 'tsubos' of the best fields under his care. When he found I wasn't so unwilling to fire him, he begged me not to take Sa-um ship from him. The meanness of human nature is such that no amount of book learning can change it for better. Why, this 李鍾元 can repeat from memory whole chapters of the Confucian classics―when he can't sleep.
113
The wickedness of human nature can explain every act of sin in individuals as will as in nations and races. The beauties of nature may lead a man to nature's God, but the ugliness of human nature often leads a man away from God.
115
31st. Saturday. Welcome sunshine. Cold.
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