Korea

by A. Hamilton

Another concern, Anglo-Chinese in its formation, is the Oriental Cigarette and Tobacco Company, Limited. The capital of this venture is registered from Hong-Kong. Since May 1902, the company has been engaged at Chemulpo in the manufacture, from Richmond and Korean tobacco, of cigarettes of three kinds. At the present time it possesses machinery capable of a daily output of one million cigarettes. In the days of its infancy, the company was reduced to a somewhat precarious existence—the early weeks of its career producing no returns whatsoever. Now, however, a brighter period has dawned, and an ultimate prosperity is not uncertain. Cash transactions, in the sales of the cigarettes manufactured by the company, began in July 1902, realising by the end of February 1903, £1515 sterling; to this must be added credit sales of £896 sterling—making a grand total for the first few months of its existence of £2411 sterling. A large staff of native workers is permanently employed.

Aside from this company and the mining corporation, British industrial activity is confined almost exclusively to the agency which Mr. Bennett so ably controls in Chemulpo, of which a branch is now established in the capital, and the Station Hotel which Mr. Emberley conducts at Seoul. Mr. Jordan, the British Minister in Korea, did request in June 1903, a concession for a gold mine five miles square in Hwang-hai Province. Apart from this, the apathy of the British merchant cannot be regarded as singular when business houses in London direct catalogues, intended for delivery at Chemulpo, to the British Vice-Consul, Korea, Africa. Nor, by the way, is Korea a part of China. Mr. Emberley has established a comfortable and very prosperous hotel in the capital, while at Chemulpo Mr. Bennett has opened out whatever British trade exists in Korea. British interests are safe enough in his hands, and if merchants will act in co-operation with him, it might still be possible to create good business, in spite of the competition and imitation of the Japanese. In this respect British traders are not unreasonably expected to observe the custom, prevailing among all Chinese merchants, of giving Korean firms an extended credit. Foreign banks in the Far East charge seven or eight per cent., per annum, and the native banks ten to fourteen per cent., which represents a very considerable advance upon home rates. In the opinion of Mr. Bennett, who is, without doubt, one of the most astute business men in the Far East, no little improvement would be shown in the Customs return of British imports, if the manufacturers at home would ship goods to Korea on consignment to firms, whose standing and bank guarantees were above suspicion, charging thereon only home rates of interest. An American company, engaged extensively in business with Korea, never draws against shipments, by that means deriving considerable advantage over its competitors. I commend this suggestion to the attention of the British shipper, particularly as trade in Korea is largely dependent upon the rice crop. In the train of a bad harvest comes a reduction of prices. Importers, then, who have ordered stocks beforehand, find themselves placed in a quandary. Their stocks are left upon their hands—it may be for a year, or even longer—and they are confronted with the necessity of meeting the excessive rates of interest current in the Far East. If the manufacturer could meet the merchant by allowing a rate of interest, similar to that prevailing at home, to be charged, the importer of British goods would be less disinclined to indent ahead. Under existing circumstances the merchant must take the risk of ordering in the spring for autumn delivery, and vice-versâ; on the other hand, China and Japan, being within a few days’ distance of Korea, the importer prefers to await the fulfilment of the rice crop, when, as occasion requires, he can cable to Shanghai, Osaka, or elsewhere for whatever may be desired.

Attached to the English Colony in Korea, which numbers one hundred and forty-one, there is the usual complement of clergy and nursing sisters, under the supervision of Bishop Corfe, the chief of the English Mission in Seoul. Miss Cooke, a distinguished lady doctor and a kind friend to the British Colony, is settled in Seoul. A number of Englishmen are employed in the Korean Customs; their services contributing so much to the splendid institution which Mr. McLeavy Brown has created, that one and all are above criticism. Mr. McLeavy Brown would be the first to acknowledge how much the willing assistance of his staff has contributed to his success.

The importance of the American trade in Korea is undeniable. It is composite in its character, carefully considered, protected by the influence of the Minister, supported by the energies of the American missionaries, and controlled by two firms, whose knowledge of the wants of Korea is just forty-eight hours ahead of the realisation of that want by the Korean. This is, I take it, just as things should be. The signs of American activity, in the capital alone, are evident upon every side. The Seoul Electric Car Company, the Seoul Electric Light Company, and the Seoul (Fresh Spring) Water Company have been created by American enterprise, backed up by the “liveness” and ’cuteness of the two concessionaires, whom I have just mentioned, and pushed along by little diplomatic attentions upon the part of the American Minister. The Seoul-Chemulpo Railway Concession was also secured by an American, Mr. Morse, the agent of the American Trading Company, and subsequently sold to the Japanese company in whom the rights of the concession are now vested. The charter of the National Bank of Korea has also been awarded to these Americans, and it is now in process of creation. The only mine in Korea which pays is owned by an American syndicate; and, by the way, Dr. Allen, the American Minister, possesses an intelligible comprehension of the Korean tongue.

THE CONSULTING-ROOM OF MISS COOKE

There is a large American colony in Korea, totalling in all two hundred and forty. One hundred live in Seoul; sixty-live are employed upon the American Mine at Un-san; thirty-four live at Pyöng-yang. Five are in the service of the Korean Government; ten are associated with the railway; the famous two are engaged in business and the remainder comprise the staffs of the Legation and Consulate, and a medley of missionaries. American trade with Korea embraces kerosene, flour, mining machinery, railway and mining supplies, household goods and agricultural implements, clothing and provisions, drills, sheetings, cotton goods, and cotton yarn. The American mine at Un-san employs seventeen Japanese and one hundred and thirty-three Chinese, one hundred Europeans, of whom thirty-five are American, and four thousand natives, whose wages range from 8d. to 1s. 2d. daily. The private company that has acquired this concession works five separate mines with enormous success; four mills, two of forty stamps and two of twenty stamps, are of long standing. An additional mill of eighty stamps is of more recent construction. During 1901 gold to the amount of £150,000 was exported by the company, while in the year following this sum was very vastly exceeded. The area of the concession is eight hundred square miles.

The future alone can disclose whether Korea is to be absorbed by the Japanese. At present, the Japanese population in Korea exceeds twenty thousand, the actual estimate falling short of twenty-five thousand. The Japanese control the railway between Chemulpo and Seoul, as well as the important trunk line to Fusan, an undertaking now in course of construction and under the immediate supervision of the Japanese Government. The new company has since absorbed the parent line from Seoul to Chemulpo. The capital of this company is twenty-five million yen, £2,500,000, which is to be raised in annual instalments of five million yen, counting from the time when one-tenth of the first instalment of five million yen was found. As a matter of fact, the preliminary turning of the first sods took place at Fusan on September 21st, and at Yong-tong-po on August 20th, in the summer of 1901. From that moment, the Japanese Government made itself responsible for the payment of the debenture bonds, and guaranteed six per cent. upon the company’s subscribed capital for a period of fifteen years.[1] Each share is of the value of £5, the money to be called up as required, each call being at the rate of ten shillings per share. The whole of the 400,000 shares, which was the original allotment, was at once taken up, Japanese and Koreans alone being eligible as shareholders. The estimated cost of the line is £9000 per mile. Work has been completed as far as Syu-won, a distance of twenty-six miles, over which section trains are already running. Construction is, of course, being rapidly pushed forward, and working parties are engaged at a number of places along the line of route.

The length of the Seoul-Fusan Railway will be 287 miles. It is confidently expected that the undertaking will be completed within six years. There will be some forty stations, including the terminal depôts, and it is, perhaps optimistically, estimated that the scheduled time for the journey from Fusan to Seoul will be twelve hours, which is an average of twenty-four miles an hour, including stops, the actual rate of speed being approximately some thirty miles an hour. The present working speed of the Seoul-Chemulpo railway requires a little less than two hours to make the journey between Seoul and Chemulpo, a distance of twenty-five miles, from which it will be seen that considerable improvement must take place if the distance between Seoul and Fusan is to be accomplished within twelve hours.