That he shall take who has the power,
That he shall KEEP, who can."

XI

"I WILL WHIP YOU WITH SCORPIONS"

The Japanese administration of Korea from 1910 to 1919, first under Count
Terauchi and then under General Hasegawa, revealed the harshest and most
relentless form of Imperial administration. When formal annexation was
completed in 1910 all the hindrances which had hitherto stood in the way of
the complete execution of Japanese methods were apparently swept on one
side. The Governor-General had absolute power to pass what ordinances he
pleased, and even to make those ordinances retroactive.
Extra-territoriality was abolished, and foreign subjects in Korea were
placed entirely under the Japanese laws.

Japanese statesmen were ambitious to show the world as admirable an example
of efficiency in peace as Japan had already shown in war. Much thought had
been given to the matter for a long time ahead. The colonial systems of
other countries had been carefully studied. Service in Korea was to be a
mark of distinction, reserved for the best and most highly paid. National
pride and national interest were pledged to make good. Money was spent
freely and some of the greatest statesmen and soldiers of Japan were placed
at the head of affairs. Ito, by becoming Resident-General, had set an
example for the best of the nation to follow.

Between the annexation in 1910 and the uprising of the people in 1919, much
material progress was made. The old, effete administration was cleared
away, sound currency maintained, railways were greatly extended, roads
improved, afforestation pushed forward on a great scale, agriculture
developed, sanitation improved and fresh industries begun.

And yet this period of the Japanese administration in Korea ranks among the
greatest failures of history, a failure greater than that of Russia in
Finland or Poland or Austria-Hungary in Bosnia. America in Cuba and Japan
in Korea stand out as the best and the worst examples in governing new
subject peoples that the twentieth century has to show. The Japanese
entered on their great task in a wrong spirit, they were hampered by
fundamentally mistaken ideas, and they proved that they are not yet big
enough for the job.

They began with a spirit of contempt for the Korean. Good administration is
impossible without sympathy on the part of the administrators; with a blind
and foolish contempt, sympathy is impossible. They started out to