Within a fortnight, the arrests numbered thousands in Seoul alone.  Every man, particularly every student, suspected of participation was jailed.  But it was evident that the authorities had not secured the leaders, or else that the leaders had arranged a system by which there were men always ready to step into the place of those who were taken.  The official organ, the Seoul Press, would come out with an announcement that the agitation had now died down; two or three days later there would be another great demonstration in the streets.  The hundred thousand visitors who had come to Seoul for the funeral returned home to start agitations in their own districts.  The authorities were particularly annoyed at their inability to discover the editors and publishers of the secret paper of the protest, the Independence News, which appeared in mimeographed form.  To prevent its publication the authorities took control of mimeograph paper, and seized every mimeograph machine they could find.  Time after time it was stated that the editors of the paper had been secured; the announcement was barely published before fresh editions would mysteriously appear in Seoul and in the provinces.

Despite every effort to minimize it, news of the happenings gradually crept out and were published abroad.  Mr. I. Yamagata, the Director-General of Administration, was called to Tokyo for a conference with the Government.  Much was hoped by many friends of Japan in America from this.  It was believed that the Liberal Premier of Japan, the Hon. T. Hara, would promptly declare himself against the cruelties that had been employed.  Unfortunately these hopes were disappointed.  While speaking reassuringly to foreign enquirers, Mr. Hara and his Government officially determined on still harsher measures.

Mr. Yamagata’s own statement, issued on his return, announced that after conference with the Premier, an audience with the Emperor and conferences with the Cabinet “decision was reached in favour of taking drastic measures by despatching more troops to the peninsula.”

“In the first stage of the trouble, the Government-General was in favour of mild measures (!), and it was hoped to quell the agitation by peaceful methods,” Mr. Yamagata continued.  “It is to be regretted, however, that the agitation has gradually spread to all parts of the peninsula, while the nature of the disturbance has become malignant, and it was to cope with this situation that the Government was obliged to resort to force.  In spite of this, the trouble has not only continued, but has become so uncontrollable and wide-spread that the police and military force hitherto in use has been found insufficient, necessitating the despatch of more troops and gendarmes from the mother country....  Should they (the agitators) continue the present trouble, it would be necessary to show them the full power of the military force.  It is