Page:The passing of Korea.djvu/291

 REVENUE 231 considered as a sort of government monopoly, and gangs of trappers have been regularly sent out by the authorities, the entire catch being taken by the government and paid for. If other people take furs, especially sea-otter, sable, tiger or leopard, the rule is to carry them to the nearest prefect, who is sure to buy them in for the government. Within the last few months a Korean in Whang-hai Province got into serious trouble because he carried a tiger skin directly to Chemulpo, and sold it to a foreigner rather than offer it first to the prefect. The foreigner doubtless paid him six times as much as the prefect would have given. The method adopted makes it quite impossible to estimate the amount annually received, as it never appears in the columns of dollars and cents.

All merchant craft are subject to a tax which is levied upon their carrying capacity. About three cash per bag is collected at the port of entry. This is only a small fraction of one per cent. Before the days when government taxes were payable in money, these boats often paid by bringing government rice up to the capital, just as in rural districts in America farmers "work out" their taxes on the road.

The forests of Korea are considered crown lands, and no one can cut timber without special permission. The tax is paid in kind and amounts to three per cent of the product. Cowhides, in which the trade is considerable, form a special source of revenue; the hides are graded into three classes and pay a tax of twenty, sixteen and twelve cents apiece, respectively. The various guilds of Seoul, of which we shall speak at length in another place, pay no regular taxes, but they are frequently called upon to help in various forms of government works. Sometimes they are required to repair a road over which a royal procession is to pass ; and in case of a royal funeral or marriage, each guild is supposed to supply a gorgeous banner to be carried in the procession, and the members of the guilds are called upon to act as bearers of the catafalque of the dead.

Up to the time of the China-Japan war every man was