under which the owner or tenant may be labouring. In other words, the government takes no chances. And yet it may be that when we take into account the great infrequency of serious famines in Korea, this system is the best for the farmer; for were the regular tax the only charge on the field there would be every incentive to cultivate the soil with care, to fertilise it heavily, and to make it produce the very most of which it is capable. As a fact, however, the farmer is frequently subjected to further imposts which, though illegal, are unavoidable under a system which gives officials no opportunity to gain a competence except by indirection.
Rice being the staple article of food, it naturally forms the measure of value. Until very recently the farmer had to pay all his taxes in rice, and therefore was obliged to barter his barley, millet or beans in order to obtain the wherewithal to settle his debts to the government. To-day all taxes are collected in money. This simplifies taxation in one sense, but in another sense it complicates matters, as we shall see. The tax is ten Korean dollars a kyul.
Such is the law in regard to the land tax, but there are great discrepancies in its operation and administration. The prefect and all his underlings receive a nominal salary, which is annually deducted from the tax money or rice which is to be sent up to Seoul, but it is notorious that this salary is insufficient and that it is supplemented by various means. As these are an actual charge upon the productive portion of the population, they require mention. The amount of special taxation depends upon the personal character of the prefect and his deputies, the ajuns, and we can indicate only the general lines upon which it is levied. We have already seen that the tax is levied on the estimated average yield of the land. Now, if this average yield is exceeded in a year of plenty or through unusual thrift on the part of the farmer, a portion of the overplus or increment is commonly appropriated by the ajuns, who share it with their chief; but it all depends upon the status of the owner of the field. If he be
