東亞日報
- British Liberal Party Leader: Messrs. Ok and A Both Resign
- The Way of Regeneration
- Plot to Occupy Nanjing
This partial reading of the Tong-a Ilbo for 17 October 1926 covers three items. A headline announced that the British Liberal Party leader, written as 'Ok' and 'A', had resigned, but the legible text beneath it reports on a Far East colonization and migration scheme: 66 percent of a planned 1,279,000 had been received, and arrangements for 38,000 migrant households were completed as planned. In the third installment of his serial on the regeneration of the Korean nation, Choe Hyeon-bae used physics to argue that white clothing helps people bear the summer heat but is a serious disadvantage against winter cold. A China column carried a Fengtian wire saying Zhang Zuolin had ordered that only new men be hired and that senior officials go abroad to study. It then reported that a plot to seize Nanjing, involving collusion between the Southern Army and part of the Third Division, had been discovered in advance.
Most of the page is blurred, and the OCR is badly garbled, so this edition covers only three short passages; [?] and [...] mark text that could not be read. The text found under the Liberal Party headline is about a Far East colonization and migration scheme and says nothing about the resignation, so it probably belongs to a neighboring article. The units after its figures are illegible. The third passage begins with the end of a separate Zhang Zuolin item before the Nanjing report, and all three passages break off mid-sentence.
Translation
British Liberal Party Leader: Messrs. Ok and A Both Resign
According to what has recently been reported as the results of the Far East colonization and migration project, of the 1,279,000 [?] that was to be spent under the plan, 66 percent, or 854,000 [?], has been received, and the migrants' [?]-fixed funds have likewise, in line with the plan, completed the [?]-fixing for 38,000 households; from October 1, 1925, to September of this year
The Way of Regeneration
The Way of Regeneration for the Korean Nation [3]: Stirring Up Vital Energy — Establishing Ideals — Conviction of Regeneration — Ceaseless Effort. By Choe Hyeon-bae, Bachelor of Letters. [...] Looked at physically, white is the color of a thing that reflects all of the sun's rays and absorbs none of them at all (in a behavioral sense [...]). So, in the extreme heat of summer, wearing white clothes may be of benefit in escaping the heat, but wearing white clothes in [?] winter is extremely disadvantageous for keeping out the cold. Like Joseon
Plot to Occupy Nanjing
Mr. Zhang Zuolin Reportedly Gives Strict Orders to Hire New Men (dispatched September 14). [...] declared that it must be new men and nothing else, and gave strict orders to every quarter to [?] hire new men; from now on, it is said, he has ordered high civil and military officials who are graduates of middle [?] school [?] to study abroad in various countries [?] [?]. (Fengtian telegram [?]) Plot to Occupy Nanjing: Collusion between the Southern Army and part of the Third Division discovered in advance, and guard
Context
Why Asquith gave up the Liberal leadership in October 1926
H. H. Asquith had been Liberal prime minister until David Lloyd George replaced him in December 1916, and the two men then fought for control of a declining Liberal Party. According to the Journal of Liberal History, the General Strike of May 1926 caused a public falling-out between them. The parliamentary party pressed for conciliation, and a few days before the National Liberal Federation's annual meeting Asquith had a stroke that kept him out of action for three months. Lloyd George went to the meeting and was received rapturously. When Asquith recovered in September, he concluded that his position could not be held, and on 15 October 1926 he announced his resignation in a short letter to the leaders of the English and Scottish Liberal Federations. The Tong-a Ilbo printed its headline two days later. This edition offers no account of these internal party causes, because the legible text under the headline does not concern the resignation.
Who were 'Ok' and 'A'?
The headline speaks of two gentlemen, Ok and A, resigning. By 1926 Asquith held a peerage and was styled the 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith. 'Ok' and 'A' match the opening sounds of the two halves of that single title, Oxford and Asquith, which belonged to one man. The paper therefore appears to have taken one title for the names of two people, perhaps through a misreading of the cable. Because the legible text under the headline does not concern the resignation, it is unclear whether the article itself repeated the error.
Nanjing, Sun Chuanfang and defections in autumn 1926
In October 1926 Nanjing was the seat of the warlord Sun Chuanfang, who had set up his headquarters there as military governor of Jiangsu on 25 November 1925. The Nationalist Northern Expedition had turned against Sun in September. Jiujiang and Nanchang fell by 19 September, helped by the defection of one of Sun's generals, Lai Shih-huang, and Sun then came from Nanjing with reinforcements on 21 September to drive the offensive back. On 16 October, the day before this issue, Sun's civil governor of Zhejiang, Xia Chao, declared independence and went over to the Kuomintang, but Sun had detected his plans days earlier. The paper's report that collusion between the 'Southern Army' and part of the Third Division was discovered in advance fits this pattern of subordinates secretly dealing with the advancing southern forces. The sources consulted do not identify this specific plot or the Third Division involved. The Zhang Zuolin item that precedes it carries a Fengtian dateline. Zhang then headed the Beiyang government and the Fengtian clique, which controlled Manchuria, Shandong and Zhili.
Choe Hyeon-bae's program for national regeneration
The column is part of Choe Hyeon-bae's 'The Way of Regeneration for the Korean Nation', which the Dong-A Ilbo serialized in 66 installments in 1926 and which appeared as a book in 1930. Choe wrote it in 1925, as he was finishing ten years of study in Japan. The Encyclopedia of Korean Culture describes the work's core principles as stirring up the nation's vital energy, establishing national ideals and grasping the ideals of the age. Choe also stressed firm conviction in regeneration. These themes match the deck of this installment: vital energy, ideals, conviction and ceaseless effort. The book's final chapter listed practical efforts, including improving the way people live. Choe's argument from physics that white clothing is a poor choice for winter appears to belong to this practical program of reforming daily customs.
Original
英自由黨總裁 옥、아兩氏辭職
英自由黨總裁 옥、 아 兩氏辭職最近極東拓殖移民事業 의 成績 으 로서 傳 하는바에 依 하면 計劃上百二十七萬九千 [?] 가 支出 될터이든 것이 其六十六 퍼센트인 八十五萬四千 [?] 가 受取 되엿스며 移民 [?] 定金 도 計劃 과가치 三萬八千戶 에 對 한 [?] 定 을 終 하엿다는데 一千九百二十五年十月一日 부터 今年九月
更生의道
朝鮮民族更生 의 道 【三】 生氣振作 ─ 理想樹立 ─ 更生確信 ─ 不斷努力文學士崔鉉培、 남에는 物理學的 으로보자 흰빛이라는것은 太陽 의 光線 을 全部反射 시키고조금도 빨아들이지아니하는 物件 의빗 이나 (行爲的意味 에서는 빗 니하다 그러나서 여름에 極 히덥을적에는 흰옷을입는것 이 避暑 에 有益 하겟지마는겹 은겨울에 흰옷을입는것은 防寒 에 甚 히 不利 하다 朝鮮 가치
南京占領陰謀
張作霖氏 가 新人採用嚴命 한다더라 (九月十四日發) 는 新人 이아니면아니된다고 하고 各方面 에 向 하야 新人採 [?] 嚴命 한바 今後 는 中 [?] 學校卒 [?] 의 高等文武官 은 各國 에 留學 [?] [?] 命令 하엿다더라 (奉天電 [?] 南京占領陰謀南軍 과 第三師一部結託 으로 未前 에 發覺 하야 警戒