(5) All sources of revenue and methods of raising taxes shall be placed under the control of the Finance Department, no other department or officer or corporation being allowed to interfere therewith; and the annual estimates and balances shall be made public. (6) The existing laws and regulations shall be enforced without fear or favor. It will be seen that several of these measures strike directly at powers which have been held for centuries by the King himself and it cannot be supposed that His Majesty would listen willingly to the voice of the common people when they demanded such far-reaching innovations. The whole thing was utterly distasteful to him, but the united voice of the people is a serious matter. In such a country as Korea the clearly announced statement of the common people as to their wishes carries with it the implication that they have come to the point where they are ready to make trouble if their demands are not complied with. The intensity of the popular feeling was shown in the general closing of shops and in the attendance even of women upon the mass meetings. The reactionists were seriously startled by these demonstrations, and it became necessary to temporize. These demands were not such as would involve any immediate changes; they all looked to the future. So it was an easy matter simply to comply with the demands and wait for the public feeling to subside. On the last day of September His Majesty ordered the carrying out of these six propositions.