He definitely falls into the pro-Japan category that was in the majority, I think, in the US at this time – of which Pres. Teddy Roosevelt was a member.

And the ideas of “progress” and “modernization” at this time were heavily influenced by Social Darwinism.

But, you also have to factor is what the state of Korea was at the time as well. I’ve read a little in Korean literature and social thinkers at that time, and there is a lot of despair and heavy criticism of Korea’s past that can sound a lot like Ladd at times. The biggest difference being that only a handful of Koreans went so far as to say colonization by Japan was the right way to go or good for the nation. Many intellectual Koreans wanted modernization, but they didn’t want to sacrifice the being of their nation to get it.

Anyway, I might do some reading of Ladd’s material. It seems he wrote one of the earliest books on Korea which can be read for free via Google Books. I’ll post links to them as a regular blog post today…