The Penn's Grove record., 1883-11-10
Smuggling.

If W~ordsworth's analogy betwee
I island and mountain countries Is fol
} lowed out to the full, 1t will be seei
that even in the characteristics OF thel
c~ontrdban1 trade they have much Il
common. To smuggle tobacco across
glacier pass Is as romantic an adventur
as tn run a cargo of brandy upon
rocky coast on a dark uIght. The sue
cessful smuggler of the mountains or o
the sea will alike require courage anC
perseverance. Those who have liveC
near the frontier line between the Sw1s
and italian valleys of the Alps, and VIII
have realized the difference in price be
tween Swiss and italian tobacco, vii
not wonder how easy it is to smugglt
and how great is the temptation. The
italian frontier is doYetailed in and oui
with the Swiss IN such a way that there
is no effectual mean of guarding 1t ex.
cept at such expense as ever q protec-
ZIONIST State would hardly think pos
slble. As it is, the expense incurred
for customs stations in lonely places aud
for an army of officials must seriously
diminish the returns.
1t can never be easy to arrange the
frontier OF a mountain district so as to
prevent this dovetailing, which gives
the smugglers such opportunities, and
on the Italian frontier political events
tended to still farther aggravate these
difficulties. When Napoleon tore the
Valteline from the high and mighty
State of the Grisons and added to his
kingdom of Italy its fertile vineyards,
he did not think it worth while to steal
the comparatively barren Val Bregaglia
and when the Austrian entered into the
inheritance of his misdeeds IN Italy. and
the Grisons was united to the Swiss
Confederation, the frontier line re-
NAMED as Napoleon had marked it.
The Valteline and the Val Bregaglia,
though running parallel to each other,
thus remained In different hands.
The narrow back bone of granite hills
that rises between the two valleys,
though it is crossed by no path practi-
cal except for foot passengers, or in
deed except for mountaineers, is no dlf
ticulty to the smugglers, who have their
choice between the Albigna glacier.
easy in winter when the the snow
bridges are strong. but deeply creyassed
in summer, and the more precipitous
Trubenasca pass. The smuggling is
usually conducted not by the Swiss bat
by their poorer and more desperate
neighbors. The Italians cross the ridge,
descend into the Bregaglis, buy tobacco
in one of the villages-where the grocery
and general shops keep it done up IN
handy packages-and then return with
their purchases to the Valteline. Some
times a string of as many as thirty men
will leave i'll a long line from the little
village of BonGo. which Is the best
starting place for the Trubenasca pass.
Those who choose the way across the
Albigna glacier fxsas their point of de-
parture, on Vicosoprano, a name, we'll
known to these who have travelled by
the Malola diligence. The start is
usually made between 2 and 3 in the
morning, and it must be a nice question
to decide whether more is gained or lost
by the risks or securities of darkness.
The smuggling appears 70 be a danger
GUS trade in proportion to the bardi-
hood of those engaged in it. Ii a snug
gIer, when challenged by the guards,
throws down his packet and runs of,
there is little danger of his being pur-
sued; his only loss is his tobacco. III,
however, he makes any resistance, or
does Tot respond to the challenge to
throw down what he carries, the guards
fires at once, and often with deadly eff
feet. Sometimes. however, the tables
are turned, and a large party of Snug
glers will surprise and oyerpower a
small post of Custom House officers or a
single guard.
The smuggler, V e when he has got
his goods across the frontier, is by no
means safe. Deep into Italy extends a
5one in which all suspicious goods are
liable to be examined, and, unless a
license of transit and evidence to show
that they have paid duty are produced,
to be confscated, An instance of the
inconvenience and tyranny of such a
system, which seems to combine the
several evils of customs and excise, may
be quoted. An hotel-keeper on the
Lago Maggiore received from Milan a
box of freezing powder. The permit,
and the parcel was seized on The steamer
as being above the weight of five kllos,
(the minimum allowed to pass without
inquiry, and promptly confiscated. Al.
though the Lake of Como Is entirely
within Italy, its shores and waters
swarm with Custom House officers
ready to seize smugglers who have
crossed the frontier successfully, n
are trying to escape from witbin the
zone. For till this is accomplished they
have no security. A sad story is told
of a young man who, seen with
smuggled goods on him, was hunted
down to the edge oil the lake oil a dark
night. Being a good swimmer, he flung
himself into the water ami triel tocross
the lake, his strength, however, failed
and his body was washed ashore at Bel
laggio a day or two later.
The large numbers of peasants, men,
and women, who seek work in Svitzer-
land, and are constantly crossing and
.recrossing the frontier, must find the
Custom House and its meddling tyranny
very yexaticus. 1t Is, indeed, a disa-
greeable and ignominous sight to see
the peasant women forced to turn out
their pockets and their bundles done in
red cotton handkerchiefs before the
douanier. Patient and good-humored
Al the contadini always are, they do not
seem TO mind; and it must be admitted
that the demands OF the officials, though
fussy in the extreme, are never made Of
fensively.