The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-09-01

IL is during the latter part Of August
and the first of September, when the
tide of travel is setting westward from
Europe, that Uncle Sam begins to
cherish sharp suspicion of those Of his
daughters who have been summering
q broad
More particular does he have an eye
to the lucky women, whose amply filled
pockets were pretty ggen emptied in the
SHOPS that border the Rue de la Paix or
Regent street, and for the benefit of his
treasury and 10 keep watch and ward
OF the possible gentle law breakers
he employs on his staff of custom in
spectors, eight women, of which num-
Der one or two are always on hand to
greet every foreign passenger steamer
arriving in the port Of New York. But
the work of these inspectresses is much
of the time mere Formally, for whether
because consciences are tender, duties
lighter or the dangers and penalties of
smuggling too heavy to be risked eff
forts at evading the customs, by wo-
men at least, are less and less frequent.
They Dread the Fire.
There for example are our old
sriends, the dressmakers.' said one of
The most experienced inSpectreSSeS on
the New York force, as trinity gowned
and bonneted, with all the air of an eX-
pectant welcoming friend or relative Of
GONE home coming passenger, she
awaited a ship on one of the North
river docks. BITTER experience has
taught them submission. Once and
again we have trouble with a venture
some body. but the losses have been so
severe of late that smuggling no longer
nd hat icta If Narr
York and Paris a new system of pur-
chasing and shipping has been intro
duced.
Nowadays the fashionable American
dressmaker undertakes rarely more
than one trip a year abroad. The
French houses send over by post sam
pies of goods. patterns, etc, selections
are made and then regular agents man
age the delicate and dangerous business
OF shipping. bringing the goods to the
dressmaker's very door at one-third
the expense and worry she used to
have.
Ruses Tint Fail.
The favorite scheme for getting
through the hands of customs officers
cheaply. is to present false accounts of
purchases made. These bills are OBJ
ligingly made out by the Partisan
houses; giving the cost Of the goods
imported at one-half the true price
but toe custom house is apt to keep
ShreWdly informed as to how the i'm
porters are buying.
Professional packers. who go from
house to house and shop to shop pre-
pairing the delicate gowns and hats for
expectation, are apt to give informa-
ton, besides there are government
watchers ever on the alert and before
the artful little modiste ever reaches
her native shores with her modest ac-
70 ~. Il
Sair estimate Of the goods is already in
our hands. So after ali, when fashions
change SO rapidly, when tears and legal
processes have been proved unaVailing
and not useful the dresSmaker has al
most succumbed to the inevitable.
Women Detectives.
What we are chiefly watching for
now are the small attempts of private
individuals who think it the slightest
of sins to cheat their own government.
Women who walk down the gangplank
home from their first voyage who have
been RECALLED by their fellow passen-
gers by artful tales of smuggling tricks.
discovered and treasured possessions
cruelty confiscated. are apt to look anX-
iously about for the dreaded inspec-
press.
But that dragon IS not so easily rec
pgnized. for women do not examine
me luggage, uhleSS especially requested
and she who gets through with the
custom officers most rapidly is bliss
fully unconscious the while that a keen
eyed motherly looking person, who
stood near the gang plank looked every
woman traveller with a searching
glance. First the faces, then the fig
ares and lastly the expression of all
those neat tailor-made petticoats, un-
derwent the sharpest scrutiny
Even as the women walk about on
the dock, greeting friends and looking
after luggage, the surveillance is con-
tinued, for the clever inspectress is a
bit Of a, mind-reader. Years of expert
ence have taught her just how skirts
should hang and bodices fit, when there
are no superiuous undergarments
worn, and practice has cultivated in
her so long memory for names and
faces that al a pinch she could almost