Daily independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 188?-1915, 1896-03-04
SMUGGLING THAT PAYS.
How Cinnamon and Opium Are
Spirited Into This Country.
A Largo Number OF Persons Actively
Engaged In Bringing Goods Over
from Canada Without Pay
Ing Duties.

Smuggling is an offense of great an
tiquity and one that many Of the revo-
lutionary fathers and early settlers of
the country, prior to the historic Boston
81 party, were wont 10 commit as fire.
Tucntly as the opportunity presented
itself, and The excessive duties made it
profitable. AS late as the latter part
of the eighteenth century the snug
CLING Of wine, liquor, tobacco and bull
lion was so generally practiccd in
Great Britain as to become kind of
national falling" and the smuggler
was often regarded as n popular hero.
The maximum penalty for bringing
into the United States dutial,lc articles,
with intent to dcfraud the revenue,
il five thousand dollars fine or two
ears Imprisonment, or both, in the
discretion of the court, and for aiding
and abetting the importation of Chi
naman one thousand dollars, or one
years Imprisonment. The degree of
punishment an offender gets depends
upon the circumstances of the case. The
"mugglcr also forfeits his goods.
There is Il large body of men system
aticaliy engaged in smuggling China
men and opium on the i'aci.ic coast and
the Canadian frontier. Tic mon who
successfully engage in this business
must be peculiarly adapted to it. The
first qualification is ingenuity enough
to invent ways and means, second, dis
honesty to the degree Of dcfraudiug
III" government, yet with sufficient in
tegrity and honor to justify The import
cas- i'll intruSting to their care hundreds
and sometimes thousands Of dollars
forth Of opium. 1t is popular fall
lacy that any man who is dishonest
Tough and will assume the risk can
';iakc money at smuggling. If lie has
sufficient capital he can buy opium in
canada and possibly get it. across the
i'"rdcr, but it is practically impossible
TO sell it without detection. the deal
ers III the United States will not buy it,
nor receive it, from anyone save their
trusted agents.
According to statistics there are
about one million human beings in the
United States, principally Mon@olians,
addicted to the habit of smoking
opium. 1t is prepared in Hong Kong
by sy hdicate under the surveillance
of the Chinese government. Prepared
opium has the appearance Of black
molaSscs. It sells in China for about
seven dollars per pound, and the duty
under the present tariff law is six dol
lars per pound. Formerly the duty
was twelve dollars per pound; it was
then that the smuggIer reaped a
harvest.
The methods of smugglers are too
numerous to relate, but. suffice it to
say that the government has to main
tain an army Of detectives and spoilers
10 suppress them. The detectives who
render the most valuable service are
those stationed at the places from
whence the goods are imported. They
speed the parting guest and give the
Tip" to the detectives at the object
i've point, who welcome the Smugglcr
whenever the opportunity presents it.
self. Conviction speedily follows, as
the United States statutes place the
burden Of proof on the smugglcr to
show that the opium was not illegally
imported. The Detroit river is one of
the most favorable points for SNUG
Cling on the frontier, but, thanks to
the efficiency of Special Agent Wood,
one of the cleverst officials in the serv-
ice, it is practically broken up. The
sinuggler usually crosses the river in
row boat and drives by conveyance
to some small station near Detroit,
where he boards the train for New
York or Chicago.
The smuggling of Cinnamon is very
profitable, but difficult. The Chinaman
will gladly pay one hundred dollars
to be safely landed. Cinnamon were
for some time successfully imported
by bringing them over in the state
rooms of sleeping cars; wolnan's at
tire and black faces have been rcsorted
to, but the pigtail usually discloscs the
Chinaman's identity, and this he will
not part with, owing to the surcr&ti-
tious belief in it as means to get him
into a better world.-.Detroit Free Press.