The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1898-12-31

AioIn most peoples viewpoint involves no
moral turpitude worth mentioning
namely. the defraudmg of the customs.
It Is und erstood that the government Is
entitled only to such proportion of the
tariff duties as it is able to collect, and
that anybody is at liberty to withhold
payment If he can do so by the exercise
of ingenuity or deception.
There survives at the present day a
good deal of the old-time feeling that
revenue laws in general are infringements
OF popular rights. Women are all born
smugglers. the treasury officials say, and
this feminine weakness is so far recog-
nized as beyond their own control that
they are almost never prosecuted for
such offenSes. E,.,s-. 49," q" s
In olden times. smuggling was an In
dustry involving hazard of life and for
tune, and guerilla warfare was con-
tinually waged between the foes Of the
revenue and the coastguards, says Kene
Bache in the Saturday Evening Post. The
smugglers stored their precious Eaces,
wines and other valuables in caves and
other mysterious places, and many was
the fight on the sea between the laden
lugger, often powerfully armed, and the
pursuing government cutter. All Of this
Is past and gone. The smugglers to-day
enjoy no such desperate adventures; but
there is enough excitement and risk,
though of a different sort, connected with
their business. 3d.: ~ II.
Very little smuggling Is now done in
this country by organized gangs. 1t is
rather to be regarded as pursuit OF a
popular nature, affording amusement and
trifing individual profits to large num-
ha~1 .1fr x1y19o a~1r~ 4nSro~
the Atlantic and back On the other
hand, there can be no doubt Of the fact
that a lucrative business is done by a
comparatively few professional s1nug-
glers who are extremely clever peo.
pie, their industry requiring quick wit ard
experts in this line are women, some
of whom are well known as such to
the government officials and yet are so
skillful as to be rarely caught. "a
Duties on imported gowns, laces and
ether feminine finery are very high. and
the temptation to bring them IN without
paying Bncfe Sam his pGreemta gs-is.p ras
portionately great. Hence it comes about
that the fashionable dressmakers and mil
liners in New York and other large cities
are among the most iu1veterate OF SNUG
glers.
Madame Raiment, of Fifth avenue, the
Partisan expert in up-to-date frocks, sends
at least half a dozen young women
abroad during the slack season each sum-
mer, with measurements for large num-
Der of elaborate and costly costumes The
girls return in the fall as fine ladies, each
of them with several trunks full Of ex-
quisite toilettes-personal property, OF
course, and as such entitled to free entry.
Obviously, it is not practicable for the
officials to compel the young women to
try on the dresses at the wharf in order
to discover if they fit.
Nho
at it's own loss by smuggling. 1t has been
asserted that one million dollars worth
of diamonds are brought into the United
States in surreptitious ways annually,
but this is only a surmise, and is probably
a much-exagg erated estimate. The duty
on cut diamonds, uncut stones being free,
has been reduced to 10 per cent for no
other purpose than to lessen the induce
ment for smuggling them.
Gems of this kind represent such high
value concentrated in small bulk that it is
almost impossible to prevent people from
fetching fortunes worth of them into the
country Undecided. If the tariff on item
were high, Uncle Sam would collect al
most no duty at all; so he puts it way
down in order that there may ne little
temptation.
1t is rather interesting to ,bsarve
that under the present tariff law ''nila-
ton diamonds must pay twice as much
duty as real ones. The business OF
diamond smuggling has met with
some encouragement in consequence
of the arrest and conviction in two cases
of persons engaged in it on a large scale.
One of these instances was that of a
Hebrew importer in Cincinnati. Notifca-
ton reached the customs officials to the
effect that the captain of a certain pas
senger steamer expected to arrive In I:hil-
adelphia had a package Of gems addressed
to this importer. --
-
rival and, by a bit Of bluff, induced the
captain to give up the parcel, which
proved to contain $4,000 worth Of spark
lers." Of course, they were forfeited to
the government The importer was tried,
convicted and sentenced to the penften-
tiary. The case Is now before the SUI
preme court on a writ of error, the claim
of the defense being that the smuggling
was not contaminated, inasmuch as the
diamonds were taken off the ship and
landed - lila .j& E.}
A favorite method of smuggling dia-
monds has been to ship them from Paris
or London to Montreal, Canada, charging
no duty on them, and then to take them
secretly across the border into the United
States. Not long ago it was ascertained
that an importer in New York was prac-
1icing this system in large way An
agent of the firm was followed to Mon
treal by a detective, who saw him receive
a package declared to contain 5000
worth of gems.
The detective continued to shadow
the agent, and took the same sleeping
car with him for. New York. AS soon as
the boundary had been crossed ithe de-
tective demanded the package, and, when
the agent denied possession Of It. he sat
upon him and searched him. Nothing
was found, the agent having handed the
parcel to another man, who had safely
crossed the border by another route.
Ingenuity has been exhausted in devils
Ing hiding places for Struggled diamonds.
They are hidden in the heels of shoes, in
cakes of soap, in the hollow legs of dolls.
in false calves, in corks of bottles, and
even in cheeses. Women smugglers have
been known to wrap them in tissue
paper just the color Of their hair, in
which they were well concealed
One man is said to have employed with
great success a hollow cane, with which
he made twelve trips across the Atlantic.
on occasions carrying as much as $4,000
worth Of stones in this way. He was
afraid to try the thirteenth, and so bought
a new cane. .
An exceptionally clever person bought
dog for a dollar In London, and
before going ashore at New York gave
hunk of fresh meat to the animal.
1t was Instantly swallowed. together
with several big diamonds which IT con-
tanned After reaching home the man
killed the dog and recovered the gems.