The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-06-07
WOULD Buy
BA1lESH|P
Amount of JeweIry Struggled
Into United States Enormous
ANNUALLY S15,000,0OO
How Highest Society Women
Stoop to Low Business

Figures have recently been placed be-
fore the Treasury Department by men
who are thought to be conservative which
go 10 prove that from $40 COO 900 TO Sl5,-
o0O..0o0 worth of precious stones. princi-
cipally diamonds and pearls. are annually
smuggled into the port OF New York
without paying duties, which would in the
aggregate amount to the pretty price Of
a f1rst-class battle ship, says the New
York Herald
These figures, of course, are merely d
drop in the bucket of the smuggling that
passes through other Atlantic and Cana
dian frontier by the way OF Niagara and
Lake Champlain. Under the present tariff
duty on rough uncut stones is only ten
per cent; upon finished and mounted jew
els sixty per cent. Upon these latter the
premium upon smuggling imposed by the
tariff is so great as to prove almost ir-
resstible
The discovery of this leakage, consid-
cradle in itself and undoubtedly on the
increase has not only aroused Secretary
Shaw but also the protective association
Of dealers in precious stones. very
wealthy and influential guild whose mem
bers are beginning to find their business
seriously hurt by competition which is
neither fair nod aboveboard.
The first result has been. as the princi-
pal smugglers well know. large increase
in the force of special agents abroad,
whose principal duty is to watch the
wholesale and retail shops where precious
stones are sold. There are now eight
agents continually on the move between
London, Paris. Antwerp, and Amsterdam
They cost Uncle Sam 5000 or $1,000 a
year apiece, but in return they occasion
ally make a strike in the capture of some
smuggler or in the detection of some dia-
mond firm that has wandered from the
straight and narrow path of paying the
duties which the Dingley tariff imposes
or in in capturing a millionaire who on
arriving at the Custom House suddenly
forgets all about the tiara of diamonds
he purchased in Paris for half a million
or more.
These coast guardsmen. the advanced
posts of our tariff wall projected into
foreign territory. are a costly affair. and
been in a quandary where to get the
money from had it not been for the pa
triotic behavior of two of our millionaires,
who came forward somewhat reluctantly.
as it will appear. and paid the expenses
Of the whole service from their capacious
pocketbooks
John w. Gates the railroad king. and
Charles NJ Schwab the Steel Trust mag
nate are the millionaires who have help
cd the treasury out, not for purposes Of
mere philantrophy either They have
simply paid the penalty of slips of mem
DRY when making out their custom house
not been unduIy severe. recognizing as it
does that these mighty men cannot be
expected cannot be expected to recall all
the diamond tiaras and pearl necklaces
they may have bought on their jauuts
abroad. especially when the time for max
ing the declara ,Ion is that crowded. pull
sating moment when. after months Of
boredom abroad. they once again come
within hearing Of the tireless ticker and
begin to really live again
The treasury let these mighty me nOf
finance off without filming or imprisonment.
simply re quiring the duties to be paid
some months after the jewels had been
slipped in duty free because no stage of
the transaction-exCept the moment Of
declaration. which we all know was a
slip of memory-had been marked by that
secretiveness which is the characteristic
of the smuggler.
The jewels were bought and worn
abroad al Longchamp and AK with a
frankness almost approaching ostenta-
ton and it was only when the custom
house appeared in view that these pretty
baubles were laid aside an. the purchase
OF million dollars bagatelles slipped from
the memories mat pass in the street"
for being very clear and retentive. Score
tary Shaw says the next time a mil
lionaire slips a cog in his memory he
is going to punish him severely
There is talk Of Sing Sing and stripes
about the custom house. but the in
spectors who wait upon the docks and
discriminate between smuggiers with a
pull and the rest simply smile. one Of
them told me that If he lives 70 be 4
hundred he does not expect 10 see a mil
lionaire go TO jail for smuggling. and h
has plenty Of data on the tip OF his tongue
for these who promise not TO publish N m.
which so Tar u show that his views are
built on good foundation.
The information which cose these big.
broad gauged men many thousands and
showed them TO be. while the benehCiar-
les Of protection, in private life at least
occasional free traders was furnished by
the treasury agents abroad. who. through
means best known To themselves. have
way OF finding cut whenever a large lot
OF precious stones has been sold TO au
American.
This Gordon Of special agents while
not considered inefficient. : deemed by
the protective association Of dealers in
precious stones not To Be sufficiently ex-
tended. and they have taken measures in
spired by the puTest patriotism and a
desire 70 protect their own business which
chsracterizes all American citizens % OK
tend the line and reinforce the treasury
officials with agents OF their own. \ large
fund has been raised. and Mr. LGdWig
Nissen. the president Of the griild IS
about 10 60 abroad with large funds ard
experience al his disposal
Mr.. NisSen does not attempt % conceal
the fact that the cou.ing months q cru
SADIE that he is about 70 iuaugurate for
the beneft OF Uncle SAM and the dealers
in precious stones will b. without parallel
in the history OF the treasury department.
He says it viii lie much easier for
camel to crawl through needles eve.
for rich man 70 steal into heaven. than
for a sTnuggler 70 introduce Illicit dia-
rnoads into New York this summer. 7 fnd
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