The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-06-07

| in with the whole noodle in one of your
| pockets. We have thousands of passen-
| gers coming in here every month, nine
| hundred and ninety-nine of whom treat
| the treasury square. or as square as you
! Cd nexpect them 10. and it's the thou
| sandth man OF woman who brings in the
diamonds. To catch this smuggler you
| have 10 search vigorously every man,
woman and child who comes across the
| Atlantic and the American public would
not stand for that for more than five
minutes
| The story of the Custom house this
summer viii show which knows the most
| about smuggiers. the enthusiastic mer-
| chants or the somewhat synieal inspector
| There is no doubt about it. however,
that a red hot campaign against SNUG
Cling has been determined upon. and
| should you go abroad this summer and
| incidentally buy a hundred thousand dol
| lar tiara make note of it or tie u
string about your finger so that you will
| not forget all about ii when the crucial
moment of making the declaration comes
or else Secretary Shaw himself has said
it, you may year stripes and the lady
next your heart may not wear dia-
monds
The records Of the collectors Office and
the memories of the special agents dem
onstrate that while there is no calling
| that allows such free play of individual
ity as smuggling there are about four
main Travelled roads or methods in the
| business. The first. and this is the method
which naturally makes the guild of deal
ers most furious is the smuggling which
is done by well known houses in the
handling of precious stones. who every
now and then. tempted by the great
profits, wander from the strait and mar
row path OF duty paying.
Now and then a house which has stood
as high as any in the Maiden lane dis
trict comes down with a crash. and It's
principals go to jail. was the fate of
the house of Lasar only last year. Curl
ously enough, as the court records show,
when one of these firms in high standing
goes in for shady work it almost invaria-
bly, utilizes a por relation. \ sphere of
usefulness for this much abused mem
Der of the human family would really
seem to be found.
However. as it almost invariably leads
to Jail it is not likely to be followed by
many. except under the compulsion Of
poverty and this up to the present seems
to have been invariably the case. The
por relation is like the apothecary of
Mantua whose poverty, not his will, con-
scented.
The merchants who go in for shady
work buy the goods to be struggled
through brokers in the four or five we'll
known markets for precious stones. The
protective association here requests me
to insist upon the fact that these dia-
monds always have flaws or are off color.
and that reputable houses abroad. while
they may connive at this method of
smuggling. always make the smuggler
pay more by fifty per cent than the hon
est dealer
So you. see. or you should see, that
the jewels which have paid duty are not
only the best but the cheapest. Hem!
Owing to the intervention of the broker
there is no record of the sale TO enlight-
en- the treasury agents, who. as is well
known. have in their pay at least one
clerk in every large diamond firm who
informs them OF important sales and the
names of the buyers.
Jewels thus obtained. often aggregating
nail a Hlll!OH. dft SlOhtu away oAi NAiN
person of some poor relation by the rich
diamond magnate, who is stopping az
one of the swell Champs Elysees hotels.
Why the poor relation does not throw his
family over and run away to South
America or some other place is curious
thing. As a matter of fact he never does.
lie is given the steerage ticket and
sails for his destination in the Storage,
while the head man in the transaction
sails about the same time on an ocean
greyhound occupying the Captains or
some other luxurious apartment. As
general thing the poor relation arrives
at Montreal or Quebec and comes over
the frontier. where he finds his rich rela-
tive living at one Of the expensive hotels
on Lake Champaign and there comes
to heel and gives up his precious burden
in return for his salary. which in some
instances known to the treasury agent
has not been more than s. week. And
yet there are some cynics who say that
family telling and affection is passing out
of the world altogether.
And for women "Whv." SAYS the in
spector any show girl can carry So
ceo.0oj worth of precious stones about
only give her the chance.
\ curious phase of the smuggling trade |
which the merchants who arc most hurt
dwell unon with tears in their eyes is
the fact that while the goods success
fully smuegled to the hurt of their bust
ness run into millions. the quantity i
mere cipher III comparison with the mil
lions of precious stones yet to be snug
gled which are yearned for II is point /
ed out by the protective guild that their
trade is not only hurt by the diamonds
that compete with their honest goods I
most advantageousiy. not having paid
Uncle sam duty but they axe crushed by
the attractions OF jewels which are YET
to be struggled. They say that they know
of many instances where a man has
postponed giving his wife A sunburst or
tiara because he wanted IL L. have that
radiance and brilliaucy which some think
is only to be fonnd in Struggled goods
Illicit as it may be. there Is certain (
snice about snuGgied goods which those
that have como through the hands Of the
customs officers do not have though. of
course. the dealers who ought 10 know. T
NAV he right in saving that these stones +
are lacking In tn solid quantities %
briiliancy and distinction which Hash up
on all Observers from their show win I
dows
By far the most successful smugEiers- /
as individuals an dof their own bats. as /
il were. are women. and the veteran IN (
spector approaches this episode %irh the +
reluctance which AWAY characterized 4