Waterbury evening Democrat., 1905-10-26
BOUNDARY NUlsANcES.
cline Houses" That Make Trou-
 ble For Officials.
BOTH AMERICAN AND CANADIAN.

Rushing Business Done In smug-
 gIing Goods and Selling Illicit
 whisky-Clever Plan Devised to
 Foil Inspectors-Suggestio Made
 With View to Closing Up All the
 "Line Houses"
 The fact that line houses" on the boundary between Canada and the United States have been growing in number instead of decreasing, despite the energetic measures of Canadian and United States inspectors, has been brought to the attention of officials in Washington, and plans to do away with the nuisance are under considera tion, says the New York Tribune's Washington correspondent. The line houses" in which rushing business is done in smuggling goods and selling illicit whisky, lie especially on the Maine and Vermont borders and are built directly over the line. There are about fifteen of them on the Vermont boundary and twenty on the line be- tween Maine and Canada. The pro- prietors have contrived a clever plan by which to foil inspectors. The goods are stored in cupboards or shelves on wheels. When lookout gives the signal that an officer is approaching from either side, Canadian or Ameri- can, the proprietor promptly slides his cupboard or shelves with liquor and merchandise over into the territory in which the officer cannot make an ar rest This system has been so devel- oped that it is said many of the houses are equipped with apparatus by which the shelves move with the pressing of a button.
 For fifty years the Canadian inspect ors and United States government and state officials in Maine and Vermont have been struggling to put down the .'line houses" but with little success. This is due to the fact that success ful raid can be made only by joint ac- tion between the officials of the two governments The officers must appear at the ''line house. simultaneously, the Canadians entering from their side and the American inspectors mailing their man in case he attempts to shift his goods into their territory. The opera tion in this way Is apparently simple, but because of the limited force of in- spectors and the wide stretches which they are obliged to patrol it has been found difficult to secure joint action, and the houses still flourish. A statute which gives American officials the right to seize goods contained in boundary house upon which duties have not been paid has not been found to cover the situation satisfactorily. When raids have been made and the goods seized on the ground that proper duty was not paid the proprietors have made contests in the courts, and the victory has not always been for the in- spectors.
 There were about fifteen special agents employed by the United States government, in addition to the regular customs officers, to watch the bound ary line between Canada and the United States in the space extending from 0gdensburg to Portland, Me. These men are efficient as rule, and their reports made to headquarters in Washington show that they make many seizures in the course of the year. Nevertheless. the system of con trol has never worked satisfactorily.
 Smuggling fiourishes in spite of their vigilance, and in the matter of regulat- ing the ranging of cattle from Cana dian to American territory on farms which lie on both sides of the line 1t has been impossible for the limited force to compel anything approximat- ing a strict observance of the law. When the wilderness along the line becomes more thickly settled, as 1t is rapidly doing, 1t Is expected that the troubles will multiply and the force will be utterly inadequate. It is now proposed. in view of the many perplex- ing questions which are likely to arise in connection with enforcement of the boundary rules all along the line from the Pacific to the Atlantic coast, that the United States and Canada should agree to a joint commission to deal with the subject
 With view to closing up the "line houses" the suggestion is made that Canada and the United States should negotiate treaty which should provide either that no house of any kind should be built directly over the boundary line or else that a neutral belt a few feet wide should be established which would serve as a boundary zone. It Is proposed that in this belt no house should be built and, therefore, that a man must have his home wholly in Canadian or American territory. It is proposed further that the forces of spe- cial agents shall be increased and that they shall confer with a view to mak- ing a series of raids upon every "line Hr.sN f.x