The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1906-03-02
THE AMATEUR SMUGGLERS.
MOST TRAVELERS FEEL .JUSTTs
FED IN OUTWITTING AND
BEATING GOVERNMENT,

; mentS in Results.
If the arrivals on one of the bi,
liners were drawn up in rows on tn
pier and searched, it is doubtful i
nye per cent OF them would escape thu
charge of smuggling. The women ar,
said to break the law in greater mum
bers than the men, although the latter
cheat the Government of larger
mounts. The majority Of women dom
understand the customs laws.
| Said a nervous little lady on the
promenade of the Deutschland as the
tugs were pushing the big steamer into
the dock: I've got two china salt eel
lars under my hat Do you suppose
they'll hear them click together? They
cost 5 cents apiece at the Palais Royale
but they're so cute why you dear
old goose" said business-like person
near her, 4 guess you'd Jump over.
board II you had my trunks to wriggle
through the examination. Just listen.
You know you're allowed to replenish
your wardrobe If you're gone a year.
When / decided TO go over twelve
months ago, l just took all the old
trunks In the house, had eleven in all,
| and ! filed most of them up with the
stun you usually send to the Salvation
Army. Thought some of them would
go to pieces on the trip. got rid of
more than half in London, and bought
beautiful English leather trunks to
| take their places. And the things I've
brought back In my replenished ward
| robe!" But the foreign names on so
mary dresses?" gasped the nervous
one. tive ripped them out and sewed
In the names that were IN my old
dresses"
She was even cleverer than the white
haired gentleman who confided to his
neighbor at table that he had brought
back some lace gowns worth at least
10000 francs ($6OOO) piece that
were entered in sworn invoice at
5000 francs each But" said the
little maid at his elbow, won't the ap-
praisers know the real value?" The ven.
cradle sinner stroked his white beard
complacently: why should they sus-
pect the invoices approved by the Am
erlcan Consul at.......? All they
are my very good friends at the con.
sulate," he purred.
Real Syrian Rugs.
Even the Storage has its smugglers.
There was commotion on the immi-
grant deck of French liner one morn.
ing. Several hundred Syrians were
westward bound. One of them had
stolen a roll Of bedding from another.
The officer to whom complaint was
made was not deeply interested.
Hadn't the immigrant a good berth in |
the Storage? Why so much fracas for a |
bundle of dirty rags that should have
been slowed In the hold? The COM
plainant waxed desperate: Mother of |
the Prophet, his bed--of dirty rags! 1t |
was of Syrian rugs, the best. q dozen |
sent by merchant of Damascus to his
brother merchant in New York" The |
duty on Syrian rugs is heavy-but who
would think to find them in the dirty /
bedding of an immigrant!
A glove buyer for one of the big Am
erican houses used to bring back on
each semi-annual trip, for his own pur-
poses, twelve dozen pairs of gloves care
fully hidden In many pockets of his
coat and overcoat. Almost every tourist
who can afford it buys diamond ring
while abroad. A feather boa is al
most the first purchase of the American
woman arriving in London, and what
customs official can prove that she did
not carry 1t out of her own coun+ry
with her.
How seldom do those first purchases
In London and Paris outlast the evan
sscent charm of novelty. Flimsily built
Of fragile material, they drop to pieces
before the owner has had time to weary
Of them. If they do last for any length
Of time, 1t is only to become a source
Of anger and disgust The silk petit
coat bought at the Bon Marche, Paris,
For which you paid $S-what bargain
It was until one day you felt myster-
louS prickings at your ankles and
stopped to find that the half inch wide
steel ribbon which gave such a chic
set to the bottom, had broken loose
from the dust ruffie and slashed the
silk to bits, and your stockings to tat
ters. To comfort yod, every depart
ment store in New York and Chicago
Is showing you identically the same
skirt, without the steel stiffening, for
IS. Sometimes, remembering these
Kings, the high prices that assailei
vou in London and Paris, you may won
Ter how the French women or moderate
means manage to dress so well.
Americans Charged Doubt
The answer Is that Americans arr ,
over-charged. A raw clerk I
n the Louvre once told an American /
that the house would make :
Ter up pongee suit for $50 francs. He /
vas sharply contradicted by an older
mploye who explained that the suit :
7ould cost 800 francs. As the lady !
moved swav without ordering the
own, she heard the novice -remon-
trate. "You told me $50 francs. i
For Frcnchwonien, yes," growled the G
Id hand, but that was an American" {
The biggest lace house In Vienna
and Vienna Is the cheapest place In
he world to buy lace) purposely puts
p the prices to allow good margin I
)r bargaining. Experienced Amer
an buyers for fashionable New York p
Iilors who go yearly to Paris for 81
Iodels take with them on their shop
Ing excursions, French friend with d
hose assistance they secure materials il
I'd models for about half the quoted v
r!cs. La,
French workmanship is Inferior. The q