Amador ledger., 1906-03-09
THE AMATEUR SMUGGLERS.
MOST TRATELERS FEEL .JUSTI=
FED IN OUTWITTING AND
BEATING GOVERNMENT.

Foreign Dealers Know the American
Mania tor Private Smuggling and
Sell AccordIngly-Many Disappoint-
mentS in Results.
II the arrivals on one of the big
liners were drawn up in rows on the
pier and searched, it is doubtful if
five per cent Of them would escape the
charge of smuggling. The women are
said to break the law in greater num-
bers than the men, although the latter
cheat the Government of larger
mounts. The majority of women don't
understand the customs laws.
Said 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 Gel
lars under my hat Do you suppose
they'll hear them click together? They
cost cents apiece at the Palais Royale,
but they're so cute "Why you dear
old goose" said business-like person
near her, I 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, I just took all the old
trunks in the house, had eleven in all,
and filled most of them up with the
stuT you usually send to the Salvation
Army. Thought some of them would
go to pieces on the trip. 1 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
many dresses?" gasped the nervous
one. "I've 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 ($6O00) a 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
erican Consul at. ......? All, they
are my very good friends at the con-
sulate," he purred.
Real Syrian Rugs.
Even the steerage has its smugglers.
There was a commotion on the immi-
grant deck of French liner one morn.
ing. Several hundred Syrians were
westward bound. One of them had
stolen roll of bedding from another.
The officer to whom complaint was
made was not deeply interested.
Hadn't the immigrant good berth in
the steerage? Why so much fracas for
bundle of dirty rags that should have
been slowed in the hold? The COM
pla1nant waxed desperate: Mother of
the Prophet, his bed-of dirty rags! 1t
was of Syrian rugs, the best, a dozen
sent by a 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
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 it out Of her own country
with her.
How seldom do those first purchases
in London and Paris outlast the evan
Iescent 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, it 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 a bargain
it was until one day you felt myster-
ious 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 you, every depart
| ment store in New York and Chicago
is showing you identically the same
skirt, without the steel stiffening, for
SIS. Sometimes, remembering these
things, the high prices that assailed
you in London and Paris, you may won
der how the French women OF moderate
means manage to dress so well.
Americans Charged Double.
The answer is that Americans arr
abominably over-charged. A raw clerk
in the Louvre once told an American
customer that the house would make
her up pongee suit for $50 francs He
was sharply contradicted by an older
employe who explained that the suit
would cost 300 francs. AS the lady
moved away without ordering the
gown, she heard the novice -remon-
strate. "You told me 15O ffancs."
For Frenchwomen, yes," growled the
old hand "hut that was an Anarinan