Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1909-04-08
TRICKS IN SMUGGLING
The Way Uncle Sam Is SWindIed
Through the Mails.
WATCHES IN WEDDING CAKE.

at Time and Corsets In Sections.
Too few people think it n crime to
swindle the customs. For that reason
many bright and brainy persons think
hard how to get goods from abroad
without paying toll to Uncle Sam. AS
most of the successful operators in
this line are women, who have more
time to think about such things than
men, 1t can be imagined that the Gus.
toms officers have to be eternally alert
to protect the government.
The avenues through the steamship
passenger route are pretty carefully
guarded, and as comparatively few
people go abroad the great mass Of
dwellers In this protected land are de
barred from sharing in the humorous
little game of hide the diamond or
smuSSle the silk. But there is an
other avenue that is being used enthusi-
astically by the anti-duty aggregation
1t is the United States mail.
With the immense volume of foreign
mail delivered to this country it is
manifestly impossible to open and ex
anime every package that seems to
contain newspapers or merely bulky
letter to see whether or not some duti-
able article is concealed therein. SO
far as 1t is possible however, it Is
done, and the addressee has to go to
the postoffice and pay duty on the
amount at which the dutiable article
is appraised.
The custom house experts at the
postoffice have their hands full check
mating the clever moves of those who
are constantly devising new ways to
disguise dutiable things as innocent
looking parcels.
1--WE used to pass cakes through
without question" said one of the ex-
aminers. 'It seemed too bad to lay
hands on Christmas pudding sent by
relatives In England to some exile in
this country. 1t also disturbed the SEN
ttmental side of customs officer to
demolish section of wedding cake
that had been sent from the old home
in Germany to Fritz in America. So
we let these sacred things pass
through. But one day we had an
awakening. One of the customs men
heard that neighbor had obtained a
new watch from abroad. 1t had come
through duty free. and the gleeful girl
who was wearing 1t could not keep
quiet about the clever way the post
office had been deluded 1t seems the
watch had been baked right into the
cake and had come through without
discovery. Now. this forced us to take
some step to prevent n repetition OF
such smartness, and ever after that
we held on to all cakes or puddlngs
that came In packages through the
mail. A letter is sent to the person to
whom the package is addressed, anG
this person dt is almost always a wo-
mani has TO come to the postofflce and
cut the cake or slice the pudding right
in front of the customs officer. Do we
catch Tartar occasionally? Well. you
may take IT for granted that any one
who would try this trick is a Tartar
to begin with. and so we don't get off
without a scene when the cutting time
comes.
"A trick that fooled US for a time
was the sending through the mail OF
one glove a trIfie creased to give the
idea that II was merely n worn glove
that had been left in Europe by tour
list With the glove would come A let
ter TO that effect, You went away
without one OF your gloves etc. OF
course we passed 1t through unsuspect-
ingly. But we got So many of these
that 1t began to look suspicious SO
next mail there came another glove
from the same address to the same
person. The glove was the fellow 10
the other. Then we got another lef5
hand glove and later the right hand
glove to match it. The trick was sim
pie and admirable In its simplicity.
Gloves were being sent through in
quantities. one at time.
But the queerest trick we exposed !
the other day. A woman was accumu-
ating n large stock of fancy corsets |
without troubling about the duty that |
should have been paid on them. The |
trick was to send half corset through |
the mall. We knew of no rule about |
paying duty on half a corset 1t ap- |
oeared to us to be a mere remnant of !
he up to date woman's attire and not !
important enough to consider as duti- |
ible.
$50 we passed the half corset along |
Ind thought no more of it But half !
'orsets began to drop In with all too |
sreat frequency. 1t looked as though |
,orset remnants had suddenly attained
considerable Importance In some ones
So one OF the men put il
Up to his wife. and she took some
hing less than n fraction of a second
o puncture the scheme. The half cor
et was useless in itself, but when the
'ther half arrived there was a French
orset ready for wearing.
1--WE Gnd fine silks done up in pack
ges of herbs watches, diamond rings
nd bracelets concealed in the leaves
f books In holes cut for the purpose
nd separate diamonds hidden away in
'ottles Of transparent liquid where the
,em is scarcely visible. No doubt
many dutiable articles escape us. but
ge are getting wiser every day to the
ricks of the mail smugglers. New
,ork Tribune.