New-York tribune., 1909-02-28
MAIL SMUGGLERS
CHIEFLY FEMALE
PARADOX? Ask POSTOF
FICE MEN.
Watches an Bzedding Cake, D'a-
n.onds IN Books -Corsets by the
Half Section.
Half Section.


Too few people mink II a crime -to swindie the
customs Too many ctizsps in this era OF free
thought consider il a EisE;tsvons act TO be class q
with the neglect 10 pay fare on streetcar "heh
go-ced to hang to strap For that reason many
bright and brainy persons think hard no" 70 go
goods from abroad without paying ION 10 CAete
esr As most os the successful operators IN this
Hne are women who Ia Te 'ITpTe time TO 'hiilk po'
such things than men, II can be imagined Iha' Tue
customs officers have TO be eternally aleI' 10 p'0
tect. the gogerpHent, ~s
e.. The avenues, through the steamship passenger
,o,,,e are pretty carefully guarded. and as com
ra-ativelv few people go abroad the great MASS
OF dpeIlers in this rotecteeflanc are aeoarreo io
sAaFine in tie hunloreps- little game oil niue w
diamond or sniiegfe the SILK But there is ahoueI
.Tsr,,e hat has been overlooked until recently
and this is now being used 'enthusiasticaE oE INC
su,i-futy aggregation It is the United states mar
= with the innfense, VoIupe Of foreign nlaH u.
.-ed 10 this tosintry it Is mahnesty hllpCSsiNio
: go and exaffns every package that seems 20
eahfain newspapers or merely bulky letter. 10 see
whether OF not some dutable article Is coH0 =.
shs-eIn So far as it is POSSIBLE hoWeNeI' u ~
aone and the addresses has 10 go TO the pos4tCe
- 80 %, the amount at which the dutlable
.-,si. fs afuraisei- Common sense has taught lie
ss,u,e American 'tiat sealed letters are ihu0H ~
11E,sel,, 90 be passed through uneNanhheu ui-i Pc
'r< sent uuseaied It is easy 10 unite strihS 'H
s5.-...e !,e contents OF a package, but to open
r-.la letters that come through the man NouIu
he a stupendous task 1t is assumed as d ~ III
Guess that all the articles that sre uu'1A
co11e by packaes post and BECAUSE % aeTrise he
,fe many a sr1aftsaTticle that would olnei ,t vs.
zSSd ~, the customs officers gets through "i''
toll - -, ..+o47ca have
The custom House experts at the poSlolitoe 10 80
yaetr hands fail cheekmatng the Clever - ~ 20
50. ybo sTe con- SANITY desising new ways ~
sI,,x. 5D,sable things as innocent looking parceis'
3 rye ,,sedS to- pass cakes upoISh 'fl'o -
tscu said oneasof riIe eNaIpiIleTs "a 49, -,
- t. hands. IN A Christmas pudding sent D.
- cxila
II also disturbed the sentimental soe oI & =, -
So, 10 seu,olish a section Of wedding cake ina
-. had been sent from Ttne old home III +,,s
rs-1,z in America. So we let these sae4eN 80 80.
ySse through B4lt day we had an ave- -
ore of she customs men heard tIal d llS-e W S. -
1,.a,,ed a new watch from abroad 1t hau cOiie
through duty free and the gleeful grl VINO "a9
wearing II. gould not keep quiet ABOUT - l'le -
yav the postotfiee lad been oelu9ei' = 5-,.,1-
s.tcb had been baked right into q cake anu ag
.o,e through without discovery. No"' TINS Ioiceu
,s Ia take some step TO prevent d repe''ioN % IN
sr,artness. and evsr after that we held On 70 a.
cakes or pld Sings that came in packages 5 'i
.ta mail 4 letter is sent 10 the perSoli ~
-. ractage is addressed. and this person Ut is
s,,,,os-- ALWAYS q woman has 10 come 10 INC -
sof7ce and cut The cake slice the puu0lIis
iron, of the customs officer. Do We c4'cH d Ia -
occasionally? Well. sou may take Il LOT sIa1i.eu
ee.a a,e ,sbo would try this trick is Tartar
., ragin with and so We don't get OF without q
scene when the cutting time comes
A ,-ic. that fooled us for time was the send
ing through the mail Of glove trie creased
20 give the idea that II WIS merely a worn e'oF
,bsf had heen left in Europe BY tourist WIN I4e
glove would come letter &c that effect; Aou "eHl
away without one OF your gloves etc VI Oo
Ne passed ii through UnsuspecunSly- But We go
81 many OF these that il began TO look sCspCioU
SO We held on 10 one of them, and by the next man
fnere came another glove from the same aooIesS 10
the same person The glove WAS the Ieilo" u ''-
other Then we got another left hand glove anu
later the right hand glove TO match IL Ihe tr'oh
was simple and adrnlra6e III its simplicity Gloves
uasre being sent through in quantities, enc at a
zine In the same way We found that shoes were
tsine srn,re-leci Same trick: Sorry you went
away and left OF your good shoes when PACK
ing up Hope the other one was in the trunk all
right
.FsIt the oiIeerest trick exposed the other day
"A woman was accommodating large stock Of fancy
@corsets without troubling about the duty that
should have been paid them We are all men
here Perhaps if a woman had been on duty the
f-t,k might have been discovered sooner. The trick
was 10 send half a corset through the mail We
knew Of no rule about paying duty on hat cor
set II was easy unlace the half ana send II
along II appeared TO US TO be mere remnant oi
The. up-tc-date womans attire and not important
enough 10 consider, as dutiabls
so We passed the half corset along and thought
no more of it, But half corsets began TO drop in
with all too great frequency. It looked as though
corset remnants had suddenly attained considerable
rnnortance in some ones estiRlation so one of the
nen put Il UP to his wife, and she took something
-iess than a fraction of second to puncture the
scheme The half. corset was useless in itself, but
xhen the other half arrived there was a French
corse; ready for wearing
I'VE find fire silks done ap in packages of herbs;
watches diamond rings and bracelets concealed in
- the leaves Of books IN holes cut for the purpose
separate diamonds hidden away in bottles OF trans
parent liquid where the is scarcely visible. and
Imported coognes done UP in innocent looking par
eels Of foreign newspapers No doubt many dut-
Able articles escape Us. but we are getting wiser
Avery day 10 the tricks of the mall -smugglers-fe-
male srnugglers I ought to call en-
"a - -----ia-- .r