The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1910-01-06

ed gentry, in whose ancient country
mansions special chimney recesses
have been found especially construct
ed to shield from detection the i'm
ported brandies which had slipped into
the country without reporting to the
kings customs officers. that even the
sedate and high-minded Scotchman,
Adam Smith, classified the contraband
traffic as a trade albeit one OF great
hazard. That the smuggling of the
eighteenth century had reached high
degree of perfection is shown in the
laws aimed at those engaged in the
practice. writes II. b. Chamberlain. in
the Chicago Record Herald. Vessels
carrying undeclared goods were for
feitable, as were the goods; high in
ducements were offered to informers
who would betray their fellow work
ers; persons MANNED in arresting
smugglers were entitled TO reward
of $50; informers guilty of sordid.
selfish treachery were given the same
amount for each person convicted on
their testimony and the informers
were granted immunity. Smugglers
were whipped and transported to the
plantations. In 1746 assembling to
run contraband goods was made pun
ishable by death as a felony. AS the
offenses multiplied and the popularity
of the smugglers made it difficult to
capture them, counties were made liza
bic for their deeds.
But the smuggler of that period is
no longer extant. Like the Indian
scout, the buffalo and the desperate
OF the Western plains. he has been
crowded out by complicated civili-
zation. He could flourish only in a
thinly populated country, with a coast
Offering to him inlets and harbors
where he could in safety land his car
go. In these days of the wireless and
tic steamers he must assume another
form and pursue different methods
Cunning rather than strength or
knowledge of waves and winds is the
requisite qualification of the modern
Smuggler. Hence women are as well
able to engage in it as men, and, in
deed, the facts prove that they seem
to have an especial aptitude IN this
line.
The false-bottomed trunk is so old
a device that the unsophisticated Won
der why anyone should trust TO it,
For surely every inspector knows of
this contriyance for concealing goods
But, as has been shown by the whole
sale dismissal of employees from the
customs service in New York. inspec-
tors have not been obstreperously eff
cient in guarding the interests of their
country.
In these days smuggling on large
scale invariably produces the suspicion
that there has been collision with the
government officials. This was shown
to be true in a case at New York.
Early in November a member of a
cheese importing firm. was sentenced
to year in prison and to pay fine
Of $4,000 for defrauding this govern
ment of duties by misstating the
weight of cheese imported. To carry
out this fraud it was necessary for the
government weigher to faisify his re-
port to fit the figures of the false in
voice sent by the exporter from Eu-
rope Four government weighers turn
cd states evidence and told how this
had been done, and evidence gathered
from the books and records of pur-
chasers corroborated the stories of
these informers, who were offered i'm
munity from prosecution and retained
in the customs service. The culprit
testified that the frauds had been sug-
gested to him by the government
weighers who shared with him the
money thus kept from the government
The S2,000,000 which the sugar trust
has fraudulently withheld from the
government by means of an ingenious
device applied secretly to the scales
for weighing the sugar and operated
by employees of the company is an
example of the large scale on which
evasion of payment of duties can be
practiced in this century and country
of large things.
When souvenir spoons were more
popular than now, women returning
from Europe sometimes fastened them
to the Wristbands of their inner skirts
or made extra pockets for carrying
them. Women's garments have always
offered good hiding places and it is a
delicate matter to ask a woman pas
senger who appears refined and gentle
to submit to an inspection. Mistakes
are sometimes made and then vast is
the indignation. AS long ago as 1871
the English customs officers were in
structed. when they suspected women
to call in the services OF a female
searcher "in whom they could confide"
Now women are regularly employed
for the purpose of searching women
suspected of carrying about their per-
son dutiable goods which they have
not declared.
On the continent of Europe, French
Mrs. farley travelled from France into
the adjoining countries with her dis
play of wax figures. She had done this
often, but on one of her trips one OF
the figures fell, was broken, and dis
closed its contents to be fine lace. So
each figure then gave up silk or lace
or linen.
In England oil cans with their int
riors consisting of tin funnel have
been discovered. When the customs
officer put stick into the can. turned
it around and then drew it out, he
found that it was stained with oil, as
stated by the importer. But the upper
bullying sides of the can held spiritu-
Gus liquors.
Another oft-told tale is that of the
ornithologist who prepared birds for
scientific associations and savants of
Europe. Also in his lonely working