Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-02-12

made another exchange with baby and
took back his own rattle. If the Gus
toms officials had not received advance
notice Of this little game it is probable
caught and Uncle Sam would have been
more than $4,000 out of pocket"
* :.
The enforcing Of the customs laws Is
not without its humorous side. One case
came under the observation of this official
a short while ago at Niagara Falls, n
Y, where a cripple with one leg, hobbling
around on a crutch, took up subscrip-
ton to buy himself a wooden leg. He
finally obtained the necessary amount
$jO-and then he thought he might save
a little of his money by crossing into
Canada and buying his wooden leg there
One morning he crossed the bridge on his
crutch and the same afternoon returned
over the same bridge minus his crutch
The customs officer on duty at the bridge
held him up and wanted to know what
he had done with his crutch and why
1T was he appeared now with two legs
when in the morning he had only one
leg. The man then admitted that he had
bought wooden leg in Canada. The
customs officer thought Uncle Sam was
entitled to duty on the leg and took 1t
away from the man. The man became
indignant and wanted to know how the
government cOulQ cOllecL uuty on ms
leg but the official was obdurate, and the
man was compelled to hobble on one leg
while the case was submitted to Wash
ington for decision. The department at
Washington decided in favor of the man
the ground there was no warrant in
law for the taxing Of mans leg.
A short while ago Uncle Sam discov-
cred the smuggling of many valuable
paintings by old masters h 4 we'll known
firm of picture dealers il..y it was
rnhhad n
more than 100000. One reason why the
smuggling of pictures. vases, tapestries
and the like into America IS so profitable
is that an import duty Of 80 per cent ad
valorem has to be paid. II a man brings
in vase worth 500 he has to hand over
SEQ to Uncle Sam. So, because of the
immense profits to be made when an old
master. vase or tapestry was successfully
smuggled, many people engaged in the
traffic, but since the new regime took
hold the game is now numbered among
the things Of the past.
x
differentiation is a favorite scheme of
the men who try to get the best of Uncle
Sam. In this scheme it Is the custom to
produce invoices showing a false market
value of the merchandise in the foreign
country where purchased. AS the Gus
toms duties in these cases are based on
the ACTUAL NAlue OIL the SOOQS, or the cost
Of the merchandise where it was bought,
it has been frequently the case that
many people have presented false in
voices showing a value which was much
less than the real value OF the goods In
the case of merchandise valued at S1OO
where there is a duty OF 10 per cent ad
valorem this would be just $40 duty on
500 worth of goods. OF course, the
chance for making big profits has been
the cause Of this fraudulent practice.
Since the people engaged in this scheme
have become aware that the authorities
are next to their little game it is rapidly
becoming the fashion to be honest in
their dealings with the government
One of the greatest schemes to defraud
Uncle Sam. and at the same time one OF
the most profitable to the originators,
was that of the sleeper trunk frauds .
recently unearthed. To work this game