The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-12-19
UNCLE SAM, DETECTIVE :
:: Collecting the Duties and Watching for Snug
: glers on the Wharves of New York.

Observation-Disclosures FRANK G.
Orr Big Customs Business-It Equals
a Million Dollars a Day-Stories OF
Pearl Necklaces and Diamonds
How Paris Gowns Pay Duty-The
Sleeper Trunk FraudS-BiS Fines
For Big Men-Some Mighty I'm
deryaluations-The Spy System n
How 1t Works-A Talk With the
Collector.
Copyright, 1911, by Frank G.. Car
penter.)
7 had a big jolt a Few
weeks ago. It was upon landing here
in New York after a short trip TO
Europe. I lad been travelling on the
continent, and, knowing the strictness
Of the customs house officers, a
carefully figured my purchases so that
they did not exceed the on~e-hundred-
dollar limit which every traveller is
supposed to ave free. With head
erect and the conscience Of an honest
citizen, I walked down the gang-plank
TO the dock, expecting to be rushed
through without trouble. I was rush
ed through all right, but not without
trouble. My trunks were gone care
fully over, and upon the very pur-
chases I had declared I had to pay
over $40 in duties.
Among these was about thirty dol
lars worth of "God Bless Our Home"
German linens. I near the table
cloths and napkins with German mot
toes embroidered upon them.
They were for my own use, and I
construed them to be on the free list.
The inspector, however, told me that
all linen now pays 60 per cent, and
that on that little item the sum of SIS
1905 l.~ 81 r r-nr <In r0 ~ ,,NN
stuff Of a similar nature, and at the
end Uncle Sam got $40 from me be-
fore I dared leave the dock =.
That was the sum the Government
collected from one honest passengers
baggage. It came from a recent con-
struction Of the law, which has shut
out presents and certain special
classes of goods. And it had nothing
tc do with the smuggling, which, in
the past, has cost Uncle Sam millions.
The Passing of the Smuggler.
Indeed, the weIl-to-do, respectable
tourist smuggler is fast passing way.
Collector Loeb has him and her on
the run, and a righteous fear has
soaked into the souls Of the hundreds
Of thousands who annually travel in
Europe. AS [ stood on the wharf it
seemed to me that the baggage Of the
Individual passenger had perceptibly
shrunk. Men whom I have known
to bring back fourteen or fifteen
trunks are now content with one little
steamer and a hat box, perhaps, while
the average woman had but little
more.
All the way over from Europe to
New York the chief conversation on
board was as to the customs officials,
and the horrid way in which they
went through your baggage observ-
ed them go through other trunks. The
work was rigidly done, and, as a rule,
without trouble to those who had
made an honest statement OF just
what they had in their baggage. Some
few Jared badly, and among these
we're two young ladies, who had sewed
the we'll worn labels of New York
d~ressmakers inside their new Paris
dresses, and were trying to get them
in free.
One short woman with a dubious
bosom was found to be padded with
lace, and another, from whom the in
spectors had been told to watch out,
was taken off to a private room and
searched from her crown to her toes.
In such cases Uncle Sam has the
right to strip any of his nephews and
nieces to the bare skin, and this is
sometimes done when occasion de-
mands. Pearl necklaces have beer
found in the hair and a diamond was
once discovered under the little toe
on the left foot of a lady, while some
valuable rubies were recently Smug
sled into New York under a porus
plaster on the back Of a man. In this
latter case the spies of the Treasury
Department had sent a warning TO the
inspectors, and when this traveller
he was an Austrian-landed a dozen
red stones were found in his cravat.
They we're tested and it was discovered
that they were not real rubies. The
man was therefore let 60. and a cable
to that effect sent to Europe. The
spies cabled back hat he be examin,
ed again, and he was searched at the
hotel. The poruS plaster had dis
appeared, but a dozen little holes in
the skin showed where the rubies had