The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-02-26
CHIEF WILKES RULES FOR SHOPPING IN A
 FOREIGN COUNTRY.

round
 2-Be very cautious in buying furs, laces, diamonds and precious stones, rugs, paintings, antique furniture of foreign shopkeepers unless you are an expert. You are likely to be swindled.
 s-Beware Of shopkeepers who offer fake bills of Sa to be presented at he American customs house. Use of these bills is likely to get you into trouble.
 It is not always what it seems
 5-Don't try to beat the American customs.
 6-Follow the honest and safest openly at actual valuations directly to your residence, paying duty upon receipt of them. There is a port or sub-port near every American home. Washington, Feb. 26-Chief John A. Wilkie, of the Secret Service, who is now also in charge of the special agents for the customs service, and who has made commercial and polite smuggling in this country as danger ous as counterfeiting, after a long and varied career as a chaser of news paper "stories'' and, later, of crooks. blossomed out today as an adviser to the fair sex on shopping worthy of prominent place on the woman's page. Tab'e", or Seen in the Shops for Dainty Femininity'', would hardly be appropriate headings for the chiefs column on the woman's page, how ever. A headline right to the point would be: How to Buy Things in Europe and Keep Gu tof Jail.''
 The chief has recently returned to Washington from trip to Europe in the interest of the customs service. While there he observed shopping con- ditions as applied to American tour istS-how those who wish to smuggle go about it (and get into trouble) and int ar xriRf ized by shrewd shopkeepers into be- coming innocent smugglers Cbut also getting into trouble)-and today he made to the United Press the follow ing observations:
 "When shopping abroad be careful of taking up bargains'-goods which you can get them so much cheaper than in the United States because of the duty through American ports. These bargains are not always what they seem. I'll tell you a story to illustrate.
 "A prominent citizen of a large eastern city of the United States re gently visited Canada. At the hotel they saw a handsome display of lace gowns. The lady was charmer. The seller gave the usual argument of cheapness because of no duty. The man bought a gown for his wife, pay ing $400 for It.
 ''They smuggled it into the country by packing it in among other cloth ing and not declaring it at the cus- tom house. A month or two ater the wife wore the gown to the bridge club and, like most, smuggling elad'es, she couldn't keep the secret, and she boasted about it. One of her dear friends told the local collector, who told the special agents, who called ard seized the gown Tears from the
 ''The first step after seizure was to appraise the gown to fix value basis for assessing the duty. The gown in tn lace trade. And here is the point: Of the six estimates of the gowns value, the highest was SIS and the lowest $6O. The value of s7O was cent, or SAP, was paid by tn ehusband As a penalty the husband was re- quired to pay the gowns value, or $7O. So the s70 dress cost him S512, and the question of criminal prosecu- tion against both husband and wife is still pending in Vle Treasury De- partment.
 Innocent people, ignorant of the tariff law, are often victimized by for eign shopkeepers telling them there are certain periods when the tariff is suspended on certain articles at cer- tain times. The tariff law works all the year round But the Montreal fur swindlers victimized many Amer ican school teachers and others last
 
 for goods which could be made up just in time for the period in the fall when the fur duty is suspended.' Of course, there is no such time, and of course the victims were forced to pay the duty in addition to the huge prices charged by the Montreal dealers.
 Every returning traveller is allowed $1O0 exemption on new goods for his personal use brought in his personal baggage. It therefore follows that everything sent by express through II, d1rfy buying fur in Canada should figure on paying 50 per cent. duty in addition to the purchase price, except that one is allowed s1OO exemption on the value of the purchase if there is no other dutiable baggage.
 Unless one is an expert in judging furs, one should be very cautious about buying it in a foreign country. Tn the past few months we have had many instances of our experts valung at siOO goods for which trave'ers had paid S=OO
 saThen, too, beware of the shopkeerer who induces a traveller, who has al ready bought oyer the s100 exemption, to buy more by offering to pack :n with the goods cash slips for only 50 or 75 per cent. of what was actually paid by the shopper. This custom is especially prevalent in Europe, among dealers in feminine fripperies, br'c-a- brac art furniture, etc. Some reput- able houses in Europe do this.
 For the information of foreign shoppers I vii say that the secret ser vice has q very complete list of for eign dealers who give fake biIIs and goods entered under bills from these houses are subjected to special scru- tiny. The use of any such bill by a returning passenger, if detected at the time of entry or afterwards, subjects him to criminal prosecution in addi- ton to forfeiture of the goods and fine equal to tn value of the goods and the evaded duties.''