The Washington herald., 1912-12-08
WIDESPREAD SMUGGLING LOSES IMMENSE
REVENUE TO THE UNITED STATES YEARLY
Merchants, Travellers, and Importers Succeed More
Picturesque Characters in Whiskers and
Shooting Irons in Evading the
Duties of Uncle Sam.
By JAMES b. MORROW.

revolver. He should be bearded-black,
preferably-and his eyes should be evil
and restless. At o'clock, say, on a
moonless morning he shuld peer-not look,
but peer-into the darkness and listen.
Catching no signs of spying or patrolling
oars, he should draw his hidden boat
from among the rushes and, springing
panther-hke within, softly row or pole
across the silent waters of the river to a
confederate, also bearded-this- time red,
prefera ably-waiting in a cave at the edge
Of the water.
How unlike, however, is the profession
al smuggler of reality and the twentieth
century Maybe he owns a sugar refin-
cry. Perhaps he is the proprietor OF a
wholesale establishment. His wits are
his weapons and he shudders when he
thinks of vulgar daggers and shooting
irons. No night work for him. Instead
OF boat, he rides in a limousine. His
pals do not wait in caves. Bankers talk
TO him intimately. Policemen salute him
with dignity.
A smuggler is a smuggler, nevertheless,
whether he gets the goods into the coun-
try by stealth or cheats the government
through the instrumentality Of doctored
scales or the devices of crooked book
keeping. Amateurish smugglers, ladies
and gentlemen home from Europe, have
been denying and confessing on the docks
d
old garments, at the bottom Of the bag
gage have been found new jewelry and
costly lingerie. Another ostrich" the
inspector usually says to himself in such
cases of awkward hiding. Now and then
a figure in finance or trade tests his skill
with diamonds and pearls for a woman
with whom his wife is unacquainted. An
idiotlc risk imperiling peace at home and
loud laugh from the world.
But these are common though specta-
cular tricks. They are printed, some
times with portraits, in the star report
er's best and most unsympathetic Ian
guage. Such smuggling, with its tears,
its Mysteries and its noisy show of right
eOus ignorance or forgetfulness, is mere
ly trivial element of a large and Sc
riOus situation. Indeed. so prevalent had
smuggling become, not Of hlgh-priced
gowns, gloves and Iaces, but OF manu-
featured merchandise in large bulk, that
Secretary MacVeagh. Of the Treasury,
ordered John f. Wilkie, chief of the
Secret Service, which deals mostly with
cOunterfeiters, TO break 1t up. Snug
Cling as used in this article is a generic
word. and includes false invoices, short
weights, and so on.
A large part OF the money required to
support the national government is col
lected on goods made in foreign coun-
tries and brought here to be sold. The
appropriations of Congress now amount
TO $1,000, 100000 year. Most of the money
to meet the appropriations comes from
the collectors of customs at the different
ports on the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans
To them are paid the duties charged
against foreign merchandise shipped to-
the United States. If all Americans were
honest, the collectors OF customs would
need no experts to help them in what
can properly be called the criminal
branch OF their business
Such help is required, however, and is
obtained from a group of shrewd and
watchful men known as special agents
Their headquarters are in Washington,
although they operate in twenty different
districts. In the eye of the law, they
are the personal representatives of the
Secretary of the Treasury, and are in
the field to see that the collectors of
customs do their work efficiently and to
prevent importers from cheating the
government by undertaking or wrongly
classifying their merchandise. When a
special agent is sent to foreign country
he is called a confidential agent.
Special and confidential agents are
sharp-sighted, ingenious and technical per
sons. Some Of them are not lawyers but
they know more law than do many practi-
TONERS. The tariff law is long and compli-
Gated, containing numerous schedules,
and in each schedule is a large number
of separate items A paper of pins is
an item; so is a machine for weaving
cloth out of cotton. Confidential agents
are on duty in London, Paris, Cologne.
Berlin, Yokohama, and St. Gall, in
Switzerland. whence annually comes TO
this country about S17.O00O0O worth of
fine embroidery
They Get $4,000 n Year.
Foreign goods are taxed two ways
a definite amount or on a basis of value
Special and confidential agents, therefore,
must have a knowledge of the cost of
production, which, naturally, compels
them to study raw materials, labor and |
interest on capital When they see a |
bolt Of silk. a case of hose, or a con-
sisnment Of crockery or cutlery they
should know what it is worth at the |
factory and when it is placed on the |
market for sale. Special agents of the |
Treasury are the best paid field men
in the government service. Their salaries |
range from IS a day to $1,000 a year and |
expenses Confidential agents receive SO
a day net The result OF the work these
officers perform can be measured in
money. Last year. for instance, special
agents in New York caused the collec-
importers.
There is a business man at the head
Of the Treasury. Mr.. MacVeagh used to
be wholesale grocer in Chicago He
saw. sensed or heard that frauds were
being practiced on the government by
conspicuous citizens who belonged to
boards of trade, and were never SUD-
posed to be engaged in any OF the forms
of smuggling. No dangers for them. nor
pistols, but only unadventurous living as
TO values and a little -unsensational Jug
Cling with respect to. classification.
Wilkie, too, halls from Chicago, where
he wal, once newspaper writer, doing"
police, of course, which work, formerly.
was the starting point of every reporter.
He came here-a tall, sagacious, worldly
wise man, dressed up-to-date and smok-
ing q pipe when doing his hardest think
ing-to be the director of the Secret
Service, During the war with Spain he
organized a force Of spy-catchers and
the spies he did not catch hurriedly
departed this country. Secretary Mac
Veagh has never said it publicly, but
he made Wilkie supervising agent in
charge of the special and confidential
g gents Of the Treasury so that the men
who were robbing the government more
successfully than ever before might be
caught in the act and disciplined.
Making Crooked Importers Groan.
The Secretary OF the Treasury is not
3 law officer. He cannot drag an i'm
porter into court and prosecute him for
forgery, or perjury or conspiracy-that
must be done by the Attorney General
but he can settle and the settlement