New Britain herald., 1916-03-21
AMERICA THE ONLY
 LAND 0F LUXURY
Europe Gets the War Cloud and
 We the Silver Lining

l ton existing in the United States. | Records of the New York custom | house reveal that the high degree of | prosperity brought here by foreign
 war order profits, bumper crops and | generally stimulated trade conditions 1 at home, is being reflected in a vastly | increased outlay by AmerlCnns for the l very classes of luxuries about to be l denied to the British people, and
 which already have been greatly cur
 tailed in all the countries now at war. An official of the bureau of foreign 1 and domestic commerce whose duties 1 keep him in close touch with beth l outward and inward currents of trade l told yesterday of the present raniti-
 cations of the luxury tradc. He said: At the outbreak of tha European l war there was practical stoppage for the time being of many lines Of imports in what may be termed the luxury class, owing to the upset con- ditions prevailing in the countries en- tering the war, but later there was resumption of traffic in these goods As hostilities progressed and the need on the other side of frugality be- came more emphasized, dealers in precious stones, art goods. toilet ac-
 
 variety of crude productsv ealized that the only market left for these wares was the United States.
 Fortunately for the European and Oriental handlers, the new crop CT war milionaires' arising in th } United States coupled with the general pros perity here, met the situa tion perfect ly from the foreigners point of view, nf nj in try. The result has been that dur ing the past eight montls there has been a very notable increase in the movement Of all sorts or luxuries to this country"
 "Madc In America.'
 Elsewhere it was pointed out that in cases where certain foreign luxuries could not be had, due to exhaustion or non-production, Americans had turned to domestic products 10 meet requirements. In this connection, American-made wines and chanl- pagnes were pointed out. While the imports here of French cbampagnc have been better maintained than Wis generally expected, prices for the for elgn product scared, and many users of both champagne and other wines
 
 products for the first time Much the 1 same thing happened when German l h hosiery and French silk imports slack l ened, and as in the case of the Ger | many hosiery, ran down almost to the 1 zero point. Am erican naunfa ctTr- CTS stepped in and filled th2 needs rf | he public in most satisfactory man. | 1er.
 John R. Hecht, the government ex- l pert examiner of paintings at the ap- | praisers stores, said brush produC- 1 tions of all kinds were increasing. He 1 gave it as his view that m:.ny fine collections, now held In Europe by wealthy individuals, might eventually find their way here owin:, to financial abroad or the impairment of personal fortunes.
 According to Clarence l.. Lersrcr examiner of porcelains bronzes, and other art objects, the strong demand here for "antiques' is resulting in more or less unsuccessful attempts to defraud American purchasers.
 Big Sale of Precious Stones.
 Perhaps the most striking example of the good times here $ that dealing with the importations of precious and semi-precious stones. Although. the imports of gems in 1913 were phenomenal owing to the imminence of a new tariff, with higher ratc. of duty, little trouble was experienced hy dealers in working off their stocks, l particularly after payments for war orders began to be made. Purchases were made last year on a particularly l liberal scale, the twelve months i'm ports into the United States aegreeat- 1 ing s26.521. 339, or nearly s7.OOO.CGO l in excess of 1914. when for one-la1e of the year trade conditions of the 1 world were normal.
 Since the new year, Customs Exam iner William E. Tread well who ir- l spects practically all gom importa- tions entering the country, has noted 1 big jump in all classes of gems re- cclNed. In the week OG March 10 ! the custom House reported these i'm ! ports as having a foreign value of Sl.ll5,629. divided by Cin%ses as fol- 1 lows: Diamonds cut, but not set. l $557,177, and uncut, $54O.393; pearls ! not set. S5S, ,93S. and imitation nre 1 cious stones $19.121. Customs men l said that if the present ratio is main | tanned 1916 will be banner year for 1 gem entries. due to Europe's ncces l sity of unloading" stocks here. ! Platinum now selling at $SS per ounce is coming in at the rate of ] $2.077,536 per annum
 American women last year, accord l ing to the governments figures used | foreign-made silk goods having a |, value of $25,139,S43. While this was a falling off of about s40OO. coo com pared with 1914, the American n1anu- lecturers were able to furnish the deficiency. Toys, another form of 1 luxury, were imported in 1915 to the extent of s4.61S.975. just one. half of the usual supply. but no 1