The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1922-04-27

NEW YORK CITY, April 27.-The
plumage of the bird Of paradise, one
of the loveliest and cruelist OF femi-
nine adornments, is making positively
its last appearance In New York mil
linery shops this season. In another
year, 1t is expected, it will have COM
pletely disappeared, because by that
time it is going to be dangerous to
sell it. Consequently, nearly every hat
shop window in the city now contains
gorgeous display of paradise plumes,
marked down to bargain prices.
Because Of the near extinction of
the bird of paradise species, the Inn
portation of paradise feathers was for
hidden in the tariff law of 1913, but
since that act neglected to place any
restrictions upon their sale, they have
continued to appear with persistent
regularity in the millinery market. The
new tariff law, however, contains the
necessary restrictions in an amend
ment which puts on the dealer the
burden OF proving his stock of feathers
was in this country in or before 1918.
Hence, the present intense anxiety of
dealers to dispose of their paradise
feathers before the act is put into
effect
Under the old law it was the govern
ment that had to supply the proof
which was impractical About the
only way the federal authorities could
obtain a conviction was to catch a
smuggler in the act of bringing para
disc feathers into the country. Once
they were here they were as safe as
If they had been formally passed by
"a 1Skn Easo
had no trouble in disposing of the
feathers to a jobber, who, in turn,
sold them to department stores or mil
liners, to whom he furnished certif-
Gates and other data designed to show
that the merchandise had been in the
United States the required number OF
years. And, as the law did not ques
ton the good faith of dealers who
bought feathers on the strength OF
these shaky certificates, neither could
the federal district attorney.
No Shortage Of PIumes
Thus, the smuggling Of paradise
feathers into this country has beer
proceeding briskly for the last nine
years, during which time the millinery
market has never been annoyed by {
shortage. The demand for the plumes
according to one dealer, is "as steady
as that for diamonds so that SNUG
glers have always been able to dis
pose Of their goods promptly Most o.
the smuggling has been carried on by
seamen and officers of merchant ships
from the Mediterranean, who usually
conceal the feathers under their cloth
ing.
Lean seamen," one official tells us
have waddled off their ships swoller
and puffed like Falstaffs by layers
upon layers of plumes strapped to theil
limbs and trunks. On some lines Gus
toms inspectors first take a glimpse
at the neck and then at the waist o.
the seamen. II they observe a No. Il
neck springing out of 60-inch torso
they make an arrest and usually re
cover few thousand dollars worth o.
feathers. On one occasion, sus
piciously well-timbered and pompou.
ship captain was searched and mere
core or kernal of human being found
running through huge structure o
feathers"
All of the confiscated plumes, as spe
Gifted in the 1913 law, have been turned
over to the National Association of Au
dubon societies, which has formed
them into exhibits and distributed
them among sixty different museums
throughout the country. About TWEEN
ty thousand dollars worth of plumes