Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 January 1910 — Page 3

Smuggl ers and Smuggling

In the days of the Georges smuggling was so popular a calling in England and the smuggler so popular a gentleman even with some of the landed gentry, in whose ancient country mansions special chimney recesses have been found especially constructed to shield from detection the imported brandies which had slipped into tl*e country without reporting to the king’s customs officers, that even the sedate and high-minded Scotchman, Adam Smith, classified the contraband traffic as a trade albeit one of great hazard. That the smuggling of the eighteenth century had reached a high degree of perfection is shown in the laws aimed at those engaged in the practice, writes H. B. Chamberlain, in the Chicago Record Herald. Vessels carrying undeclared goods were forfeitable, as were the goods; high inducements were offered to informers who would betray their fellow workers; persons maimed in arresting smugglers were entitled to a reward of £SO; informers guilty of sordid, selfish treachery were given the same .amount for each person convicted on their testimony and the informers were granted immunity. Smugglers were whipped and transported to the plantations. In 1746 assembling to run contraband goods was made punishable by death as a felony. Ah the offenses multiplied and the popularity of the smugglers made it difficult to capture them, counties were made liable for their deeds. But the smuggler of that period is no longer extant. Like the Indian scout, the buffalo and the desperado of the Western plains, he has been crowded out by a complicated civilization. He could flourish only in a thinly populated country, with a coast offering to him inlets and harbors where fie could in safety land his cargo. In these days of the wireless and populous, cities and great trans-Atlan-tic steamers he must assume another form and pursue different methods. Cunning rather than strength or knowledge of waves and winds is the requisite qualification of the modern smuggler. Hence women are as well able to engage in it as men, and, indeed, the facts prove that they seem to have an especial aptitude in this line. The false-bottomed trunk is so old a device that the unsophisticated wonder why anyone should trust to it. For surely every inspector knows of this contrivance for concealing goods. But, as has been shown by the wholesale dismissal of employes from the customs service in New York, inspectors have not been obstreperously efficient in guarding the interests of their country. In these days smuggling on a large scale invariably produces the suspicion that there has been collusion with the government officials. This was shown to be true in a case at New York. Early in November a member of a cheese importing firm, was sentenced to a year in prison and to pay a fine of |5,000 for defrauding this government, of duties by misstating the weight of cheese Imported. To carry out this fraud it was necessary for the government weigher to falsify his report to fit the figures of the false invoice sent by the exporter from Europe. Four government weighers turned state’s evidence and told how this had been done, and evidence gathered from the books and records of purchasers corroborated the stories of these informers, who were offered immunity from prosecution and retained in the customs service. The culprit testified that the frauds had been suggested to him by the government weighers who shared with him the money thus kept from the government. The $2,000,000 which the sugar trust has fraudulently withheld from the government by means of an ingenious device applied secretly to the scales for weighing the sugar and operated by employes of the company is an example of the large scale on Vhlch evasion of payment of duties can be practiced in this century and country of large things. When souvenir spoons were more popular than now, women returning from Europe sometimes fastened them to the waistbands of their inner skirts or made extra pockets for carrying them. Women’s garments have, always offered good hiding places and it is a delicate matter to ask a woman passenger who appears refined and gentle to submit to an inspection. Mistakes are sometimes made and then vast is the Indignation. As long ago as 1731 the English customs officers were Instructed. when they suspected “women

of fashion” carrying customable goods to call in the services of a female searcher “in whom they could confide.” Now women are regularly employed for the purpose of searching women suspected of carrying about their person dutiable goods which they have not declared. On the continent of Europe, a French Mrs. Jarley traveled from France into the adjoining countries with her display of wax figures. She had done this often, but on one of her trips one of the figures fell, was broken, and disclosed its contents to be fine lace. So each figure then gave up silk or lace or linen. > In England oil cans with their interiors consisting of a tin funnel have been discovered. When the customs officer put a stick into the can, turned it around and then drew .it out, he found that it was stained with oil, as stated by the importer. But the upper bulging sides of the can held spirituous liquors. Another oft-told tale is that of th« ornithologist who prepared birds foi scientific associations and savants oi Europe. Also in his lonely working hours he talked to his pet parrot When poll had been up to some naughty prank he must have inadver tently threatened her, for once when he was passing the customs house this parrot cried out; “Oh, Pott, when you are dead I shall stuff you with laces.” And so it was discovered that all his birds were thus stuffed. Last month two fashionable dressmakers of Boston were arrested charged with smuggling women’s apparel from France. The customs officials say this is the beginning of the exposure of one of* the cleverest and boldest smuggling conspiracies evter hatched to slip valuable imports into this country. The method followed was to leave trunks unexamlned on board the ship with the understanding that they would go back to Europe with their owners unopened. Then these trunks were quietly slipped off the ship after the customs house officials had inspected the other baggage. That a widespread rottenness has tainted the customs service at New York is shown in the shake-up recently given by Collector Loeb. It may be that inspectors, frightened by the discharge of their fellows, may now give honest attention to their work. But a high and. complicated tariff offers a temptation to smuggling which is difficult to offset.

NOTES ABSENCE OF HONESTY.

Few Articles Forgotten Ip Cars Are Tamed In by Passengers. The man in the rabbit hutch was talking. “It’s wonderful what a difference the pay-as-you-enter makes with lost articles,” he said. “I guess we turn in about one-tenth the stuff we used to pick up in the cars before we were confined to. this box. You see, we used to walk through the cars for the fares, and if there was an umbrella or a grip, or anything of that sort, left in one of the seats we ran a good chance of seeing it and restoring it to the owner. Now we can’t do that. We have to stay here at the rear, and we have hardly any chance at all to pick up anything left on the car.” “But the passengers turn in some of the things they find, don’t they?” I asked. • There was a great and sad knowledge of human nature in the conductor’s smile. , “Do they? Not much,” he said. “Ask the man Tyho has charge of lost articles over at the De Baliviere station. He’ll tell you that we handle almost nothing there now, whereas we restored quantities of stuff to the owners under the pay-when-discovered system.” My eye, but what thieves we are! “Why, I used to pick up an umbrella or two on my car every day, and now there is not one handed over to me in seven days,” he resumed. Here, then, is a valid objection to the pay-as-you-enter—one, we have never thought of: It is making all of us thieveßit St. Louis Post Dlspatoh.

How to Know the Twins.

The Beverly twins, Fred and Frank, were such exact counterparts of each other that none of the neighbors could tell them apart, and even their mother sometimes had her doubts. The resemblance is accentuated by the fact that they are dressed exactly alike. “How in the world can you yourself tell which is which, Mrs. 'Beverly?" asked a caller one day. “To/tell the truth.” she answered, "I can’t always; but if I hear a noise in the pantry, and I call out, ’Fred is that you?’ and he says, ’Yes, mamma,’ I know it’s Frank, and that lie’s in some kind of mischief.”

The Progressive Cook.

“Our rook has lived In some of our beat families.” “Our cook haa lived in all of them, and la making good progress on the aecond time around.”—Louisville Cour-ier-Journal. Fortunately, moat of the weather that la predicted doesn't develop.

A MAN WHO HAD COURAGE.

In St. Ives, in Land’s End, bird killing used to fiourish almost without protest. It has not wholly ceased yet, to be Bure, but one little incident took place which seems to have been remembered here and there, and to have brought about a merciful truce. In “The Land’s End” W. H. Hudson relates the occurrence as he heard of it. He was talking one day to a woman who deplored the way her fellow countrymen were killing birds of all kinds. “I’m sure,” she said, “that if Borne one living here would go about among the people and talk to the men and boys, and not be afraid of anything, but try to get the police and magistrates to .help him, he could get these things stopped in time, just as Mr. Ebblethwaite did about the gulls.” Who was Mr. Ebblethwaite, and what was it he did about the gulls? I had been, off and on, a long time in the place, and had talked about the birds with a score of people, without ever hearing this name mentioned. And as to the. gulls, they were well enough protected by the sentiment of the fisherfolk. But it had not been so always. On Inquiry, I found twenty persons to tell me all about Mr. Ebblethwaite, who had been very well known to every-

Don’t Weep At The Ice House.

Some people swell tip on “embtion” brewed from absolute untruth. It’s an old trick of the leaders of the Labor Trust to twist facts and make the "sympathetic ones” “weep at the Ice house.” (That’s part of the tale further on.) Gompers et al. sneer at, spit upon and defy our courts, seeking sympathy by falsely telling the people the courts were trying to deprive them of free speech and free press. Mqn can speak freely and print opinions freely In this country and no court will object, but they cannot be allowed to print matter as part of a criminal conspiracy to Injure and ruin other citizens. Gompers and his trust associates started out to ruin the Bucks Stove Co., drive its hundreds of workmen out of work and destroy the value of the plant without regard to the fact that hard earned money of men who worked, had been invested there. The conspirators were told by the courts to stop these vicious ‘‘trust’’ methods, (efforts to break the firm that won’t come under trust rule), but instead of stopping they “dare” the courts to punish them and demand new laws to protect them in such destructive and tyrannous acts as they may desire to do. * • • The reason Gompers and his band persisted in trying to ruin the Bucks Stove Works was because the stove company insisted on the right to keep some old employees at work when “de union” ordered them discharged and some of "de gang” put in. Now let us reverse the conditions and have a look. Suppose the company had ordered the union to dismiss certain men from their union, and, the demand being refused, should institute a boycott against that union, publish its name In an "unfair list,” instruct other manufacturers all over the United States not to buy the labor of that union, have committees call at Btores and threaten to boycott if the merchants sold anything made by that union. Picket the factories where members work and slug them on the way home, blow lip their houses and wreck the works, and even murder a few members of the boycotted union to teach them they must obey the orders of "organized Capital?” It would certainly be fair for the company to do these things if lawful for the Labor Trust to do them. In such a case, under our laws, the boycotted union could apply to our courts and the courts would order the company to cease boycotting and trying to ruin these union men. Suppose thereupon the company should sneer at the court and in open defiance continue the unlawful acts in a persistent, carefully laid out plan, purposely intended to ruin the union and force its members into poverty. What a howl would go up from the union demanding that the courts protect them and punish their law-breaking oppressors. Then, they would praise the courts and go on earning a living protected from ruin and happy in the knowledge that the people’s courts could defend them. How could any of us receive protection from law-breakers unless the courts have power to, and do punish such men. The court Is placed in position where It must do one thing or the other—punish men who persist In defying Its peace orders or go out of service, let anarchy reign and the more powerful destroy the weaker. Peaceable citizens sustain the courts as their defenders, whereas thieves, forgers, burglars, crooks of all kinds and violent members of labor unions, hate them and threaten violence if their members Are punished for breaking the law. The/ want the courts to let them go free and at the same time demand punishment for other men “outside de union” when they break the law. • • • Notice the above reference is to "violent" members of labor unions. The great majority of the "unheard” union men are peaceable, upright citizens. The noisy, violent ones get into office and the leaders of the great Labor Trust know how to mass this Had of man, \ / - '■

body in the town, but as'he been dead some years, nobody had remembered to tell me about him. It now came out that the very strict protection to the gplls at St. Ives dates back only about fifteen to eighteen years. The fishermen always had a friendly feeling for the birds, as is the case of all the fishing places on the coast, but they did not protect them from persecution, although the chief persecutors were their own children. People, natives and visitors, amused themselves by shooting the gulls along the cliffs and in the harbor. Harrying the gulls was the popular amusement of the boys; they were throwing stones at them all day long, and caught them with baited hooks, and set gins baited with fish on the sands, and no person forbade them. Then Mr. Ebblethwaite appeared on the scene. He came from a town in the north of England,, in broken health, and here he stayed a number of years, living alone In a small house down by the waterside. He was very fond of the gulls and fed them every day; but his example had no effect on others, nor had his words when he went about day after day on the beach, trying to persuade people to desist from these senseless brutalities. Finally he succeeded in getting a number of boys summoned for cruelty before the magistrates, and although no convictions followed, nor could be obtained, since there was no law or

in labor conventions and thus carry out the leaders’ schemes, frequently abhorrent to the rank and file: so it was at the late Toronto convention. The paid delegates would applaud and “resolute” as Gompers wanted, but now and then some of the real workingmen insist on being heard, sometimes at the risk of their lives. Delegate Egan js reported to have said at the Toronto convention.“If the officers of the federation would only adhere to the law we would think a lot more of them.” The Grand Council of the Provincial Workingmen’s Ass’n of Canada has declared in favor of severing all connection with unions in the U. S., saying "any union having its seat of Gov't in America, and pretending to be international in its scope, must fight industrial battles according to American methods. Said methods have consequences which are abhorrent to the law-abiding people of Canada involving hunger, misery, riot, bloodshed and murder, all of which might be termed a result of the practical war now in progress in our fair province and directed by foreign emissaries of the United Miners of America.” J That is an honest Canadian view of our infamous “Labor Trust.” A few days ago the daily papers printed the following: (By the Associated Press.) Washington, D. C., Nov. 10.—Characterizing the attitude of Samuel Gompers, John Mitchell and Frank Morrison of the American Federation of Labor in the contempt proceedings in the courts of the District of Columbia, in connection with the Bucks’ Stove and Range Company, as “a willful, premeditated violation of the law," Simon Bums, general master workman of the general assembly, Knights of Labor, has voiced a severe condemnation of these three leaders. Mr. Burns expressed his confidence In courts in general and in those of the District of Columbia in particular. APPROVED BT DELEGATES. This rebuke by Burns was in his annual report to the general assembly of his organization. He received the hearty approval of the delegates who heard it read at their annual meeting in this city. “There is no trust or combination of capital in the world,” said Mr. Bums, “th%t violates laws oftener than do the trust labor organizations, which resort to more dishonest, unfair and dishonorable methods toward their competitors than any trust or combinations in the country." Mr. Bums said the action of ‘‘these so-called leaders" would be harmful for years to come whenever attempts were made to obtain labor legislation. "The Labor Digest," a reputable workingman’s paper, says, as part of an article entitled “The Beginning of the End of Gompersism, many organizations becoming tired of the rule-or-ruln policies which have been enforced by the president of the A F. of L." “That he has maintained his leadership for so long a time in the face of his stubborn clinging to policies which the more thoughtful of the workingmen have seen for years must be abandoned, has been on account partly of the sentimental feeling on the part of the organizations that he ought not to be deposed, and the unwillingness of the men who were mentioned for the place to accept a nomination In opposition to him. In addition to this, there Is no denying the shrewdness of the leader of the A. F. of L., and his political sagacity, which has enabled him to keep a firm grip an the machinery of the organization, and to have his faithful henchmen in the positions where they could do him the most good whenever their services might be needed. “Further than this, he has never failed, at the last conventions, to have some sensation to spring on tho convention at tho psychological moment, which would place him In the light of a martyr to the cause of unionism, and excite a wave of sympathetic enthusiasm for him, which would carry the delegates off their feet, and result in his re-election. >

by-law to help him in such a case, he yet in this indirect way accomplished his object. He made himself unpopular, and was jeered and denounced as an interfering person, especially by the women; but some of the fishermen now began to pluok up spirit and second his efforts, and in a little while jyt came to be understood that, law or no law, the gulls must not be persecuted. - That Ja what Mr. Ebblethwaite did. For me It was to “say something,” and I have now said it. Doing and saying come to pretty much the same thing. At all events, I have on this occasion kept Ruskin’s words In mind concerning the futility of prodding autd scratching at that thick, insensible crust which lies above the impressible part in men unless we come,through whh a deep thrust somewhere.

TAME SEA GULLS.

Caught Young ud Kept ' Around Houae, They Have Never Left It. I have had a. pair of tame gulls for the last five years, a writer in the Field says. I got them from Seariff Island when they were about three months old and had their wings cut. For about two years they used to run about with the fowls and would eat anything in the way of meat, bread and cakes. I was advised to put them into the garden to eat the slugs, but I found they were fonder of strawberries and so removed them. They are not a bit afraid of dogs or cats. When

“That his long leadership, and this apparent impossibility to fill his place has gone to his head, and made him imagine that he is much greater a man than he really is, is undoubtedly the case, and accounts for the tactics he has adopted in dealing with questions before congress, where he has unnecessarily antagonized men to whom organized labor must look for recognition of their demands, and where labor measures are often opposed on account of this very antagonism, which would otherwise receive support i “There is no doubt but what organized labor in this country would be much stronger with a leader who was more in touch with conditions as they actually exist, and who would bring to .the front the new policies which organized labor must adopt if it expects to even maintain its present standing, to say nothing of making future progress.” We quote portions of another article, a reprint, from the same labor paper: “Organised labor, through its leaders, must recognize the mistakes of the past if they expect to perpetuate their organizations or to develop the movement which they head. No movement, no organization, no nation can develop beyond the intellects which guide these organizations, and if the leaders are dominated by a selfish motive the organization will become tinged with a spirit of selfishness, which has never appealed to mankind in any walk of life at any time since history began. •- ... “It can be said in extenuation of certain leaders of organized labor that the precarious position which they occupy as leaders has had a tendency to cause them to lose sight of the object behind the organization. The natural instinct in man for power and position is in no small measure responsible, for the mistakes of the leaders, not necessarily in labor unions alone, but in every branch of society. This desire for power and leadership and personal aggrandizement causes men who have been earnest and sincere in their efforts in the start to deteriorate into mere politicians whose every act and utterance Is tinged with the desire to cater to the baser passions of the working majority in the societies or organizations and this is undoubtedly true when applied to the present leaders of the Federation. We mention the Federation of Labor particularly in this article because that organization is the only organization of labor which has yet found itself in direct opposition to the laws of the land. There are other organizations of labor whose leaders have made mistakes, but they have always kept themselves and their organizations within the bounds of the j law and respected the rights of every other man in considering the rights of themselves and their constituency; whereas, the motto of the Federation Is just the reverse, and unless the leaders conform themselves and their organization in accordance with the laws of the land, the leaders and the organization itself must be disintegrated and pass into history, for in America the common sense in mankind is developed to a greater extent than in any other nation on the earth, and the people, who are the court of last resort in this country, wjll never allow any system to develop In this country which does not meet with the approval of the majority of the citizens of the country. ‘This must have forced Itself upon the leaders of the Federation by this time. It It has not, the leaders must be eliminated. The organisation which they head has done many meritorious things In times .past and the people are always ready and willing to acknowledge the benefits which their efforts have brought to their constituency as a whole, but at the present time labor organizations in general, uml the Federation of Labor In particular, stand before the bar of ptiblic opinion, having been convicted of eetflehnese and a disposition to rule all the people of the country in the Interest of the few. The people are patient and awaiting to see if the object leanest vhlch they have been toned to

their wings were -#ell grows I let them fly to sea (which is only about five minutes from my home). They always came back about our meal hours. I called them Paddy and Polly. Paddv is afraid of nothing-; he comes into the dining room and walks around the table, taking food from everyone, and one day he had the boldness to turn two cats from their saucer of bread and milk and finished the contents himself. Another day we were having tea outside the hall door when he flew on to the table and helped himself to bread and but ter. If there is no one In the front of the house they fly around to the back and tap at one of the kitchen windows to be fed. They go away sometimes for three or four weeks in the autumn during the mackerel fishing season, and I expect they get food enough at the fishing curing station, about a mile away. Sometimes they have brought young ones with them on their return, but the latter never get very tame and generally go away when they have acquired their full plumage.

The Philosopher of Folly.

“I see by the papers,” says the philosopher of folly, “that the dentists will form a trust. I. suppose it will be known as the ‘Teething Ring.’"— Cleveland Leader. Wireless telegraph apparatus is prohibited in British India except upon government license.

give to these leaders is going to be recognized and if they are going to conform themselves and their future work and actions in accordance thereto." Let the people remember that comment, “The Federation of Labor in particular stands before the bar of public opinion having been convicted of selfishness and a disposition to rule all the people of the country in the interest of the few." The great 90 per cent of Americans do not take kindly to the acts of tyranny by these trust leaders openly demanding that all people bow down to the rules of the Labor Trust and we are treated to the humiliating spectacle of our Congress and even the Chief Executive entertaining these convicted law-breakers and listening with consideration to their insolent demands that the very laws be changed to allow them to safely carry on their plan of gaining control over the affairs of the people. The sturdy workers of America have come to know the truth about these “martyrs sacrificing themselves in the noble cause of labor" but it’s only the hysterical ones who swell- up and cry over the aforesaid "heroes,” reminding one of the two romantic elderly maids who, weeping copiously, were discovered by the old janitor at Mt. Vernon. “What is it ails you ladies?" Taking the handkerchief from one swollen red eye, between sobs she said: “Why, we have so long revered the memory of George Washington that we feel it a privilege to come here and weep atihis tomb.” “Yas’m, yaa’m, yo’ shore has a desire to express yo’ sympathy, but yo* are overflowin’ at de wrong spot, yo* is weepin’ at de ice house.” Don't get maudlin about law-break-ers who must be punished if the very existence of our people is to be maintained. If you have any surplus sympathy it can be extended to the honest workers who continue to earn food when threatened and are frequently hurt and sometimes killed before the courts can Intervene to protect them. Now the Labor Trust leaders demand of Congress that the courts be stripped of power to issue injunctions to prevent them from assaulting or perhaps murderidg men who dare earn a living when ordered by the Labor Trust to quit work. Don’t “weep at the Ice House” and don’t permit any set of law-breakers to bully our courts, if your voice and vote can prevent Be sure and write your Representatives and Senators in Congress asking them not to vote for any measure to prevent the courts from protecting homes, property and persons from attack by paid agents of this great Labor Trust Let every reader write, and write now. Don’t sit silent and allow the organized and paid men of this great trust to force Congress to believe they represent the great masses of the American people. Say your say and let your representatives in Congress know that you do not want to be governed under new lawk which would empower the Labor Trust leaders with, legal right to tell you when to work. Where! For whom! At what price! What to buy! What not to buy! Whom to vote for! How much yon shall pay per month in fees to the Labor Trust! etc., etc., etc. This power is now being demanded by the passage of laws in Congress. Tell your Senators, and Representatives plainly that you don’t want them to vote for any measure that will allow any set of men either representing Capital or Labor to govern and dictate to the common people, who prefer to be free to go and come, work or not, and vote for whom they please. Every man’s liberty will disappear when the leaders of the great Labor Trust or any other trust can ride rough shod over people and mass their forces to prevent our courts frees affording protection. - • “There’s a Reason.” „ a W. POST. Battle Creek, lttofc.