Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 162, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 July 1915 — SMUGGLING IN WAR [ARTICLE]

SMUGGLING IN WAR

Business, Not Romance, Marks the Contraband Trade. Chiefs of the Runners In Holland Are Well Dressed and Their Dens Are Modern Offices—Guard Methods Closely. Rotterdam. —The romantic smuggler waiting for a dark night to run his lugger ashore in a cove and then bury his bales and barrels in the sand has disappeared, but the trade still flourishes and probably brings more profit than ever, especially just now in Holland. The modern smuggler here, however, is interested chiefly in getting contraband out of the country rather than bringing it in. ■’ A call at an up-to-date smuggler's den, of which several exist in the center of Rotterdam, probably would reveal a middle-aged German dressed in a well cut business suit at a desk, in front of him small heaps of spices, grain of various species, raw rubber, and sample bottles of burning and lubricating oils. From time to time the smuggler chief takes the telephone receiver down and calls a number, and bargains in terse phrases over the price of job lots of the articles, samples of which lie before him, sent for his approval by merchants and dealers who held stocks more or less extensive before the new and strict government regulations falling for an inventory were issued. Then follow other telephone calls on shippers or their skippers. The smuggler chief is trying to arrange for the transport of his illicit exports across the border line into Germany or Belgium. Freights for this trade are high, and the smuggler’s efforts are directed toward beating down the ship* per to as low a figure as possible, but the shipper holds out, for he knows smuggled goods bring high rates when safely brought to their destination. Torture would not force the smugglers to disclose the methods by which they manage to forward the contraband beyond the closely guarded frontier. It is hinted, however, that many railroad cars ostensibly conveying freight from Holland to Denmark and from Denmark to Holland are mysteriously uncoupled and disappear while passing over the intervening German territory. Dutch fishing boats, too, often are seized off the coast by German patrol boats and taken into -German ports, whence they are released after their cargoes have been

unloaded, to the evident satisfaction of the skippers. Dozens of Rhine lighters pass dally up and down the river whose course runs through Germany and Holland, and occasionally one is held up because of the presence of illicit cargo; but it is possible that for each one stopped several others pass muster with forbidden goods on board and are received with welcome by the German authorities. From numerous points along the frontier, closely guarded though it is by Dutch troops, come reports of cattle and horses being driven across into German territory, where the lines of sentinels are thin or woods prevent a clear view. The gains to be obtained by the running of contraband are so tempting that the efforts of the authorities have been rendered futile. Practically half the Dutch troops now mobilized are engaged in guarding the frontiers, not against foreigners ..but against Dutchmen trying to pass contraband. It is difficult, however, to guard every yard of the border line and if the attention of a sentry can be distracted for only a few minutes this gives the wily smuggler his chance to get across with his goods.