subject held a few years ago in Washington, the Chinese government declared that the value of goods smuggled into China far exceeded the value of those imported legally. No doubt fully as much contraband goes out of China as into it. Despite every precaution and effort on the part of the officials, both in China and elsewhere, opium continues to find its way out of China and into the ports of Europe and America, while the wily Chinese themselves, aided by no less wily white men, are constantly smuggled into the United States. Chinese slave girls are also smuggled in, and in order to enter the Land of Liberty, and bring in their contraband slaves, the Chinese will endure the most incredible hardships and sufferings. Not long ago, during the past year in fact, several Chinese were found hidden in the bilge of an incoming ship where they had been for over a month in utter darkness, with no ventilation and barely able to move their limbs. For over ten days they had been without food, and all were emaciated until they were mere skeletons and too weak to stand. eral had died of starvation and their sufferings, and the others would have succumbed in a few more hours. On another occasion, a trunk, consigned to a Chinese importing firm in San Francisco, was found to contain a slave girl, doubled up and forced into the wholly inadequate space and almost dead from lack of air and food. Another time it was

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accidentally discovered that Chinese were smuggling goods in coffins. The Chinese believe that their bodies must be buried in Chinese soil in order to rest comfortably and to enable their spirits to mingle with those of their ancestors, and dead Chinamen, who have passed away in this country, are periodically shipped overseas to China in ornate coffins for burial in the land of their birth. As the Orientals are most respectful of their dead, no self-respecting Chinaman would ever dream of putting the coffins to any sacrilegious use; but there are plenty of Chinese, who, like their Caucasian brothers, will sacrifice anything or do anything for profit, and the brilliant idea occurred to some Americanized Chinaman to pass contraband through the customs lines by placing the goods in an empty coffin and shipping them to China as the remains of deeply lamented and most honored relatives.

From earliest times, too, gems of great value have been smuggled out of the Orient and into other lands. Since the World War, when the immensely valuable crown jewels of Russia, and almost equally valuable treasures of wealthy families, had been seized by the Reds, many of the gems have been smuggled into the United States. In this case, however, the smuggling has not been done so much to avoid paying duty as to avoid having the jewels traced. All the great and fam

ous jewels are well known to experts, and any unusually large diamond or other gem brought into this country would be instantly recognized. Hence it is necessary to smuggle the jewels in, dispose of them to shady dealers, or have them recut, or even cut into several smaller stones, by diamond cutters who can be depended upon for secrecy. Even then the difficulties are great, and the lengths to which the smugglers will go in order to get their stolen and contraband possessions into the United States is well illustrated by the experience of a well-to-do and prominent American lady. She was visiting England, and frequently visited an out-of-the-way shop where she purchased antiques and curios. On one occasion, when leaving, she was accosted by a stranger who stated that he was a Russian, and quite frankly suggested that she should smuggle jewels of incalculable value into America, receiving as rec mpense a princely share of the proceeds of the sale of the stones. Amazed, she questioned the fellow and asked why he should trust an utter stranger with the valuable gems.

"Have no fear that you could play us false, Madam," replied the Russian. "You will be well watched by our agents and should the stones not reach their destination (an address in New York) we will soon find a way to even matters."

Naturally the lady declined the offer, and whether or not the gems ever reached our shores is not

known. Very probably, however, the Russian found some other American who was not loth to earn a small fortune by smuggling in a few gems, and who was not as nervous about possible results. And no one can say how many of the crown jewels, and other gems of ravished Russia, have been smuggled into our country. Split up into a number of pieces, recut and reset, the gems that once blazed and scintillated in sceptres and crowns and orbs of an emperor and empress, in the coronets of nobles, and on the persons of aristocratic millionaires' wives at many a court function, are unrecognizable, untraceable.

Practically all the most famous jewels of the world were smuggled from place to place. The Kohinoor, the Orloff, the Pitt, the Star of the East. the Hope and other huge diamonds were all smuggled out of the lands where they had been stolen from idols or temples, and have been smuggled over and over again since then. Even the "Moonstone" which inspired the famous novel by Collins, was smuggled scores of times. It is no exaggeration to state that the stories of these gems, the trails of bloodshed, deaths, misfortunes, sorrows, jealousies, wars, intrigues and tragedies that have marked the histories of these smuggled jewels are the most romantic, thrilling and fascinating in all the annals of smuggling. When one reads their stories one is not at all surprised that the super

stitious should have regarded these stones, or some of them, as evil things, objects that brought ill luck, sickness or even death to their owners, for through endless years many of them, as for example the famous Hope diamond, have proved curses to their possessors and one owner after another has met violent death, terrible misfortunes and endless troubles. But their pasts are shrouded in mystery and legend; years, when they vanished completely from human ken, form gaps in the history of their wanderings; they are surrounded with superstition and myths, and fully as much of their stories has to do with brigandage, piracy and robbery as smuggling, which brings us again to the fact that these lawless professions ever go hand and hand with smuggling.

That perhaps is one of the worst features of the illegal trade, the fact that a man who breaks one law finds it an easy step to violate another, that a successful smuggler is often tempted to try his hand at being a successful brigand or pirate. Especially is this the case in the Orient. The Oriental acquires goods by robbery or theft and to conceal his acts, to avoid being traced by his loot, he smuggles the stolen articles out of one land and into another. If he succeeds, he turns smuggler and runs contraband, acquired both honestly and dishonestly, and usually becomes the leader of an organized smuggler band with spies, agents, con