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COPYRIGHT, 1909, UNDERWOOD & UNDERWOOD, N. Y.

ably they would not have paid duty if hobble skirts had not been in vogue last fall. It is hard enough to walk in a hobble skirt, as any one who has tried it can testify. But when in addition to hobble skirts one's freedom of movement is still further hampered by a huge muff drawn up over each well, the inspect

ors lined up on the pier actually laughed out loud. when the Western ladies essayed the passage of the gang plank. The Brutes!

Not to linger over the harrowing details, the two westerners were politely invited back to their staterooms by some women inspectors. When it was all over those muffs had cost their owners just four times what they could have been purchased for in the home market.

This unfortunate affair of the sable muffs was not the only attempt on record. to evade the payment of duties by guileful passengers. Bless your heart, no! Why, in six weeks last fall the customs inspectors gathered in five hundred thousand dollars' worth of jewelry from amateur smugglers, more than half of whom were women.

THE STEWARDS LOOK AFTER THE STEAMER TRUNKS IN THE STATE ROOMS.

the Government three millions, by the indictment of a member of the sacred executive committee of Tammany Hall, and the arrest and indictment of some of the biggest art dealers on Fifth Avenue, New York, for swindling the Government out of millions in duties, not to mention hosts of smaller smugglers. Upon the whole, there is no wonder the custom house and everybody connected with it is very unpopular just now in certain circles having some degree of skill in vocalizing their unhappiness.

Two ladies from the West now cherish particularly uncomplimentary opinions of the New York customs officers. Each bought two splendid sable muffs in Europe last summer, and it did seem a pity to have to pay duty on them. Prob

Contemplating the matter calmly it seems incredible that any one should try to smuggle since the custom house has been reorganized. Detection is about as certain as anything can be in this uncertain world, and as those who are caught are always caught literally with the goods on, there is nothing for it but to take one's medicine. It is only fair to say, however, that the customs officers are as charitable to the amateur smugglers as is consistent with their duty. When they find a trunk full of dutiable articles not declared they generally give the owner a chance to amend his declaration. Only in the more flagrant cases do they shut the gates of

mercy on the culprit, and, to change the figure, exact the pound of flesh.

Attempts at smuggling seem still more foolish when it is remembered that all important sales of jewelry abroad are registered and that the books are open to the inspection of representatives of this Government. Jewelers in this country, who are naturally affected by smuggling, have their own agents on the lookout and they pay well for information leading to the arrest and conviction of smugglers. Added to all this, hosts of honest Americans seem to find peculiar · pleasure in giving information of prospective attempts at smuggling. Finally, there is a stereotyped list of tricks and schemes outside of which the smuggler never ventures. As the customs officers have these by heart, they never make any mistakes. In nine cases out of ten they know in advance just whom to look out for, and so they go straight for their quarry with unerring precision.

In view of all this the kind of people caught in the customs net is certainly amazing. One of them was a former governor of New Hampshire. When he arrived on the Lusitania last May he declared nothing but one fur coat valued at $800. When his baggage was examined dutiable articles worth several thousand dollars were found. He was

given an opportunity to amend his declaration and thus to escape with only the payment of duties. As he refused he was arrested and indicted by the Federal Grand Jury. He pleaded guilty when arraigned and was fined $2,000. Besides this he had to pay $3,400 as the foreign value of the goods and on top of all this was piled the regular duty.

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Nor was this an exceptional case. prominent doctor from Chicago whose declaration listed but $300 worth of dutiable goods seemed rather bulky for a fashionably dressed man when he arrived on the Kronprinzessin Cecilie last September. Tim Donohue, a customs sleuth, struck so many knobs and protuberances when he stumbled against the doctor that the latter was invited back to his stateroom. There the searchers There the searchers

found rings, brooches, chains, watches, et cetera, enough to stock a jewelry store. The whole outfit was seized and sold.

On the same ship was a wealthy carpet manufacturer of Yonkers. He, at least, should have been familiar with the tariff, because it was the tariff that made him rich. And yet he wrote in his declaration that his six trunks contained nothing dutiable. This statement he repeated on the dock. Yet an inspector found two thousand dollars' worth of dutiable articles there. This mistake cost the carpet manufacturer a painful day at the Custom House and $4,960 in cash. Yet he counted himself lucky because he escaped criminal prosecution.

Earlier in the year a society matron from Poughkeepsie, whose husband is a rich manufacturer, arriving from Europe with her daughter and the latter's chaperon declared but $385 in dutiable articles in the party's seven trunks and five pieces of hand baggage. As the customs officers knew she had purchased a very fine necklace in Paris they asked her three several times to amend her declaration. When she refused they asked her in plain words for the necklace. Not until she was threatened with arrest did she finally drag it from its hiding place in her hat. She tore up a letter from the jewelers confirming the sale and scattered the pieces on the floor; but the inspectors gathered up the pieces and put them together. Her husband had a great deal to say about the brutality of the customs examination until the necklace and the letter were produced. It cost him a fine of $5,000 and the value of the necklace plus 60 per cent duty, making a total of $17,000.

A society leader from a Boston suburb who tried to smuggle in a $30,000 necklace in 1909, was tried and convicted and fined $5,000. She also had to pay the government the cost of the necklace with duty added, making the total $39,000. Adding the original cost of the necklace and lawyers' fees, court costs, and other expenses, that necklace represents a grand total outlay of $75,000.

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AN ENGINEER MADE RECORDS OF THE TEST FROM THE INTERIOR OF A FIREBOX CHAINED TO A FLAT CAR A SHORT DISTANCE FROM THE BOILER.

BOILER THAT CAN'T BLOW UP

By

M. M. HUNTING

T is only within a comparatively short time that the public has been aroused to the fact that the steam boiler is one of the most prolific sources of destruction with which we have to deal. Lack of knowledge on the part of many intrusted with its care, and oftentimes willful neglect are the causes of a large per cent of the accidents, and because of this fact engineers have given up warning the public and have set about "making the thing foolproof."

One feels that some effort along this line is due when it is realized that to all intents and purposes, the construction of the common steam boiler is the same today that it was seventy-five years ago.

Probably the most progressive step in this direction recently taken has been by the officials of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway, who have begun a

series of experiments with what is known as the Jacobs-Shupert Firebox.

The most common cause for boiler explosion is low water. The gauges may become stopped so that they do not properly indicate the height of the water in the boiler; the proper amount of water may not be fed to the boiler because of the clogging of the pipes; or, through neglect, the water is allowed to fall below the level of the roof of the firebox, or crownsheet, as it is more properly called. When this occurs with a hot fire beneath, the crownsheet becomes red hot and consequently soft, and unable to retain the pressure of steam within.

The result is a terrific explosion which sometimes carries the boiler a long distance from the scene, leaving death and destruction in its wake. The scattered fire is as much a menace to life and property as the flying débris, and

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with the danger of falling walls added, a more dreadful catastrophe can hardly be imagined.

With the usual form of boiler construction this is almost unavoidable. The crownsheet is usually supported from the roof of the boiler by a large number of iron rods called "stay bolts," riveted on the inside of the firebox where their heads are constantly subjected to the most intense heat. When red heat is attained in the crownsheet through lack of water, the heads of the stay bolts are the first parts to be affected, and under pressure from within, pull through and leave the sheets unsupported and at the mercy of the terrific stored energy.

THE FIREBOX OF AN ORDINARY BOILER AFTER EXPLOSION FROM LACK
OF WATER.
The crownsheet has been torn away, leaving the stay bolts.

As far as the external appearance is concerned the Jacobs-Shupert firebox does not differ greatly from others, the unique features being within the boiler itself. One need only to glance at the photographs of the partly constructed firebox to realize the immensely superior strength it possesses over the old type. The top and sides instead of being made of single sheets as in the old design are constructed in U shaped sections a few inches in width, formed to the arch of the box, riveted together and reinforced

FIREBOX PARTLY CONSTRUCTED. SHOWING SECTIONS AND REINFORCING PLATES.

by vertical plates running in retreat from the fire. The plates are perforated with large holes to permit the free circulation of water and steam.

It is hardly necessary to state that this construction will withstand much more overheating than the common type of boiler.

What we are all most interested to know is whether our lives will be safer on a train behind an engine equipped with such a boiler, and so a brief description of the test to which it was recently subjected may be of interest.

On September 26th last, in the presence of many engineers from various cities and two representatives of the Interstate Commerce Commission, the above mentioned railway officials subjected a boiler equipped with a firebox of this design to a low-water test. This boiler was taken from one of the company's highest grade locomotives and set up in a large vacant tract of land in the neighborhood of their shops. The firebox was equipped to burn oil. The boiler was fitted with two steam gauges, one to verify the other, and two water glasses, one to show the height of the water above the crownsheet, the other, the distance it might fall below during the test. A pump was also set up at a distance to supply water during the experiment.

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