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Show SWISS GCWIE1T IS AFTESMUGGLERS Vigorous Measures Are Being Be-ing Taken to Put Stop to Their Schemes. IS ON THE INCREASE Opportunity to Make Money Rapidly Appeals to Dishonest Persons. ZURICH, May 26 The Swiss government gov-ernment has taken vigorous measures to stop the wholesale smuggling along the Swiss-German .border. Since Switzerland, Swit-zerland, under the pressure of the allies, al-lies, extended the export prohibitions, the number of smugglers has njultiplied in spite of all watchfulness of the frontier guards. Germans and Swiss go into the illegal and risky business by the hundreds, because it pays enormous enor-mous profits, which grow in jumps as all kinds of necessaries become scarcer in Germany. A smuggler who succeeds in getting four pounds of pepper or two pounds of rubber across the frontier now makes from eight to twelve dollars, while the profit a few months ago for the same quantity of goods was only three to five dollars. Railroad Men Trapped. Among the smugglers are many railroad rail-road employees, who always find ways and means to violate the prohibitions prohibi-tions by hiding articles that are much needed and highly paid for in Germany on their trains. At a trial recently held at Schaff- hausen it was shown that a freight conductor and two brakemen who had gone into the smuggling business had made over $1200 in a month. A former clerk of a business house in Basle who had tried his hand at smuggling to make a little extra money found the business so lucrative that he threw up his job and devoted his whole time to bringing rubber across the border. After three months he had a bank account of $1600, but he became too reckless and was finally caught, with the result that the court sentenced him to three months' imprisonment and a fine of $500. Women Are Successful. The most successful smugglers are women, as they find it easy to hide small quantities of rubber and other articles in their clothing, and generally deceive the frontier guards by their innocent manner. Many women who live in Baden work in the Swiss factories fac-tories in Schaffhausen and return to their homes across the Rhine every night. They, of course, cannot be subjected to a, rigid examination every time they cross the frontier, and so far have smuggled almost unmolested. In the last six months only three of them have been arrested, although dozens of others openly boast they have earned small fortunes by beating the Swiss export laws. The new. orders issued to the customs officials and frontier guards will make smuggling practically impossible if the" are carried out vigorously. This means a further tightening of the blockade against Germany. |