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Bird - Lore 



result that it was discovered that after 

 Tartaglino went to prison, he received 

 checks regularly from this chef. 



Mr. Harper brought the chef and 

 Tartaglino before the Grand Jury, and 

 after a grilling examination, Tartaglino 

 broke down and confessed that he was an 

 agent for Arthur Arbib, of the New York 

 Fashion Feather Company, and that this 

 was his second trip. He stated that 

 a man who had been smuggling for Arbib 

 for some time, viz., one Felice Strado, had 

 left the employ of the Steamship Company 

 and had gone to his home in Italy, and 

 that he, Tartaglino, had bought his 

 business. On his first trip he had received 

 about $300, $200 of which he had to pay to 

 Strado for his smuggling rights with Arbib. 



Arbib then came forward and confessed. 

 His store was raided and his goods, 

 Paradise and Goura feathers to the value 

 of $73,500, were seized on the theory that 

 his stock was that which had been brought 

 over by Tartaglino on his first trip. 

 Tartaglino, however, advised that on his 

 first trip he had examined only the con- 

 tents of one of his life-belts, and that it 

 contained wholely Paradise plumes. He 

 was unable to swear whether he had 

 brought any Goura plumes. The court, 

 therefore, ordered the customs authorities 

 to return to Arbib the Goura plumes. 

 These were so numerous that it required 

 seventeen cartons, 3 by 3 by 4 feet to con- 

 tain them. 



Arbib was fined $4,500 on conspiracy 

 and $500 on smuggling, but, on account of 

 poor health, escaped a prison sentence. 

 Investigation proved that the supplies of 

 Goura and Paradise of many of the large 

 department and women's furnishing stores 

 in New York City came from Arbib. 

 These, to the value of perhaps $100,000, 

 or more, were seized, but through lack 

 of evidence to establish the fact that they 

 had been smuggled, many of them were 

 ordered returned bj' the courts. 



Today, if you go down in the shopping 

 district of New York, you may see many 

 of these Goura and Paradise plumes 

 exhibited for sale in shop windows. 



On July 16, 1919, by order of the Assis- 



tant Secretary of the Treasury, 150 of the 

 Goura i)lumcs in the Seizure-room, valued 

 by the appraiser at $8 each, were delivered 

 to the National Association of Audubon 

 Societies for educational and scientific 

 purposes, and 150 Paradise plumes, valued 

 at $35 each, were likewise presented to 

 the Association. 



At the time the writer visited the Seiz- 

 ure-room and received these feathers, it 

 was learned that an assistant treasurer had 

 conceded to the suggestion made by the 

 customs officials, and authorized the sale 

 at public auction of this confiscated stock, 

 which, it was estimated, would probably 

 bring about $150,000. It was argued that 

 there was no law in the United States 

 against the sale of these particular feathers, 

 although the law prohibited their importa- 

 tion, and as they were already here there 

 was no reason why they should not be 

 sold and the Government derive a financial 

 benefit therefrom. The Directors of the 

 National Association of Audubon Socie- 

 ties strongly disapproved of this proposed 

 procedure, and the Secretary was author- 

 ized to make vigorous protest, and seek 

 to prevent the carrying out of this plan, 

 so wholly in opposition to the spirit of 

 bird-protection. The Secretary promptly 

 notified the Biological Survey and the 

 United States National Museum regard- 

 ing this stock of feathers. These two 

 branches of the Government work applied 

 to the Treasury Department for the con- 

 fiscated goods to be used for educational 

 and exhibition purposes. 



A Committee from the United States 

 MiUinery Chamber of Commerce and 

 George Lawyer representing the Biolog- 

 ical Survey appeared before the Treasury 

 Department and urged that these feathers 

 should not again be placed in the trade, 

 but should be delivered to the Biological 

 Survey for educational purposes. 



It is a pleasure to announce that so 

 effective was their plea that the customs 

 authorities have been ordered to turn 

 over the plumage to the United States 

 Biological Survey. 



From the above account many interest- 

 ing details in connection with this case 



