174 THE IMPORTANCE OF BIRD LIFE 



again greeted with victory. Congress, in 1913, 

 enacted a tariff act prohibiting the importation 

 into the United States of any skin, plume, or plu- 

 mage for millinery purposes except from birds 

 reared in domestication. 



When they discovered that there was no way 

 to combat the tariff, the Millinery Association 

 gracefully accepted defeat. Thereafter they ar- 

 raigned themselves on the side of protection. 

 From that day to this they have strictly upheld the 

 law. Through their own efforts several flagrant 

 cases of smuggling have been prosecuted. During 

 the feather war they had claimed that the loss of 

 the trade would throw several thousand operatives 

 out of employment. With the passage of the law, 

 however, the operatives began to manufacture 

 artificial feathers. The new industry is now in a 

 flourishing state, well protected because of the 

 tariff. 



As might be surmised, there has been a large 

 amount of smuggling of forbidden plumes since 

 1913. As many a^ 1000 paradise plumes have 

 been seized in one shipment. Certain unprin- 

 cipled milliners have dealt largely in contraband 

 feathers, protected by a law which does not force 

 them to prove that the plumes were obtained be- 

 fore 1913. Under the new tariff of 1922, how- 

 ever, the burden of proof is thrown entirely upon 

 the dealer. Thege discreet men are now selling 

 their plumes for whatever they can get. Bird 



