Popular Mechanics - USA (2019-03)

58 March 2019 _ PopularMechanics.com

U. S. border security is as complex—and possibly even more debated—a topic

now as it was in 1925 when this story first ran. While the current border

debate centers on immigration, this story highlighted the shrewdness of

smugglers and the customs agents hunting them.

BATTLE OF WITS that extends around the

world is ceaselessly fought by the forces of

Uncle Sam and the smugglers’ army. Thousands

of men, keen of brain and firm of purpose, are

enlisted on both sides, spending vast sums of

money, and operating entire navies on the seas,

and airplanes and motor fleets on land.

Three government services—the Customs, Coast Guard, and

Prohibition Bureau—are directly involved in the battle to keep out

contraband articles and collect the frontier tolls on others. Assist-

ing them are the Department of Justice, with its own worldwide

system of secret agents, and the post office department, whose

inspectors exercise constant vigilance to keep the mails closed to

the smuggler. Just how much revenue is lost annually by the gov-

ernment through the activities of smugglers, or the total value of

forbidden merchandise brought into the country, is not known

JANUARY

There’s Adventure in Your Crankcase

FEBRUARY 1962

APRIL

1995