SMUGGLING INTO HOLLAND

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 142, 5 March 1918, Page 6

SMUGGLING INTO HOLLAND

' « BIG PRICES POR RUBBER GOODS. How he discovered a plot to smuggle rubber into Holland and thence into Germany was told to a New York "World" reporter by Mr. E. Woodard, who returned recently from Holland. Mr. Woodard says it is common knowledge in Holland that rubber is boing smuggled into Germany from both England and the United States, and that he turned over information of the specific case he discovered to the proper United States authorities both abroad and in this country. "There is a cafe ill Rotterdam kept by a naturalised American of German descent, where some of the bargains between sailors aboard relief vessels and German agents are made," said Mr. Woodard. "I was in there one day and saw a man, who has the reputation of being a German agent, in conversation with the proprietor. I overhead part of tho talk and found that it concerned a sale of rubber. Later, when the reputed German agent, who used to be a steward on one of the British linei'B, had gone, I asked the proprietor what the deal was about, and he said it had to do with barrels and old rope. "Nest day I *aB in the cafe again and I saw the Gorman in a rear room. Thero was nothing to stop me and I walked back and saw the other man there was a sailor. On the table before them was the rubber, the sale of which the proprietor of the cafe had arranged. . ■ • ' "It W safe to say that when certain ships return to the United States after a trip to Rotterdam they'carry someone aboard prepared to do smuggling. There are German agents ready to got men places on such ships whenever possible. The Tewardß are big. I heard ono sailor sav he had been offored 150 guilders (60 dollars) for a pair of rubber gloves, while dental rubber, for which there is a big demand, brings from 300 to 450 guilders (X 24 to ,£36) per kilo, which is about two pounds.