“No, not all of them. Some are very low. It just depends. Articles of necessity, like food, pay very little duty and often none at all. But articles of luxury, like silks, laces, linens, and so on, pay very heavy duties. It takes a pile of money to run this government. If everybody was taxed directly, and had to pay in dollars and cents, right out of his pocket, there would be a tremendous howl. So Uncle Sam gets part of his money through indirect taxes, like import duties. That places the tax burden where it can best be borne, too, for poor people cannot afford many luxuries. The well-to-do pay a great deal, merely for the privilege of wearing fine clothes and having beautiful objects in their houses.” Just then the arrival of a caller at the gate cut short the conversation, and Willie thought no more about the matter until the next time he saw an Armenian woman making lace on a doorstep. “I understand now why these Armenian things are so cheap,” thought Willie. “The women make them here and there is no duty to pay on them.” The woman who was knitting saw Willie looking at her laces. “Only two dolla,” she said, holding out a beautiful piece of lace for Willie’s inspection. “Cheap.” “It sure is,” said Willie. An idea came to him. “How long did it take you to make this?” he inquired. “Maybe one week,” said the woman. “Don’t know exactly.” Willie handed the woman back her laces, thanked her, and went on. Presently he stopped dead in his tracks. There were only a few of these Oriental women, relatively, and yet their shops contained large quantities of needlework. It was as plain as could be that these few women never made all that lace. “Then where did it come from?” asked Willie. He pondered the matter a moment. “By George!” he said to himself, “that stuff’s smuggled. I’ll bet a dollar to a doughnut it is. That’s why they can sell it so cheap.” He paused to consider the matter further. Another idea came into his mind. “It’s as plain as daylight,” he said to himself after a moment. “It explains everything. That’s why those women watched Roy and Mr. Robbins so closely the day we first came here for luncheon. They saw they had on uniforms something like those of the customs inspectors at the piers. They thought they might be looking for smuggled goods. That’s why those women all scooted into the shops as we came along. It was to sound a warning. And that’s why the men in that restaurant sized us up so closely. Likely they are all in the smuggling game. They thought we were spying on them. No wonder they watched us.” Once more Willie pondered the matter. “I don’t suppose it is any news to the boss that there is smuggling going on here,” he thought, “but I don’t believe the office is doing a thing about it. They’re too busy with the booze situation. I’ll just keep my eyes open and my wits about me and maybe I can find out something the boss will like to know. This may be the very chance I am looking for.”