270 SELLING LATIN AMERICA 
treatment in the same custom-house, paying a 
duty of $200.00. 
Theatrical appliances are free everywhere, 
especially if the property of a traveling 
troupe. Despite this fact and a positive state 
ment to this effect in the tariff regulations, I 
knew one large Latin American country, 
wherein a carousel, or “flying-horse” outfit, 
was refused admission unless the owner paid 
the duty charged on live stock, each wooden 
horse being assessed at the rate of $25.00, 
which is the tariff on breeding stallions. 
Thefts by minor employees of the custom 
house are only too common. As a rule these 
men are poorly paid and add to their scanty 
income by appropriating whatever comes 
within their reach. I have known of cases of 
soap, provisions, perfumes, shoes and the like 
to be entirely confiscated in this manner. 
There is absolutely no redress. Very often the 
higher employees are implicated in these 
nefarious practices. In one of the largest and 
most progressive of Latin American cities, all 
the foreign and native merchants had been re