In the letter of instruction the firm points out that a single board may be slipped out from the sides, or even the bottom of a case with almost as much ease as from the top, and that the use of the device for the protection of the cover alone is not adequate protection for the case. For this reason they advocate the use of the device on both sides and bottom as a further guarantee of security.

Another device employed for the same purpose and consisting of a saw-edge corrugated piece of steel, is illustrated by Figure 2. This device, which is driven into adjoining boards, preventing the removal of one board without severe mutilation of the next adjoining, is used by an international house exporting silverware and has likewise been generally used by European exporters of wines. The exporters of silverware who use it further protect their cases by sealing and strapping them with four or five metal bands which make it impossible to open a case without leaving evidence of pilferage.

Another device which has proved satisfactory is a safety nail. This nail, as well as the method of using it, is illustrated by Figure 3. The top of the nail is notched underneath and after being driven into the case it is impossible to remove it without breaking. This is shown in the fourth cut of the illustration, where the nail is being broken with the point of a screwdriver. It is reported that this nail was tried out at the Forest Products Laboratory, Madison, Wisconsin, and that it was found very efficient.

A fourth device is a safety clip or seal, and is illustrated by Figure 4. The clip is driven across the outside joints of the box, and the spear-shaped nail is driven from the top and passes through the hole in the staple. The case is effectually sealed. The writer has seen this clip demonstrated and it is impossible, after applying the clip, to open the case without disfiguring it badly.

As will be seen, not all of the devices mentioned above are seals in the strict sense of the word, that is, that breaking them will show that the case has been tampered

with, but none the less they all serve the purpose of minimizing pilfering. Also it should be remembered that none of these devices are designed to take the place of metal straps.

In the chapter on paper, mention has been made of another seal. This is a metal sleeve, illustrated in Figure 5, which is slipped over the two ends of a metal strap and produces a joint that is as strong as the strap itself. This seal can be used without nailing the strap, and is well adapted to light boxes, bales and bundles the character of which does not admit of nailing. The seal is attached with a special implement, while another tool is used to tighten the strap. Where the case is heavy enough to stand nailing, we would recommend that the strap be nailed, for the seal would thereby lose none of its effectiveness.

CHAPTER X

CUSTOMS REGULATIONS AS AFFECTING

PACKING

E now come to a consideration of customs require

W ments in foreign countries which may some

times have an important bearing on the kinds of export packages which should be used. This is especially true in shipping to certain Latin American countries, but it seems probable that a few peculiar conditions in this regard have led to an exaggerated idea of the importance of the whole subject. It is the rare and exceptional case that any attention whatsoever is called for or is given by shippers, so far as special packing to meet custom house regulations is concerned, when shipments are made to countries of Europe, Asia, Africa or Oceania. Neither complaints nor special instructions from importers in any markets of these parts of the world are common. On the other hand, the weights of containers and the problem of packing several different kinds of goods in one box, are important considerations in shipping to some Latin American markets. Yet even in these markets importers on a large scale, those most familiar with overseas business, almost always give specific and detailed instructions when they place their orders. When such instructions are thus given, they must be adhered to with the most punctilious care. If it happens that an order is received from a Latin American market without special instructions, then sometimes the American shipper has time to write back to his customer and inquire for any specific instructions as to packing, before the goods themselves are ready for dispatch. In the contrary case, it is well for the shipper to study the custom house regulations of the country to which the goods are destined.

How Customs Methods Vary.-It must never be assumed, as seems sometimes to be the case, that methods and systems of assessing customs duties in other countries are the same as those of the United States. By way of illustration it may be pointed out very briefly that while most of our American import duties are ad valorem yet in many countries of the world, perhaps in most, import duties are specific, that is to say, on the weight or measurement of the goods as specified in the tariff. Then it is to be observed that some countries of the world, notably some Latin American republics, pay no attention at all to the invoice value of goods but their tariffs fix an official valuation for merchandise as it is officially described, and duties are assessed on the official valuation. Again, not a few countries of the world in their tariffs fix a definite stated tare allowance, no matter what the actual tare of the box, case, barrel or other container may be. More important, however, is the fact that customs duties are frequently assessed on the gross weight of goods, that is to say, on the weight of the case itself as well as the weight of the merchandise contained therein. In such instances it is obvious that export packages which are sufficiently strong to meet all the hazards of overseas shipment and local foreign conditions, and at the same time are of lighter weight than other packages which might be supplied, will be favored by the importer. His total cost is less for the goods contained in the lighter package, and the exporter who has studied the subject and devised the lighter package will be favored with continued orders as against the exporter who ships his goods in unnecessarily heavy packages involving higher customs duties.

Special Packing for Interior Transportation.—It is in some of the Latin-American countries particularly that special packing to meet crude systems of interior transportation, or lack of any modern transportation facilities, makes necessary careful attention to the size and even the shape of export packages. This, too, is a problem which is, perhaps, much too frequently emphasized.

Shippers to Turkey or to China are seldom called upon to make their packages, or at least their outside containers, of any special size or weight, even though interior transportation systems in those countries are crude and goods have to be transported to otherwise inaccessible regions on camel-back or by coolies. It is the custom in those countries, and in many other countries of the world where conditions are primitive, for large importers in the principal ports of entry to receive their goods in bulk form and repack them as may be necessary (often in assorted miscellaneous packages) to reach their destination in the interior safely and satisfactorily. In some Latin-American markets, however, there has developed the desire on the part of a good many merchants at interior points (only accessible by pack train or by crude ox-carts, by complicated systems of transfers from railway to river boat, or, at times, to canoes, with further transfers by burro) to place direct import orders with original manufactuers; and possibly less of the trade of such markets is handled by large importing houses at the principal port cities, with the result that there are insistent demands from these markets for special packing to meet these local conditions. In these, as in all cases of instructions given by customers, shippers must adhere strictly to the instructions which they receive. In shipments to many parts of the world no particular consideration, apart from specific instructions received from customers, is called for on the part of the shipper, with reference to size and weight of containers, except as those features are governed and dictated by general principles applying to all overseas packages. In the case of shipments to some Latin-American countries, however, the shipper must not only adhere to explicit instructions given him by his customer in those markets, but may even be expected to exercise his own intelligence by studying local conditions in the market to which a shipment is destined and adapting his packing to those conditions.

More Study Required.-In a previous chapter some