Plumage Peddlers in Panic: Smugglers Scramble to Flog Paradise Feathers Before the Law Catches Up

In the sweltering summer of 1922, a sense of desperation hung over the millinery shops of New York like a specter of doom. The once-lavish displays of paradise plumes, coveted for their beauty and exotic allure, now seemed like a ticking time bomb. The reason was simple: the law was closing in. The 1913 tariff law, which had prohibited the importation of paradise plumes, was finally being enforced, and the consequences for those caught selling the contraband were dire.