Pennies from Heaven

Customs Inspector General Jules Schiffman last week stamped irately up & down his spacious office in Bern's Bundeshaus. Schiffman's Swiss sense of dignity was offended by his ludicrous position; but his Swiss meticulousness could see no way out. Somebody would have to pay the import duties on U.S. bombers shot down or crash-landed in neutral Switzerland during the war.

"What could I do?" stormed Schiffman. "Swiss customs regulations make no difference between aluminum imported through the usual channels or aluminum which falls from the skies. It is like making a woman pay duty on a present of a pair of stockings, but the law is the law."

U.S. officials at Bern had made it clear that Washington would not pay the 150,000 Swiss francs (about $35,000) in import duties. Schiffman turned to the Swiss Army, which had taken the scrap aluminum from the planes, thereby became legally responsible as the "importer." The Army, with Swiss frugality, protested--but, with Swiss respect for the law's letter, paid.

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