File No. 611.006/81.

To Diplomatic Officers of the United States.

Gentlemen: Paragraph 347 of the Tariff Act of October 3, 1913. contains the foil owing provision:

That the importation of aigrettes, egret plumes or so-called osprey plumes, and the feathers, quills, heads, wings, tails, skins, or parts of skins, of wild birds, either raw or manufactured, and not for scientific or educational purposes, is hereby prohibited; but this provision shall not apply to the feathers or plumes of ostriches, or to the feathers or plumes of domestic fowls of any kind.

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Out of abundant caution and with a view to obviating any occasion for embarrassment to the ladies of your families, the Department brings to your knowledge that this prohibition extends to the prohibited plumage when brought in as baggage, notwithstanding the fact that it may form the trimming of hats or other wearing apparel, and that the customs officers of the United States have been instructed by the Treasury Department to remove such plumage from the hats of women passengers arriving in ports of the United States. No exception will be made in the cases of ladies of the families of diplomatic officers of the United States.

I am [etc.]

For the Secretary of State:
John B. Moore.