New Hunt for the Unicorn

Not only is the French Government disgruntled at the departure from France of the celebrated unicorn tapestries of the Due de la Rochefoucauld, but the United States Government thinks there was something wrong with their arrival here. It is even suggested that John D. Rockefeller, Jr., the purchaser, actually bought the tapestries here and then shipped them to London in order to avoid paying the income tax of about $377,000. They were admitted to this country duty free, as antiques, but are still held by customs authorities in a vault of the Equitable Trust Co. The purchase involved $1,100,000.

Europe's choicest treasures are slipping from her at an astonishing rate. The usual route is from the continent to England, thence here. In the last four years $40,000,000 worth of art works have thus come here. Last year's export from England amounted to $8,000,000. In 1920 it was $10,000,000. Every effort has been made by the English to keep their treasures, but their loss is mournfully recognized as part of "the price of civilization."