Los Angeles herald., 1892-08-26
How Sells Circus Used a PO-
litical Pull.
The City Tax Collector Abro-
gates all Ordinance.
.Councilmen and Candidate Put
Through Slick Job.
Great Conformation Manifested for q
Travelling Hhow-No License Re-
duction for Business Men.
Passes for Omcials.
by the Associated Press.l

'$60U, and Sells Bros, OF circus fame, are
just that much ahead. A city official,
to-wit, the city tax and license collector,
Mr.. Len j. Thompson, was deielict in
the performance OF his duty, and the tax
payer again suffers. A number of coun-
4cilmen sanctioned the proposition where
by the city lost $500, and they got free
passes to the show. This is. in brief, an
introduction to the facts of one of the
latest scandals attaching to the Repub-
lican administration OF the Los Angeles
city government.
Ordinance No. 565, passed by the
city council, February 18, 1890, pro-
vides for the licensing of business car
ried on in the city of Los Angeles.
Section of this ordinance provides
that ''it shall be unlawful for any. per-
son or persons to conduct or carry on
within the corporate limits of the city
of Los Angeles. :. ANY vocation,
trade, calling or employment, in this
ordinance specified, without fret pro-
curing from said city license 30 to do I;
~. .and such person or persons,
either for themselves or as agents, who
shall conduct or carry on any vocation
without having first procured
such license, shall, for each violation of
this ordinance, be deemed guilty of a
misdemeanor, and upon conviction
- etc.
The ordinance then goes on to name
the various, lines of business, and the
amount of license each one shall paw.
Everything is included, from a milk
wagon, at 81 per month, up to bank,
with capital Of million, at 500 per
month.
Section 4 OF the ordinance, in fixing
certain licenses, reads "For every cir
Gus or menagerie, or both, per diem,
$500. For every sideshow to circus,
where separate admission fee is charged,
per diem, $1o." f
sELLs's CIRCUS HAD PULL.
Now, Sells Bros. circus showed in
Los Angeles on Monday and Tuesday,
July 11th and 18th. Everybody has
supposed that the circus people were
called upon and did pay the license
which ordinance No. 565 called for, to-
wit: $500 per diem. Certainly the ordi-
nance reads plain enough. The language
is capable of but one construction.
AS the ordinance is strictly enforced
when it is applied to. a Los Angeles
business man, 1t was very naturally sup
posed that when travelling menagerie
came along that would carry away from
the city thousands of dollars, it would
be also strictly applied to it. No one
Tor moment supposed that circus
would be able to get what Los Angeles
merchant could not--a concession in the
way of license.
But this supposition was not well
based. The circus did escape the pay
ment of $500 license, in direct violation
of the license ordinance, and with the
.eognizance and consent of the five Re-
publican members of the city council.
Instead of paying $1,000, as it should
have paid, and as the license ordinance
calls for, $500 only was paid.
MR. THoMPsoN's STATEMENT.
City Tax Collector Len j. Thompson
was seen yesterday, and asked how this
came about. Mr.. Thompson, was
frank enough to admit that he
had done wrong, and that he had
been derelict in his duty in not
collecting $1,000 instead of $500. But he
did say that when City Clerk Freeman
g. Teed called him into his
office to consult over the circus license
he refused to make the fee $500, until
five or ak members of the city council,
who were then present in the city
clerks office, consented to his 30 doing.
They said that they thought that $500
was enough to charge a circus. The
agent of the circus was ex-Councilman
George p. McLain, at present a candi-
date for shrievalty honors before the
Republican county convention. He
procured the reduction. ~
OF course Mr.. Thompson had no right
to violate the license ordinance, even if
every member of the council told him
that it would be all right. He failed to
perform his duty, even if in 80 doing he
was endorsed by five of those wise and
-sagacious men-the city fathers.
MR.. TEED CoRRoBoRATEs THE ABOVE.
City Clerk Teed endorses what Mr..
Thompson says as to five or six mem
bers of the council approving his action
lecting the circus license. Mr.. Teed,
though. loudly disclaims that he was
any party to the arrangement at all.
THE MAYOR INVESTIGATES.
The first Mayor Hazard heard about
the whole matter was when HERALD
representative told him about it yester-
day afternoon. He had supposed all
along that the circus had, of course,
paid $500 per day license, for it showed
two days, and the license ordinance de-
manded it. Mayor Hazards ignorance
of the fact that the ordinance was not
complied with is pardonable. though.
II anything that is not strictly straight
is being put through at the city hall,
the mayor is generally overlooked when
1t comes to a consultation.
Anyway when he heard about 1t yes
terday afternoon, he was very much
surprised. He Immediately sent for Mr..
Thompson and asked him about it.
That gentleman told the mayor substan-
TALLY what he had previously told the
HERALD reporter as given above. The
mayor informed MI. Thompson that he
had erred giieviously, and asked him
why he had not consulted him about
making concessions. Mr.. Thompson
admitted to the mayor that he had
made mistake, but said that 1t was an
error Of the head and not Of the heart
The mayor informed Mr.. Thompson
that many a poor, crippled-up old man
had come to him to ask for permit tc
sell lead pencils, or some other article
on the street, but he had declined tc
issue it on the ground that he did moi
have the authority under the license
ordinance. The mayor pointed out Il
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