The herald., 1896-02-25


| The examination for the same pc o.
| rod for shorthand reporters in
| justices courts In criminal cases
The fees paid jus ices during this
tine amount to ............,... IO,ool ~
| Fees paid to constables ............. 2O,9a7 -
| Paid to Interpreters ............. sos 90
Making total cost for Justices
nal eases 49,. .s45, ,26l 80
| The fees turned into the county
| treasury during this time by jus.
tlces Oh the peace were,,.......... o,3of W
! Showing net cost to the taxpay-
ers Tor the Is months OF. .*39, o16 45
We find in the claims for shorthand re-
porters about forty demands paid to
| Frank w. Cherry. upon tine certificate OF
D. q. Morrison. one of the police judges OF
Los Angeles city; that the work was per-
formed and the money due and unpaid.
| The amounts of these oyerpsyments
I run from $ to $53.20. aggregating the.
sum of $340.40. f
| We believe that tue responsible parties
/ should be held for these amour s, and the
same collected by law from them.
| We find j. D. Fennessy was paid the sum
| OF T6O.2O in excess of the legal fees he was
entitled to for shorthand work done in the
Justices courts of numerous justices In the
| county. overcharges i'll twenty-three cases
running from go cents to SIP. We reconl'
the responsible parties.
II seems to be the common practice of
| some justices to certify to the claims of
shorthand reporters without examining
| into the correctness Of the sarne.y Without
these certificates the warrant viii not be
from The treasury. These certificates are
official acts and the justices. should pe
held responsible in all cases where they
have certified to overcharges.
| In the consthbles' accounts we find many
cases of small overcharges and overpay-
ments, which are now in the hands Of the
district attorney and will no doubt be col
| lected.
| These departments cost very large sums
of money and the closest scrutiny should
be exercised by the board Of supervisors in
allowing these claims.
q COUNTY ASSESSOR
| The assessment years of 1894 and S05
were covered by our examination.
The law and the state board of equal
| ization require more of the assessors
| office each year. One notable increase in
the requirements for 1895 is that with the
assessment Of each of the 25 900 to 35. 900
pieces of property sold for taxes, and yet
unredeomed, there must be entered the
fact of such sale as a notification to the
| person paying taxes on such property.
The difference in the work of the assessors
office between the years 1893, 1894 and
1895 is expressed in the following figures
| 1898, $36,S95.06; 1891, $50 6,253.O4; ;
1925, S49,311.77.
(These figures differ from those of the
auditors published reports for the year
1895 because the commissions claimed by
| the present assessor, and the salary due
him for the greater part of 1895, have not
yet been paid pending decision OF the
| supreme court.
| This increase of over SO per cent seems
to be due largely to increase of assessment
list, to additional requirements of the state
board, and to the spoils system.
We earnestly recommend such state
law as shall secure the highest efficiency of
| the appointed officials OF the state, its
counties and cities.
On examination of the personal property
tax received by the assessor we find $5. II
due the county from ex- Assessor Gray for
1894. and 65 cents due from the present
| assessor for 1895.
We find that $17,255.59 is still in the
hands of Mr.. Summerland, pending the
| decision of the supreme court. The case
| involves the constitutionality of the law of
the last legislature relieving the counties
of the second class from paying the 8 per
cent commission on personal property col
lections and the 15 per cent on poll-tax
collections and the IS per hundred OH
names on the military roll. all of which
have heretofore been, and in other coun-
ties still are, allowed the assessor in addi-
ton to his salary.
Too many omissions were found of par
ties assessed in the city and omitted in the
county.
| In the assessment of personal property
| we find some notable differences between
the city assessment and the county assess
meut, the aggregate amount from eighteen
| selected cases is $72,S23, in which the
| county assessment appears less than that
of the city.
We disapprove the sending of poll-tax
notices before the poll list 10 sufficiently
/ written up to secure at least approximate
accuracy in such notices.
We recommend that work requiring SO
| much care as that of verifying the index
be done only by those most accurate, and
| should not therefore, as in the past, be let
to the lowest bidder. As q safeguard
| against embezzlement in the collection of
personal property tax we recommend the
use of the form of receipt and stub SINH
.ar to that used by the United States gov
ernment for money orders.
We believe it would be to the interest of
all taxpayers If the assessment of real es-
tate was made by description.
COUNTY JAIL
We find the county Jail In good condition,
but over-crowded at times. We recommend
that young boys, who are detained there,
should be kept by themselves as far az pos-
sible, and not be allowed to mingle with
the older criminals.
CITY JAIL.
The Los Angeles city jail we found as
we'll kept and in as good condition as the
over-crowded state would allow. There are
crowded into it twice as many inmates as
there should be. We take pleasure in con-
graduating the city on the fact that they
are to soon have better Jail and more
commodious police headquarters.
PASADENA JAIL
The Jail at Pasadena was found in bad
condition. Too small, unclean and unfit
for its purposes. Later, we find that it has
been improved since investigation was
made.
POMONA JAIL
The Pomona Jail seems we'll adapted to
its purpose-that of being "terror to evil
doers."
COUNTY FARM
The county farm is in excellent condi-
ton. The supplies are of good quality, the
food plentiful and the inmates we'll cared
for.
The farm seems we'll managed and, we
understand, goes far toward self-support.
We believe that if about 100 acres of good
land were purchased and added to the
farm it would become nearly or quite self
supporting, and we would recommend that
such purchase be made if it can be done
at reasonable price.
COUNTY HOSPITAL
We made two visits to the county hospi-