Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1896-01-17
FIXING THE TAXES.
Extensive Argument On The Question OIL
Retail LIQUOR and Rar-RcOm Licenses
DISAPPOINTMENT or ACTION
All Persons Interested 10 lie "'"'"
N.,t Tuc.day NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
aud Dealers IN futures--" ''''
otbcr Committee

...o large attendance upon the
. enc council held last night
49,, rommittes OF the Whole Iho'e pre-,
o.. ,..re president Turpin 'ol the bo"iu
80 ,,a,r,,eo, and Mcssrs. Allen Bloom
-. nur,on Briggs. Caskie. Gunst
ru,te. king. Courell snead' vaughan
,v.i,.,.t..n and Woody. Others on mana
..,r, cin-Attorney Meredith and Captain
Alexander coke. the codiher OF the CITY
ordinances.
r,. ho5v FIRST went into consideration
a., the chapter of the new ordinances i'm
o.slnr per cent interest upon delinquent
,.Dcs This change was agreed to, and
t1e committee took up the chapter on
finances The chapter is probably one OF
th. most important I'm the entire book OF
,,lirances. inasmuch as 1t fixes the rate
al liconee-tax upon the various branches
,f business conducted in the city. Hereto
foro there have been classhcatiOns or
several branches OF business These
classes hy the new schedule were de-
creased. 80 as 10 simplify the work OF the
Finance Committee in getting al the YAK
90 be assessed. In explanation oi 'he
report sent up by the Commute vi
Finance. Mr. Caskie said that by the new
schodrle me city would derive an increase
in taxes. coming in the main as result
~ the proposed change
THE NEW CLASSIFICATION
The new ordinances bearing upon TINS
matter were adopted. so as 10 cidsshy
the licenses Of those ensased I'D 'hese
branches OF business, as follows.
t..r.arsaf pffrmUNTe real estate AHfHt7f
etc-four cIasscs-S00. So. $780, ana SoV.
Commission merchants-hve classes
$50, $780, $780, $50 So
Dealers I'm futures. in stocks. bonds,
grain. produce. etc-One class-S7DO
This evoked great deal Of discussion,
Messrg. Snead and Briggs making a
vigorous night TO fix the tax at $1,000.
stock and bond brOkers-iour classes
1900 $3.50 $780, and >51.
Wholesale l'Quor-dealers, two classes
500 and $40
THE RETA1L-LIQUOR QUESTION.
rbe question of scheduling the licenses
Of retail UQuor-dealers and OF baikeepers.
evoked great deal of discussion. The
Finance Committee recommended tax
~ $50 upon retailers who sell liquor not
l. drunk where purchased (Or by the
I0ttlD. and similar sum on wholesale
and retail dealers Of malt liquors. IL
also recommended the imposition Of two
classes of taxes on bar-keepers-S3J0 and
Im The bar-roOms, under the plan pre-
scented by the Committee on Finance,
could also retail liquor by the bottle.
r.e Liquor Dealers Association was
r.nroseuted by Messrs. John II. Higgins.
Robert Hill Jr. A. w. Roseue William
H Zimmerman, and y. j. Smith. These
gentlemen were heard upon this matter
of taxation They expires scd the hope
tnat the committee would not make any
material increase in the liquor license.
Their trade they felt confident. would
be willing TO bear proper proportion OF
increase along with other branches OF
business, if the city was i'm need Of more
revenue, but they did not feel that they
should have TO carry an the burden.
STARTLING INFORMATION.
Mr. Blake gave the body some very i'm
tfresting facts concerning the liquor
trade u Richmond. and presented diff
1crent plan from that Of the Finance
committee lie said that there were in
richmond 800 har-keepers, who paid an
annual tax 20 the city of go each there
we're ID whOspail am annual tax 10 the
'ity of 500 each. and there were 81 retail
iealors who paid $50 each. making a
grand total of $50 places in the city
where liquor is sold Boy retail This was
an average of a har-room 20 every Z55
1ersons-mcn. women and children. He
said 10y the present plan the city derived
luiy $500 frcm places OF business where
whiskey was sold at retail. He offered
is a motion TO do away with an the
places. 10 put the retail dealers and the
oar-keepers on the same footing. and
charge ail lcense-tax Of 500 per annum.
The city would thus he declared derive
revenue of 1920, or am increase Of
SID go nNer what She now gets.
BREAK Up LOW PLACES
SIR. Caskie argued against Mr Blakc's
llan ON the ground that il was desirable
that the low dives and tough bar-rooms
should Doe broken up. and the city kept
nd of such places. He said the Finance
Committee he'd studied this matter very
carefully. and had looked into the ordi-
Iluces of cities an over the state. only
u find that an of them were charging
higher bar-room taxes than Richmond.
fAnChhurgs license was 500 straight,
DanVlne's $40 and upward. and other
places charged like amounts. lie thought
the only way TO deal with this question
was 20 so regulate il as 10 keep the
business in the hands Of reputable men,
ald that the plan OF the Committee on
nance. with the assistance Of the Judge
of the Hastings Court would do this.
Mr. Blake here remarked that Judge
Ingram of Manchester lad settled the
Sunday liquor selling I'm that city In
twenty-four hours by hning thirteen Of
tenders 500 each and taking their IL
ccnsCs away. lie asserted that there had
been no violations of the Sabbath laws
iu the city of Manchester since. and the
Sunday traffic had been broken up in
Petersburg 100 the same way.
After some further discussion OF the
matter the committee decided 10 defer
action until next Tuesday night at
o'clock, when the retail dealers bar
keepers. and an others interested I'm this
question: are invited to be present.
To Test che Equalizer Again.
a regular session Of the Committee
on Water was held last night Those
in attendance were Messrs. Briggs Sub
chairman. Brock, Mountcastle, Lawder,
and TrOwer The experiment Of the
water-eQualizer which took place on
Wednesday. and was entirely unsatis-
factory, was fully discussed. Mr.
O'Donnen the inventor OF the scheme
for raising water appeared and made
statement concerning his device. Mr.
Lawder finally offered a resolution pro-
Fiding for another test of the equalizer
This was agreed to. The equalizer
was erected jointly by the city and
Mr. ODonnel. the latter paying about
$50 OF The cost Of the framework. The
city saved great deal In the con-
structiOn o. the device by utilizing some
pipe already on hand. which can be used
hereafter should the scheme prove
failure
superintendent Boiling was directed TO
purchase piping with the $500 left to
ho credit Of the department from last
year. AS follows 80 S-inch, lC6 6-inch,
and o finch pipes