The San Francisco call., 1897-08-29
. VELBURu
DID MORE
Shaving
Sliced the Salaries Of Forty
!. Deputies Registering
'~- Chinese.
LET THEM TAKE ILLEGAL FEES.
Practically Removed Bert
Thomas When He Exposed
Their Rasoality.
. ...
BROKERS' now COLLECTING 4 TAX.
Five to Twenty Dollars Charged Each
Chinaman Applying for Du-
plicate Certificate.
BROKERS' now COLLECTING 4 TAX.
Five to Twenty Dollars Charged Each
Chinaman Applying for Du-
plicate Certificate.

Officers OF the Federal secret service
department have discovered that Osca
N. WelburD, ex- Collector of Internal Rev
snIe, had not onIy shaved the salaries OF
mis- storekeepers and clerks in the office,
but that he had also applied his political
razor to the earnings OF the deputies,
forty IN nun Der, who were appointed in
1894 toIeeister all the Chinese residents in
We! burns district in accordance with the
set Of Congress.
Nj. We; burn at that time had the am
bition 10 become the Democratic candi-
date for Governor. and in order to string
lew wires where taey would do the most
good gave the appointment of the iorty
deputies for the Northern District into
she hands Of Max Pepper and the Demo
cratic Central Committee. The committee
made the appointments, and there was
great .ioy among the push" They ali
svore by Welburn and thereafter ad-
dressed him as Colonel, as prelimi-
BRry 10 the exalted office of Governor.
But wien Weiburn, who shaved every
thing except himself, giving that par
,iccIar joo TO another barber, began to
shave the salaries OF the forty registrars
IN Chinatown there was considerable
mUitsring up IN the Chinatown bureau.
Butthe push, realizing that there was a
beautiful com pensation in politics as in
nature, followed the example of the COL
onel and proceeded 10 shave the Chinese
" no applied for registration by taxing
them 50 cents each for the privilege OF
complying with The law, Notwithstanding
thattbe act provided that no fee what
ever should be charged. As the total
MUM Der OF Chinese r gistered IN this dis
trlct NUN bered $4,000. it may be seen at
-elance that The aggregate fee was very
large one 10 be divided among forty per-
sons. Hence things went along very we'll
an the registration bureau in Chinatown,
and he push sawed wo d and went on
registering at the rate of so cents per
head. none OF which money went into the
Federal treasury.
TIE registrars had not collected very
many hundreds OF dollars before Berl
Thomas. the acting collector, discovered
The iact, and as he had supervision over
tnat department he ordere the collection
CT the fees 10 stop. OF course, there was
e great protest from the forty and Mr.
Thomas At once became the most unpop-
uiaT man IN the Uniled States. The moral
tone IN and around the Federal office at
TNHI llrl6 may Dc 6SLltHdic4 bS the 4uGl
that the registrars actually mad the eHron-
. terry to write an indignant protest to Col
lector WeIburr asking :or Thomas re-
moval as superl sing ofhcer. When We'll
burn showed the protest TO Thomas
Thomas told him that it was not neces-
sary for any protest to make him step
down and out but that ne would voIuu-
tarllY retire from the job, ss the associa-
. tions and the associates were Dot agree
able 10 him.
Then Mr.. Thomas stepped out and it is
10 be presumed that the fee was regularly
collected after that.
Another scandal exists in relation 10
the matter OF Chinese certificates, and one
which no dou bt the Treasury Department
Will at once bate. Ii appears that every
Chiaamap that has lost his certificate
must pay fee ranging from s. to $50 to
broker. without whose services, it appears,
no duplicate certificate can be had.
Under the act of Congress requiring the
registration OF all resident Chinese in The
United States q, 900 Chinese were regis
tered from the northern district OF Cali
fornia and % 700 from the southern dis
trict. When a Chinese loses his certificate
ana goes TO the Collector of Internal Rev
enue for q duplicate he must prove the
loss by the evidence Of AT least two white
men TO the effect that they had known the
applicant 10 have been q resident of the
=
certificate and that he is a truthful nan.
TIE applicant must al his own expense
furnish the Collector with photograph,
and this photograph must be compared
with the original attached 10 the original
certificate on tile in the office Of the ColIec-
tor- If the applicant has forgotten the
nun Der of his certificate the original GER
ti6cate on file must be hunted for among
the e. 600 without the aid OF an index. for,
strange as it may appear, there Is no in
dex TO this big collection OF original ceTti-'
Gates.
Acting Collector Thomas says that the
Government has not made sufficient
allowance either OF deputies or OF money
= 10 make the index, an undertaking OF con-
siderable time and ls Dor, and the uuties OF
the present force of deputies are so oner-
ous. taking up all their time, that they
cannot attend to this work.
This being the state of affairs the appli-
cant is forced 10 employ broker or a
LAWYER at a cost OF from s. 10 $50 to make
the search for the original certificate, and
il is currently reported that certain
broker has made and is making large
sum of money by performing this service
for Chinese clients.
II is almost needless to remark that this
practice is conducive 10 oppression, lrreg-
ulariiies and scandal. The matter has
been already brought to the attention of
the Treasury Department and it IL ex-
pected that provision will be made for an
I'd index. so that the tieecing OF Cinnamon
under the pretext of necessity may De
stopped.
1t has come TO the knowledge of the Off
Gals that certain persons have begun the
Manufacture of forged certificates OF resi-
ience, and that some OF the iorgeries have
been already offered for sale in China
town. The purchasers of these certificates
will find themselves in hot water, for the
forgeries, no matter how cleveriy exc
cuted, VIII fail TO deceive the revenue otn-
@ GERS. Only a few years ago several depu-
ties who did thriving trade for awhile In
the forged papers were convicted and sent
TO the penitentiary.