New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-05-12
LICENSE BUREAU GAINS.
NEARLY $4,000 SO FAR.
NEARLY
Increase Represents What Used 10
Be Tangnany BlackmaiL.

TIL. figures for the first four months OF the
present year in the Bureau OF Licenses stlii
further emphasize the Tribune's recent Demon
stration of the fact that petty blackmail among
prshcart men and small vendors mas oeeh
checked; they also show conclusiVely no" MANY
thousands of dollars an honest ana carelui au-
rninistration has added 10 the city treasury. For
the first four months of 1901 the last TainmanS
wear the total receipts Of the Bureau of Licenses
we're Sl3 300 For the same period OF the pres
enr year the receipts were S61.392. showing a
gain Of SOS 092. or almost double the Tammany
figure Part of the increase in the reCelpls
represents money that under Tamrnany wouio
have gone into the pockets of the ward ana o's-
trict politicians and police grafters-
Examination in detail of the figures for the
first four months of the present year reveals
many interesting things. First. the NUMBER Oh
licenses has increased from the Tammany total
OF 1865 to the present figure of 9.42l. another
practical doubling of figures under the Low ad-
,,inistrarion Even more interesting are the
figures for the first eight days of the present
month Nav is always a busy period with the
F4,,-ea11 of Licenses Many licenses are renewed
at this time and the receipts are unusually
high In 1901 the receipts for the first eight
ofHca DAVIS were S123l7 so GA licenses Of all
kinds being issued in this time The first eight
DAYS of the present month Melted the Bureau OF
Licenses SIS 1876 30. and 1910 licenses were IS
sued. For the present year. then. the receipts
Of the Bureau Of Licenses have been SiSoZo 20
against S45617 80 for the same period in the last
year Of the Tammany regime. q net gain OF
S33967 80.
To the summary of the returns for pushcart
licenses for the last three years, which the
Tribune has already published, indicating the
enormous increase in the number OF licenses
and the profit the city treasury, the RECORD
for the first four months Of the present year
makes further additions. AS q sample OF TINS
increase the figures of last month are quoted.
During last ApriI there were 81 pushcart
licenses issued and 10 renewals q net con-
tribution of S1.5S4 TO the city treasury In
April Of 1901 the number Of new licenses issued
was I'D ana the renewals totalled 80. yielding
S54S TO the city 1t is evident that the figures
for the Low administration practically treple
those of the Van Wyck and that from this
source alone the city has gained over Sl,poo OF
revenue in a single month.
Attention is most frequently called to the
pllshcart vendors because they are supposed TO
have been the exclusive victims Of the black
mailing system of Tammany police and poiitlcal
administrations Figures concerning the H.
CenSes issued 10 basket peGlerS are OF epudi
interest. for they shared with the pushcart men
the burden Of blackmail. They, too, paid their
license fee and many times their license fee not
10 the city but to the police. In April, 1901,
licenses We're issued TO "a basket pedlers, and
there were only six renewals. the city receiving
only S154 for these privileges. Last month
there were 129 new licenses issued and 26 re-
rlewals yielding 1854. once more nearly doubling
the Tamrnany figures
Other branches of licensing show a similar
condition. Under the present city adn1inistra-
ton the Bureau of Licenses has become pracu-
cally twice as profitable department. No less
satisfactory is the return which comes from the
East Side where residents and workers alike
testify that a new order has succeeded older
disorder. The old system of collecting a black
mail license upsetting the pushcart and as
saulting the vendors is passing rapidly away,
and an orderly class Of vendors is being edu-
Gated TO the realization that the payment at
City Hall of nominal license fee gives them all
-he privileges they need Many thousands Ct
pushcart vendors had never before known of the
existence of a bureau of licenses, and any future
Tsmmany administration will have much diff
9iculty in collecting tribute from vendors, who
have learned TO go 10 the City Hall and get a