The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1904-09-30
PROTEST AGAINST LICENSING
DRAMATIC AGENTS ORGANIZE
AND BEGIN THEIR FIGHT.
Formal Objections. With Specifications,
Filed with the Licensing Commits.
siOner-The Chief 10 That the Law
is an Intrusion on Private business
IL Is TO he Attacked in tho Courts

is an Intrusion on Private Business
II Is 10 he Attacked in the Courts
The proprietors Of some OF the dramatic
agencies OF New York have finally per-
tected an organization to fight the en-
poyment agency law under which It
Is sought to compel them to take out
licenses to do business and to give bonds
for faithful compliance with the prov isions
Aof the act. The license fee Is S25 q year,
and each must give a bond for 81 900.
Violation Of the law after licenses are is
sued Is made a misdemeanor. and Is pun
shable by fine OF $3.50 or one year in
prison. Failure to take out license Is
punishable by a fine OF $3.50 or thirty days
lin jail.
The new organization is known as the
Cooperative Protective Theatrical Aaso-
citation, and 1t takes in actors, singers and
musical directors as we'll as dramatic
agents. A committee OF the association,
consisting Of James H. Phipps, D. +. Hem
nessey, Mrs. e. Beaumont Packard and
James j. Armstrong, called on Commits
sioner OF Licenses Heating on Wednes-
day and formally presented their objeo-
tons to tho law. They were accompa-
MED by their counsel. ex-Assistant Dis
trict Attorney LIE Barber. In introducing
his clients to the commissioner Mr.. LIE
Barber said he did not believe that the
law applied to them at all.
Mrs. Packard did most Of the talking
for the committee. She denounced the
law as an unwarranted intrusion upon the
rights and private business Of reputable
citizens. inasmuch as they had to submit
their books to inspection every month
II dramatic agents had to show their
books, she said, she did not see why the
business Of the butcher, the grocer and
the stockbroker should not be open to
inspection, too
Mrs. Packard said also that the law
entailed too much bookkeeping. Extra
clerical help would be needed daily to fill
out the forms as designed by the Blu
reau OF Licenses. She was afraid, also,
that the bond required would render her
liable for the non-payment Of salaries to
actors for whom she secured places. where
companies go to pieces on the road or
Another objection was that the law
opened a way for rival managers TO find
out what salaries were actually being
paid to members by one another's COM
panies. Mrs. Packard seemed to think 1t
would be easy to bribe the inspectors to
give this information. The other MEM
bers OF the committee agreed with her.
We are all artists, said Mrs. Packard
for we have all been on the stage, and
puts actors on level with cooks and
chambermaids.
Mrs. Packard also obiectedJto section 7
of the law. which providess
No such licensed person A,all send or cause
Of bad repute, house OF. (il fame or assignstion
hu or to any hous . or place of amusement
kept Tor Immoral opposes, the character of
which such license / person could hav We ascer-
tanned upon reas' lnable inquiry.
How ask a MIS-. Packard, can we
places to WI Aoh we send female appIicantsi
There are many concert halls, music halls,
vaudeyiH . and burlesque shows out OF town
to which, we furnish talent, and we have
to rely on the statement Of the managers
eonefk,ied Then. too, many agencies fur
MAJ. girl performers for stag parties, but
tn ke girls know where they are going"
Commissioner Heating assured the COM
n,ittee that Section did not apply to
dramatic agencies, but only to agencies
THAT sent female help as servants or in
mates TO questionable places. All that
would be required, he said, was substan-
tial compliance with the law. Answering
the other objections, he said that the bond
required did not cover the non-r ayment
OF salaries but was exacted as a guarantee
that only legal fees would be charged and
that the fees would be returned in case the
applicant got no job. Suit on the bond
could not be entered. he said except In cases
of overcharge or fraud. He declared that
the bookkeeping requirements Of the act
were no hardship, because all that was
necessary was simple sa'ement of each
days business.
will you hold up all prosecutions until
: We can make a test case under this law"
asked Mr. lie Barber
Il can't make any such promise re-
piled the commissioner. Il EN- here 10
enforce the law. which is clear. as far as
dramatic agencies are concerned"
Mr.. lie Barber said he thought that the
measure could be attacked in the courts
succe ssfully on the ground that It WAS a
sumptuary law. He also said he would
advise his clients. If they took out licenses,
to pay the fees under protest.