Amador ledger. (Jackson, Amador County, Calif.) 1875-19??, 1906-11-02
What Meaneth This.
Amador Dispatch.

to contribute to the county treasury
His accounts we're regularly audited,
and in every instance found to be
correct. The Ledger is unable to
point to an instance of any one liable
to the tax who escaped payment of
the same.
As complete answer to all of the
unfair lnsinuations contained in said
issue of the Ledger on this subject,
we submit the following affidavit of
G. L. Culbert, county clerk and
auditor:
State of California,
County of Amador. So
@. L. Culbert being duly sworn,
deposes and says: On April %, 1894, |
he was, by the board of supervisors
of the aforesaid county and state. ap-
pointed county clerk and auditor in |
and for the county of Amador, and
has acted as such since said date.
On March l, 1895, U. S. Gregory
assumed the duties of license col
1ector in and for said county of
Amador; that during the entire time
said U. S. Gregory acted as license
collector, aftiant numbered and issued
all license blanks to said U. s. Gre
CORY, settled with him each and every
eAo AO40AAOO Oy 1dW3 anu at
each settlement, all license books
containing blanks issued, were care
fully looked over, and each stub from
which license had been taken, was
checked, and the amount of said
license charged, and U. S. Gregory
paid into the county treasury every
dollar collected by him, less COM
missions allowed by law.
AHant further states, that in his
office is a book which contains the
number and particular kind of license
issued, and that said book also con-
tains the date of issuance of each and
every kind of license, the date of set
Element for same, showing the num-
Der and kind unsold and returned;
that this book is a public record on
file in the oHce OF the auditor of
Amador county, and anyone desiring
to see and inspect the same, may do
so at any time, either during office
hours, or by special appointment.
q. L.. CULBERT.
Subscribed and sworn to before me
this 18th day of October, A. ID. 1906
(SeaD Robert g. BoIe,
Notary Public in and for the comfy
of Amador, state of California.
Other articles in the last issue of
the Ledger are ancient history and
need no comment. The cattle thief
referred to was brought to justice by
the efforts of Sheriff Gregory and
served his time in the penltentiary.
The much talked of MorrelI Show
Company license was duly collected
by U. s. Gregory and paid into the
county treasury. What more could
any fair-minded man ask for?
The above statement, with its aft
davit from the county clerk, is
farcioal. 1t is not an answer to any
statement regarding the collection of
county licenses under the Gregory
and Norman administrations, con-
tained in the Ledger of two weeks |
ago, which statement showed that |
Norman has collected on an average |
S67O per year more from this source
of revenue than his predecessor did
during the last three years of his
term. And the dilatory official thus
caught out summons the county
auditor to pull him out of the
dilemma, which he attempts to do in
the above quoted affidavit. This
kind of affidavit making is done for
the purpose OF throwing dust in tie
eyes of the people. 1t is as foreign
to the issue as would be an iceberg
In the Sahara desert. Who has dis
puted the fact that the auditor has
issued blank licenses to the collector,
hn
quarterly settlements, returning IN
sold licenses, and the stubs of licenses
sold? The Ledger article mentioned
these things, and that the writer
published the comparative statement
from the auditors book referred to.
Why this effort to controvert a matter
not in dispute. The real point in
issue is that no record is comeatable,
in either tho license collector office
or the auditors office, showing the
names of parties to whom Licenses
have been SOLD for a number of years
preceding the present administration
of the tax collectors office. q. S.
Gregory kept no public record, as L.
x. Norman has done, showing every
license issued, to whom issued, the
kind of license, the amount, and the
period covered by the same. The
stubs have been returned, and would
show these facts if they were obtain
able, but il would require a vast
amount of labor to dig up the in
formation from these documents,
even if they we're accessible. The
truth is they have been consigned to
the dump pile in the basement of the
hall of records, and 1t would require
the engagement of an expert to dig9
them from outer darkness into the
daylight. That is the way the bust
ness of this Important branch of the
revenue department was conducted
under the last administration. An
average of nearly $40, 900 per year
gathered in, and net the scratch of
pen to show in any permanent record
book in any office of the court house
the names of the parties contributing
this revenue. Surely, that is de
lectable state of affairs. If business
man applied to the court house to find
out from the records whether his fell
low merchant or saloonkeeper had
paid his county license. say tour years
ago, he would be told there is no