Arizona republican., 1908-12-06
MATTER OF LICENSES
 AGREEABLY ADJUSTED
The Ordinance Committee, Assisted By the Merchants, Comes to Satisfac- tory Conclusion.

The meeting of the city ordinance committee held FrGay evening in the council chambers was an occasion or considerable importance and was so regarded by the business men of Tem- De as was made evident by the pres ence of a representative of nearly ev- cry business firm in town. The meet ing was for the purpose of considering the license ordinance as prepared by the finance committee week or so ago. Most readers of The Republican are more or less familiar "ith the circumstances of this new ordinance. It was drawn up by the finance com mittee to do away with some half dozen other ordinances that have outgrown their usefulness and have made the matter of licenses here in Tempe d decidedly intricate proposi- tion. The new ordinance is designed to cover the entire ground, but in its preparation the finance committee took a step more and in many cases raised the license on certain lines of business to some extent and in a few cases doubled the tax. This fact coming to the attention of the business men, q meeting was held and a petition adopted protesting against the pro posed raise. This petition was publish ed a few days ago and since that date has been signed by practically every business firm in town. + was pre- scented to the committee Friday even ing by Chairman j. w. Parry who took occasion to make a few remarks pertaining to the situation. Express ing the sentiment of his associate business men in Tempe he said that he felt that the council vas making a mistake to thus raise the licenses. If the town really required a greater revenue. it seemed to the business men that it should be raised by means of an additional tax. whereby every prop erty owner would have to stand his share. according to his worth. The business men feel that the license they have been paying is sufficiently large in view of the fact that every time there is subscription list of any kind circulated, it is the business man that comes in for the largest contribution.
 That the committee took a partial view of the matter in this light was apparent when the consideration of the proposed ordinance came up. Each item was read and those in attendance were given an opportunity to express their views before it was made final. With few exceptions all the licenses that had been raised by the finance committee were reduced by the ordi- nance committee to their original rate. A few items were further ih- creased by the committee but on the whole the adjustment in every case was made to the perfect satisfaction of all concerned and it is felt that the license matter has been settled in Tempe in an agreeable and harmoni- ous matter for all time
 The meeting developed a number of rather humorous incidents. During the consideration of the merry-go- round license which was increased to S2 per day instead of $1, as formerly the mayor Yentured the remark that even this raise was insufficient. "Aught to be 8 a minute" said he He still remembers that an institution of this kind camped at his back door for some weeks and rendered sweet" music both day and night. The $2 tax was allowed to remain. though prac- tically every one present felt in sym pathy with the mayor.
 The saloon license was returned to its former status, $50 per quarter in stead of S1OO as proposed by the fi- nance committee. The members felt that having closed the saloon on Sun day, it was hardly fair to add more to their running expenses.
 Agents came in for a long discussion and a stiff raise. The committee ex- pressed the idea that people who solic- ited orders in town and purchased the goods with which to fill these orders from out of town points should be dis couraged; that they detracted much from the business of the merchants who paved good tax and license The license on agents of this kind was accordingly raised to $25 per quarter.
 A coupon with every twenty-five cent purchase at the Tempe Pool room, save them.