Los Angeles herald., 1908-03-24
AUDITOR SAY Us
PAY LICENSE
AT CITYHA
DECLARES DEPUTY COLLECT
ORS ARE ILLEGAL
POLICEMEN ARE ONLY AUTHOR
lied DEPUTIES
Mushet Tells Council That It Should
Enforce or Repeal Its Ordinance
Governing License
Moneys

City Auditor w. c. Mushet made a
sensational attack on the work of Tax
and License Collector JohHsons depu-
council, demanding that either the
police force of Los Angeles perform it's
legal duties as deputy license collectors
or that the ordinance containing that
clause be repealed.
Auditor Mushet maintained that the
maintenance of force of five or six
deputy collectors was an unnecessary
expense, as the law plainly put these
duties on the entire police force.
Before opening his address Mr. Mushet
read the following report:
Must Pay at City Hall
Section of the license ordinance
states that all licenses shall be paid
in advance in the legal currency of the
United States, at the Office of the city
tax and license collector
I'm other words, the license collector
is required to receive license money
when rendered and to receipt for the
same, just as the tax collector is re-
quired to receive tax money when ten
dered and to receipt for the same and
not otherwise. Instead of the ordinance
teing carried out there are six deputy
license collectors in the employ of the
city license collector at a salary of $l1o
per month each.
Section IL of the ordinance states
that all police officers are hereby APP
pointed assistant inspectors of license,
and in addition to their several duties
as police officers are hereby required to
examine all places of business and per-
sons in their respective beats liable to
pay a license. and to see that such
licenses are taken out. Said police Of
f;Cers as such assistant inspectors OF
licenses shall make out once month
O list of persons, firms or corporations
carrying on business within their re-
spective beats and having no license,
with their address, and deliver such list
carefully and legibly written, to the city
clerk. and also report to the city clerk
the names of all such doing business
without license Immediately upon the
fact coming to their knowledge. Any
police officer failing or neglecting for
more than thirty days to report any
person, firm or corporation who or
which is engaged in carrying on busi-
ness without having paid the required
license shall be guilty of neglect OF
duty and either suspended from duty
OF dismissed from the police force, in
the discretion of the board of police
hereby directed to carry into effect tn
provisions of this section
City ignores the Law
This section is not being carried out.
The scheme of license inspection and
collection as outlined in the ordinance
o. the city is the rational and proper
cne and should be carried out or the
ordinance repealed.
''In this case, as in many others, the
provisions of the ordinance, the deHb-
crate instructions of the city council.
are set aside by executive officers ana
other methods substituted
Under the present method hundreds
of persons subject to license are over
looked Under the present method
many thousands of dollars of licenses
issued are returned uncollected.
Mushet Suggests Way
"If the ordinance were carried into
effect all licenses would be issued by
The clerk and pass into the hands of the
license collector on the first of each
month. On the 10th of the month all
delinauents could be reported to who
ever had charge OF license inspection
in the police department.
"a three days notice could be served
On delinquents by the police officer on
whose beat they were, and If not paid
ty the 18th of the month the necessary
proceedings could be taken.
.'In this way licenses would be either
collected or Cancelled during the current
month and many licenses would be
saved to the city which are now lost by
delay in collecting"