Los Angeles herald., 1909-06-23
SERIOUS CHARGES
MADE BY MAYOR
WANTS POLICE TO HANDLE
LICENSES
JOHNSON TO ANSWER MESSAGE
OF EXECUTIVE
Alexander Says He Has Been Told of
Instances Showing Gross NegI-
gence on Part of In-
spectors

spectors
! Negligence that verges on the GRIM
inal in the license collecting department
of the city government were limited in
message sent by Mayor Alexander to
the city council yesterday. A careful
! investigation was made by the mayor
! before he sent his message to the coun-
Gil, and if the charges contained in the
message are true in detail something
is radically wrong in the license de-
| partment. The mayor does not state
that the charges he makes in his
message are absolutely true, but that
such matters have been reported TO
him.
One Of the most serious of these
charges is that in many instances
where persons who are required to pay
| license fees have been notified by the
patrolmen to go to the city hall and
pay their license fees they have been
told at the office of the tax and license
collector to go back to their places Of
business and await the coming of a col
! lector.
The mayor asked that in order that
! the collection of license fees might be
lbetter carried out and the ordinances
better enforced the offices of license in
spectors in the tax collectors office be
/ aDOllSnGQ ana LDe U1dII6I ltlI CiAllLClJ
| in the hands of the police department
The council considered the charges
so serious that the message was re-
ferred to Tax Collector e. e. johnson
to give him an opportunity to answer
them.
Mayors Message
The message Of the mayor is as fol-
lows:
"To the Honorable the City Council:
"Gentlemen-Reports from the police
department dating June to June 10,
1909, both inclusive, show that fifty
eight places of business which should
be paying license taxes had been found
to be without licenses; that in many
instances the proprietors stated that
they had not obtained licenses because
the collector had not been around yet;
that many proprietors WHO had no
| licenses, having been notified by the Of
ficers to obtain licenses at the tax col
lector's office, subsequently reported
that they had there been told to go
back to their places of business and
await the coming of the collector and
to pay no attention to the police.
understand that City Auditor Mushet
also has obtained evidence to the same
effect.
Section 5 of ordinance 10000 (new
series), as amended April 6, 1909, pro-
vides that all licenses shall be paid in
advance at the office of the city tax
and license collector.
Section II of said ordinance pro-
vides:
"'All police officers are hereby ap-
pointed assistant inspectors of licenses,
and, in addition to their several duties
as police officers, are hereby required
to examine all places Of business and
persons, in their respective beats, liable
to pay a license and to see that such
licenses are taken out.
"Said police officers as such as
sistant inspectors of licenses shall make
out once q month list of persons,
firms or corporations carrying on busl-
ness within their respective 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 COM
ing to their knowledge.
"'Any police officer failing or neglect
ing 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 be either suspended from
duty or dismissed from the police force.
in the discretion of the board of police
commissioners.
] lu6 Clll6l VI pOllNC 10 AiS1SpJ
rected to carry into effect the pro-
visions of this section
From the foregoing it appears that
| the license inspectors and collectors not
only have been violating their duties
as laid down in this ordinance, but that
they have been preventing the police
| from performing the duties assigned by
that ordinance to the police. AS am
informed and believe, this has resulted
in the loss to the city of thousands of
dollars per month in licenses.
1T is the duty of the mayor to en-
force the provisions of the city or
dinances, but that is practically impos-
sible in a case of this kind, where one
department of the city government is
interfering with another.
"Our city is large and very rapidly
growing, and with it's growth the num-
ber of license payers is rapidly tncreas-
ing. Many of the licenses are for
peddling vegetables and other articles
from wagons by men who have no tiXed
place of business, making 1t extremely
difficult for any department other than
the. police department properly to
handle the inspection of licenses. 1t re-
ouires many men and constant Wig
lance. The logical and proper, as wei
as the legal method of handling this
matter is the one in which the police
department is trying to handle 1t. A
complete and adequate scheme for the
inspection of licenses is provided by
said section II aboves quoted. 1t pro-
vides for nearly 800 inspectors instead
of five.
License taxes should be paid in ad-
vance. as provided by the ordinance.
If the business men understand this,
and know that the penalties for viola
tion of this ordinance will be strictly
enforced, prompt payment will become
the rule.
"I transmit herewith opinion Of the
city attorney as to the construction of
\ this ordinance.
"For the reasons above stated 1
1 earnestly recommend that the matter
i of the enforcement of the license or
dinance be turned over entirely to the
police department and that the offices
i of license inspectors and collectors Of
the tax collectors office be abolished
BY doing so the city not only will save
several hundred dollars per month in
salaries now paid men for improperly
performing work which can more eff
i fectively be performed by other men al
ready in 1.-THE employ of the city, but,
without doubt the revenue from Ii
censes will be very largely increased.
! Respectfully submitted: MAYOR" y"
4
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