Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-10-30

/ Commissioners ever were courteous)
YOU would have the impression that you
were guilty of something, but didn't quite
know what il was. You would go to see
| one of these subordnates and you would
say TO yourself: Well that fellow knows
| m guilty OF something. but what II IS
| can for the life of me think But
that has all been changed. There IS n
| great Improvement all through. As for
the assessors office. 1 can tell you there
mas been a splendid advance there. l
nave been all over the United States on
! hceS and never have l found one & al
! as that ere here under Assessor Rich
ards. He can get you information gu cke-
/ in his office than l have ever seen in any
other. The same is true i'm the auditor $
! office and tie disbursing office. We have
today an up-to-date. clean government.
and am one of those who supports the
government as IL stands. I'm not throw
| ing bouquets at the District. but l think
some one ought to tell the Commissioners
these things"
Assessor Richards got back al \. +.
! Shoemaker in several places during the
| testimony this morning. MIR. Shoemaker
having testified that he believed Mr.
| Richards incomp etent To he a member OF
the excise board Mr.. Richards was ask
ed by Commissioners Judson If he believed
| the excise board and the board of as
sistant assessors should he separated. and
Mr. Richards much to the surprise OF
every one present, answered in the af-
| firmative
He told about the visits he had person.
| ally made to saloons and clubs in
search for enlightenment as to actual
conditions before licenses have been
| granted. He said that frequently the
mere knowledge of what he and the other
members of the board had seen had been
enough to withhold licenses from appli-
cants.
| Mr. Shoemaker .octiaad tbot IL, tho noSa
or two saloons. one of which had been
closed and one left open. the successful
applicant had more friends at court than
the unsuccessful one. Mr. Richards was
bitter in denouncing that az I'M
necessary remark, and told the story of
| the two saloons In this way:
Reports on Two Cases.
Capt. Byrnes of the sixth precinct re-
ported two places very much alike In
one case there had been frequent fights
| woman had been thrown out into the
street and hurt badly and the place was
resort of lewd women. There was a bad
| case against 1t. We rejected it, As to
| the other place. there was no police COM
plant except that they served women
there. l went there several times myself
and never saw anything wrong there. We
| granted the license.
THE first six months | was on the board
| Mr. Shoemaker stirred up the club license
question and we investigated the Jolly Fat
| Mems, the Bartenders' Union and the
| Chamberlin and several others. We made
| frequent personal Investigations. The po-
lice made an unfavorable report against
| the Bartenders' Union. There was a riot
| In front Of the place one Sunday night
and the police had a hard time restoring
peace and order.
1.-The members of the board dropped in
at the union on Sunday night and aft
er what We saw there we rejected the IL
cense next day. The jolly Fat Mems
| Club was rejected and then granted a Ii.
cense after it reorganized. The Chamber
lin Club and other clubs resisted us in
| court, but the courts upheld the board
principally. l think. on the ground that
We had made personal Inspections
There was place that had a police
| tiers. Kalbfus and / went there one
night and saw a lot OF DRINKS. A man
| was playing ragtime and singing a vul
| gar song at piano; there were plenty
| OF women there and the proprietor was
| selling drinks to men SO drunk they
! couldn't stand. 1t was a tough place. We
| introduced ourselves to the proprietor az
/ members of the excise board and then
! went away and rejected that license the
| next day.
| Another place we have visited is on,
there don't want 1t and they wouldn't
| be able to get enough signers If they
| were to ask for an original license. The
| license will not be renewed next year"
| Mr.. Richards gave figures to show the
| number of saloons In South Washington
| has not increased materially in eight
years.