The Detroit times., 1915-06-18
Secret Probe Shows
Hundreds Have
Escaped Tax
SALOON MEN ARE
MOST FAVORED
sfissH@
Blame Laid on Lazy
and Inefficient
Inspectors

water board. following . quiet :nyes
tigatton which Hugo Gilmartin. sec
retasy and general manager. has
b6en conducting for the past several
months. luefiicicncy and Iasines,
constitute the senerai charge made
against the rs inspectors employed
b. The board. Petty politics and lack
OF business system are given as tbs
cause OF . condition OF Affairs thai
has resulted In the loss Of thousands
Of dollars q year 10 the board. u
Secretary Gilmartin's candid state
ment. Backed by the present board
OF water commissioners. Secretary
0ilmartin u now trying TO remedy
some glaring defects In the permit
and collection system.
Last year the water tax and me
Ter collections amounted to 4i.255.
900 In round figures. The collections
for IL months. ending May l. lyl5
show . total OF more than @l.+0S.
900. During the eleven months ths
board added very little new business.
and the extra S15s.ooO collected rep
reseuts mostly ''pick-ups." Investi
cation by Secretary GilmartIn shows
that hundreds Of Detroiters have
besn getting water for nothing. Sa.
loonkeepers In particular seem 10
have been favored. A member OF
the inspection force. II was learned
did not pay . cent OF water tax in
two years. A former city oflicial got
free water for three years.
Il has been costing the water
4 board one dollar q meter for meter
rsadings. says Secretary Gilmartin,
The cost Of inspection y outrageous
u excessive.
Il found that the inspectors were
reading about 10 meters . day." said
Secretary Gilmartin. About 12J
readings would be q normal days
work for . man with q crippled les
The whole trouble is that the inspec'
tors have been working about two
hours . day. They have shirked
work. using oil sorts OF schemes to
put u over on the board"
Recently. Secretary Gilmartin call.
"a Ill the inspectors to his once
and held an impromptu examination
n meter :esding. He was dumb
founded to learn that only one out
Of the Is inspectors could read VA.
ter meter correctly. and even this
one did not have Q perfect mark.
Many Of the inspectors could not
tell whether q meter was running
or stopped. Some Of them took the
readings backward.
Five trustworthy men. not connect.
Cd with the inspection force. were
quietly put to work on the outside
20 investigate the conditions In the
various districts travelled by the res.
ular inspectors. They found many
taps on which no water tax was be.
Ing collected. Also they found that
the regular inspectors. who also act
~ collectors for the board. we're
very careless in distributing bills. In
one house they found 100 bills that
the inspector had left on the door
step. Bundles Of bills were found In
sewers. where they had been thrown
by the distributors" Some Of the
inspectors. II was learned. employed
little boys to distribute the bills.
paying them 10 cents each for their
work.
A man named Murphy. employed in
the water board storage yard. was
Get TO work reading meters. He read
600 IN one day. When the other in
spectors learned what Murphy was
doing they went to him and pro-
tested. declaring that he was kill
Ing the job"
Secretary 0ilmartin recently laid
on one inspector for Is days without
pay. after learning that the man was
regularly employed at the baseball
park afternoons ct - q day.
When Secretary Gilmartin went
back to the water board under civil
service. last fall. after having BEEN
on the Job for rs months. he found
the affairs OF the once In . chaotic
condition. he says.
Tho inspectors. I found. had abb
solutely no respect for their supe-
riors.' he said. "They would call
up day after day and announce that
they would not b at work because
OF the Illness or death Of . relative.
The trouble 10. the inspectors are all
Walking delegates and they think be-
cause they have . city Job they don't
have "a work. Of obey orders. un-
osrstand that I am very much dis
liked By the men because I insist On
trying TO organize some kind Of .
bnsincss system here. Hereafter
a1l inspectors viii report at =
o'clock n the morning, and aesin at
l:3o In the afternoon. Any inspector
that reads Ices than 100 mstsrs .
Gay Vi1f b Aro1 Tor inefIlcisncy."
Secretary 0tlmArtin investigntsd
the insOeetjoa system IN Cleveland.
end fouNl that y NJ ~ Ah661 q
0stseos'a Ne alnt veat q sAs local
- esutany IT eons pclnesn q
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