The Wilmington morning star., 1945-08-28
City Well Supplied Nouu
With Cabs, Chief States

thief of Police Charles H. Cas-
.,en appeared before the City
Htorncll Yesterday morning, and
ointing to the alarming increase
r. r. +bo number of taxi driver Ii
l oense applications being filed, he
crossed the danger threatening
.5e CITY if too many operators
,,sre granted permits.
chief Casteen declared that he
,oIieyed the City had enough taxi
W. Ooerato-s, and predicted that, if
W. W many were allowed to operate,
.ba+ none will be in a position to
o t expenses or to make a le-
~;tina1e living. The police chief
;sgdicated that some drivers may
~ ~. forced into what he termed,
crooked stuff"
The matter was brought up
Of today's council meeting by
Citv Manager A. C. Nichols
Who said he understood the
chief had received a "flood of
requests from people who want
IL % in the taxi business"
On the recommendation of
citv Attorney William B.
campbell, the board agreed to
defer action until the next
meeting so that in the interim
the attorney and other officials
might make a further study of
the mater.
Chief Casteen said that, I'M
iii the council acted, he would
mot act on the Substantial
number Of requests" he had re-
ceived from would-be cab driv-
ers.
In order to secure a state
license, an applicant must first
have his application certified
BY City Clerk ]. r. Benson as
to his having adequate liability
insurance. 1t then is submitted
to the police chief for an COX"
and. upon his recommendation,
the state grants the permit.
When the police officer signs
the form, Chief Casteen ex-
planned, he is, in SO many
words, certifying that the city
has a need. for more taXis.
With a current total of 81
rabs, 81 of which are Negro
md "A white, he continued, he
does not see that Wilmington
actually needs more.
Mr.. Campbell said he knew
"the chief is on a spot" 81
understand mes got some 20
APPLICATIONS within the past
few weeks and l think it's I'M
fair to place that burden on
the CHIEF
Mayor Lane said "it looks
like we're kind of taking a
mans rights away from him
if we don't let i'm go into any
kind of business" but he said
he could appreciate the serious
ness of the situation.
In the midst of the discus
SIGN, the city attorney said he
still didn't think there were
enough cabs in Wilmington be-
cause cts hard to get one"
when YOU call.
Chief Casteen disclosed that,
in CHE day recently, he had
about II Negroes come in for
permits. A lot of the applicants,
he added, want to run taxis on
their spare time at night.
81 figure this way" the chief
declared. eff you don't control
them some way, everybody who
OWLS car is going to want to
run a taxi and no one is going
to be able to make expenses
or legitimate living, SO some
felix's then will resort to crooked
st1ff." This, he continued, will
lead to bootlegging and other
rackets and will only cause
the police department more
trouble"
off Gals then pored over law
books and manuals in an effort
to ascertain the city's legal po-
sition in the matter,
One applicant went so far,
the chief stated, to threaten to
hlre an attorney and try to get
the Grand Jury to force the
chief to issue a license.
Il told the man." the officer
declared, ''that no one can