Year: 1866

| The Legislative committee appointed to inves-
| tigate the affairs of the Controller, ana inquire
into the abuses alleged to be practiced IN the COL
lection of Foreign Miners licenses. has not yet
renorted From what we can learn there is no
doubt that the greatest swindle ever perpetrated
in any branch of the State Government has been
suffered during the last ten years in the colec-
ton of the Foreign Miners license tax. As the
Legislature now in session proposes to devise
remedy for this evil, it may be worth while to
briefly refer to the matter, and to offer some sug-
gestions in connection with proposed reform.


1t has been satisfactorily ascertaned that there
are about 900 Cinnamon on the Pacific coast,
from $4,000 to 10000 being in California, the
balance in British Columbia and the neighboring
Territories. The Chinese Companies of San
Francisco have very correct idea of the num-
Der of their countrymen in the Mines and they
assert that not less than 40, 900 license taxes
should be collected every month, which would
yield over a million and half of revenue annu-
ally. Instead of such being the case, the report
of the Controller shows that less than Is, 900
per month were collected during the two last fs-
cal years. That this is less than one-half the
number actually collected no one doubts, and it





annually swindled out of at least million of
dollars in the collection of this revenue alone


1t therefore becomes the duty of our law-mak-
ers to spare no effort to avert the further prac-
tice of this stupendous fraud, and we hope they
will do it. To this end general law should be
passed which would apply to the whole State
1t should require all Foreign Miners licenses to
be countersigned by county officials, as all other
tax receipts are, and Collectors should be forbid
by penal statute from destroying old or back
licenses. Let an inspector or inspectors be ap-
pointed, whose duty it shall be at such stated
times as the Board of Supervisors may direct, or
when the people may petition, to take a census
of the lcense-paying population in each county,
and to examine the licenses issued and the num-
bers thereof. Allow the Board of Supervisors,
whenever they may think necessary, to place
private mark upon each license before it is issued
to the Collector. Make it penal offense for Au-
ditors to issue licenses with the blanks filled in
any other than his own handwriting, and coun-
tersigned by the officer designated, as well
for Collectors to sell licenses not so filled out
Allow Cinnamon to go to the county Treasurer
and get a license by paying the price less the
Collectors fee. Make it the duty of the District
Attorney to for and collect all back licenses,
or let the failure omission to have license
work a forfeiture of claim This would put a
stop to the swindle of collecting every two,
three or four months from companies of q good
Cinnamon" and giving only single receipt
therefor. 4How Chinese testimony to be taken IN
Courts in all cases in which the collection Of For
eign Miners licenses may be nrolred. In this way
only can ustice be done.


We respectfully submit that when the same
checks are placed upon the collection of this tax
that is on all others, the State will be greatly
benefited and county treasures soon assume a
healthy condition.