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Show oo SOLICITOR IS BROUGHT BEFORE MUNICIPAL COURT T. J. Mohn, a solicitor for a Los Angeles An-geles picture concern, appeared before be-fore the municipal court this morning on a charge of soliciting without a license. li-cense. He entered a plea of not guilty guil-ty to the charse, although admitting that he is "working" the town for the purpose of securing business for his rirru. Mohn claimed that his method of procedure was within the protection protec-tion of the interstate commerce law and that the local courts would find that they could not touch him. The defendant explained from the witness stand how his business is worked. Assistant City Attorney David Dav-id L. Stine, while stating to the court 1 that some of the municipal courts of the country had been prevented from enforcing certain ordinances by virtue vir-tue of the operation of the federal law, claimed that the admissions of Mohn brought his case -within the city ordi nanco and that the ordinance was valid. Case Under Advisement Judge George S. Barker decided to be sure of his ground and took the matter under advisement until tomorrow tomor-row morning in order to havi lime 10 look into all phases of the case. The city ordinance is on trial in the matter as much as the defendant, and the city j authorities are eager to uphold the eitv law. Women Make Complaints. Mohn was arrested as the result of a call from a number of housewives on Twenty-eighth street last Tuesday, I who complained to the police that an ! agi was working along the slrrc. and lorcing his way into the hous -and making himself generally obuox-' ious. The polite state that Mohn, 1 ho is district manager for his firm, dis charged the man, when he heard tho i facts. The police then asked to see ! his licence permit for taking orders i in :he city and were met with the Jl-swer Jl-swer that he was not t. iking orders Mohn explained to the court that 1 1 is the district manager for the firm and that he has a crew of five men working here. This crew is only a part of the force that is required to lake the orders and deliver the goods. He says they have three crews in tin field before the orders are delivered, his crew being the first. In about two weeks, he says, another crew follows along and shows the sketch that is made as an enlargement of the onci nal photograph and. if the customer is satisfied, he can give an order. In the , interval between the appearance of j the first and second crews, the photo-1 graph is sent to Los Angeles by him j vhere the sketch is made It is sent I fom the headquarters to the manager ot the second crew who presents it and takes the ,order If he can. All persons familiar with the methods of t. king such orders are aware that various va-rious kinds of persuasion are used to coax a party to give an order. After the second crew has presented , ttc sketch "for approval" the third i crow follows in due timo and makes the delivery. As to who collects the money was not shown by the test! mony, but the usual method of such agents is to collect the -., at the time of delivery. Method a Clever Subterfuge. Attorney Stine told the court that he was satisfied that the method employed em-ployed was only a clever subterfuge to avoid the law, but that he did not believe it to be under the protection of the interstate commerce act. Mohn, on the other hand, was cm- i phatic in his stand that It was cntire-lv cntire-lv within the protection e.f the. interstate inter-state law and even went so far as to state that the Salt Lake municipal court, had found that nothing could be done to prevent him working tho city. He said, as be sat in the witness chair, "Our headquarters is in Los Angeles and not in this state, so we can go through any state in the union, except California, anil transact our business and you, gentlemen, cannot stop us." Judge Barker would not commit himself this morning, but said that he was inclined to believe the case came properly undo:- ihe jurlsdlct'on of the city court. 00 |