Los Angeles Mayor Meredith P. Snyder made Todd his secretary and clerk in 1896.

The city has spent enough money in guard hire in the last year to more than pay for the erection of a detention hospital.

He was examined by Justice Walter Van Dyke and was vouched for by attorneys Herbert Goudge, Mathews, W.E.

[10][11] One of the notable cases he argued as a private attorney was in opposition to the initiative section of a new Los Angeles city charter, which, he said, was unconstitutional "in that it attempts to provide for legislation by a direct vote of the people instead of by representatives of the people elected for that purpose and is therefore inconsistent with a republican form of government.

"[12][13] He also represented twelve of the 26 "Japanese" who appeared before the city's police commission to seek restaurant liquor licenses.