Omaha daily bee., 1885-05-18
MUCH MOUNTING.
The Mayor and Aldermen sill Fighting
Over Fractions,
A Bid for the workingmen.

IA WY OOuhOAA hClu q upSIlAi lhbOlibR
Saturday evening, on call of the mayor,
for the svowed purpose Of considering
the veto Of the resolution under which
the council had proceeded to the election
of the city officers, When the council
had gathered they learned to their sur.
prise hat the mayor was not ready to
have them consider the veto, but had
prepared two others, and wanted more
time to amend his veto of the election of
officers.
The following were the vetoes which he
thus sprung on them instead of the veto
filed some days ago:
To the honorable common council of
Council Bluffs -Gentlemen:-I return to
you herewith the resolution offered by
Alderman Siedentopf, with an amend
ment of Alderman Shugsrt, and passed
by your honorable body May 18th, 1885,
said resolution being hereto attached. l
am opposed to said resolution because 1t
Is In violation of IN ordinance that estab-
fishes the office of street commissioner.
This Office must be repealed by an ordi-
nance. The resolution also grants the
right to aldermen of each ward to employ
a man who shall have charge of the
"ward work" at the cost of two
dollars per day, or a total Of eight
dollars day. Thus 1t will
be seen that It will not be economy to
dismiss the street commissioner, whose
pay is So a day, for sub-street commits
sioners at SO q day. do therefore veto
this resolution, and refer the same to this
body, hoping that you will use more eau
tion, and less haste in covering defects,
and that you will not try again to vltlate
an ordinance by a resolution. Respect
rally submitted, etc."
The other vote was against the ordi-
nance recently passed requiring that dirt
haulers should use tight wagon boxes, SO
that the dirt would not rattle off, and
drop onto streets over which they passed.
In vetoing this, the mayor says: "Sald
ordinance was drawn and introduced of
the instance and upon the order of AL.
derman S~hugart. I am opposed to this
ordinance, because it will work a hard.
ship on our dirt haulers, as 1t requires
the wagon bodies to be perfectly tight.
This would necessitate the purchase OF
new wagon bodies, require more time to
unload the dirt, and force the teamster
to haul a lighter load, as his wagon body
will be heavy, and also 1t desigustsa
within an inch how full the wagon shall
be. For violation OF
the ordinance the teamster
is guilty of a misdemeanor, and he
may be fined 500 for each offense. The
acts prohibited are not criminal In their
nature, but by the terms of the ordinance
1t Is made a misdemeanor, aud a lawful
but transient traveller might innocently
be made amenable to the same, and as an
ordinance to be valid must be reasonable
and consistent with the laws and policy
of the state, and must not be unequal,
oppressive, or vexatious; therefore, In my
Judgment, this ordinance Is illegal, against
public policy, in restraint of labor, and
undemocratic, and canbeneft no one but
those who deal in wagons, and there 4.
an ordinance regulating the hauling OF
dirt, passed in Juue, 1884, that In my
judgment is sufficiently strong to protect
the city's interests. I do therefore re-
turn the ordinance, etc."
There was considerable sparring over
these vetoes. The motion to carry the
| ordinance over the head of the mayor
was carried by a vote of four to two, Aid.
MUNSTER and Geiue alone supporting the
mayors veto. There being two-thirds
| of the council thus In favor Of the vetoed
resolution and ordinance, it was insisted
| kbot Tho yatD WOO void hpk Tho
claimed that 1t required a t%wo-thirds ma.
jority -wbateverD that is-snd when an
appeal was made from this decision. he
declared all appeals out of order. This
high handed way of running the whole
business was CALLING to the aldermen,
but there was nothing to do but submit,
and wait for some future action to
bring the mayor to his senses.
S..There was one square sit down on the
mayor, however. 1t was apparently his
desire to make a little political capital
for himself among the working man and
dirt haulers, and In doing 80 there was a
chance to try to put Alderman Shugart
in the position of being responsible fol
the obnoxious ordinance. In his veto
this crops out by an iutlmation that AL.
dermsn Shugart, being engaged in selling
farm wagons, had some selfish motive In
getting this ordinance passed, and the
veto puts the alderman In the position Of
father of the ordinance, whereas, the
facts appear that the ordinance
was agreed upon In the com.
mittee of the whole, un.
animously, and passed in a like manner,
all the members voting for 1t, and that
Aid. MUNSTER WAS quite prominent in the
preparation and passage of the ordinance.
At least, the council at this meeting
passed a resolution declaring that Aid.
Shugart was not the father of the dirt
haulers' ordinance, and even Aid. Geise
voted for this resolution, Aid. MUNSTER
being the only one who opposed 1t. It
seems therefore, that If this wa a hard
chip on the workingmep, that the whole
council should bear the blame, instead Of
its being put on to me-.
The FEE man saw the mayor Yesterday
and asked him about the situation.
"Now, i notice" said the mayor, "that
the BEE speaks of the veto power as be.
ing some newly discovered toy, that | am
just plsying with. The fact Is that
have had the veto power for more than q
year, and before this l have used 1t but
once, and that was to keep the Union
Pacific from laying sandstone Instead of
granite for paving, and thus kept the
city from having inferior paving. In re.