Omaha daily bee., 1889-02-03
an OPEN LETTER.

Republlcan, over tho signature of
"Union Laborcr," which [ propose to
answer frankly aud without reserve.
You ask in all candor whether l
should consider a space 1872 feet square
ground enough for city hall of grow
ing city like Omaha, if the lots adjoin-
ing belonged to anybody excepting my
self
In answer to this will ask YOU and
all others who have doubts on this point,
to make an inspection of the interior of
the New York Life building, which
coversa space of l2Oxl32 ect,and of TIE
BEE building, which is exactly 1872 feet
square. There are twenty very
large offices in the Now York
Life building on eacn floor.
Each of these Offices is large enough to
accommodate any city officer. There
are from twcnty-cight to thirty-eight
offices on each floor of TIE BEE build
ing, with II large court in the center,
forty-four feet square. Now. if the city
has three stories fOr the use of the Off
cials, and one story for council cham
Der and committee rooms, there will be
ample accommodation for all city Off
cials Omaha may have within the next
hundred years. Thn"cc ~, 80, De annie
room for city of million of people.
and nearly double the space that is now
occupied by the municipal officials of
New York city in their city
hall. The two remaining stories
will afford all the space needed
for the public library and board
Of education and leave more than
dozen large Offices without occupants.
And if in due time public library
building is erected elsewhere the city
will have rooms toilet in the city hall.
You want to know whpther the trade
between Hon. William a. Paxton and
the city and county officials was not
made through my influence with these
officials?
do not pretend to deny and never
have denied that [ personally advised
the trade between Mr.. Paxton and the
county and city whereby Omaha Sc
cured the erection of the three hund red
thousand dollar P3txton block in place of
a law suit between the city and county.
The trade has given sOm;iha and Six
teenth street within four years not only
the Paxton block .but the board of
trade building, the Y. NJ. G. A. build
ing and j. j. Broan's block, not to
mention two buildings above Sixteenth
street, on which over eleven hundred
thousand dollars have been expended.
AS you were u councilman when this
a.
city officials, and you voted for the ex-
change OF property, you know best
whether my personal influence was po-
tential in the consummation of this ar
rangement.
You ask me whether or not the ordi-
nance locating the city hall on Far
nam was passed through my promise to
Ed Leeder to support him for sheriff.
No such promise was made by me di-
rectly or indirectly, although Leeder
may have expected my support at the
fall election If he was nominated.
You inquire whether it is not fact
that ut the time Iswas offered ten thous-
and dollars by members of the council
above the appraised value of my lots
ad joining the city hall, but refused to
sell?
This is one of the many impudent |
falsehoods that have been cir rcul ated |
industriously by yourself and your asso-
ciates in the present campaign. How |
could any member of the city council |
offer to buy my lots when at the time of |
the location of the city hall there was |
NO 1plIar IL, IA trn - l,
which to build even the founda- |
tion of the city hall, and the |
council had to ntract with the school |
board for an advance of twenty-five |
dollars. Moreover; the propo-
sition submitted to the people in 1855 |
did not authorize the expenditure of |
more than two hundred thousand dol |
lars, and the building alone would cost
at least that sum.
You ask me whether it is not fact |
that l located TIE BEE bouilding six
feet east of our lot line before the city
hall was commenced, and thereafter
the plans and built up to my
own line, carried nine inches of the foot
ing into the city hail line and endan-
gered the east foundation wall of the
city hall by building the basement sew
eral feet deeper than the city hall
basement walls?
These questions also embody tissue
of falsehoods concocted to delude, de-
ceive and prejudice citizens against the
Farnam street site. The city hall
were begun in the fall OF
1886 and l had no plans for THE BEE
building until July, 1887, and did not
begin work on foundations until Octo-
her, 1887, at a time when the basement
Of the city hall was whore it was left by
the contractors. l had proposed to the
city council to deed to the city eight or
ten feet of my lot il Seventeenth street
was narrowed to ninety feet, which is
ten feet wider than Broadway, New
York, and providing that was allowed
10 purchase and occupy the ten feet ad-
joining our lots. The city council
passed. the ordinance narrowing Seven
teenth street; the appraisers were ap-
pointed and the appraise ment made,
when the new council, OF which you
we're member, came into power. That
at the outset, started its fight
On the police commission and against