Omaha daily bee., 1890-09-14
AN EyCorRhgrNG OUTLOOK

lac lSCd al tnc CSoe MIA 3 OF II meWOpOn-
tan city Her population was barely
thirty Thousand.
Then came the era of public improve
ments People inside the city who
clung to the old fogy ideas and persons
outside the city shook their heads in
grave doubt. A reaction was predicted
and itwashllled in 81 and 'S2that0maha
would SUI rely bankrupt herself, Butevents
have shown the fallacy Of the crOakers'
prophesfes. Up to September !, 1890,
there have been expended in public i'm
provcnents in the city of omaha, six
million. four hundred and forty.seven
thousand, nine hundred and one dollars.
This Of course docs not include h undreds
of thOus ands Of dollars which have been
eXpendedby property in grad ing
and drainage. 1t simply represents the
money that has actually y ybcenpaidby the
city by tax levocs and from the proce eds
of bonds. The greater part Of this vast
totals represcntedby paving, sewerage,
grading viadmts, etc. Indepe nden of
this municipalo outlay fully five millions
have been expended in Omaha by
franChised corporations or water works,
gas plan Is and street railways. Omaha's
marvellous strides toward metropolitan
pro pOrti ons are chiefly due to
the unStinted support of pub
lie inpro vements by tax-pay-
ing property owners From thirty
tho, I'd she has within ten years ex-
panded to n city of one hundred and
forty thousand po pulaticn. The burden
Of taxation has been very heavy and
sometimes al most unbearabe, but we
may soon look for amatcrial decrease Of
taxes. The bulk OF our grading, paving
and sewer building is already done and
is rapidly being paid for. Within a few
years Omaha will be able to compare
fav onbly with any city in the country
in the matterof taxation Unlike any
all other tiles Omaha is not subdivided
by riversand deep ravines that req uire
heavy outlay for bridges, tunnels and
viaductS, with Il continuous drain on the
taxpayers for maintenance. The
great cities bordering ON the
sea or Lake are taxed
enormously Tor maintaining water frOntS,
while ST. Paul and Minnea polls have ex-
pended millions on bridges; Cleve land
has issued three millions Of bonds for
her gre at viaduct, Mi lwauliee has half
dozen draw bridges, Chicago has her
bridges and tunnels, and Buffalo Roch
ester, Pittsburg and Cincinnati have
been similarly taxed. While Omaha
has spent one hundred and thirty-six
thousand on yiad ucts, the railroads will
be com PEELED to build all viaducts that
are to be builtin the future, and very
properly since the chief object must be
to prevent railroad accidents.
The North and South Omaha creeks
VIII ich form erly traversed the city and
had to be bridged at great expense
have been transformed into main
sewers and now answer the double serv-
ice of carrying off the surface water
that formerly wei mt into creeks, and also
carry of the body of all sewage that
flo ws in to TIN EN- through the lateral pipe
system
The only drawback isthe wooden block
pavement which even tually must be re-
placed by less peris liable paving ma
terals. We havespent almost amillion
dollars in grading, In that portion of
tn he city which W as comprised in the old
boundaries only three Or -four streets re-
main to be gadedand filed Ten years
hence every sire et and alley within the
present boundaries Will be graded, and
oil thn o1 u,i1
brough ito the established level Thence
forward the enormous grading expenses
which draw SO heavily on our general
fund will cease and conseq uently the cost
of running the city government will be
very m aterially reduced.
by that time Omaha will be one of the
most attractive cities in Am erica. 1t
has been an outlay of millions, but after
all the very fact that an army OF labor
in me n have been employed for many
years Onthe public works has been one
of the prin clpal factors inthe growth
andprosperity ofOmaha. The money
has been mostly spentat hom 9 and cir
culated among Our people, and has con-
tributed largely toward making Omaha
what she is today Had Omaha been
laid outOn a dead level she could not
pOssibl y have had such growth, While
O maha has been infested with boodlers
and dishonest contractors therehaS beer
a smaller percentage of jobbery and
swindling onour public works than in
any city on the continent While taxes
have been high we have more TO show
for our money than any western city.
We have over one hundred miles of
graded streets, IA system of sew erage that
extends over seventy five milesand over
fifty miles OF street pavement, most OF
which islaid with permanent material.
These facts afford convinc cling proof that
Omaha real estate has substantial
basis with the assurance that while
property values will advance as the city
| grows taxa tion is bound to decrease