Omaha daily bee., 1895-11-03

hhNF 'tAN ~ luNN NUdA Nutlt was blt Sill u
there for $50 against William Coburn. Now,
william Coburn had been the police COM
missioner Of Omaha for four years and he
had actually ovedrawn $50. His opponent,
Beecher Highly, had drawn 5000. a whole
months salary, in advance and had his slip
in the drawer for some time after the treas
urer had been found to be a defaulter. ZAP
plause). There was no slip in the drawer of
Edward ROsewater's. was there? There was
no delinquent interest RENTED The Bee
Building company. There was no money adj
vanced TO The Bee Publishing company, al
though 1t has a contract with the city. but
there was a slip Of $3.50 Of G. NJ. Hitch
cocks, although neither he nor the World
Herald had any contract with the city.
Now, you are called upon to consider
whether or not we are to continue the present
style Of government or whether we are to
have a change. You realize, undoubtedly, the
enormtty of the crime that was perpetrated
here when the treasurer of this city was
found to be $40, 900, $500 or $50. 900 Il do
not know how many short. What have
they found? We are having four experts
working their way into the treasurer's vaults
with jimmies in the shape Of pens and
pencils at So a day. applause. And what
do you find there? You will find some very
singular things when you come to ascertain
what these experts have discovered at the
expense of 500 a day. They have discovered
that somebody has been favored in getting a
remission of interest, but they have not been
able to tell you how many thousands have
been plllaged from the treasury by the men
who are today in the offices, and they do
not mean to until long after The election.
Great applauseJ.
THE STAR-CHAMBER ORDER.
The city council Of Omaha, composed Of a
large majority of members of the star
chamber order-and here Is the scapegoat
by which they expect to get forgiveness of
all their sins during the present year (refer-
ring to the stereopticon view of a goat,
labeled Jerome Coulter.
We now reach the stage Of the candidate
for mayor. We see the candidate for mayor
running Handicapped in every direction.
What is the record Of that candidate? Fellow
citizens, you know he has acted as mayor
Of Omaha, he has acted as river commits
sioner, he has acted as police commissioner
and he has acted as appraiser of the peni-
tertiary, and in every one of those positions
he has failed to show himself trustworthy.
| cannot dwell long upon this subject, but first
and foremost, we know that when Mr..
Broatch was mayor OF Omaha he caused tax
payers of this city the loss Of $40, 900 in
foundation and basement walls of the original
city hall building, He not only consented
know him-(applause)-he not only
up the walls under the pretense that
The Bee building was going to fall down
upon the city hall, when. as a matter of
fact, the walls of The Bee building had
dDutllleuIs elBnt lbtI lulCh. buJ lnty went
to work and gave an architect a contract,
through which you could drive a coach and
four, drawn up by John l.. Webster. city
attorney. Under that contract the architect
was In a position to get out OF the city just
whatever he saw fit to demand. Before
there had been a single scrap of detail planned,
before the city of Omaha had anything more
than the sketch Of the building to be built,
81 900 were taken out Of the treasury and
paid to that architect How much of that
money was the architect obliged to contribute
to Broatch's campaign fund that year? Be
fore the building had reached the level of
Farnam street S. 5000 more was paid the
architect. And when the building was com
pleted, when they had paid out ) per cent
upon, not only the building. but the con-
tents of the building, including the furniture,
they got a fresco painter to fresco the
council chamber for SO 1000, upon which also
5 per cent was paid for designs. The sum
total Of the architect fees are over S22, 1000
for a building that does not cost in actual
amount within $50, 900 as much as The Bee
building, for which we paid s11 900 for an
architect, and for a better plan than was
ever made for the city hall. (Applause.) But
you have got the dogs looking down from
the top of that building, haven't you
0aughter)-as a monument of Mr.. Broatch's
sagacity and business methods.
BROATCH n HIS METHODS.
Allusion has been made by Mr.. Poppleton
to the method by which he allowed the city
to lose at least 800. 900 in the settlement Of
| II "a Nlllllls anu ! 'S' '''AN ~ - 49,
fact that in his frantic endeavor and despera-
ton to get himself reelected mayor of Omaha
during the primary elections preceding the
election of 1889 he hired, or had Joe Kent,
the street commissioner, hire, over 400 men,
under pretense that they were employed on
street repairs, and used them for primary
election purposes, and then he ordered the
city treasurer to pay them, and took out
several thousand dollars TO pay those men
when they hadn't rendered one dollars worth
Of service to the city of Omaha. That is the
kind of a man who today asks you to elect
him once more to the office Of mayor.
Let us see as to his more recent perform
ances. He has been favored above all our
citizens by the peculiar and thrifty firm
known as Churchill, Russell & Co. He has
been favored with the appointment as APP
praiser OF the chattels and materials turned
over to the state by the late contractor OF
the penitentlary convict labor. The legisla-
ture on the last night OF its late session
voted 1876, 900, or so much thereof as might
be necessary, to ~liquidate claims OF the
penitentiary contractor. What ana Mr.,
Broatch do? He was the. sole representative
Of the state; he was the arbitrator of the
state, and he was expected to stand between
the state and the men who were trying TO
take advantage of the state. How did he
perform that duty? He went down there
something like seven or eight times, spent
perhaps three or four hours each day on each
trip, and he charged $500 for services and
$500 for each of the two remaining arbitra-
tors, ana then ne dllOWeu ne dppTdiselleLt
to include every dollar. barring the $1,000
which the appraisers got; that is to say, the
whole $35, 900 was eaten up. (Pointing to
stereopticonD Here you have a photograph
OF the building that the state paid for. You
see these buildings-they are sheds. The
center shed represents $1,000 of the states
money allowed by William j. Broatch. The
other shed represents 1870 Of this money.
They are in fact wooden sheds that are not
worth more than $50 to SIS II you get the
highest price for them. (Applause) Then
he had an appraisement of a pair of mules
that had been down there for twenty-three
wears. Applause) These mules had grown
gray and old in the service of the peniten-
tiary contractors from Stout down to Mosher,
and from Mosher to Dorgan, and for that pair
OF mules, which today would not sell for
SIS anywhere, he allowed the state to pay
$3.50. Another pair of mules that he bought
has parted company-l mean the pair. One
of them has turned up his heels to the skies
and expired in its endeavor to remain as
an evidence Of racality. daughter and
applause) Broatch had a special appraiser
to assist him in his work, the present chair
man of the dervish city committee, and they
appraised three old boilers at a fraction over
81, 600, and today those boilers are condemned
and will have to be taken out and will only
sell for old iron. That is the kind of an
arbitrator William j. Broatch was for the
state of Nebraska in the year of 1895. What
kind Of a mayor would he make in the year
1896? (Cries of mo Good.'0
NOR RASCALITY EXPOSED.
Pointing to the stereopticon.) Here is