Omaha daily bee., 1895-11-03

he owed for the last two years for a bucket
shop debt, for a debt in gambling in grain
and options. Now, then, a man who will
gamble in grain on the exchange, even IL
he were a man Of great wealth, is not a
safe man to trust with the custody Of your pub
lie servants, but this man is not wealthy
and has no wealth behind him. All he has
is cheek, and sublime cheek az that. CAP
plauseJ
EDWARDS AND JACOBSEN
Let us see furthermore whether or not
there is any chance to elect anybody else
than MIR. Thomas Swobe, who is thoroughly
competent and ought to be elected next
Tuesday, and will be elected beyond any
doubt, Applause) The democrats Of
Omaha have been implored to cast their
vote for MIR. Thompson. Against Mr..
Thompson | have not one word to say but
here are the facts. Mr.. Thompson has
simply the nomination of the populists, pro-
cured by himself on the representation that
he would get the endorsement Of the citi-
zens' and democratic conventions. Mr..
Thompson has not received that endorse
ment; he is running on the populist ticket,
and every vote cast for him is a half a vote
for Edwards. The fight is %squarely between
A, G.. Edwards and Thomas Swobe, and those
who throw away their votes to Mr.. Thomp-
son will help Mr.. Edwards and they may as
well know it.
While | am about It, let me call your at
tention to another candidate, also upon the
oulilt NlNhtls anu VI Nlt SulllC biNNN Wv
Jacobsen. He is a candidate for commits
sioner of the Second district. He Is also a
member of the present council and one Of
those who, with Edwards, have resisted
every effort to cut down expenses and bring
about retrenchment But they have given
us at last a concession. They passed an
ordinance last Tuesday that will retrench
the city's expenses 500, 900 in the year 1896.
That ordinance is not to go into effect until
January, 1896. Now, suppose that this cleo
,ta, gI,,Il N,r, ntt IN ho In favor of Mr.
Broatch and the dervish council, that ordi-
nance would be repealed before the first of
January comes around and passed over the
veto of Mayor Bemis. The very fact that
they passed this ordinance ought to induce
you to vote for the citizens council candi-
dates from top to bottom, because If you elect
those c~ouncilmen-if you elect Charles H..
Brown and the different councilmen upon
the citizens ticket. you have got the assurance
that the present council will not repeal the
ordinance, and you can rest assured that the
citizens council would not repeal it, and
would not think of doing 1t.
There is one phase of the situation that |
have not touched yet, and that Is the phase
attaching to our police commission. Let me
call your attention to the facts as they stare
us in the face. Mr.. Broatch, by reason and
by virtue of the fact that he is chairman
Of the police commission of Omaha, is using
the police of Omaha for political ends in order
to promote his candidacy for mayor. The
police of Omaha are not a nonpartisan body
at this time. They are making themselves
very prominent and numerously felt in every
part of the city. When the people were told
last winter that there was need of police
reform, that there was need Of a change of
chiefs and officers, l agreed with some of
these people. The crusade, however, which
they made for police reform was a sham,
a delusion and a fraud. They represented
that the police needed regeneration, that they
needed a change in the method of appoint
ing the commissioners, they wanted to take
the appointing power out OF the hands of
the governor, and they wanted to divest the
mayor of all executive power over the police.
What has been the result? Instead of elevat-
ing the standard Of the force they have
degraded and demoralized it, and drawn it
Town in the mire. They have picked out
men whom nobody would employ in any
capacity and made them sergeants and cap
tains Of police. They have restored and
promoted to high rank men who have been
disgraced, and whom the records of the
police commission show to be totally unfit
and unworthy Of any trust whatever. They
have gone further than that and they have
issued an order, since they have become
police commissioners, abrogating all the fines
and all the penalties in what is known as
the burnt district. What has been the result?
During the month Of octaober they
have not made one solitary arrest Of
any keeper or inmate of the disorderly houses
either in or out of the district. Why this
extraordinary leniency to vice and crime?
1t is a brazen bid for campaign funds and
votes from the bawdy houses in order to
elect Broatch as mayor.
THE FIGURES IN EVIDENCE.
Now, let us look at it as taxpayers. The
last commission in the month of July eX-
pended Sc ,421. The present commission in
the month Of October expended 81 ,S31. The
rate at which the old commission was run
ming, the commission of which Charles II.
Brown was a member, at that rate the police
of Omaha would cost the city ST. ,052 per an
mum; at the rate at which the police COM
mission is now run, during October, 1895, it
would cost 500, 900 a year. They have in
creased the cost of the police ST, 900 a year
since they have come in, and they have had
the audaCity to usurp the powers of the mayor
and put in special policemen without consult
ing him. They hired eighteen policemen during
the fair and they are still on the force, draw
ing their pay just the sam as though the
fair were still running. Those special police
men have cost the city of Omaha 1910. &C
during the month Of October, and have rem
dered no service. These men are not needed,
they are simply taXeaters. If you allow such
men as Broatch and VandervoOrt to continue
in office then you will soon have no govern
ment in Omaha, nothing but executions and
mortgage foreclosures by the thousands. 1t
Is time for you to consider whether it is
safe to trust the affairs of a city like ours in
such hands.
| wish further to call your attention to the
necessity of bringing out every man who is
in sympathy with municipal reform to the
polls before s o'clock on Tuesday morning
to assert their rights as American citizens.
Our city council has seen fit to force upon
you a fight at almost every polling place in
the selection of judges and clerks, when you
have no need of such a thing. This great
outrage should spur you on to your full duty.
| want also to call the attention Of repub-
leans, and in fact, all classes of voters, that
the ballots as they are marked under our
present statute make everybody on the ticket
appear as a democrat or as a populist. The
name Of citizens does not appear on the bal
lot; but that is not the fault of the men who
Der the names of the men and vote for the
men and pay no attention to the designation
which the city and county clerks have made
on the official ballot.
| want also to call your attention to an
other point, and that is this: The men who
are running On petition tickets for the coun-
ell or any other office cannot possibly be
elected. Their names are on the official bal
lot to create confusion and help the dervish
candidates. 1t is a farce and a sham, and
everybody knows it that knows anything
about the men for whom these petitions have
been filed. They have no chance on earth
to be elected. Another thing | desire to en-
phaslze here, there is no use of your throw
ing away your vote upon any populist candi-
date who has not been also endorsed by the
citizens and democrats, for such men cannot
possibly be elected. However much | respect
DR.. Peabody, and however much | think of
him as a citizen and a gentleman, | must
say that it is childish for him to run for