Omaha daily bee., 1897-04-15
HOWELL AND CORPORATIONS
Promises He is Now Making Must b
Judged by the Record.
FRIENDLY TO ALL THE LOCAL COMPANIES
Votes in the Legislature and the City
Council to Protect the Frnncbised
Monopolies Against the
Public Interest.


Is raised by a review OF the official record
Of Edward e, Howell, the fusion candidate
for mayor. The question is. How far can
Howell be depended on to fulfill the fulsome
promises he is making so liberally?" The
only answer is to be found In the record
made in the past by Howell whenever he
has had an opportunity to make an official
record.
The whole tenor of the platform on which
Howell is seeking the suffrages OF the voters
Of Omaha is for municipal ownership and
against corporation domination; Howell and
his supporters are talking in public at ward
meetings and on the streets about "munic-
ipal ownership Of all natural monopolies. "
and war on the corporations" is the slogan
by which they are seeking to rally the mass
OF the voters about the banner of the gam
blers' friend.
Tho official record made by Edward f..
Howell has more direct bearing on this
very question than on any other question of
general Importance. This record shows for
itself that Howell has been a politician who
caters to the wishes of the corporations,
while he tries to rake the people believe he
is grinding the soulless corporations into the
EARTH
1t is only necessary to go back to the
session Of the legislature Just closed. An
examination of the Omaha charter bill,
Howells pet measure and the one on which
he banks to carry him into the mayors
chair, shows that Howell's old trick Of
knuckling to the corporations is strongly
In evidence.
When this bill was introduced the section
providing for the issuance of bonds for ac-
quiring quasi-public works included among
it's provisions a clause covering street rail-
ways, providing that BONDS might be issued
for the appropriation of these works.
The section referring to the city eectri-
clan provided that that official should in
spect and supervise all public street lighting.
LOOKS AFTER HIS FRIENDS.
This charter bill referred to How
ellis committee. 1t evidently occurred to the
enterprising chairman that the street rail-
way company and the gas company in this
city were two very powerful corporations in
a political sense, and the fangs of the sec
tions referred to were very carefully re-
moved by the astute MIR. Howell so that his
friends, the gas company and the street
railway company, could not be offended
When the bill was reported back to the
legislature it was so amended that the street
railway system was in no danger of even
being appropriated or molested by the city
and the inspection of the gas lighting was
stricken from the duties of the city cleo
trician. The latter action means that the
office of gas inspector will be continued and
that a man not unfriendly to the gas com
pany will be kept in the Office If Mr.. Howell
has anything to say about it..
This latter action Is hardly in harmony
with the plank of the fusion platform which
declares in favor of abolishing needless Of
fcers wherever possible.
Another instance in the charter in which
the interests of the street railway company
have been protected to the detriment of
the best interests of the property owners
of the city Is found in the section which
provides for the extension of street railway
lines. When introduced. this section should
have been harmless enough to suit the most
fastidious; 1t simply provided that when a
majority Of property owners along any street
should petition the. mayor and council for
the extension OF street railway line and
should waive the right to compel the com
pany to pave between its tracks, "then the
street railway company may construct line
along said street. etc. The section was not
mandatory in any sense and simply gave the
street railway company the privilege of con-
structing the line, but Chairman Howell in
order to fully protect his friends, the cor
porations inserted a clause which requires
that street improvement district shall first
be created along the street where the street
railway line is desired to be extended. This
simply means that the residents of any out
lying district desiring a street railway line
may be held off by the street railway COM
pany until a petition for paving has been
signed by the owners of majority of the
property along the proposed extension and
= E,
VI Ills WI We " .-Ia =. ."oticIS pitnlp.' tne
cohsti uctioh Vi any eA'ehsiohs vi street raii-
way mrs
mowers rscoru III tne city ceuncil OF
omaha is tull OF instances Where the re-
douptaple CrickSter mas ellner piayeu directly
INTO the hands or the trahchlsed corporations
or has lodged the issue.
VOTES AGAINST PUBLIC INTEREST.
His record on matters affecting the inter
ests of the water works company bellies his
Ioud-mouthed professions of anxiety TO see
the CITY appropriate the plant Whenever
the opportunity offered to protect the inter
ests of the city as against the interests of
the water company Howell invariably voted
to nrntect the water companv regardless of
the effect upon the CITY, His record in this
connectjon started as early as about the mid
die of his first term in The council. AT that
time there was a dispute over what was gen
orally known as the "Venner agreement. /"
an agreement entered into with the city by
Clarence II Venner, then vice president of
the American Water company Whereby the
water company agreed to relocate 100 use
less fire hvdrants and locate them at points
where the city would derive some benefit
from tho $50 per wear IL was paying for
each of these hydrants Three ordinances
were passed ordering about thirty-seyen of
these hydrants placed at other points. The
water company refused to comply with the
ordinances and long fight ensued. Every
effort was used to compel the water COM
pany to live up to the agreement made by
its officers. Strong pressure was brought TO
bear upon the council by the emissaries of