Omaha daily bee., 1899-10-29

stroyed in that feature requiring one cross
after the name for every candidate on the
| whole ticket, but when that blanket ballot
! law was passed he allowed 1t to become
! law. He was too cowardly to veto 1t because
it came within his own denunciation, and he
/ had not the courage to sign 1t, so he let 1t
become law without his signature, leaving
| to the next legislature the duty OF repeal
! ing it.
HoIcomb's Insurance Deal.
! In the session OF 1895 a bill was intro
duced in the house regulating mutual in
surance companies that bill was passed BY
the house and reached the senate and there
for some inexplicable reason IL got into the
hands OF member OF the senate who seemed
/ TO be in pretty close touch with the insur-
ance lobby. The result was that the bill
disappeared and it took a great deal OF hard
/ labor to unearth 1t and finally, after a long
course of travels. the bill was brought into
the senate and the secretary of the senate.
MT Sedgwick, was instructed to keep that
bill personally in his possession. for fear it.
would be stolen. The bill was finally passed.
and when it reached the hands OF Governor
Holcomb he vetoed and killed it. What in
Huences were brought to bear on him at
that time / do not know. The next legis-
lature repassed that bill and then Governor
Holcomb signed It, What influences were
Drought to bear on him | do not know but
do know that soon thereafter a mutual in
surance company was organized with Silas
A. Hocomb as president and that COM
pany allowed the president the munihcent
salary of fifty dollars per month for the
use OF his name. The name of the governor
OF Nebraska was an important factor doubt
less for this mutual company and you can
draw your own inferences from this matter.
"a voice: And it is all right too.') Now the
company may be all right; | am not de-
nouncing the company, but the method by
which this was reached.
| Another matter has become a subject OF Dis
cussion recently and that is the rental of the
governors house. 1t so happened that at
the very earliest part Of the governors ad-
mnlstration, during the first week. l for
some reason went to his house. | came to
his residence and there incidentally we dis
cussed the house rent question. That house
rent question was brought to my attention
because the previous governor. Crounse, had
vetoed the bill; he would not have house
! rent allowance because he believed It TO be
. unconstitutional l said to the governor it
was a delicate matter to discuss that l
: thought it was very improper to
have that house rent bill passed again be-
cause | did not believe under the constitu-
tion the governor had any right to it, and
he expressed himself in this way. He said
We'll, l am not a man of large means and
1t is going to cost me about $500 or 800 for
house rent and don't know" Well, | saw
that 1t was a disagreeable subject to discuss
and so dropped the discussion of 1t there
was amazed, as everybody perhaps in the
state OF Nebraska was amazed to learn that
not only had Governor Holcomb drawn the
full amount of the house rent but he had
drawn something like $40 more a month than
!,
he makes OF these vouchers given for
money not expended for rent is that 1t was
paid for repairs but why did he not have
q these bills and vouchers made out for re-
pairs and made out in the names of the
:, workmen that had done the repairing? 1t
. is an amazing thing, but 1t does not look
= very we'll and We do not want a man for
y supreme judge of the state OF Nebraska who
= = would act in such a small way as to sign
. . vouchers for rent when he had not paid the
money for rent. AS a counter-irritant and
to sidetrack the issue the supporters OF
c Mr.. Holcomb have pointed out that Judge
Reese, against whom they cannot find any
thing else, that Judge Reese had actually
employed his son and his wife at various
: times to do clerical work while he was
= judge of the supreme court, and that he had
: drawn that salary or clerical pay himself
e the people and make an impression that
the Judge had actually stolen something oil
1t had taken something that was not his, oil
y had perpetrated a great swindle upon the
II state, they have employed al
n artistic cartoorist to draw variout
y pictures, and here is the last one: 'Wha
n are the wild waves saying, sister," Well
the wild waves are saying that Mr.. Hocom,
l. will be buried under about ten feet o
1t water when he gets through daughter
st Let us see about this whole matter. Ever!
le Judge OF this state under law passed b!
!? the legislature, mean every supreme Judge
1t is entitled to the employment OF one clerl
1t at salary of something ranging from $s
ID to 500 per month.
10 Tempest in n Teapot.
You all understand, presume, that ever!
~ district Judge in this state has stenogra
III pher, and these stenographers get not onl.
J. fifteen hundred dollars year, but they hav'
III besides that an opportunity OF making some
s thing over five hundred dollars year add
H. tional. These clerks are legally employed
le The only question is whether or not th
1t clerks employed earned the money that the
er drew out of the treasury, whether or not tn
l. services rendered by the son OF Judge Rees
ye or by any of his relatives we're actually rem
IL dered and the money honestly earned
l. Whether it Is looked upon indelicate t.
employ ones relatives in that capacity Is
ye matter for the public to judge Bear in min
TO that the judges OF the supreme court do muc
r OF their work at home, that it is at hom
,e they study and formulate their decisions Il
v. cases referred to them. Very often they d
n this work early in the morning or late II
10 the night, and 1t Is very natural that thei
no relatives or their sons or daughters who liv
,o in the house could be at hand more readl
- than an outside stenographer There is ais
.. this other question. The clerk or stenog
~ rapher OF the judge sustains confdentla
80 W1 relations to him because the decisions OF tn
" "l supreme court must not be divulged befor
VI they are made public by the court itsel
e' Now 1t Is very much more convenient an
er safe for the Judge to employ as clerk some
body in whom he can absolutely confid
than TO have somebody that might leak an
ed would throw dscredit upon him. Bear 1
es mind that all the judges of the supreme cour
rd Reese, Maxwell, Cobb and every other judg
s: up to the present day, has employed clerk
ad and that the money paid for clerical eervic
lie was earned and that so far as Judge Rees
nd is concerned Il am not going to discuss any
We body ese) there was nothing improper /
p- Judge Reese drawing the pay, unless 1t
to regarded as improper for him to emplo