Omaha daily bee., 1902-12-22
AFFAIRS At SOUTH OMAHA
Mayor KOutsky Calls Meeting Of the Char
ter Revision COMMITTEES.
DISEASED MEAT STORY is D%lScREOTrED
Investigation shows That No Butcher
Has Unht CattIe-Pack-
ers Keep Up Coal supply
Magic City Gossip.

Koutsky, the charter revision committee
appointed by the council at its last meet
Ing will meet in the council chamber at
1880 O'Clock tonight. The mayor said yes
terday that when the committee assembled
he would state the object Of the meeting
and then would announce the election Of a
president, vice president and secretary as
in order.
When the organization is perfected IL
is expected that subcommittee will be APP
pointed for the purpose Of holding sessions
with the different heads Of departments in
order that the needs Of all Of the depart
ments may be considered separately. The
plan is then to have the subcommittee
report to the entire committee and the
amendments to the charter read and dis
cussed. After this is done there will natur-
ally be another revision before the pro-
posed amendments are submitted to the
Douglas county delegation.
So many features are to be brought out
that IL will take the committee some time
to do its work IL the proposed amended
bill is>to be presented to the legislature
in the early part of the session.
A politician who happened into the city
hall toward evening yesterday remarked
that 1t was noticeable that those most in
terested in framing the present charter had
not been appointed on the general COM
mittee. This, he said, was taken by many
az an indication that the charter as 1t now
stands was framed for the benefit Of GER
tain individuals who failed of election or
appointment.
What the mayor wants is a flat-footed
discussion Of the needs OF the city and
the amendments placed in such shape that
there can be no mistake, should they be-
come law.
Discredits Published Stories.
Within the last few days some Omaha
sheets have been publishing stories about
the selling Of diseased meats within the
city limits. When the attention of Mayor
Koutsky was called to this matter y~ester-
day he said that, in his opinion, the stories
were circulated for the purpose Of setting
public opinion against him because he had
removed Clark Howard from the Office OF
city stock examiner. The mayor said:
"since these reports have come out I
have caused a thorough investigation to be
made and l cannot find a single instance
where a butcher in South Omaha has pur-
chased a piece Of diseased meat"
Joseph Koutsky, a brother Of the mayor,
said:
at is a fact that at the request of my
brother, the mayor, 1 assisted in making a
thorough investigation Of the statements
made by certain Omaha papers, and some
local papers as we'll. l find the statements
untrue. In order to give the representa-
tives of those papers a chance to make
good and prove what they say, l will offer
a reward of 800 for the arrest and con-
viction Of any individual who buys dis
eased animals in the city and ~slaughters
the same within the city limits. This
amount is now on deposit at the Packers
National bank"
Continuing, Mr.. Koutsky said that he
could be found during busiless hours at
his store, AIS North Twenty-ffth street.
Packers Getting Coal.
Packers are still getting coal right along,
although there is no very large supply on
hand. Quite a large amount has been re-
ceived during the last few days, during
the soft weather, and as the shipments
seem to come in with regularity 1t IL
thought here that the mine operators and
the railroads are making ar effort to sup
ply the demand. None Of the packers ap-
pear now to fear a coal famine, unless ex-
tremely cold weather should set in sud-
denly. Such a condition, 1t is said, would
block trafhc to some extent and thus delay
the delivery of coal already on track.
For local coal dealers little II any coal
is coming in. Some bituminous coal lie
coming from the south, but there is not
enough in the yards here now to last
through the winter should the supply be
shut off. As for anthracite, there is none
for sale in the city.
Little Credence Given.
A report has been current on the streets
for a few days past to the effect that the
Burlington was going to build a depot at
Thirty-eighth and l. streets. This is an
old story which has been going the rounds
for the last five years. Rumor has it
that the Burlington would erect a depot
at Thirty-eighth and l. streets and then
the street car line would be extended out
! l. street so as to make connection with 1t.
Wnen this question was seriously consid-
cred some years ago engineers examined
the l. street viaduct and declared that the
structure would not support heavily-laden
motor trains, so the project was aban-
doned. The bridge at that time was In
much better shape than 1t is now. so that