Omaha daily bee., 1902-09-05
PEOPLE WOULD LIKE TO KNOW.

PEOPLE WOULD LIKE TO KNOW.
Congressman Mercer has spent six
weeks in Omaha on his every-other-year
h~andshaking vacation. He has favored
his republican constituents with several
speeches. He has enlightened them
about the geography and topography of
the Philippine islands, as viewed by him
self during his last tour around the
world. He has talked about the 18TH
milan canal and about new federal build
ings for which congress has appropri-
ated more than $4,000 O0. But In all
his talks he has con~scientiously re-
Trained from answering the unanswered
questions ~propounded to his chosen
champion, William +. Gurley.
While Mr.. Mercer does not need to be
a mind reader to read his own mind, he.
has al yet failed to disclose his plans
and intentions. VIII Mr.. Mercer tell
us whether he will be satisfied with a
sixth term in congress and quit there, or
will he insist on a seventh term, an
eighth term and a perpetual lien on the
NASbAASb uAIA NC bCba ~ AOIS AuCNdhNc
job?
Mr.. Mercer has not lived in Omaha
during the last six years. He has paid
no personal taxes in Omaha since 1895.
VIII he become a resident OF Omaha ia
/ case he fails to secure denomination or
will he continue to live in Washington
and resume his old vocation as legisla-
tive lobbyist on a larger scale?
1t is a matter Of notoriety that Mr..
Mercer has treated cadetship appoint
ments to West Point, and Annapolis as
personal perquisites, to be distributed to
sons of favored politicians, instead of
throwing them open to competition, so
that every boy In the district-the poor
mans soon as well as the rich mans
son-should have an equal chance to Sc
cure a military or naval education.
VIII Mr.. Mercer pursue this policy in
his sixth term, as he has In all his pre-
vious terms?
Every congressman is entitled to draw
500 a month for clerk hire and every
house committee has a salaried secre-
tary. The secretary Of the committee
on public buildings, of which MI. Mercer
is chairman, receives $1,000 a year for
his services. Instead of giving employ.
ment to some deserving Nebraska re-
publican al his clerk. Congressman Mer'
Ger has pocketed the $1,000 a year clerk
hire and made the secretary of his com.
mittee perform the duties of personal
clerk without allowance for the extra
work. VIII Mr.. Mercer continue tc
pocket the $1,000 besides his regulai
salary of $1,000 a year and other per
quisites in case he secures a sixth term
in congress?
In the month of May, 1900, the senate
passed a bill establishing a genera
quartermaster's depot in Omaha, which
would have given our merchants the
long-desired army supply purchasing
station instead Of a mere storage ware
house. This bill was referred by the
speaker of the house to Congressman
Mercer, but he kept it in his poke
until March 4, 1901. and deliberately
killed it. The only explanation Mer
! GERS champions nave seen ht TO one
for this betrayal of the interests o.
Omaha is that the bill was designed t
keep the army headquarters in the Be
building. which would have exposed
Omaha to the risk of losing the arm,
headquarters altogether. Inasmuch a
the army headquarters were removed t
{ the old postofice building in June, 1906
eight months before congress adjourned
= Mr.. Mercer must invent a more plausibl
? story to satisfy intelligent voters. Wha
is the true story? Was 1t because tn
5 bill had been introduced by Senate
ThurstOn or was it because Mercer di
not want the editor OF The Bee to hav
credit for doing a good thing for Omaha
In the winter Of 1899 a draft for $50
was handed to Mr.. Mercer, to be use
e in promoting the Greater America e1
S position. That draft, now in possessio
b of the Merchants National bank, is Ell
;, dorsed on the back by George Sabin,
e who holds a position at Washington a
e part Of Mr.. MERGERS patronage. VIII
Z did Mr.. Mercer have TO have a middl,
man to cash that draft? Is that tn
a way business is done at Washington
1t seems to us all these question
should be answered by Mr.. Mercer fairI
e and squarely before the republicans {
e this district vote to renew his commi
J. sion for another term.
Our amiable popocratic contempora,