Omaha daily bee., 1903-02-12
Commercial Club Members Of that 0ity Not
Slow to Express Themselves,
HAD EXPECTED BETTER THINGS OF THEM
Platte County Member Expresses His
Opinion on Revenue Bill.
FIGHT ON THE MERCHANDISE SALE BILL
Members of the senate of opsnion
the Measure is Loaded and Re-
quest the Committee TO
Amend IL.
cFrom a star Correspondent,

.
With all but one member Of the Ian
caster delegation arrayed against the propo-
sition of equitable taxation OF railroad
terminals, the burden OF responsibility for
the passage of house roll III falls on the
Douglas county delegation. Senator O'Neil1
Is the only Lancaster county man who did
not align himself on the side Of the rail-
roads in this matter. The rest OF the dele
cation, ignoring the urgent appeals and de-
mands of their common constituents, placed
themselves on record as against direct tax
alton Of railroad terminals on a fair cash
basis, as contemplated in house roll III,
and confirmed the popular belief that they
would. when the test came, come out in the
open and show their railroad colors. They
did this in spite of tho pretentions for
mally made to the Lincoln commercial in
terests that they were favorable to house
roll III.
Senator o'Neill said this morning: ct
was for this method of terminal taxation
at the outset; am for It now. / did not
repudiate my convictions last night. l in
tend to be for House Roll III to the last"
Ten Eyck of Douglas who introduced the
bill, expressed regret at the Lancaster
mems action, saying: I'VE needed and
relied on their help and votes"
The Douglas delegates this morning
chafed under the inslnuation that their
espousal of this measure is so luke warm
as to be ineffective. They assumed a de-
gree of Indignation when a Lancaster man
said IL they really we're sincere they would
go after the bill and snatch It out of the
hands of the house revenue committee.
Commercial Club Disguised.
The Commercial club OF Lincoln is dis
gusted at the position of the Lancaster
delegation on the question of taxing rail-
road terminals for city purposes and mem
bers of the body are making no bones of
expressing opinions. I'VE have just laid
down." said one member, ''and the reason
is that the Lancaster delegation refuses to
help us. All we have got out Of them" he
said, was a .promise to assist in wiping
out the ward lines in the city OF Lincoln
and nominate and elect councllmen at large.
They turned us down cold on the tax ques-
tion and the reason they did II is because
It is a railroad delegation, elected for the
benefit of the railroads. and there was no
further use OF us wasting any more time
trying to convince them that railroads
should pay their share of the city taxes
We have shown them that while sthe taxes
of individuals have been increased, that of
the railroads remain the same. But 1t
does no good. They don't want to see it,"
A Douglas county member tonight let the
cat out of the bag I'm speaking Of H. r. III.
That boosting committee from Omaha leed
not waste its time coming down here" he
said. This bill is dead one. Nothing
can revive or Tesuscitate it,"
With this sort of gloom and despair per-
vading the ranks OF the Douglas delegation,
certainly it means a stupendous fight TO put
this important measure on its feet in either
| house. Naturally Omaha's men are looked
to champion Omahas interests, but II they
acknowledge defeat without putting on
| their armor the fate of those intepests,
forsooth. is doomed.
Kansas Bill Rejected.
The status OF impending revenue legisIa-
tion has changed but little today. The
| committee has been hard at work and con-
sequently has made some progress toward
completing the measure. conservative
member said tonight he really believed the
! bill could be introduced Monday, as the
subcommittee ought to fnsh compiling It
| by Thursday night
! After all the hubbub over adopting the
| Kansas bill as a basis for constructing the
| Nebraska law 1t became known tonight
that this has not been done. The efforts Of
/ John NJ Baldwin to force this bill on the
| committee and the march stolen by a mi
nority OF the committee TO this end, there
fore, have come to naught, except that the
Kansas bill is being used for padding pur-
! poses-that is, to fill in gaps-but the Ne
braska law forms the real basis.
The committee simly had to reject the
Kansas law as a foundation because It Is
verbose and unwieldy. In compiling the
| new bill the work OF the various subcom-
mittees is being adopted in the main. with,
OF course, such minor changes as a combi-
nation Of all the parts may suggest or rem
der necessary.
Omaha Charter Bill.
The Omaha charter bill, which makes a
number OF important changes in tho man
agement OF city affairs. doubtless will be
! introduced In the house tomorrow.
The house militia committee tonight de-
cided to recommend II. R. 25s, by Ten Eyck.
providing for conformance Of the Nebraska
militia law with that Of the United States
| approved January 21. The bill places the
adiutant general on the same grade as a
| captain In the regular army, increasing
his salary from 81 200 to Sl,S0O a year
makes one assistant a major at a salary OF
81, 200 instead Of $500. and the other a cap
tain at 81 900 instead of $500 a year
The bill in the house which provided foI
an increase Of 81 for Eotarial commissions
which was amended 10 not Increase the Zee
will likely have rough sailing in the senate
From the Office OF the secretary of state
comes the argument that the fee should
be changed to So and that this would pu
between $500 and $500 in the state treasur!
every year and not work a hardship on any
one. "A person who is will.hg TO pay g
for a commission" said an attache Of thu
secretary's ONCE, would readily pay s.
and not be oyercharged. either. No person
is allowed to do business as eheaply as h
who IS allowed to become a notary. Jus
think OF it, he gets a commission authoriz
ing him to do business for six years ant
only pays 81 for It," One senator at leas
has taken up the matter and will make
fight for the original bill.
Way Talks on Revenue.
During the discussion OF the bill provid
ing for the calling of q constitutional con