Omaha daily bee., 1903-04-26

I will sell at public auction to the highest
bidders, Is of the most. beautiful lots. on
Farnam Street, commencing at Thirty-ninth
Street. This elegant property adjoins Je-
rome Park on the west. Parties purchasing
Free Free c carriase sHS will take parties to the sale.
THOMAS RILEY, Auctioneer.
Sunday, May 18th, 1887"
NEXT WEDNESDAY, MAY 18th, A FREE
EXCURSION.
In order to give every one an opportunity
to see the many improvements in the sub
urbs of the city a free excursion over the
Belt Line has been arranged to take place
next Wednesday, May 18th. Free trains
will leave the NJ. p. depot, 18th and Web
ster Streets, promptly at 1:So p. m. and
West Lawn, the beautiful suburban prop
erty on the Pappio Valley. Splendid picnic
grounds. Hotel and all conyenienSes; II
George N. Hicks. 2l5 South Fifteenth st.
YOU CAH'T GO gNddESsSS G 9Rn HAHE A
INVITED.
In the Wake of the Boom.
when the boom collapsed completely ten
years ago, thousands Of men and women
who had followed the advice Of the Am
blers, the Maynes, and the Bensons by in
vesting their earnings and savings on the
installment plan were wrecked and ruined
and thousands Of others who had been con-
fdenced by the boomers out OF their saw
III u mdhg gEaioH ahN OhhNA
who held onto the property in Omaha
were eaten up paying taxes and after their
property was foreclosed by :he money loan
ers, were left with deficiency judgments
hanging over their heads. This is not the
worst. While the boomers were annexing
thousands of acres of COW pastures, corn
fields and gullies the property In the heart
OF the city was depreciating, by the Gre
alton OF new additions and the city was
mortgaged for millions OF dollars for rot
ten wooden block pavements and gas and
water main extensions. City Treas
urer Hennings informs me that the
amount paid for wooden block pave
ments was 1877, 441.45, Of which
fully 5000, 900 was for intersections, paid
directly by the city, and a large portion
of the remainder has been taxed back
and will be taxed back to the whole city,
because the special tax levied against the
out-of-town property is more than the lots
are worth and this is not figuring interest
that is a~ccumulating on the top of the
original cost OF the wooden pavements laid
at Instance of the boomers.
Ome Park Plans.
I'm 1887 George W. Lininger, then state
senator, secured the passage Of the first
charter for a city OF the metropolitan
class with the specific provision that the
railroad property should BE- assessed the
same as all other classes Of property. That
charter also contained another section
giving the city the right to acquire land for
parks by eminent domain condemnation,
but the charter was mutilated In the house
by the railroad lobby and boomers lobby,
who were afraid that the location of parks
in the immediate vicinity Of Omaha would
Interfere with their real estate deals, and
the result was that, four years later. the
real estate boomers. with Erastus Benson
at their head. turned the town upside down
to carry the bond proposition for the pur-
chase OF parks and $400, 900 in bonds were
voted for parks, on which by this time we
have paid 1910 900 interest. Omaha has
paid $50 900 for parks that you could not
sell today for more than $4,000. And this
is what they call business. Thus through
promoter Benson and his associate boomers
a permanent mortgage debt OF $500. 900 was
saddled upon Omaha for parks that could
not be sold today for one-hfth OF what We
paid for them. and every year we are taxed
10000 to pay the interest on these park
bonds.
Eject of the Padded Census.
About the worst black eye that Omaha
received at the hands OF the boomers was
the padding Of the census OF 1890, which
strikingly illustrates the fact that q man