Omaha daily bee., 1905-08-30
CITY COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS
tcontlnued dom First Pagel

Continued from First Page)
zlmman and told him mot to get per-
! sonal" and to "cut It out"
] Zimman had stated that Gas Inspector
! Lynch had told him that the superintendent
OF the gssworks had told Lynch that the
| Omaha lamps cannot consume more than
| three feet of gas an hour without injuring
| the mantles. This the gas inspector denied,
saying he had not quoted from the superin
tendent, but had said that the smallest
Welsbach burners use from two to six feet
| of gas an hour ..
Faith. of Minority Questioned.
Councilman Huntington said the minority
had never intended to give the gas com
| pany a show when II asked 1t for bids, but
| had ordinances prepared to give the con-
| tract to the other bidder and force the gas
| company to sell 1t gas Hfe said this lack
| of good faith was the reason why he was
! for the gas company He pointedly asked
zimman how he had been approached" in
the matter of the recent electric light con-
| tract, which Huntington admitted he him
| self had voted for.
| Zimman replied by recting that when
he came into the council the price of cleo
trio lights was s1145O and the company
paid royalty to the city, but that
! through the efforts OF other councilmen
end himself he had secured 3 per cent
| royalty on gross business for the city and
! had caused the price of lamps to be cut
| to $94.5O and then to SIS. If the gas COM
| pany would reduce one-tenth as much as
the electric light company he said he would
! be satisfied.
O'BFien Defends HimseIf.
All Of this debate was uttered under
great excitement, rapidly and with various
sharp cross-questionlngs. O'Brien replied
| to Huntington and said he wanted to re-
pudiate the statement that 1t was not in
tended to give the gas company a show.
II am here to represent the people and
| buy gas at the lowest possible price"
| shouted he MY door was always open
to the gas company at any time its officers
had anything to say to me. II this gentle
man says II was not intended to give the
gas company a show he either tells false
hood or states what he does not know.
am ready to vote $25 gas contract at any
time"
The vote was then taken on the Dyball
resolution, and while 1t was under way
Hoye asked O'Brien If it wasn't true he
didn't have the papers.
That's right said O'Brien. 'Mr,
Back told me he would not be here to-
night and 1 did not come prepared to re-
port. The documents are locked up in my
safe. Get them II you can"
Disorder Rules Session.
The resolution went through by the 5-4
vote. Then Evans proposed a "call of
the house until o Brien produced the pa
pers." This met with howls of derision
and new defes from OBrien. Chairman
Nicholson refused to entertain the motion.
| Evans changed 1t to send the sergeant-at-
arms after the papers. This was sarcas-
a a. Oh,
attempted to dispose of it in the same way.
The clamor grew louder all the time and
the chair pounded frantically with his
gavel. Huntington demanded a roll call to
appeal from the decision of the chair.
Nicholson refused point blank. The noise
increased but. the acting president com
pressed his lips. ...,
"That WIN stick. sold he ''you can throw
me out If you tpGht tsto, but Will enter
tain none of these motions. You can get
cut the entire police force If you want 10.
That ruling goes. Proceed with the regu-
lar order of business"
For while the voice of the clerk could
not be heard in the din. But the minority
won out by standing stifhy to its task. Vice
President Clabaugh of the gas company
conferred with Councilman Dyball and
gave him an ordinance, a duplicate of the
one in O'Brien's possession. which was in
troduced at the first opportunity. Here
another fight took place. The majority
wanted II referred to the committee On
fire, water and police, of which Schroeder
is chairman; the minority to the lighting
committee. The majority won on a roll
call.
HOye Has New Ordinance.
A fresh row broke out a few minutes
later when Councilman Hoye put in an
ordinance granting everything the gas com
pany asked in the way OF street lighting,
but making the contract conditional upon
the reduction in the price of gas to con-
sumers, beginning with a l0-cent reduction
per 1000 feet October 1. Nicholson briefly
referred the document to the lighting COM
mittee. II was done so quickly that the
majority was caught off guard. The chair
would consider no motions nor allow any
roll calls on the proposition to send the
ordinance to another committee, The up
shot was that Back made a motion to un-
seat Nicholson from the chair and restore
President zimman. The chair had a roll
call taken. The resolution was defeated
by Councilman Schroeder making the first
break IN the ranks of the majority OF the
evening and voting in the negative. Nichol-
son Immediately afterwards rellnquished
the gavel
o'Brien Knew of Reduction.
'T have known for some time that the
gas company proposed to cut the rates
to consumers II the $2S ordinance was
passed." said O'Brien. "In fact the propo-
sition was made TO me. l would have ac-
cepted 1t II the company would put 1t
in writing and be willing to make 1t stand
as long as the present contract runs. The
company wanted the street lighting con-
tract made first and to leave a chance to
: | he ~ toe to
, thought best after two years"
! Hoye spoke the same as OBrien TO the
! reporters. AS a matter of fact every coun-
, Gilman knew the concessions the gas COM
; pany was willing TO give. Mayor Moores
, absolutely refused to sign the $2s street
, lighting contract unless the price to con-
sumers was notched down. The contract
could not have been passed over his veto
: He therefore held the key to the situation