Omaha daily bee., 1905-07-19
CITY COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS
Session Full Of Fireworks, with Mayor in
Lead of Display,
CITY ENGINEER DEFENDS ASPHALT PLANT
CounciImen Lock Horns on Purchase
of Hose for street Gang and spend
Much Time in Personal
Debate.

former passing severe criticisms on the
mayor. In vetoing a resolution inviting
the public to inspect the asphalt plant on
Wednesday afternoon and closing the city
hall from to 5 o'clock, the mayor said
the proposed half-holiday for city officials
and employees was an outrage he did not
propose to stand for" and continued:
venture TO say that out of the large
number of city hall employees there VIII
not be one Of ten go down TO see thls Won
derfu plant and its complicated maeh1neTS. 9Tn,,S
Gilman Nicholson himself is very anxious
for many to go and inspect the plant that
l am informed is a fiat failure. some one
has again made a serious mistake.
Councilman Nicholson was on his feet in
an instant and pronounced the statement
as to the plant untrue and said it ives des-
tined to save the city a great deal OF
money besides keeping asphalt streets IN
good repair.
Calls the Mayor Down.
This is not the FIRST time" said City
Engineer Rosewater, that the mayor in
a public document has reviewed work ABOUT
which he knows nothing. lie has made no
attempt TO get any information from me
regarding the asphalt plant, but has got
information from persons opposed to
and who want to see 1t fail. do not De-
lieve 1t is going to be a failure. The nrm
which is building II is only from six weeks
to two months behind their contract
whereas those who put up other asphalt
plants in this city were four or five months
behind before the plants worked right
There are enterprises of the mayors upon
which he might make comments much
more discreditable Omaha is the second
city in the country to attempt municipal
asphalt plant, and 1t took Detroit two
20 lie MIA Mt In order.
Theirs cost $1,000; ours $500. This is not
the first time public documents emanating
from the chief executive have contained
statements exaggerated and unfounded in
the extreme"
On the theory that It is best to have
the plant in thorough performance before
inviting the public to inspect It the veto
was sustained.
Order for Voting Machines.
A contract with the United States Stand
ard Voting Machine company for thirty
six forty-candidate machines at $3.50 each,
to be paid for in five annual installments,
was authorized by unanimous vote. South
Omaha has bought eight machines and the
county commissioners agreed to buy thirty
five, making seventy-nine in all for the
county. The contract for the city is TO
be valid only II the county carries out Its
/ part OF the bargain. which includes the
delivery of eighteen machines to the city,
| so 1t will have fifty-four in all. The con-
tract is to be approved by the city at
| torney.
| Adjournment was taken until Thursday
afternoon. when amendments reducing the
voting districts TO fifty-four, to conform
with the economical usage of the machines.
! will be made to the ordinance creating new
precinct lines.
Row over Flushing Hose.
! For the steenth time the matter of buy
| ing 800 feet of rubber hose for flushing
streets came up caused a fierce parlia-
mentary tangle the passing of the lie,
| the destruction of much time and a slam
4 ming back into the hands of a committee
/ only the committee on fire, water and po-
! lice got 1t this time, in place of the COM
mittee on buildings and property, which
| was badly split. Councilman Evans called
Councilman Hoye a liar, when the latter
/ stated that Evans had agreed at the last
! council meeting TO vote for the purchase
of any hose except Maltese Cross and the
product of the Diamond Rubber company
/ Mr. Hoye reafirmed that what he said
was true and Mr.. Evans repeated his re-
mark and sat down. Schroeder had brought
| in a report recommending purchase of
: reject
/ the report and Hoye asked for an explana-
ton. Evans replied that he was now
against buying any hose at all. A vote on
Councilman Schroeder's amendment to ap-
prove the report was lost
| Zimman said the council had to buy
hose or street flushing had to stop and be-
gan to knock" Manhattan hose.
Schroeder rose to what he called a point
| of order, but which consisted OF vocaliz-
! ing the sentiment that Mr. Zimman didn't
/ know anything about hose and never would
! further, that personally he did not want
/ Maltese Cross hose because the mayor
, wanted It, and the mayor had hurt his
feelings by making remarks, while ne was
out OF town, about the entertainment of
councilmen in saloons by hose agents. also
! that he would not vote for Diamond hose,
because its agent was the man mentioned
as the entertainer II Maltese Cross hose
is so good he wanted to know why the
mayor and Advisory board had not bought
It a year ago when they purchased 500
feet of hose from the Boston Woven Hose
company that proved eminently unsatis-
factory
Evans Changes Front.
Then Hoye had his say about trying 10
do what the council wanted and the con-
! trariness of other councilmen in general
and was handed Mr.. Evans epithet. A vote
was taken upon Evans motion TO reject the
report and that statesman changed front
and voted in the negative, thus defeatine
the resolution. Back then tried 10 have this
report adopted and succeeded, but when
the resolution came up to order the street
commissioner TO buy Manhattan hose, Pres,
dent Zimman neatly tripped up the ma.
jority by objecting TO a suspension of the
rules. AS he had the votes of Nicholson
and Hoye he saved suspension OF the rule,
by one vote. City Attorney Breen settled
a parliamentary tangle that was not :
tangle; about this time Schroeder threat
ened the president in a vague way, and tn,
hose matter was recommitted.
Against DumOnt Purchase.
More than thirty property owners in tn,
vicinity Of Riverview park protested by pe
tition against the proposed enlargement OF
the park by taking In the Dumont tract OF
the river side proposed by the Parl
board The protestants said they had paid
one set OF taxes for expanding Riverviev
mark and did not want TO stand another
especially when there is no demand from
neighboring residents for anything OF th'
kind.
An ordinance was introduced by Council
man Evans 20 grant permission and au
thority TO the Union Pacific TO lay down
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