Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1906-03-08
No ACTION YET BY COUNCIL
Moving of WOOdmsn Headquarters Still a
Matter Of Doubt,
EXECUTIVE BOARD NOT ALL ARRIVED
MIR. Root Himself Vow says Definite
Decision Must Await DeIiberR-
tion of These Omccrs
from Abroad.

mo action will be taken in the matter
of moving the Woodmen Of the World
headquarters until after all these delega-
tons which are now coming to Omaha have
been given hearing" said ]. c. Root
sovereign commander of the order Wednes-
day afternoon. THE executive council met
this morning with all the members present
except n. y. MaNey of Muskogee but an
adjournment was Immediately taken out of
respect to the memory of L. q. Blair, MEM
Der of the finance committee, who died
last month
Numerous kilograms are coming in since
the announcement of the decision of the
order to move and / have here kilograms
from the governor of Indiana. the mayor Of
indianapolis and the secretary of the Com
mercial club Of that same town, all urging
the claims of Indiana. The governor wires
that fraternsl orders are exempt from taxa
ton i'm that state Delegations are already
here from Quincy, Sioux City and Cedar
Rapids and delegations are on the way
from San Antonio and Paris, Tex. Mayor
Lennon of Little Rock is also enruute with
a delegation.
Not Optional with Council.
This matter is not optional with the eX-
ecutive council as the sovereign camp, at
]
/ Chattanooga. ordered the executive council
TO move the headquarters from Omaha il
this tax is insisted upon. The position
taken is that the state of Nebraska has
not the right to demand a tax from the
moneys which belong TO members of other
states. These trust funds are held for the
benefit of all the members of the order, and
a very small percentage of them reside in
| Nebraska.
Some have expressed the opinion we are
acting hastily in this matter, that we ought
to wait for the decision OF the supreme
court. The amount at stake, however, is
too large, and we are apprehensive of the
result. our case is similar to the High
lander case at Aurora This decision has
not been handed down, although it was to
have been announced at the opening Of
court. and now court will not convene again
until April /, which will be too late for us. -
A belief still exists in Omaha the Wood
men will remain in Omaha for some time
to come. Excitement over Mr.. Roots pre-
vious statement that the order had def
nitely decided to move is considerably
abated now by the statement that nothing
ye< has been done
When the executive council of the Wood
men of the World met Wednesday after
noon several delegations were present 10
submit claims for the new location of the
| headquarters. Omaha was first given n
hearing, the speakers being ]. L. Haley,
w. w. Slabaugh, +. Rosewater, Luther
Drake and Victor Caldwell.
Mr.. Rosewater advised the order not TO
retreat too hastily before a gun was fired,
as it was not certain the supreme court
would decide against it such bodies some
times being known 10 have been influenced
by public opinion which was evidently all
in favor of the Woodnien remaining IN
Omaha
Omaha is mid-contnent and the most
desirable place for hsadgYa tiers for fra
ternal organization added Mr.. Rosewater,
land l. for one, think the courts and the
legislature would be disposed to do what is
right in the matter.
IF the railroads had paid their just
taxes the Board of Equalization would not
have been forced to such straights as inn
posing the tax on the reserve fund of this
order, but l think public opinion will be
able to adjust all things right"
Quincy and Council BUNS.
John A. Steinbsck mayor of Quincy. was
present and claimed his town as the Hart
ford of the west and the only place in the
country for fraternal society head
/
Victor Bender of Council Bluffs also ad-
dressed the council and said that the peo-
pie of Council Bluffs would do all in their
power to have the headquarters held in
Omaha, but if it was decided a change
was necessary his town would like to be
heard from.
| After listening TO the speakers the coun-
ell went into executive session. The coun-
Gil will be called together again this morn
ing at $3.50.
Judge baltimore with delegation from
Fort Worth arrived during the after
noon.
kilograms still continue to pour into
Mr.. Roots Office seeking information con-
corning the proposed move.
1t was announced no decision would be
reached in the matter until all had beer
heard from. Sioux City and Cedar Rapids
} | ,,-;m ba o{N-ap a hearing this