Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1907-04-03
BUSSE CARRIES CHICAGO
Republican Candidate for Mayor Elected BY
Plurality Of About Thirteen thousand
lAReEMAJORTTY FOR TRACTION ORDINANCE
Proposition for RecOnstructiSn of
street Railway Lines with option 20
Purchase wins by Thirty
Three Thousand.

NDheSt hdNAAb a pluLdAlg u 4oAAA Nbhth
over Mayor Edward f. Dunno The total
number Of votes cast for Mr.. Busse were
! 16l,sss and for Mr. Dunno 1871 The pro-
hibition candidate polled 5,s75 votes and
the socialist 1s,45s Two years ago when
Mayor Dunno was elected to office he
| polled 162lO9 votes and John NJ. Harlan,
the republican candidate, 1851.
The socialist vote the same year was over
5000, and todays vote was a great dis
appointement TO the leaders of that
party.
! The new mayor will have the city coun-
Gil with him. but It is very close. as the
makeup Of this body shows thirty five
republicans, thirty-four democrats and one
! independent democrat
The ordinances settling the street car
question were carried by good majority.
The total vote this question was 165,s46
! for and S2,72O against.
According to the latest returns at mid
night the only democrat outside of alder
men elected was John e. Trager. demo-
cratic candidate for city treasurer
Issue in the Campaign.
The issues in the campaign have been
largely based upon the improvement Of the
local traction system. Both parties were
agreed that present conditions were intol-
to be employed in revising them. The dem
ocratic party, headed by Mayor Dunno,
stood for municipal ownership through con-
demnation of the street car properties, II
the result could not be obtained In any
other way The republican party favored
| ordinances which were recently passed by
I democratic city council over the veto of
| Mayor Dunno These ordinances provided
for twenty year franchises for the street
car company, the city retaining the right
to purchase the systems for $S0,OO0,OOO plus
the amount to be spent for immediate re-
habllitation of the lines; six months no
tice being necessary of the city's intention
to acquire the property. The ordinances
also provide for universal transfers
throughout the city, a scent fare and So
per cent Of the net revenue of the com
panies to be paid to the city.
Larger Majority for Ordinances.
The fight for and against the adoption Of
these ordinances has been exceedingly
bitter. They were carried today by q ma
jority of about 10000 votes. The vote today
! showed decided reversal of public opinion
on the question Of municipal ownership
compared with the last mayoralty cam
paign two years ago. At that time Dunno
received 1853, ,189 votes, as against 1851 for
: John M. Harlan, the republican leader.
The prohibition slcket received 229a votes
and the socialists 2seL This year the
Lrepubiican- vote was CLOSE to 1s5,ooO and
that of the democrats close to 14s,OOO The
, prohibition vote runs slightly above that
: of two years ago, while the socialist vote
fell off heavily. being more than 1900 less
than that OF the last city election.
, Campaign a Bitter One.
} The campaign has been the most vicious
the city has ever known. Charges and
counter charges have been hurled back and
forth. the personal lives Of the candidates
have been held up to the public and
' throughout the entire campaign speakers
on both sides have lndulged night after
night in TRADES filed with invectives and
abuse. The disagreeable features of the
. campaign which became so pronounced In
: its latter part commenced when Mayor
> Dunno circulated a petition for a referen-
dunn vote on the traction proposition at
the present election. He and his followers
announced that they had secured ISL, 900
signers TO this petition, $1,000 being neces-
sary to place the matter before the voters.
. CHARGES were made by the republicans that
thousands of these names had been forged
and that the list had been padded in every
conceivable fashion. These assertions were
vehemently denied by the democrats and
favor of immediate municipal ownership.
From this time to the end of the campaign
the feeling became more bitter and more
intense.
Hearst Active I'm Finht
William Randolph Hearst came personally
from New York to take part in the cam
palgn and brought with him his ablest car
toonists and editorial writer's. His papers
weree the only publications in the city
, supporting Mayor Dunno, all others being
for Busse and the ordinance The fight be-
: tween the editorial departments became 80
energetic that the actual issues OF the
campaign were for some time completely
, lost sight of. Tn papers favoring Busse
made much Of the party cry that Chicago
was able to manage its own interests with
, out instruction from New York. The
Hearst papers claimed throughout the cam
paign that Mayor Dunno was acting for
the best interests OF Chicago, and that II
was therefore their duty 10 support him
The first returns received. indicated that
, Busse would be elected by about 5000
plurality over Dunno. Later these figures
were cut down and Busse apparently lost
ground throughout the night, retaining all
the time. however. a strong and sure plur-
ality.
Dunno AbauOona nope early
Mayor Dunno abandoned hope within two
hours after the polls had closed. He re-
ceived the returns at his home surrounded
by his family and a few friends. He ap-
peared to be greatly affected by the result
and said: 1T looks as though the money
power has overwhelmed us. but our cause
/ Is not lost Municipal ownership and gov
ernmental ownership will win In the end.
This election has merely acted as a check
II will retard US for a while, but the
movement viii go on and will in the end be
. successful"
Corporation counsel James Hamilton
Lewis who has been a staunch supporter
Of Mayor Dunno, said:
''The result came because a combined re-
J publican party was led by able captains
against what developed to be distracted
and divided democracy
Statement by Busae.
, Mr. Busse who has for some dme beer
! postmaster OF the city. was confined e
his home during the campaign because Of
injuries received in a recent wreck on the
Pennsylvania railroad. When the result
was beyond ali doubt he gave out state
I r,apF a. foIIoWRs