Omaha daily bee., 1908-10-13
HOME RULE AND OMAHA.

HOME RULE AND OMAHA.
Just at present the democrats are
raising a mighty howl about home
rule" for Omaha, the basis of their
complaint being that the affairs Of the
fire and police departments of the city
are directed by a board appointed by
the governor. 1t is not charged that
this board is in any wise incompetent,
or has neglected any of it's duties. 1t
will be admitted hat the present board
is composed of men of unquestioned
probity and determined sagacity, so
that whatever change might be made
in it's personnel the board could
scarcely be improved from a business
standpoint. The only for objec-
ton, then, lies in the fact that the
board is appointed by the governor.
A great many of the older residents
of Omaha who are familiar with the
history of the city must recall in this
connection the conditions that existed
in Omaha t~wenty-one years ago when
the people demanded that some steps
be taken that would remove the fire
department and the police department
from the realm of local politics. One
of the prime movers to this end at that
time was Gilbert NJ. Hitchcock, then
editor of the Omaha World, to whose
efforts as much as to those of any other
one man is. due the change. Mr..
Hitchcock stood manfully at the head
that gave Governor Thayer the right
to appoint a Board of Fire and Police
Commissioners for Omaha, and was
one Of the guarantors of the fund from
which the fremen and policemen were
to be paid in event the city council re-
fused or neglected to provide for the
payment of the servants of the city
while the ase was being fought
through the courts. The law wal up
held and the control of the fire and
police departments passed from the
hands of the mayor and city council
into the hands of a board appointed by
the governor. All the reasons that
were urged for the change at that time
are good today. 1t is not at all likely
that any citizen of Omaha would will
ingly subscribe ia a proposition hav-
ing for its end the placing of the fire
department or the police department,
or both of these departments, of the
city government in the hands of local
politicians.
When, in 1898, under a democratic
governor, a board of fire and police
commissioners satisfactory to the
World-Herald's editor controlled the
city no complaint was heard from Mr..
Hitchcock. In that year Judge Cum
ningham r. Scott held, in a case
brought before him involving exactly
the issue now raised by the World
Herald, that the law was invalid and
under his decision a board appointed
by the mayor was substituted for the
board appointed by the governor. The
World-Herald ceased it's fight on
Mayor Moores and his appointees until
the supreme court had upheld a new
law directly vesting the appointing
power in the governor and when, In
1901, Governor Savage supplanted by
his appointees the Moores' board the
World-Herald applauded it as an act of
justice. Now hat Mayor Jim sits in
the chair and might possibly select a
board that would make changes In the
administration of the fire and police
departments along lines desired by the
politicians whose wish the World
Herald voices, the demand for home
rule" has grown to be uproarious. The
voters of Omaha are not silly enough
to allow themselves to be misled by
such pl%eadings. Home rule" in this
instance is merely a thinIy disguised
move in the interests of the aspiration
of a well known "Jimsonian" demo-
crat to become chief Of police.