Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1911-06-30
What Hit the Bonds.


be terribly distressed with their fail
ure to put the sS,25O,0OO water bond
proposition over. AS was predicted,
they are now looking for excuses and
making all sorts Of wild. and reckless
charges, because the majorities against
the bonds were polled In the lower
wards. Senator HitchcocR's newspa-
per has no epithets too vile to throw
at the voters in the Third ward, al
though 1t was this same Third ward
that sent him to congress twice and
only last fall gave him a majority for
senator, and that before the red-light
district was abolished.
If money was spent in the bond cleo
ton it is safe to say that most of it
was used by the Water board, al
though it was taxpayers money they
used. Because of grave doubt about
the water bonds carrying the Water
board prevailed upon the county COM
missioners to submit the court house
bonds at the same time in the hope
that the court house bonds would help
pull the water bonds through. But,
unfortunately, the reverse resulted,
the unpopularity of the water bonds
defeating the court house bonds, which
by themselves would unQuestionably
have carried.
What hit the water bonds and
knocked them out of the box is plain
enough. 1t was the gradual awaken
ing of the people to the enormity of
the bunco game the Water board has
been playing. 1t was lack of conf
dence in the Water board, and more
especially in it's noisy bellwether, that
disguised people and made them re-
fuse to take interest. There are
nearly 10000 qualified voters in
Omaha, and yet with all the beating
of the bushes only $500 could be in
duced to come out and vote yes" on
the water bonds, and the only argu-
ment that appealed to those who voted
yes" was that the Water board had
gotten the city into such a hole that
If these bonds were not.voted a worse
dose might have to be swallowed IateE,
The insincerity Of the Water board
In submitting the bonds at this time
was also plainly apparent If delay
In consummating the purchase is cost
ing the city money every day, the loss
has been accommodating because of
Water board Encouragement for Ave
years-ever since the appraisement
was handed down in July, 1905. The
Water board impugned it's own mo-
tives when it postponed calling the
special election, first projected last
February, for three months, and by
that very act showed that it put no
stock in it's own argument. The peo-
pie realized that the special bond cleo
ton at this time had no Significance
except as a vote of renewed conf
dence which the Water board wanted
merely to tickle its vanity and Justify
the legislature for exempting it from
the commission form of government.
Bonds or no bonds, the city could
not have gotten possession of the
water works until the court rendered
the decree, and had the bonds been
sold prior to the final adjudication the
taxpayers would merely be compelled
to pay interest on the bonds in addi-
ton to interest on the Judgment. So
all this yelping about the Third ward
running the city is pure buncombe.
Neither the Third ward nor any other
ward can control the city or decide
any election il the people Of the other
wards are sufficiently interested and
unified of purpose to go to the polls.