Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1916-11-01
NEW DEMOCRATIC BOSS OF NEBRASKA

which inspired Mullen with a bril-
liant idea. He procured the with
drawal by Governor Morehead of the
name of the upstate republican who
had been appointed and transferred
the board of control job to one of the
republican judges of the district court
here and the vacancy thus created
Mullen delivered to fellow democrat,
James P. English, backed by the dem
ocratic. group with which Mullen
trained. What mattered it that Gov
ernor Morehead had promised consid-
Grafton of, other Omaha democratic
lawyers for the first vacancy on the
district bench? 1t was a Mullen
coup by which he traded in for the
governor the one personal appoint
ment of the three on the board OF
control and at the same time landed
two places for himself
Breaks in on Jail-Feed Graft.
In the meantime Boss" Mullen had
allied himself with Omaha's demo-
cratic sheriff and discovered or in
vented the plan by which the jail
feeding graft was to be revived. By
Mullen's advice this democratic sher-
if began putting in bills charging 50
cents day for prisoners meals that
had formerly cost the county only
l9 cents day and the common under
standing was that Mullen was to
have split" on the excess he might
collect. He fought this job clear
through the courts until the supreme
court knocked the bottom out of the
claim and then compromised with the
county board for 81 cents per day.
How big fee Mullen pulled out OF
this is not known, but he was not sat
isfied even with that, for he went
down to the legislature Immediately
thereafter and undertook to lobby
through an amendment to the law that
would have given the Jail feed graft
'ers 50 cents per prisoner per day. AS
the number of prisoners in the county
jail was averaging over ESQ, the little
difference in favor of Mullen and his
partner would have run around $40
day, or $4,000 a year. With all his
resourcefulness, Mullen fell down in
the legislature, yet saved his face by
getting a law through validating the
81 cents day, which is still going
some, compared with the actual cost
which is known to have been less
than IL cents a day.
Delivers" Veto for Electric Light.
Looking after the jail-feeding graft,
however, did not consume all OF
Boss" Mullen's time as a lobbyist at
Lincoln. The Omaha Electric Light
company, which pays big law fees,
was interested in defeating a public
ownership measure. Whether the
light company hunted Mullen out or
Mullen hunted the company out, the
Mullen influence with the democratic
members was soon being powerfully
exerted against the bill. Despite his
efforts, the bill got through both
houses. And here is where the Null
len influence over Governor More
head again proved valuable. The bill
could yet be killed by a veto and
Boss" Mullen delivered the veto, and
II he did not collect good, big, fat
fee for his services it was his own
fault.
Bank Charters While You Wait.
Still another illustration showing
Mullen's versatility in cashing in on
a political pull came to light recently
in the action OF the state banking
board granting bank charter on one
application from Omaha and denying
another application previously filed
on the pretense that there were
enough banks in Omaha, Tor the
charter that was granted Boss Null
len appeared as attorney and cleverly
worked the game so that the new
charter came in the guise OF the trans
fer OF long since relinquished char
ter and the transfer with il Of a credit
Of some $4,000 in the deposit guaranty
fund which rightfully should belong
to the state. On the other hand, Il
has just been made known, by sworn
testimony in court proceeding, that
the applicants for the rejected bank
charter were solicited to emplo, Null
len and that he wanted $500 TO lake
their case and get charter for them.
Puts Bryan Off the Map.
What has made Mullen the big"
boss Of the democratic party, how
ever, is his successful conduct OF the
campaign to prevent William Jen-
nings Bryan from heading the demo-
cratic delegation to the last national
convention. He formed combine
lion against Bryan annexing Senator
Hitchcock and his newspaper with his
hatred Of Bryan. The federal pie