Omaha daily bee., 1918-05-12

Looking backward, the upheaval that
overturned the political equilibrium of the
city hall took place with far less excitement
and turmoil, with smaller expenditure of CAM
paign ammunition, with much less fight on
both sides than has characterized any pre-
vious contest OF this kind that ! recall.
Mayor Jim" is unhorsed after riding in the
saddle for twelve years, record unequaled
here in Omaha and approached only by that
of Mayor Frank f. Moores, who held his
own against all combattants for nearly nine
years and then was knocked out, not by his
political enemies but by the scythe OF the
Grim Reaper. | believe all who are compe-
tent to judge will agree that the campaign
that first landed Mayor Moores in the Office
was the hercest municipal campaign ever
waged in this city and when the smoke OF
battle cleared it was found that Moores
had won out with slender majority OF only
zig votes to the good. Even after the returns
were counted and canvassed the fight on him
continued undated and he was not allow
ed to take or to hold his official power
except through step-by-step struggle
in the courts, at each turn of which, however
he was successful as result of indomitable
energy and persistence. Mayor Jim" has
had his troubles and plenty of them, yet they
ties with which Mayor Moores was success
sively confronted and embarrassed--I should
say harrassed. ! suppose these are the stages
all growing and progressive cities have to go
through and | take it to be fair assump-
ton that the new mayor of Omaha will have
much smoother road to travel than his
predecessors. u'."
Almost as bitter a city campaign was
the one pulled off two years before that
the A. P. A. campaign Of 1895. In that con-
test The Bee espoused Citizens ticket
fused with the democratic nominees, while
the World-Herald championed the A. P. A.
slate, including the republican candidate for
mayor. The onslaught which The Bee made
upon the secret political order, exposing its
inner workings, while failing to elect our
candidates, was nonetheless eminenty Sue
cessful in sounding the deathknell of the
A. P. A. in this community. That famous
campaign makes too long story to tell in
detail now, but the key to it is contained in
this incident: In the early stages of the fight,
the law firm of Churchill Covell & Winter,
whose members had been leading lights in
the A. p. A., moved out of its offices in the
New York Life building, as it was then call
ed, and the rooms thus vacated were rented
by another law firm, Mahoney, Minnehan
Smyth, all Cathoiics-the hrm into which
Ed p. Smith just elected mayor soon after
entered. When they came to take possession
of their new quarters they found great heaps
of papers and documents stacked up in the
fireplace, presumably ready to be burned, but
to which by neglect the match had not yet
been put. Cursory examination disclosed that
these papers were the records and archives
of the A. P. A. councils of which the out
going lawyers had been officers, and which,
for the first time, now were spread before
the eyes of the uninitiated. The find" was
scooped up and put into baskets and carried
over to our office, furnishing US with the
corroborative documentary evidence, proving
all the charges of invisible government which
had been layed against the order. The bombs
were exploded over the enemy through The
Bee in the campaign that followed with dead
ly effect and the reverberations were heard
from one end of the country to the other
wherever A. P. A. activities had been mani