The Omaha guide., 1940-04-06
Warner Is
Vlndlcated
The Greater Nebraskan
His Position on Major Issues in
His Campaign for Governor in
1888 Fully INDICATED by
the 1899 Legislature
Greater Nebraskan

Friends of Hon. Chas.t J. Warner all over Nebraska are
getting a lot of satisfaction in the triumphant vindication of his
of the way those issues were dealt with in the 1889 legislative
session, including some rather vibrant echoes of those issues in
the special session that has just closed.
The shifting position of Nebraskas present governor on
consistent 70 Ssena p posit Ge@' Of 9 Mr. ga Warner m the o1 f fhst task ;ssna in i; contrast ;ntrrsst to the ne
notice. 1t will be recalled that the governor has had three sep.
sessions. Starting with the legislature of 1885, one full cent per
gallon was added to the gas tax, all of which with the approval of
the governor, was to be applied to the old age assistance program.
In the 1887 legislative session, he recommended cutting off three.
htths OF this extra cent and applying it to the road program. This
spit IN n gas tax brought on an acrimonious debate in the leg
islature with the result that a $3.50 split in the extra cent was
hnaiy arrived at as a compromise. The governors next move
In the l359 legislative session, was to voluntarily repudiate his
previous position on the application of the extra cent in the gas
tax, by recommending that three-fourths of the cent be applied
to the assistance program, but the legislature went him one better
by putting the full extra cent of the gas tax on the assistance fund,
as it was back in 1895 before Cochran started tampering with it.
Charlie Warmers position in this matter has remained un.
changed and consistent throughout. He favored the full cent
when he was a member of the senate in the last bicameral session
and supported the full cent when he was speaker in the first uni
cameral session in 1887. He also strongly emphasized the restor-
alton of the full cent of the gas tax for old age assistance when he
was campaigning for the governorship in 1893 and the legislature
of 1889 indicated that position by a unanimous vote less than a
year ago and he carried an overwhelming number of counties in
the state where he explained his position on that issue in the 1898
campaign.
Considering the fact that there were three candidates for
governor in the field in 1898, Cochran was a minority choice to
the tune of nearly 10000 votes, even though he was elected by a
small plurality. This situation when read between the lines,
doubtless explains why the governor has developed this sudden
anxiety to do something" for the old people at this time and hence
this grand gesture of converting the legislature in special session
on the unique discovery that there is a large estimated bal
ance available for appropriation to supplement the assistance
fund; Just how much this will turn out to be, is a growing ques-
ton, but these old age recipients of assistance cast many thousands
of votes in Nebraska and it goes without saying that in the April
primary, Cochran will be sorely In need of those votes.
The present questionable tactics of playing hide and seek
with the old age assistance vote would hardly be employed as an
expedient at this time if the sage advice of veteran legislators like
Charles j. Warner had been followed.