Arizona republican., 1896-04-04
THE PRIVATE SECRETARY
Public Office Is a Private
 Snap.
Ex-Governor Hughes and His
 Family.
PecuIiartties Developed in Connec- ton with Several Changes in the
 Executive Office.


 ton w,th Several Changes in the
 Executive Office.
 The first changes in the office of the governor since the retirement of l.. C. Hughes occurred yesterday.
 The first to be announced was thaI of Miss Wilma Sturges, who has since July last acted as Spanish interpreter and translator The resignation was dated March 31, the day on which Gov ernor Hughes was removed, and came to Secretary Bruce yesterday with the attached acceptance of ''L. c. Hughes, governor" Acting Governor Bruce also attached his acceptance and the resignation was filed. The office, which paid $500 a year, has been used in the past apparently as sort of a peruuisite of hhe executive. There are not dozen letters a year to be read or written in Spanish, and the allowance is relic of the days when the capital was at Tucson, and half the territory's inhabitants were Span ish speaking. It was this office that
 was held by John Armstrong, of es- pecial fame, and afterwards by Miss Gertrude Hughes, daughter of the gov ernor, who at the same time was do- ting very well as teacher of elOcutiDn at the territorial university at Tucson. But lately it has been held by the
 young lady who has resigned, and lthe question of the amount of work en- tailed upon the department of Ian
 guages Is immaterial to the subject. 1 The secretary at one time refused to audit any more vouchers for the inter preter's pay but the matter was taken over his head at Washing gton and an
 amount of back pay was even admit ted.
 i The second office that furnished a vacancy was that of the governors
 private secretary, J. M. Burnett, the
 we,i-known attorney and all-round good fellow, taking the position under appointment from Acting Governor
 Bruce, presumably in deference lto the
 wishes of Colonel Franklin, the in
 coming governor. He is one of the
 most competent of men for the place, a | Democrat of the old school and en- tirely in sympathy with the incoming administration.
 i In connection. with this appointment | The Republican has p ece of very juicy news to impaTt to the iliy-in- | formed populace. It has been thought that Eldridge Jordan, of Phoenix, son
 of ex-Immigration Commissioner T. c.
 Jordan, had filed that place since the departure of the lamented John Arm
 strong. But it is not so.
 1 The private secretary of his excel hac f,r these many months been none other
 than Mrs. L. c. Hughes, wife of the
 aforesaid exce.lency.
 If her name did not appear on the published list of warrants drawn, that
 did not matter; her name appeared on the auditors books as the recipient of
 the $50 per month appropriated for the pay of the executive secretary. A
 carping community might say that the talented lady lived in Tucson all the time she was not abroad in the inter
 ests of the political emancipation of down-trodden woman and that she could therefore not have performed the duties of the position, that her la bors on the Daily Star would have
 prevented ai5tention to the duties of the post But the fact remains that the governors wife has been drawing
 $500 year.
 Where Jordan came in was as secre- ary of the territorial loan commission,
 his total monthly receipts from which aggregated $50. It was he, however, who did the work of the executive
 offices, filling in thusiy the time be- tween the monthly meetings of tine
 loan commission. At one time it was John Hughes who held the office Of private secretary, he at the same time being publicly announced as the ed Etor of the Tucson Star Now John is in the east perfecting h.s eiucation that he may tread in the paths of
 righteousness and in the footprints of his sire; but the cash has ramained in the family.
 While on this very in ere sting sub ject, it might be well to TO hat Miss Gertrude Hughes, who is undoubtedly
 a young lady of the highest ability in iher chosen profession, is iow and long
 has been professor of elocution in the territorial university at Tucson Of
 course it might be said that a professor of elocution in school of such limited
 membership is something of 6 luxury.
 But that cannot be, for at meeting of the university board a few n1ontlls ago, | where economy was the main slhiiect, the salaries of the professors were all scaled down a few hundred year,
 save only the salary of the governor's
 daughter, which was raised several hundred a year, she now drawing 1,200. Of course it was merely he recognition of merit, but just the same l tIhe governor, as an ex-officio regent,
 was in attendance, pushing for econ
 omy in tthe interest of the dearly y-Oe- | loved people.