The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1905-07-10

and the Oklahoma National Guard
keep merrily ON. laborious scrced
by ~Teacups" IN the morning con-
temps so.called ed d'torial column en-
deavors 10 explain why the adjutant
general Is correct in his position Of
me and the Almighty" Il seems the
governor is taking some chips in the
game. The militia c4sanlzation would
be a mighty good Dolit cal machine for
his excellency to firt with when state
hood comes, but he must get Colonel
Hoffman out Of the way Then the
next in line Of succession is Colonel
West OF Enid. also a Democrat. The
governor has stated that Colonel West
was not to his liking and he would
never commission him as colonel Of
the regiment. with Hoffman out he
could find some pretext to fire West
and thea he could put In his Republi-
can pet Postmaster jayne Of Edmond.
This would make it a solid Republican
machine, as all the senior line officers
and also practically the entire list Of
something like 40 commissioned Off
GERS belonging to the regiment are
Republicans Il has been noticed for
sometime that whenever an officer is
advanced to a higher grade or a subal-
tern is jumped over the head Of a
sen or. the favorite is invariably a
Ferguson Republican.
The morning paper is vociferous in
its defense Of Burlineame. Almost as
earnest as If It's prin,eg graft in that
direction were 100000 instead Of only
about s2.7O0OO per annum.
Grandma BiGlingame, in his Official
capacity, is N joke. His mastery,
fussy oniciousness and his ex-officio
burlesque, give the "ha ha" to the
guard and have prevented its proper
recognition. He has given himself
more titles than Russian general.
He styles himself Adjutant General
Burlingame, Ex-Officio Quartermaster
General, Ex- onicio Paymaster General.
Ex-Onlcio Inspector General. Ex-Officio
Ch ef OF Ordnance etc. These are
only a few Of the official designations
he gives himself but life is too short
to enumerate all.
He Is on salary, and good, big.
juicy one too, while every other officer
in the service and all the enlisted men.
give their time and services to the
guard without compensation The ter
ritory even kindly buys grandma's uni
forms. but every other officer pays for
his own. This doubtless accounts for
the superfuity of gold lace which
Grandma wears and its conspicuous alb
sence among the field officers who act
ually do the work The ludicrous spect-
acle which the adjutant cut at last
years encampment upon his debut
among the regular army Officers was
reported as the funniest that has hap
pened to those gentlemen In their Ok
lahoma experience. The guard does
not take him seriously. Arrayed in all
his glory-whlch said glory is paid for
by the peopie-he Is an imposing but
harmless. He is intensely original.
He has his own unique way Of doing
things in matters OF dress as well as
military orders. Precedents and regu.
iations are cast 20 the winds. What
Gaze I--this Is Burlingame First ex'
oficio, etc" One searches In vain
through all prescribed forms to justify
his combinations of uniform.
The territory feeds and clothes him
and pays for all his gold lace and
millinery and pays him besides a sal
airy Of t2,5Oo.O0 per year In his various
capacities
The people have even been generous
enough to pay hundreds OF dollars OF
expenses out Of the public funds to
send him down to the Atlantic coest on
junketing trip. This he is trying to
square by parading statement that
the trip was necessary in order to get
an Increase In the allotment OF funds
to Oklahoma. when the new law gives
Il based entirely upon the number Of
the guard; and all that was necessary
TO be done was to send TO the war de
partment correct figures OF the guard
enrolment. Nothing the adjutani
could say or do-not even the dazzling
effect OF his gold lace flummery-could
change the apportionment OF funds
which the law makes mandatory, dis
trbuted among the various states and
territories in proportion to the numbel
Of men mustered But a trip to Jack
sonville and the qualification of this
military ch.eftains gustatory nerves
upon terrapin and canvas back is very
nice-when the territory pays the bill
The several hundred dollars squander
ed would have built and equipped I
good school house. Colonel Holman
refused TO go except at his own ex
pense. That is the difference betweel
the men. Governor Ferguson is not
military man and makes no pretention
as such He is occupied with other Of
fclal cares and has. in the past, le
Burlingame run the militia. The GOV