The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-11-19
FROST'S STAFF FIGHTS
WANT TO STAY IN OFFICE
Attorney Stiles Judson Says De- spite Legislation it Still
 Exists.

Hartford, Nov. 1S.-Attorney Gen | eral Holcomb gave hearing in the governors office in the capitol to-day to General Russell Frost and his staff on the recent report of the military commission appointed to recommend l changes in the organization of the | Connecticut National Guard General | Frost and staff desired to discuss the militia law from their standpoint, and | showed that they had not been legis- | , lated out of office, as the report of | the special commission states. They | were represented by Senator Stiles | Judson, jr., of Stratford, who sprung | somewhat of a sensation at the outset l of his remarks by giving summary | of the field of the investigation he pro- posed to cover l After Attorney L. F. Burpee of Wa terbury had explained in detail why the board of reorganization had reach ed it's conclusion to the effect that the brigade staff had been legislated out of office, Senator Judson began. He notified the governor and body that he would occupy probably a couple of hours in the presentation of his case, and as 1t was almost o'clock, he pre- ferred, If the governor so thought, that recess be taken for lunch. This was agreed upon after Senator Judson had outlined his side of the controver- sy.
 He said: Tt will take some time to present my side of the question. It is of greater and broader significance than is generally apprehended If the contention of Colonel Burpee is sound 1t will have far reaching consequences of producing an abolition of field. lins and enlisted companies of the rational guard itself 1t involves the practical consideration of whether this and pre- ceding administrations have not ex- pended $2OO,0O0 for military purposes without the authority of laws; 1t in- wolves the question of whether the ad- jutant general is not liable upon his bond for these expenditures; whether members of the national guard who have been fined and imprisoned for failure to pay dues etc, have not suf- fered an false Imprisonment and have not an action at law against the of flcers responsible for their imprison- ment, This IS, no academic question: In court these practical consequences would be gone into to show the prob able intent of the law makers"
 At this noint recess was taken. When the hearing opened at 11:3O o'clock a consultation between the gov ernor, General Frost, the attorneys and others took place as to whether it should be public or private hearing. General Frost stood out for a public hearing, He said that the report of the board of reorganization had been made public and that the matters had been discussed pro and con in the news 1aoers and that he could not see that anything could be gained now by fnak- ing 1t a private hearing. The governor then decided that it would be public
 Senator Judson spoke for nearly three hours He maintained that the gentlemen who made the report should ! be regarded by the governor as private citizens, who have addressed their views to him; that the governor should not consider their report as an official military document, but merely as an address from a body of eminent and respectful citizens
 Col L. C. Burpee, retired, of Water bury, the legal representative of the commlttee on reorganization, admitted in response to question from Sena- tor Judson, that the office of brigadier general had been wiped out by impli- cation and the law of 1903 Instantly Senator Judson pointed out that this was a distinct repudiation of the re- port of the special committee and he continued to allude to 1t in sarcastic vein as an eleventh hour repentance
 He pointed out in his analysis of the military situation that the law of 1903 was specifically repealed in 1905 and that legally it must have been in force up to that time. He went on to say that the general assembly which Is supposed to have wiped out the bri- gade staff In 1905, continually alluded lin other statutes to the brigadier gen eral, adding that if there ever was a principal of law capable of demonstra- ton, 1t is, that If General Frost was legislated out of office, every colonel every captain. every lieutenant and al- so the enlisted men were also legislat- ed out of office, and he. facetiously DOT trayed the commander-in-c -chief--the governor-issuing orders of this kind to a military force, which had no legal existence. He said:
 If the construction of the law by the board of reorganization Is correct Your Excellency is a chieftain, without any force to carry out your orders"
 Following this line of argument Sem ator Judson endeavored to show that if the statutes on which the board bases it's decision wiped out the brigade staff , yet the very same general assembly | which enacted that law perpetrated the brigadier general by making him a member of the board of uniforms with the governor and adjutant general He cited from statutes later than that , which it is alleged eliminated the bri- , gade stah instruoting the brigadier general to attend each encampment of the National guard. He asked Colonel Burpee to explain this statutory dis crepancy, and the answer was:
 "NVho says the office is gone?"
 Senator Judson then undertook to show that if the office were still intact, so also was the oficeholdAr, as he re- tains the position until relieved by the governor.
 Turning to Governor Woodruff he asked if the governor had relieved