The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1908-10-27

Hagerman. He is quite able to fgh
his own battles, as he has proven tt
the satisfaction of his friends and the
discomfort of his enemies.
Mr. Hagerman took the oath of of
flee as Governor in January, 1906. He
committed two objectionable sins tt
start with. He did not ask the help O.
the machine to get the appointment
After his appointment he did not ash
the machine how to perform the dut
les of his high Office. He soon made il
;. clear that he would do his best to es
tablish the best government possible
under the circum stances. He called
about him efficient and honest men to
fiji the important public offices, and
this left several big machine men out
in the cold. Among the first who had
to go were Mr.. Prichard, Attorney Gen
eral, and Mr.. H. o. Bursum, Superin-
ter having been in that important of
ice for seven years. Both were remov-
led by the specific approval of the Pres
ident. 1t was necessary to have a law
yer for Attorney General and an hon
est and efficient manager of the Pen
itentiary.
1t was found that Mr.. Bursum's ad-
| ministration of the Penitentiary was
careless, extravagant and inefficient
to the last degree. His removal was
| tmperatively demanded for the public
good. After his removal an expert ex-
animation of such of the books as he
had not spirited away showed that
large sums of money belonging to the
institution could not be accounted for,
excepting that many items, amounting
to large sum in the aggregate, had
gone into his hands. He was called to
account, and made no defense other
than abuse of the Governor Up to the
time Gov. Hagerman was removed, he
(Bursum) had returned about S47OO
of the missing money to the public
treasury. Some if it ne had paid back
''under protest" but as to some he ad-
mitted that it was taken by "mistake.'t
If it had all been taken by mistake,
it showed lax way of doing business,
which alone would have made his re-
tension in Office impossible. 1 do not
say that in all my long experience
with men who were handling other
peoples money, I never knew one to
spirit away very important books of
account and Office records to prove
that he had conducted the affairs of
cealing books is one of the commonest
tricks of thieves who try to cover up
their tracks. Thousands of people
drew the inevitable conclusions, and
they did not want him continued for
another term as leader of the Repub
lican party. But the other members of
the machine defended him to the last
man, denounced the Governor, cursed
him for o flake reformer,'' and claim |
ed that in calling it's leader to account |
he was running the Republican par
ty."
This was the state of affairs in the |
fall of 1906 when the Convention was |
held to nominate candidate for Del |
egate and choose a standard bearer |
for the coming two years. The best |
elements in the party did not want |
either Andrews or Bursum any long
er. They despised their methods and |
had no faith in them. But by its we'll |
known methods the machine forced |
the nomination of Andrews, and he |
nominated Bursum Chairman of the
Central Committee, which was equiv
alent to an election by the Committee. |
There was a revolt in the party Self |
respecting Republicans felt outraged |
and insulted at this brazen attempt |
selves on the party. No other proof
of this is needed than the fact that |
Andrews splendid majority of 5000 !
two years before was cut down to a |
countedin majority of about $50. The |
party was disgraced and practically |
defeated.
Between the Inauguration of Gov. |
Hagerman and the election of 1906 |
many things had happened TO make |
the plunderbund know that their only |
hope of life was in getting rid of Gov.
Hagerman. They saw that he had the
good will of the best people in New
Mexico of all parties. When election |
was over, and the gangsters saw them |
selves repudiated by the people, they |
realized that they were up against"
a new force they had never before |
dreamed of, viz, the force of an en- !
lightened public opinion led by Gov
ernor who did not care a rap for the |
machine in comparison with securing |