The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1890-12-25
PRINTING THE COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS.

crowd into the 0lmlnutlVe room on
the hill, so-called city hall. Before
that time it had been the custom to
printgthose proceedings in pamphlet
form and allow each alderman dozen
or more copies for the delectation Of
his special friends. But it finally
dawned upon our solons that the pub
lie at large had some rights in the
premises, and should be allowed to
read an official report of the council
proceedings. That this might be &C
complished, THE STATESMAN was will
ing to serve the public to the extent
of publishing the proceedings fur
nished by the city clerk at just about
the actual cost of the composition.
This, while of little or no pecuniary
benefit to THE STATESMAN, has been
found most satisfactory by the public
The council at this time, however, are
bent on returning to their policy OF
exclusiveness. At the last meeting OF
the council the following report of
the printing committee was adopted:
81. In the opinion of your commit
tee the present method of publishing
the proceedings of this body should be
abolished. The synopsis now in use
cannot furnish an ineligible account
of the action Of the council, and is
therefore unsatisfactory alike to the
people and to the members of the
body.
~ To print the proceedings in full
in the paper at the rate now paid-2I
cents per line-would cost The city q
very considerable sum,
"3. Your committee does not believe
the expense of printing the proceed
ings in the paper should be borne by
the city. Your committee is informed
that in all other cities the papers print
the proceedings of this kind as a mat
ter of news in which their subscribers
are interested and in their fulfillment
of their contract to supply their read
ers with news. We do not know of
any good reason for excepting our city
from this general rule.
"a. Your committee believes that the
work of this body would be greatly ex-
pedited by return to the old method
of printing the proceeding in pamph-
let form, and we therefore recommend
that the resolution of Alderman Platt
be adopted"
AS to No. l, it may be said that to
this time it has been generally be-
lieved that Austin had an exceed
ceedingly competent city clerk, and
for our part, we must aver his official
reports, so far from being "unintelli-
gible," to us have seemed models of
clear and concise work. We may be
pardoned for admitting the council
know their own minds and what kind
OF report they want, but we are not
advised of any proof the council have
that the reports for the last year have
been unsatisfactory to the people"
In making this assertion will they
state their authority for it?
II. AS to the second count, we will
say that when pamphlet was
used, something, that at most
no more than fifty people
in Austin ever saw, it cost
between $40 and $12 each meeting of
the council. at the rate now charged,
% cents a line, three columns of pro-
ceedings could be printed in the
STATESMAN for the same cost; the
average length we have printed has
been less than two columns. SO that
the "intelligible" reports could be
made column longer without in
creasing the cost to the city over the
pamphlets that served no purpose
other than litteling the desks of the
aldermen.
III. AS to the third count the coun-
Gil certainly have been misinformed.
The newspapers of other cities do just
like the STATEsMAN-they furnish the
public as much of the council proceed
ings as they care to and what they
select is of course published free; but
official proceedings are rightly
printed at the city's expense.
And we must be pardoned if in
making up our own reports, we
decide what we think is actually news.
Consideration for this, that or the
other alderman is not such news.
~. This last count may be dis
missed with simply request for an
explanation OF the rather "unintelligi.
BILE" remarks as to the "expeditipg" OF
the business of the council.
In conclusion. it must be distinctly
understood that this has been written
for the citizens of Austin and not for
THE STATESMAN PUBLIsHINGss..iiCoM
PANY. OF course, there will be those
narrow minded ones who will crv ont