The record-union., 1898-12-17

measure introduced as does the "Rec
ord-Union.'' In the case Of very vol
luminous bills, these synoptical exposi-
ticns may be delayed a day or so, but
readers of the Record Union" can and
do follow the progress of every bill,
measure or resolution through the two
houses with ease, precision and in per
feet assurance that what Is given is
absolutely true.
! No citizen who follows the Record
| Unions" legislative reports will fail of
| sufficient, nay elaborate information
concerning the character of every bill,
Of every step taken to pass or defeat it,,
of the reasons advanced for and against
| it on the floor and by committee reports,
etc. Nor will the reader Of the Record
Union be left in the dark as to what
| takes place in committee on all lead
ing measures, nor as to the report Of
every committee upon every bill.
Our contemporary the Delta must
have failed to examine the Record
| Union" reports of legislative proceed
| ings, or it would never have fallen into
| the error it did in declaring that there
| is no longer any means of knowing
what is going on in the legislature.
We refer it and any others, to any man
who has served in the legislature to
| bear witness to the facts We have set
forth. Indeed more than once, or
| twice, or thrice, or a score Of times,
the official journals of the houses have
been challenged on the floor Of Senate
and Assembly because they did not
| tally with the Record Union" reports,
and invariably the latter have been
found to be correct.
In this connection it is simple justice
to say, and this will not be denied by
the we'll informed, that reliance cannot
be placed upon the legislative reports
of the San Francisco press. The ex-
perience Of years has demonstrated
this to be the truth. The San Fran
cisco system is to report by correspond
ence dwelling upon few measures of
presumed first value, and Of supposed
sensational and racy character, and
these are treated from the standpoint Of
the correspondents command from his
principals, or his own prejudice, or his
misinformation, or misconception, and
not infrequently according to instruc-
tions from his employers to belittle,
ie&A Er1 n
cisco press thus commits serious blum
ders, misrepresents both consciously
and unconsciously and reduces leglsla-
tive reporting to little more than SEN
sational, gossipy coMment. The pur-
pose appears to be to make readable
letters and dispatches rather than re-
liable and expository reports of actual
proceedings.
Every legislator who has held seat
in recent years in a session Of either
house at the Capitol will bear out the
| Record Union's' statements thus un-
hesitatingly made. The moral Of it all
is this, that people who wish to know
what is done in the legislature, what
| is proposed to be done, what progress
| is being made, what activities prevail,
what the committees are doing and re-
porting, and to have these facts pre-
sented free of color, unbiased, impair
TALLY and intelligently, must read the
| Record Union" It is simply impos-
sible to get at legislative proceedings
with any degree of accuracy or detail
| through the metropolitan or any other
| the level of that which the Record
Union" so long ago adopted and has so
successfully maintained.