Omaha daily bee., 1903-02-28
IN THE INTEREST OF BREvITY.
Mnssachusetts Works the Blue Pencil
on state Reports.
New York Times.

new YORK Times .-
The Massachusetts legislature passed a
law last year creating a board Of editors.
composed Of state oficials, whose duty II is
to reduce the size Of the state departmental
reports to reasonable limits. These publi-
cations are growing more and more bulky,
and Massachusetts, has taken the iDitia-
tive In correcting an abuse which prevails
to greater or less extent in all the
states. The tendency toward prolixity in
all government reports is marked. A
board of experts in condensation. that
would perform its labors with judicial Sc
verify and impartiality, would materially
reduce the cost of printing the reports and
hasten their publication.
The messages Of the governors are in
many instances open to the criticism which
applies to state reports. They, 100, need
merciless revision for the sake Of brevity
and force. According to the Chicago
Record-Heraid, the recent annual message
OF Governor White of West Virginia is the
most formidable document Of the kind pro-
duced In recent years. 'It Is claimed by
the people OF West Virginia that Governor
Whites message is the longest on record"
A few excerpts from this state paper wan
dered over nineteen columns Of an ordi-
nary newspaper. The Record Herald es-
Inmates that the message, printed in non
pareil type, would reach from Red Bank,
N. j., to What Cheer, Ia" In point of
mileage Governor Whites exhaustive ef-
fort is probably unrivaled. The Record
Herald advises Governor La Toilette, who
produced message of 45, 900 words, to be-
gin his next message at once II he wishes
to enter the lists with Governor White with
any hope of success.
One Of the secrets OF the late Speaker
Reeds ouccess as a statesman was his
brief and incisive speech. He rarely made
long addresses. Occasionally a governors
message is a model OF brevity Such efforts
are likely to be read and to command
public attention. Some years ago the
British House Of Commons adopted a reso-
luton declaring that the duration OF Par
liamentary speeches was increasing and
should be abated. The resolution passed
by a majority of sixty. The evil is not
modern, however Gladstone on a certain
occasion recalled that Palmerston spoke on
an important bill from the dusk OF one
day to the dawn of another" Gladstone,
always forceful, occupied FIVE hours in
speeches on the budget It is said, how
ever, that Disraeli and Gladstone rarely
spoke over an hour on the most serious
themes. The mover of the House OF Com
mons resolution referred to declared that
a parliamentarian should be able to pre-
sent his argument on any subject In an
hour.
The American congress has not been out
done by the British Parliament in the out
put Of lengthy speeches In this headlong
age a tense and concise state paper or pub
lie address has a decided advantage over
such an amazing effort as that of Governor
White OF West Virginia. The Pail Mall
Gazette. commenting some years ago upon
the old-time speeches In Parliament, said
that our British sorefathers had an institu-
tion known as the full dress debate which
they used with unsparing copiousness."
Governor Whites formidable outglylngs
belong to that slow era and are out Of place
In the electric, rapid transit age