El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-08-18

meeting was a good, old-fashiOned love
feast with speeches by retiring presi-
dent, F. NJ. Getzendaner, and the in
coming president, E. Barry. There was
no formal program for the more seri-
Gus topics had all been discussed and
! the last meeting of the 1913 conven-
ton was farewell communing of con-
genial spirits and the session held IN
| til the last minute before the train left
| for San Angelo and then adjourned in
! a body to escort J. J. Taylor. president
| of the Texas Press association, to the
! train.
Miss Lucille Yates Rives. niece Of W
: J Yates, of Alpine, opened the session
I with reading by Mark Twain which
! ticked the humor bumps OF the editors
! immensely. Miss Rives is a skillfuI
! reader and affects none of the cut-and-
! dried manneriSms of the professional
! reader, her girliSh style being especi-
/ ally pleasing. President GetZendaner
| gave a talk on the subject of the cost
! system. He had an elaborate cost sys-
/ TEN worked out for the smaller news
I papers which combine news print and
/ JOB print establishments He showed
how an accurate record of the printers
! time was kept. the overhead cost and
I gave other things of vital interest of a
: country newspaper shop This was fol-
lowed by a round table discussion led
8 by W. J. Yates and A. Gordon French
/ on the best methods of handling union
| and nom union labor.
Resolutions Favor New Laws.
J. B. Butler, chairman of the reSOlu-
/ lions committee, composed of himself
4 n. NJ. Mcfarland and Earl A. Reid, read
/ the resolutions Mr.. Butler attempted
1 10 follow copy in reading his own and
the writing OF the other members of
I The resolutions embodied clauses urg-
ing the Texas legislature to repeal the
present libel laws and substitute others
patterned after the New Jersey law.
which Mr.. Butler explained in detail
! in his talk on this subject. The resOlu-
tons also endorsed the rural welfare
Oh NTraw. I'll N@rH-n
done as a part of the University of
Texas extension campaign, endorsed
| the work of the agricultural depart
ment, extended vote Of thanks TO
judge Barry. mayor Rooney and the
people of Fort Stockton, and recon-
mended that every man, woman and
child in PecOS county be made hon
Orary members of the association
The New Officers.
The election of officers and the Sc
lection Of the next meeting place was
wholly formal. Is Judge E Barry. editor
of the Fort Stockton Pioneer had been
chosen by unanimous consent for the
next president and San Antonio agreed
upon as the next meeting place. Every
one pledged his vote for Ell Paso in
A Gordon French. one of the most
popular men at the meeting, was
elected vice president, and J. B. BUT
Ter secretary and treasurer Letters
were read from the mayor and cham
Der of commerce and press club of San
Antonio, inviting the meeting TO that
place. The executive committee for
the next year is composed of Norman
NJ. Walker, Ell Paso: NJ. NJ. Mcfarland,
Alpine; James Rooney, Fort Stockton,
and J. D. Jackson, Alpine. The nOmi-
mating committee was composed of W.
]. Yates, A Gordon French and N NJ
Judge Barry made a brief speech
thanking the meeting for the honor
which it had shown him and promised
to make the 1914 meeting the best in
the history of the association. As a
fitting close for the meeting retiring
with a beautiful gold watch fob with
his initials, the initials of the asso-
citation and the date engraved on the
IockeI OF the fob He made cnar-
acteristic speech of acceptance. which
was one of the gems of the meeting.
A Pullman car party of the south
friends, left Fort Stockton Saturday
afternoon for home. Everyone knew
another Rooney picnic all the way to
Alpine. At the junction point, the dele
gates scattered, some going east and
others west Judge Ed R KOne, who
attended the meeting and expected to
continue his agricultural work through
west Texas, was called to College Sta
ton of a president for that institution
on Monday. He expected to spend the
next week in western Texas.
Talks Against RainstOrm.
When J. B. Butler, of San Antonio.
started to talk on libel, he received an
unexpected reception: the rain poured
down in punches, blew in the windows
and made a noise like a barrel of po-
tatOes rolling down cellar, but Butler
address without dropping a line or
picking up a single wrong slug.
Mr.. Butler had the distinction of
being the only man on the program
Friday who had been regularly as
signed to his subject. Joe BOehmer, of
the EAGLE Pass News Guide, was too
busy legislating at Austin to come;
B. NJ Lesense, of the Galveston News, 1
was i'll and unable to be here: Judge !
H H fitzpatrick had two cases IN court
and could not get away from Maria;
Thomas Z. owen, secretary of the |
chamber of commerce at San Angelo;
Martin, of FL Paso, and J. c. McNealus. !
of Denver, could not be here, and 1
neither could A NJ Kennedy, of Kerr
Owing to the failure of the commercial (
secretaries to respond, this feature OF 1
the association was dropped and the /
organization was made press asso-
citation solely for the future.
Libel Laws HOIdup.
In speaking of the libel laws Of Tex \
as Mr.. Butler classed them as a holdup I
and against the principles embodied IN /
the constitution. He said that law !
should be adopted similar to that in /
New Jersey where the informer of /
false story is held equally with the (
publisher of it in the event or an /
action for libel. He said that the libel (
law was administered in west Texas !
much as Roy Bean administered justice /
west of the Pecos. He said that people /
paid to get news from newspaper, J
yet were hindered in getting 1t by the
libel laws. which often prevented the /
papers from printing story unless 1t /
got into the courts. He urged the asso-
citation to adopt a strong resolution
favOring the revision of the libel law.
n. NJ. walker. of the Ell Paso Herald.
Mr.. Butler with talk on
news gathering on the border and in
Mexico
J. ]. Taylor, state press man on the
Dallas News, extended the greetings of
the Texas State Press association, of
which he is president, and invited the
to join
James Rooney spoke briefly on the
subject of the cooperation of the pa
Ders and the commercial bodies. in
town building. He referred to Ell PasO
rs an example of the results which /
were obtained by cooperation Of these
Two bodies for civic upbuilding and 1
urged the Fort stockton people TO fol-
OW this example.
The Watermelon Feed.
Watermelons and wit; cantalOupes
and comedy was the schedule of events |
Friday afternoon following the regu-
lar session. The meeting adjourned at
four o'clock. was piled into autOmo-
biles for motorcade to Jim ROoney's
ranch, why're the watermelon and
cantaloupe feed had been arranged
Even the automobile drivers in Stock
ton are trained never to go straight TO