The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 20, July 1916 - April, 1917 Page: 407

Book Reviews and Notices

book. No such information is vouchsafed the reader of this vol-
ume, except that the messages are arranged chronologically.
"It was thought expedient to publish the Governors' messages
first, beginning with the Coke administration and chronologically
follow the administrations of the several Governors down to and in-
cluding the present." In these words the editor defines the scope
and plan of the series of volumes of which this is the first. The re-
viewer regrets that the scope was not broadened so as to include
the Governors' proclamations, and thus have in one series all the
formal official messages issued by the Governor to the Legislature
and to the people.
There were four called sessions of the Legislature during the
period covered by this volume. The proclamations convening two
have been printed in full, those convening the other two have been
passed over without mention, although they appear in the jour-
nals quite as prominently as do those which are included.
The editor's statement quoted above warrants one in assuming
that it was his intention to include every message from the Gov-
ernor to the Legislature during the period covered by this book.
A hasty and incomplete examination of the principal sources only
-the journals of the Senate and House of Representatives-
shows that two hundred and seventy messages from that source
alone were omitted and not mentioned. The volume contains
about two hundred and fifty messages, printed in full or in sum-
mary. The omission of this large number of messages, without
one word of explanation from the editor, is difficult to account
for. There is no evidence that the editor searched outside the
printed journals for messages that may not have been included
in the journals, such as veto messages filed after adjournment.
Some of the omitted messages are of the same general character
as those included. The annual message to the Fifteenth Legisla-
ture, over forty pages in length, has been omitted (H. J., 10-54;
S. J., 16-60). The biennial message to the Seventeenth Legis-
lature (H. J., 8-11; S. J., 5-10), and a message on quarantine,
a message on the sale and exchange of bonds, and a message on
the judicial department, all long messages, have been omitted. A
number of veto messages have been omitted, and a great many

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