REPORTER'S NOTE.
The closing of these volumes of Reports of the Proceedings and Debates of the Forty-Seventh General Assembly of the State of Indiana, combining the facile newspaper sketch with the most authentic record of the action had upon every important measure of the session, presents occasion for stating, that, it is part of their design to show the practicability of reforming the fashion of journalizing employed in most of the Legislatures of the Union; to suggest that the Journal Clerk of each House of the General Assembly shall be a Reporter, or shall be required to employ such reporting force as may enable him to sketch every proposition in its order and in due form, with the debate and action thereon, and that he be required to contract for the printing of his journal in some newspaper printed in the town of Indianapolis the day after the debate thereof, conditioned that it shall not exceed a given reasonable amount of matter, the volume of the Journals of the two Houses to be but one book, made up from the columns of the newspaper. And then let it be ordered simply, that a manuscript copy of the said Journal be filed with the Secretary of State. Thus a saving of thousands of dollars--the cost of printing and binding these clumsy Journals--would be induced, without adding anything to the expense of clerkships; a readable and authentic journal of our legislation would be secured to the Public Archives and the newspapers throughout the country, instead of the awkard, unprofessional, unreliable matter which usually passes for that; and the volume would then be in the binders hands complete and ready for distribution the day after the final adjournment of each and every session.
