DEAR SIR: The annual Digest of Governors Messages, the third of its series, is transmitted herewith and recommended for As a contribution to better organization of material for com- parative study of state government and laws the State Library now issues three annual bulletins: Digest of Governors Mes- sages, Summary and Index of Legislation, and Review of The Digest of Governors Messages is a topical digest covering all the states and including related topics in the president's mes- sage. The Summary and Index of Legislation is a minutely classified summary or index of new laws passed by all the states, including votes on constitutional amendments and decisions. declaring statutes unconstitutional. The Review of Legislation contains contributions from specialists in all parts of the country reviewing governors' recommendations and laws enacted on each These three closely related annuals are bound together to form EXPLANATIONS Scope. The digest includes all regular messages and all special messages recommending legislation. Veto messages and messages merely transmitting documents are not included. Topics in the president's message related to those with which the states have to deal are also included. As the journals of but few of the states are received in time for use, we have to rely on the executive department of each state to furnish lists and copies of the messages. Method. The attempt is made to include all definite recommendations concerning legislation made by the governors in the messages. Leading sentences or paragraphs are taken to show all important recommendations. These excerpts are alphabeted by state under each topic. A mere index entry is given at the beginning of each topic for recommendations of minor interest and for general or miscellaneous remarks or comment. A great many of these index entries will be found under each important subject such as Labor, Agriculture, Schools etc. In most cases when coming under these very general heads they stand for a few very general comments or a number of miscellaneous facts or statistics. Citations. The citations give state, governor, day, month and year of message, and inclusive paging. The abbreviations used are given below. Many special messages are received in manuscript form and no page reference can be given. Classification. The classification of the digest is the same as that used in the Summary and Index of Legislation and will continue unchanged from year to year, except for insertion of new headings necessitated by new subjects of legislation. The numbers assigned to headings will also remain unchanged so that readers can follow recommendations and laws on any subject by looking under the same marginal number in each bulletin. The numbering corresponds to the consecutive numbering of headings in our card index of legislation 1890 to date. Where there. are no recommendations this subject number is skipped. MESSAGES INCLUDED IN THE DIGEST Period covered, Ap. 1, 1903 to Oct. 1, 1904. In many states when there is a change of governors a message or address is sent or delivered to the Legislature by both the outgoing and incoming governor. In the following where messages by different governors are listed for the same or very near dates, the first is the message of the outgoing governor and the second that of the incoming. |