Page:Pocket Manual of Rules of Order for Deliberative Assemblies (1876).djvu/141

§ 51] of which depends upon the kind of meeting. In an occasional or mass meeting, the record usually amounts to nothing, but he should always record every resolution or motion that is adopted.

In a convention it is often desirable to keep a full record for publication, and where it lasts for several days, it is usual, and generally best, to appoint one or more assistant clerks. Frequently it is a tax on the judgment of the clerk to decide what to enter on the record, or the “Minutes,” as it is usually called. Sometimes the points of each speech should be entered, and at other times only the remark that the question was discussed by Messrs. A, B and C in the affirmative, and Messrs. D, E and F in the negative. Every resolution that is adopted should be entered, which can be done in this form: “On motion of Mr. D it was resolved that, etc.”

Sometimes a convention does its work by having certain topics previously assigned to certain speakers, who deliver formal addresses or essays, the subjects of which are afterwards open for discussion in short speeches—of five minutes, for instance. In such cases the minutes are very brief, unless they are to be pub-