COLLEGE 493 Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1869, By DICK & FITZGERALD, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. PREFACE. THE want of a work which should indicate the correct mode of proceeding in business of a public nature, has been long felt. Several manuals of order, based upon the rules of Parliament or our own Congress, have been published, and these had merit in either a greater or lesser degree; but they did not go far enough. Many intelligent persons, fully competent to transact ordinary business in an effective manner, feel highly embarrassed when called on to take part in a public meeting, prepare petitions, resolutions, and similar semi-official documents, draw up a constitution for a society, or express their views on some public occasion. Their embarrassment arises principally from the want of preliminary knowledge in regard to such things. It struck the compiler, therefore, that a manual which should give the rudiments of the required knowledge in a clear way, with directions how to apply the rules practically-would be secure of a general and steady sale. On referring to the work, it will be seen that we essay to teach less by example, than by an explanation of the mode in which a thing should be properly done; although we give sufficient examples for imitation. Commencing with the simplest political gathering, we pass on to bodies of a legislative cast; and directly or incidentally touch on every thing which an American, anxious to participate in the public duties of a citizen, can know from mere precept. Part, however, of the dexterity and ease required of the man engaged in public business must come from practice. This work will not, of itself, make the reader a thorough debater, or an unsurpassed manager in a public convocation. But, having the knowledge the volume imparts, added to common sense and a fair capacity, the reader needs only to engage in public business of any kind, to soon become proficient. This manual is collated and condensed from the "Finger-Post to Public Business." It contains all that is essential to instruct the uninitiated in the formulæ of public business generally; including, also, valuable information on all points necessary to constitute a lucid speaker and terse debater. |