Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1884-01-09
RAPID REPORTERS.
How tho Debates in Congress Are
Short'handed - Tho Official SteuO-
g2aphers.


g2aphers.
John ]. McElhone, the chief Of the
official stenographers of the House,
says the Washington Past, has been in
the service Of that body as an official
reporter since l849 He was on OK.
pert stenographer when a mere boy
When he was Is years old he was re-
porting the Official debates Dennis
Murphy, the chief Of the senate staff,
Logan his official work for congress six
months earlier than MCElhone Both
are from Philadelphia. McEhone is
ver} vall, straight, vigorous, cookbook
ing rlian. He has more the air Of
dashing soldier than that of a civilian.
His eyes are clear and resolute, his nose
straight. while his military moustache
and imperial accentuate his appearance
of vigor and energy. lie is very cul-
tivated man, and few members have
such a thorough knowledge Of public
affairs as MCElhone. 1t is strange that
none of the young 6tenographers of
Washington, who are looking forward
to fill the places of the official stenOg-
raphers of congress, are not doing
something to qualify themselves for
the work. The average stenographer
looks only to the mechanical part of
his work, without thought of how
necessary to his final success is the
possession Of thoroughly broad aD'
comprehensive education.
Mr.. McElhone explained the other
day his method of working 1t will
probably be a revelation to the average
reporter. He pays no attention to the
mechanical part of its work. He
writes the Pitman system In its
simplest forms. When he is reporting
a speaker he follows his every sentence,
criticising it and taking in fully its
sense, while his hand follows his
thought like a bit of exquisitely train
cd mechanism. The result is that he
has never yet met speaker who can
talk too fast for him. When he meets
a man who can think faster than he
can, then only will McElhone be at a
loss He says that in the last house
the three hardest men to report We're
Thompson, Of Iowa; Blackburn. of
Kentucky. and Ranney, Of Massach"
setts.
The hardest piece of reporting ever
done by McEhone was during the eX-
citing incidents Of the electoral count
in the house Of representatives in
1877. When Beebe, of New York,
jumped upon his desk, perfect bedlam
appeared to be let loose. To report
what was said, with 20 or 80 members
apparently talking at once, must have
seemed almost an impossibility. In
less than a second McElhone saw that
his reputation rs one Of the greatest of
living reporters was at stake. He
seized his notebook and dashed right
;nto tbo oontor of "a ovo;tan,ant Tho
voice of every member was familiar to
him. Without turning his head he
stood erect amid the widest confusion
and caught with rigid accuracy the
words of the most distant speaker. lie
was very nervous over the result, be-
cause if any member at that time had
by chance been omitted from the page
of history Of that day McElhone
would have been the subject Of many
row. None OF the members believed
that he had been able to get them all,
yet when his report came out in the
Record the next day, not one had a
single word of fault to find. In fact,
it is the only perfect picture of that ex-
citing period. 1t was one Of the great
est feats of stenographic reporting
ever done in congress. When McElhone
mad finished he was bathed in perspira-
tion from head to foot and was AS weak
as if he had been running in ten-mils
match.