Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1884-01-18
NO.30.
RAPID REPORTERS.
How tho Debates in Congress Are
short handed The Outeiai SienO-
rraphcrs.

How the Debates in Congress Are
short handed + Thc Onieiai SienO-
Eraphcrs.
John j. AteElhone, the chief of the
official stenographcrs OF the House,
says the Washington Post, has been in
the service Of that bQly as an official
reporter since 1919. He was an ex-
pert stenographcr 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,
began his official work for congress six
months earlier than McElhone Both
are from Philadelphia McEihone is a
very tall, straight, vigorous, good-look-
ing man. lie has more the air Of a
dashiug soldier Tran 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 a very Gull
/ tiyatpd man. and few members have
such a thorough knowledge of public
affairs as MeElhonc 1t is strange that
none Of the Young stenographers of
Washington, who are looking forward
to fiji 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 a thought of how
necessary to his final success is the
possession Of thoroughly broad and
comprehensive education.
Mr McElhono explained the other
day his method of working. 1t will
probably be a revelation to the average
reporter. lie pays no attention to the
mechanical part of its work. He
writes the Pitman system in its
simplest forms When he is reporting
speaker he follows his every sentence,
critcising it and taking in fully its
sense while his hand follows his
thought like a bit of exquisitely train
ed mechanism. The result is that he
, has never yet met a speaker who can
talk too fast for him When he meets
f a man who can think faster than he
can, then only will McElhone be at
! loss. He says that in the last house
/ the three hardest men to report were
. Thompson, of Iowa; Blackburn, of
5 Kentucky, and Ranney, of Massachu-
: sets.
/ The hardest piece of reporting ever
l. done by McElhone was during the ex-
It citing incidents of the electoral count
ID in the house of representatives in
k 1877 When Bcebe, of New York,
"a jumped upon his desk, perfect bedlam
10 appeared to be let loose. TO report
what was said, with 20 or 80 members
dl apparently talking at once, must have
IN seemed almost an impossibility. In
less than a second McElhone saw that
n, his reputation as one of the greatest OF
ad living reporters was at stake. He
d. seized his notebook and dashed right
np into the center Of the excitement. The
voice of every member was familiar tC
d. him. Without turning his head ht
lie stood erect amid the widest confusion
to and caught with rigid accuracy the
nd words of the most distant speaker. H'
he was very nervous over the result, be
an cause if any member at that time haC
by chance been omitted from the pag'
ro- Of history Of that day McElhon'
rs. would have been the subject Of man.
a row. None of the members believed
- that he had been able to get them all
yet when his report came out in tn
~ Record the next day, not one had
'uV single word of fault to find. In fact
'oo w, it is the only perfect picture of that eN
Dy citing period. 1t was one of the great
no est feats Of stenographic reporting
- ever done in congress. When McElhon
ndl had finished he was bathed in perspirt
u ton from head to foot and was as wea
W Woi0 as if he had been running in a ten-mil
Wv match.