Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1884-06-26
srENoaRAFHY an gAsanaroN.
Shorthand Writing and writers at the Ma
tiOnaI Capital.


OF the leading professions of Washington,
writes correspondent of the Cleveland
Leader. In the days of Andrew Jackson
hardly public man possessed the luxu-
ry OF private secretary, to say nothing
OF a shorthand amenuensis. Now there
is scarcely man in public life of any
prominence who has not a photographic
secretary accompanying him on all occa-
slons Senators Seward and Sumner were
among the first to bring shorthand to
their aid IN their work. This was early
in the hfties. Since that time the prac-
tice has grown like Jonah's gourd, and
now all Of the leading lawyers and bust
ness men, together with nearly every
head of department of bureau, dictates
his letters, speeches, and arguments.
Shorthand writer's in Washington are di-
vlded into two classes-those who do lo-
cal or outside work and those connected
with the Government. The local report
ers are employed in the Courts in taking
testimony In trials, those who act as
amanuenses. The Court reporters are
paid from % to 80 cents folio, and in
cases where there is great deal of tes-
timOny, such as the .star-route trial, for
instance, they make a great deal of mon
ey. [ am not sure, but my remem-
brance is that the star-route trials paid
their reporters over $4,000 for the job.
The leading law reporters have offices
here, and the business seems to be as le-
Ultimate and prominent as that of the
law itself.
It costs $245, 900 to print The Congress
iOnGL Record, and this does not include
the $4,000 paid for the official reporting
of Congress. Twenty-Five thousand dol
lars is allowed for the reporting of the
debates of each House. In the Senate
the contract is given to one man, Mr..
Dennis Murphy, who employs a certain
number of assistants to help him, and in
the House five Official Stenographers are
employed at salary Of $4,000 each.
The reporters of the House sit at a
long, low table below the Speakers desk,
facing the members. They use foolscap
paper, and write with both pen and pen
Gil. They take turns in reporting the
proceedings. One man will write for an
hour, say, and then go off to little room
in the basement of the Capitol where
the matter is to be written out in long
hand, and another man will take his
place. These reporters must be very ex-
pert, and must be able to take two hun
dred or more words a minute. During
an excited debate speeches are delivered
even faster than this, and in animated
colloquies they have to leave their tables
and stand or sit among the members
missed. Sometimes it happens that GER
tain passages occurring in debate are left
out, but this is oftener due to the desires
of the speakers than to the negligence
or ineficiency of the reporters.
These official reporters do not write the
notes out into longhand themselves. In
the transcribing room in the basement
they have number of shorthand aman-
uenses, and to these they read their
notes. These transcribers, whose salaries
range perhaps from $l5 to $25 per week,
take down the notes in their shorthand
and then write them out in longhand
for the printers. So, you see, a Congress
mans speech is written out twice in
in shorthand and once in longhand be-
fore it goes to the press. The notes as
written out are carefully revised by the
official reporter before being sent to the
printers. All of the proceedings and
speeches of Congress to-day will be given
in full in The Congressional Record of to-
morrow morning, and when it is consid-
cred that this record often embraces
more than one hundred pages as large
as the pages of the biggest family bible,
closely printed in two columns of small
type, some idea can be gained of the i'm
mense work it represents.
The Senate reporting is done in the
same manner as that of the House as far
as the work is concerned, and it is Gu
rious fact that Dennis F. Murphy, the
chief of the reporters here, and Mr.. Nc
Elhone, the chief of the reporters Of the
House, were in the same stenOgraphic
class at PHILADELPHIA in I848. Mr.. Den
mis- Murphy is one of the best reporters
in the United States, and since 1873 he
has made the contract for reporting the
debates of the Senate. He does much
of the reporting here himself, but he has
four very able overwhelmingly, Messrs.
Shuey, Gensler, Roswell, and his brother,
E. v Murphy. All of these men have
been connected with the Senate as re-
porters for a long time. Dennis Murphy
commenced his congressional reporting
in 1913, and E. V. Murphy has reported
Senators Hall, Seward, Ben Wade, judah
P. Benjamin, Jeff Davis, Bob Tombs, and
Andrew johnson. His brother, the
chief, has taken notes of and known init
mately all of the men from the days of
Calhoun, Webster, and Clay, even until
now.
At the present Mr.. Murphy revises all
of the manuscript before It goes to the
printers. He takes notes for an hour
an then hands them over to his brother,
E. V. Murphy, who reads them off to
other stenOgraphers, who reWrite them
1Or the press. In1s revising OF the man
uscript often runs his work far into the
night, and his position, though a profit
able one, is no sinecure.
Mr.. Murphy was born in Cork, and
commenced reporting for the Senate
when he was only Il years old. Some
of his first work was the reporting of the
Wing national convention of 1848, and
two years following he came to Washing
ton to help Mr.. Sutton on the proceed
ings of the Senate. This was in 1850,
and from that time to the present he has
been continually taking down the
speeches of the Senators In shorthand.
For nineteen years he was Mr.. Sutton's
second, and since 1869 he has been chief
of the Senate reporters. He has report
ed also many conventions, and he was a
prominent shorthand man in the trials