The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1885-01-01
The Senate's Official Stenographer

"les, l have been good while nj
it, said Mr.. ID. f. Murphy, the officia
stenographer of the Senate, as he sat in
the Observation-Disclosures stenographers
room at the Senate end of the Capitol
Its windows look out upon the spacious
grounds at the front of the Capitol, fol
it is one of the most eligible rooms ir
the entire building, just by the massive
doors, and looking out upon the marble
portico of the Senate end of the east
front of the Capitol. On the ceilings
are beautiful and highly artistic fres.
Goes, reminders of the dead Brumidi,
and stretching around the wall are long
cases filled with official documents.
bills, reports and other documents O,
this sort that aDe most likely to be need.
ed at moments notice.
Yes, it's over thirty-five years.
he said, ''since l began reporting the
Senate proceedings. A long time, is it
not? and yet it has gone quickly, and
with it good many men of great abil.
tiles and reputation.
Your recollections run back as fan
as Webster, then, do they, Mr.. Muir.
phy?"
Yes" he answered musingly, Il re-
member him very well. A very slow,
careful speaker, easy to report because
of the extreme moderation with which
he spoke. Yes, | reported Webster
and Clay and Cass, and, later on, the
great men who took their places, Sum
ner and Seward and all the others.'
'Do you join in the often-eNpressed
opinion that greatness has departed
from the halls of Congress. and that
the statesman of to-day is pigmy
compared with that of quarter OF
century ago?'
mo; on the contrary,I think that the
Congress of the United States. take the
members as a class, averages better
now than it did in earlier days. There
are not, perhaps, Just now, any very
great minds which tower up beyond all
the rest, as seemed to be the case with
Webster and few others then and
since, but, take the average statesman
then and now, and / think he of to-day
bears comparison very we'll
How long has Congress been steno-
graphically reported?'
The Senate was first so reported in
1913 There were one or two attempts
earlier, but they were unsatisfactory
and soon abandoned. The present sys-
tenn began in 1913 in the Senate, and
about 1850 in the House, and has been
continued since"
''Wili the present much-criticised
system, which permits members to re-
wise their speeches before publication,
be remedied, do you think?''
Doubtful, think. There has al
ways been talk about it, but only talk
There were efforts twenty-five years
ago, perhaps more, to have that feature
eliminated, and to have the debates
printed exactly as they occurred. | re-
member that JEFF Davis was one of the
most vigorous in denouncing revision
and in urging that the debates be
printed exactly as they occurred. And
yet Davis was one of the fastest speak
erS of the Senate at that time, and it
would seem that if anybody needed to
revise his remarks or the stenographic
report of them it would be he. "
''Did he often do so?''
mo. He scarcely ever looked as his
speeches in manuscript. .n-Letter TO
Minneapolis Tribune
--ao s--
A good story comes from the other
side. A man went to Bristol for few
days to stay with some people, and es-
pecially to visit lunatic asylum in the
neighborhood, where a large concert
for the benefit of the inmates was
given. The visitor found the audience,
with very few exceptions, intelligent,
>appreciative, and to all outward APP
pearance perfectly sane. The person
who sat next him conversed so delight
fully that he felt compelled to remark,
Il beg your pardon, but you are surely
not a-a-resident here?h To which
the stranger replied meekly, "Yes-I
am But" insisted the visitor, 'you
are not-you cannot be-the least men
tally afflictedP' And the other re-
piled. 'Well, l have an inconceivable
prediction. In fact, you see this
piece of chalk. Wherever l go l can't
resist the temptation to write bad Ian
guage on the walls. My keeper has
nothing to do but walk behind me with
wet sponge and rub Il out; but he has
hard time, for l write very rapidly.
was three 'damns' ahead up to half
past Z; and i have just written He'll
five times on your backr'-Nev York
Grdphic.