The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1885-04-21
Shorthand Writing.
A Few Words About the Inventor and the
Leading Systems in Ese.-PhOnOsrHPhy
not for schools.


hit upon the idea Of representing the forty
elementary sounds of our language by forty
simple and separate signs, and stralghtway
| formulated his scheme of nd-hand," af-
terwards changed to photography he
| little knew OF the revolution it would make
in conducting proceedings at Law AMI bust
ness correspondence. In respect Of the
latter, see the change that has taken place in
this country in the past ten yearsl Why,
hardly a business house of importance, in the
Larger cities, but has its stenographer, and,
where a few years ago the pen-wrlter of the
'tcopperplate" variety was In demand, the
click of the typewriter is now heard. In
1875 there were estimated to be only 900
practicing stenographers in the United
States and Canada. Now there are $4,000.
And that the end is not yet-quite-is evil
denced by the fact that the publishing house
of Isaac Pitman alone is turning into the
lap of yearning public nearly three tons of
shorthand literature week. The inventor
of phnography is to-day living in his native
town, man Of eighty odd years; and so
correct have been his habits of living (he is
a vegetarian and so methodical his habits of
work, that he is ''chipper" as a youth, at
tends regularly to business, and is full Of
days works yet Years have not made him
unselfsb, however; his jealous eye is ever
watchful for poachers on his domain. You
know he holds the copyright of photography
in England; and he often has occasion to
insist that he is protected in 1t. One poor
fellow over there, who sought to make some
thing in publishing shorthand books on his
own account, recently issued book of con-
fractions, based on Mr.. Pitman's system
clever, and what is more surprising, a
fairly original book-and was promptly prose-
cuted at law by the irate author, and pun
ished for his alleged infringement. The
absence of an international copyright law,
precuded Mr.. Pitman's copyrighting his
system on this side of the water, and while
that is, doubtless, good free-trade idea, IL
has bad the bad effect of flooding our country
with spurious limitations of photography,
which the general public has no means Of
detecting from the original. Ont OF more
than thirty systems of shorthand turned
loose on the American aud Canadian public,
twenty OUu are OF i.
Pitman's method, the letters of the alphabet
being simply twisted about a little In some
cases-Peter called Paul and Paul Peter.
fWhat system of shorthand is the best?"
is the earnest query of the prospective
learuer of the winged art. Opinions differ
| widely on this point, almost every stenograph-
| er believing his own system the best, or, at
| least, as good as any. There is deal of
| prejudice as to system, particularly among
/ of,oa Inf Atxyffb hs4Fo
| poorest system of shorthand ever put to-
| gether may be made available in the hands
| of an intelligent writer, while the best will
/ prove inadequate 10 the hands of buDgler.
| II isn't so much question of system as a
| question of brains, of good "horse" sense.
There are four leading systems of phnogra-
| ply in this country, or rather three modif-
| cations OF the parent system. Of these Benn
| Pitman's stands at the bead of the list In
| point of numbers. 1t is identical with the
| system published by his brother, Isaac,
| thirty years ago when Benn landed in this
| country. Maiue's pioneer stenographer,
Josiah d Pulsifer, of Auburn, is a writer of
| this style. He it was who first introduced a
| stenographic law In the state, In 1857, which
| provided for the employment of official re-
porters In certain courts, at a compensation
| OF IS per diem, for attendance. At that
| time this figure was considered a good price
but it is now, Ibeleve, the loves. compensa-
| ton paid official sLenographers in any state
| of the Union.
Since then the inventor has changed his
/ system requently,-improved 1t as he claims.
| 1t is the only system of shorthand used in
| England aud other English speaking
countries, excepting our own, to speak of; it
| is so closely allied to the Benn Pitman
| style that the writer of one system can read
the notes of the other.
Probably Andrew ]. Graham Introduced
| more original changes into the parent sys-
TEN than any other photographic compiler,
buG these changes are generally considered
too good, tif may speak in paradox being
toosmuch abbreviated to be always legible
while the labor of learning his method IN
toto is task so great that have never
known anyone TO accomplish it. In the
hands of an intelligent practitioner, how
ever, especially one accustomed to writing a
small, regular "hand," the microscopic
characters of Graham can be made available
for reporting, always provided the learner
knows enough to stop when he gets enough
of the text book, and incorporate in the sys-
tenn devices of his own. Some of the most
expert writers we have are OF the Graham
school; for instance, T. @. Rose, the presi-
dent Of the New York state stenographers'
association, (the leading and Oldest short
haUd organization in this country,) aud
Jimmy" Bacon, of Boston, whom the Rev.
| Joseph Cook last year enthusiastically pro-
nounced ''the best reporter living"
Another popular style is Munson's pho
biography, modification more radical in
outline than either of the Others referred TO.
| There are number of expert writers of this
system, leading them all being the author,
James e. Munson of New York. Mr.. Muu-
son reported single-handed the whole of the
Beecher-Tilton trial, which lasted six
months, making almost verbatim daily tran
scripts. On Two days of the trial he dictat-
| ed to typewriter operator seven aud half
columns agate of his notes for the Sun, each
day, aggregating 144, ,1S0 ems. A printer
| will understand what this means.
The four systems Of photography above
are all good, and, studied intelligently and
| practised diligently can be made available
| for verbatim writing. But to learn any sys-
| tenn Of shorthand is not the exploit of a
! few weeks merely, Notwithstanding the
| statements to the contrary of conscienceless
| quack teachers. Photography If worth
learning at all is worth learning
well, and to do this at least as much
| time is required as it takes to learn book
keeping or telegraphy. To those qualified
| by education and who have the perseverance,
| TO practice few months, shorthand offers
an exceedingly proha able field of labor. As
| a study, rightly pursued, it is fascinating,
and mastered, is Of the highest practical
/ use.
| Hon. Leonard SWEET, former Portland
lawer, now a celebrated criminal lawyer of
| Chicago, and fine classical scholar, said in
| recent address," A boy applies to rae for
! place; be is bright, smart and fresh from
school. ask What can you do?' He re-
| plies, 4 can read Homer, Hesiod, the Greek
| tragedies, scan Virgil, and am well up in
mythology, chemistry, botany and geology
| l say, Gould you keep the books OF my Of
| 6ce?' NO. he says, Il thought it best to
stick strictly TO my college course, and COM
mon things like bookkeeping could learn
| afterward.' say, Can you take letters in
shorthand from my dictation and print them
on the typewriterT He says, Il never
thought of learning shorthand and typewrit-
ing; and am compelled to tell him that he
cannot help u.s."
rue inference TO be drawn from this Ia
that the gilt-edged branches that enter into
| the curriculum of the modern college.
should be supplanted by some practical study
like photography, But photography is not
for schools. Wherever the experiment of
making shorthand regular branch OF study
in schools has been tried it has failed. hut
the MAKERS Of phonoeraphlc text books are
making strenuous efforts out West to con-
| vtnNa sphOcl hOarda that IL = ..a.a 49,