The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1886-12-11
Editors rs,-.te many inquiries luxe the fol

Editors reeve many inquiries like the fol-
owing;
Can you tell me what Is the best system Of
shorthand Can it be mastered without a
teacher and in what timel Some people ad-
vertise to teach it in three months; can 1t be
learned in that timei Is a knowledge Of
shorthand necessary 10 obtain a situation As
a reporter on a newspaper! How are stem
ographers paid. BY answering these ques-
tons YOU viii greatly oblige, etc.
These questions have been submitted to a
highly successful stenographer, who returns
these answers 10 them:
The systems most widely practiced here are
Ben" Pitmau's Munsons, Isaac Piman's
and Graham'S They ara all much alike;
practically they all make Use of the same ma
teriaL There are not a few people however,
who seem TO spend most Of their time in try
ing 10 demonstrate that any one Of the above
systems is vastly superior To all the rest; but
that sort of talk Is II the main nonsense and
the student viii do well TO concern himself
little about ii Each of these systems has
turned out first-claSs stenographers, and there
are equally good StenOgrapherS who write
other systems less generally known. More
depends the man than ON the system.
Generally the pTacticed Stenographer does
not adhere closely to any one system, but ap-
propriates suggestions from ali
Shorthand can be learned 10y the aid of
textbooks without a teacher, though, of
course, a pupil Is likely 10 make better progress
with competent instruction If this cannot
be obtained the student should endeavor to
make the acquaintance of some practical
stenOgrapher who viii give him occasional
hints and see that he keeps on the right track.
Most of the textbooks abound in too many
refinerhents and cOntTactiouS. whereby a few
IL
sentence, much to the delg.t OF the novice.
The only practical objection to this sort Of
shorthand Is that such notes" are found to
have a dozen different meanings when cold"
and perhaps none of them the correct one.
Shorthand Is a compromise between speed
and legibility The beginner Is apt to pay
too exclusive attention to the former and
should therefore be warned not to bother with
too many cOntraCtions.
The length of time it VIII take a lad to
teach himself shorthand depends, first, on the
sort of lad he is, and second, on the amount
of time he can give to it. To master short
hand requires above all things patience and
perseverance. A lad studying alone viii
generally have to stick to it hard for couple
of years before he can make 1t pay. few
may be able to master it in half the time
People who advertise that they can teach
shorthand thoroughly i'll three months should
not be believed.
FOR GENERAL NEWSPAPER WORK
a knowledge of shorthand is not necessary
to obtain a situation ON a newspaper, though,
other things being equal, a reporter who can
write shorthand is better equipped for gen
eraI newspaper work than reporter who can
not As q matter of fact there are not more
than dozen shorthand writers regularly EN-
ployed on all the great New Y FORK dailies to-
gether In England a reporter must know
shorthand. Most of this work consists of YER
batim reporting. Hero strictly verbatim
work is not often required except for great
meetings. The most successful reporter is he
who can best present the interesting points Of
a scene or speech in a readable, attractive
shape The American public does net care
much for mere verbiage.
Expert stenographers who can take testi-
mOny in court often earn handsome sums.
But such experiences is attained only by years
of practice and great natural aptitude for the
work. HALFWAY" stenographeTS are album
dant in New York who are glad toSwork for
$l5 a week, often less. A stenographer who
is competent to attend to the correspondence
of a railroad official or some man of large af-
fairs usually gets from $50 to $50 a week.
OF course if the stenOgrapher is something
more than mere machine man and can 90
other things well besides writing shorthand,
SO much the better are his chances of Tnaking
good wages.
There is no mystery about shorthand 1t
does not require any unusual amount OF
brains or any extraordinary powers of mem
DRY to acquire it. But it does require to he
stuck TO persistently. There is no recreation
i'll learning it. If only half known it is
treacherous and worse than useless Nobody
should take it up unless prepared TO make
great sacrifices of time and patience.-New
York Tribune.