Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1889-04-18
USES OF TYPEwRITING.


Work Requiring Great Speed.
A very widespread and increasing
use Of the typewriting machine is fcs
the reception of Geographic dispatches.
This method is peculiarly adapted to
the reception of dispatches for the
press. Formerly the duplication was
done by the slow process Of the stylus
worked by the hand and the use OF
carbon paper. It was difiicult for the
receiving operator to keep up with
the rapid sender of q message. But
now an expert typewriter takes mes
sages as fast as they can be sent, and
duplicates them at the same time. max.
ing twenty or more legible copies
faster than a rapid long-hand writer
could make one. Only q very expert
typewriter and telegrapher combined
can do this work, and it commands the
highest salary paid to operatives
Typewriter work has become al
most the rule for legal documents, and
is now universally adopted where long
reports are necessary in big trials that
60 on from day to day. If objection is
made that the carbon copy is only .
pencil copy. which. in fact it is. there
can be copies made by the use of an
ink ribbon in the machine. The old
fashioned way of getting out copies
was a severe strain on court reporters.
who were compelled to revise and cor
rect an immense amount of writing in
vOluminous "ase. Now there are
court steno. ap ers who merely sit
down and re;,>4 over their notes to
rapid typewriters. There are several
stenographers who dictate to two type
writer's at once. I: is done in this
way. The stenographer has before
him two books containing diff
ferent parts of his days work.
Each typewriter is writing from one
book. The stenographer reads one
sentence, and while the writer is en-
gagged in writing that sentence out on
the typewriter the stenograher reads
another sentence from the other book
to the other typewriter. OF course.
this can only be done when the stem
ographer is very quick in rea1ing his
notes, and when the typewriters. who
take the dictation. are clear-headed
enough to carry number of words in
their memories and not be disturbed
by the talk and clatter. Operators
who can do this command pay far above
the pay OF a public-school teacher or q
seamstress of the highest grade. When
a heavy law case or an investigation is
in progress six or eight hours day.
there is chance for good typewriters
to earn SO or $12 day.
There is still a better class Of type
writers. who are able to read steno-
graphic notes taken by court reporters.
There are very few stenographers who
can take notes with sufficient accuracy
and legibility to be thus read. Yet
there are few. While the case is
proceeding their notes are taken and
written out. so that it is possible that
by the time the days work is done in
court copies of the proceedings may be
ready up to within a short time of the
hour of adjournment. There are sew
eral yonng women in New York and
Brooklyn who are very skillful at this
sort of work. One of them is Miss
Coffin. daughter of the late Captain
Roland F. Coffin. Miss Coffin reads
the minutes taken by Official Stenog-
raphers NJ Even. Ormsby and
others and has many years supported
herself by SO doing. She reads several
systems besides Munson's system.
which she writes. There are several
ladies who work with her. and when
they get together they turn out copy at
an amazing rate.
The educated. clear-headed girl with
good physique and industry is sure of
better pay at typewriting than in almost
any field heretofore open to women.
The better educated she is the more
likely she is to get good pay. But. voc
to the thoughtless girl who undertakes
She has mistaken her
vocation.
1t is now well settled that writing
can be done very much quicker by the
machine than by the hand.
The secret of it is that the typewriter
uses both hands instead of one, and
does not tire nearly so quick. The de-
mand for typewriting is so great that |
there is an obvious tendency of invest
ors to come in with new machines and |
get some of the golden harvest that has !,
come out of this new business. The
is much the same as that |
among the sewing machine men. and it !
has given employment to many me-
Y. Sun.
Secret Hiding Places.
One Of the most interesting features
ut our country houses is the secret