The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1890-05-18

as fast as he writes. He is a man of fine
literary culture, has studied law. and he
has one of the finest private libraries of
washington, including many old and rare
DOCKS. He was for time a newspaper
correspondent in connection with his re-
porting of the debates, and he wrote letters
Tor long time for the Philadelphia Press.
When Lewis Cass was secretary of state
under Buchanan he offered McElhone one
OF the foreign missions, but he refused il.
and he Will probably remain in the harness
as long as he lives. McElhone can report
equally well with both hands, and he often
shifts his pencil from one hand tn the
other during a busy day at the House. He
has son about twenty who is the young
est stenographer on the House side, and
VINO promises to be as expert reporter as
his father.
These five reporters are always on hand
few minutes before the meeting of the
House. They divide the work between
them. Each one takes a column of the
Record, and the man who gets the first as
Segment Is seated in his desk at the time
that the speakers gavel falls. From this
time on he takes everything, from Chap
lam Mllourn's prayer to one of Congress
man Holman's raSping speeches. He is re-
sponslole for an Intelligent and accurate
report of all that occurs and he must know
everything that is going on. Every sound
that Is uttered in the way of debate. or in
asldes, must fall upon the tympanum of his
ear, and If he should miss word he could
not stop to recover it, in the necessity of
Keeping up with that which follows. The
average speaking OF both House and Sen
ate is not over $50 words per minute, but
at times member will shout out an ava
lanche of new phrases at the rate of 200
words per minute, and there have been
speakers who have uttered 225 words. Tom
Reed talks like steam engine, and his
spasmodlc utterances sometimes reaches
the 220-word limit Mills rattles out Us
words minute. Crisp, of Georgia, utters,
on the average, l00words during each sixty
seconds, and Allen, of Mississippi is an
other last talker. Judge Holman talks
slowly and deliberately. Mckinley has as
unpleasant way of letting his voice fall at
the end of every sentence, and his conclud-
ing words are very indistinct He doesn't
speak fast, however, and inclines to pomp
Gus utterances. Joe Cannon speaks like
hghtnlng, and so does General Henderson.
OF Iowa, when he is warmed I'D. Dalzell
OF pennsylvania, varies his speed from $50
to l15 words per minute, and Cheadle. the
Indiana crank, gets through his speeches at
all sorts OF gaits. One of the fastest
speakers of the past was Jim Bedford who
was liable to break out at any time into
oratorlcal pyrotechincs at the rate of 200
words per minute; and another was Sam
COX, whose wittiest utterances were
spouted out at 200 words per minute Some
OF the SLOW S3eakerS are as hard to report
as the fast ones, and the man who halts, |
shutters and stammers troubles the re- |
porter as much as he who talks right along
and speaks rapidly. The speaking of the
House is much easier for the professional |
House stenographer than for new man |
There are scores of words which YOU will |
scarcely hear anywhere else and which
occur again and again. The reporter must |
have thorough knowledge of parliament |
airy rules, and he must understand the
usages of the House. Nearly every one of |
the reporters is college bred man, and |
most of them have been professional stem
ographers for years. David Wolf Brown. |
one OF the most expert of the House |
learned the Pitman |
system when he was thirteen and he has |
been engaged in reporting Congress since
1884. Another reporter, Mr.. White. took |
up shorthand when he was a child. and |
Andrew Devine reported the legislature at
Albany before he came to report Congress
in 1874. He was engaged in law reporting
in New York for long time and he was
one of the reporters of the famous Beecher
trial.
Itcosts quarter of million dollars every
year to get out the daily newspaper of Con-
gress, known as the Congressional Record.
and good round part of this goes into the
pay of the stenographers. The House has
It's liked reporters to whom it pays fixed