The Sunday herald and weekly national intelligencer., 1890-07-06


tension of the same work on the same plan, but |
under new name. The title-page of the first |
"Register of Debates in Congress, presenting |
the leading Debates and Incidents of the second !
session of the Eighteenth Congress, together with
an Appendix, containing the most important |
State papers and public documents to which the |
session has given birth, to which are added the
index to the whole"
The Register" like the Annals" was pub
lished in Washington by Gales & Seaton
the size of leaf which is still used in the Congress
stondl Record, and in several respects began to
than Il compilation. But still no attempt was
made at a complete shorthand report of the pro-
ceedings in Congress. The first volume of the
Congressional Globe on its title-page only claimed
to contain Sketches of the Debates and Pro-
ceedings of the Twenty-third Congress-" Like
its predecessors, it was private enterprise,
though encouraged and supported by Congress.
1t was "edited by Blair and Rives" and "prnted
for the editors" at the Globe Office, in Washing
ton.
The Congressional Globe ran on as mere COM
pilation for over twenty years. Then Congress
began to think about employing shorthand re-
porters and in 1s4S an arrangement was made
by the Senate with the National Inteutgencer
and Union (the two daily newspapers published
at the National Capital in the interest of the two
political parties respectively to publish daily
shorthand report of the debates. 1t is curious
that the Senate should have thought it necessary
to have two Independent reports because there
were two political parties. One shorthand corps
can be trusted nowadays to report both sides of
debate. This duplex system continued in use
y
taken from the other two newspapers and given
to the Dgiy Globe; The Senate and House both
arranged about the same time to have a daily
shorthand report printed in the Globe, and then
for the first time each House of Congress had a
ing its debates; That is Just about forty years
ago. Mr.. McElhone, who died the other day, was
amember of that original, House corps. and
Denis L. Murphy. who is still at the head of the
Senate's corps of shorthand reporters, was one of
them then. So that the shorthand reports of the
generation. During all that time they have been
pretty full and pretty accurate. At present they
are the fullest reports of the proceedings of Il
legislative body printed anywhere in the world
and apart from the fact that long, windy speeches
that were never yer deliyered @ at all are printed at
masses of stuff utterly unfit to be spoken of in
debate. are. frequently inserted. as part of the
wise were spoken, and that members in revising
the manuscript reports of their speeches, as they
put in things they did not say, the Congressional
Record, in addition to being the fullest. is also
ae mS os of al all a
accuracy can the report of the British Parlia-
ment bear comparison bs with ours.
gressional debates was done by contract, and the
reporters were employed by the contractors. In
porters were employed directly by the Senate
and the House and the Congressional Record was
it was printed at the Government Printing Office.
| as it is now; and the United States Congress has
ever since been self-reporting, SO to speak.
Murphy, who is employed by the Senate, and
four assistants, who are employed by him, re-
ceive $4,000 a year for reporting the Senate; and
even though out of this sum the hire of amanu-
ensis, Gunior stenographers,) type.wrters, and
graphophones have to be paid the compensation
on an average sit more than four five months
a year, and not over four or five hours a day.
But the work is exacting and it is well done.
The Senate stenographers understand each
others notes so well that they frequently trans
cribe for each other. Murphy used to take most
of the notes himself and have his assistants
transcribe them, but he is growing too deaf now
! for continuous note taking on the floor of the
Senate. Anyhow the work is so divided up and
managed that generally the type writers i'm Muir
phys office have the debates on paper, fully
hour or so after the words have been delivered
on the House side the method is pretty nearly
the same as in the Senate, with this exception,
that while the Senate appoints only Murphy him
self. leaving it to him to appoint his assistants
ments to the House reporting CORPS which con-
ssts of one chief of corps at $4,000 a year, four
official stenographers at $1,000 each, and an as
slstant at $1,000, making $4,000 in ali.
The @ Brsh tb satas behind the Con
tons resemble each other in the fact that from
the beginning each has kept journal. But the
| British Parliament up to this day makes no
shorthand report of its own proceedings. In
stead of our Congressional Record they have Han
everybody may not know exactly wEatthe name
means. Hansard is now to the British Parlia-
half century ago. In the matter of having its
proceedings reported the English stand now
| where we stood then. Hansard is private nd-
Vdual who keeps a printing establishment in
London, and who since 1903 has been regularly
printing and publishing, under contract with
| Her Najestys government" what he calls
| "Hansard's Parliamentary Debates" Crhe one
individual Hansard has not lived and worked
continuously since 1903, but the job has been IN
the family all the time.) Even now he does not
employ any stenographers of his own to do the
work. He waits for the London morning papers
taking care generally to give members an
opportunity to approve or revise their re-
marks In England the newspaper report
ers do the shorthand work. This partly ex-
reporter is a shorthand writer while in America.
even in the press galleries of Congress, 1T is a
rare thing to find a newspaper reporter who car
write shorthand. If Washington newspaper
correspondent wants the words of a speech which
has been delivered in the House or Senate he
usually either gets proof from the member
who perhaps has had it printed beforehand, or
he gets an advance proof from the Congressional
Record or from the icialreporters. In England
the newspapers want extensive shorthand re-
ports and very little else of Parliament, and
reports sent out by the Press Associations, en-
ploy as many as dozen shorthand reporters to
report the proceedings in the two Houses. AS
long as this remains so possibly Hansard and
the journal will satisfy all official demands. One
would think, indeed, that Hansard might be dis
pensed with, but the English are slow to deprive
family of Government job they have held so
long.
Hansard's parliamentary Debates" are in
continuation of work called the "Parliamen-
tary History of England" which, in thirty six
volumes, covers the whole period from the Nor
man Conquest to the year 1908. They already
extend to about six hundred volumes, and they
are big Ones
Like nearly all other Government publications
good round price is charged for Hansard, while
the Congressional Record, like most other public
documents of the United States, goes free.