Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1891-01-20
STEN0GRAPHERS.
AN INTERESTING ACCOUNT OF RE-
PORTING CONGRESS.
tn. rxpcrts OF tho senate aud House.
Different systems IN Each Branch
Pay Of the writers
,corr,sponaepce Of ,he l,lcnmoni Dispstcn.l

WASHINGTON. ~. N.s "ah""'y AZ, 800
Not every visitor 70 Washington taking
IN The Capitol while tie Senate Is sitting
t,ows who tho two eentlemcn-one with
long sandy whiskcrs. turning gray; the
other. dark complexion, coai-blaok hair
ed moustache--who, when the Chaplain
eDtors. seat themselves At the two tables
immediately ia front OF the Secretary's
desk. are and what they are doing there.
Tho 6rst is ID. =. Murphy. the official re-
,ortcr Of the Senate; the other IL Ibeo. 4.
sbpev. assistant reporter, who IS taking
me frst turn" The tall gentleman with
sandy moustache, who comes IN some time
iatcr. seats himself beside Mr.. shuey,
,oncbcs him on the arm. glances nj tue
soDotCr aDcakinr. and commences 20 write.
- Y Murphy. brother Of the chief, and
he fakes bis turn" while Shuey goes 10
tho official reporters Office and gets 20
work transcribing rs much OF ms as post
lle before il IL time 10 relieve his colleague
10 the Senate chamber.
THE SYSTEM.
Pesides the official reporter there are
f,,r recular stenOgraphors or assistants on
80 senate corps. any one Of whom is able
a. 40 anv kind OF work connected with
30 nosition. but only two IF the five
sbyey and l.. Y. Murphy" take notes.
- ttn senate chamber. The otter two as
s.stents stay in tho Office aud help TO trans
scr,be the notes. aad when transcribed the
copy Is handed TO the official reporter,
yb6 reads over or rcylses IT. Up 70 four
M Eve wears AGO ID. L. Murphy and shuey
J5I tho reporting. relieving e8cn other,
y.hile T. v Murphy was employed In the
,Hce debating his brothers notes, which
a. last AS a book was filed would be sent
:, MIN from the chamber by a messenger,
s,d he could dictate them az q speed be
I'D the ability of most stenographers 70
i,to them down: but of late years -. +.
Nvrphy has become a little deaf, and now
i,as none Of the actual reporting. All five
r.e the same system Of shorthand. when
a.. senior Murphy WAS a boy he learned
La. Pjtmau's system of photography,
s,J tine Younger men rs they got on the
en-. ignoring later systems and improve
,rs9ts. adapted themselves to the system
of tho chief IN order to be able TO read one
Gnoihers notes.
PRETTY GOOD PAY.
Dennis +. Murphy was born in Cork,
leland. came TO the United States when
I-,,. young. became an expert stenogra-
,ber and has been at the Capitol for a
H. tiuc-years before the late Jefferson
Davis was a senator from Mississippi. The
iit.r once remarked, speaking of expert
.,nocrauhers. that whom he got up TO
sue4E 10 the Senate and he saw Murphy
rsp1rtlng him he gave himself no further
concern about his speech; he knew IT
,r.uld be- accurately reported. Murphy
J,l.tbc Senate reporting by yearly con-
t,,et with the Senate Committee on Print
irs lie gets. it is said, $4,000 year,
and Il a session is extraordinarily lengthy,
9s tle late long session was, he gets more
m pruportion. This is for reporting what
occurs on the floor of the Senate chamber
during an open session of the Senate, eX-
fcutiyc sessions not being reported. tie
gets additional compensation when called
anon tO report the proceedings OF any OF
tie Senate committees. He employs and
NAYS his assistants himself-the assistant
reporters aud amauuenses. The Senate
Gives him the use Of a furnished Office,
which Ii Oh the same floor as the Senate
chamber. with windows looking out on
the east steps Of the Capitol, provides all
tie stationery used in his Office, type
writing machines. Craphaphones, and pays
his messenger a good yearly salary.
OTHER EXPERTS.
Theodore +. Shuey was born, raised,
and lives in Augusta county, Va; Edward
\. Murphy was born IN Philadelphia;
Henry j. Genser is q Pennsylvania, and
Daniel b. Lloyd is 10y birth and residence q
Nhrylauder. Besides these tOurregular sal
ariod stcuographers Murphy employs eight
or tpD Young men as shorthand ananuenSes
10 take dictations from the assistant re-
porters and transCribe them on the type
writer. These are only engaged for the
session and get from $40 to $50 week,
according 10 ability and experience. At
the end of the session they usually secure
other positions, the fact OF their having
been with Murphy being accommodating
Unlike the Senate corps, they write the
later systems Of phonOgraphy-some Ben
Httman's. some GrGbOm's, and some Mum
sons. While these young men are tolera-
bis rapid they are not experts, but If any
mistakes are made they are corrected by
the reporter when he looks over the
transcript OF his dic;atlOns.
VERY PEW SNAPS.
The Senate usually adiourns about5:3Oor
CT. ~, but il does not follow that the
Eeuographers also adjourn. In fact, in
fulte If their efforts TO the contrary, they
are likely 20 be several hours behind the
Senate; and If 1t has been an ordinary day
and there were no written speeches" de-
lyared. which the reporters do not OF
coU-se take down, anu which they consider
q snap they 60 10 dinner and return to
finish up, which they may be able TO do by
lOurll T. NJ, very often beng compelled
20 work much later in order TO have the
proceedings III the Congressional Record of
next morning. One night during the re-
cent long session of Congress, when the
Senate took recess from $50 TO s Z. NJ.
hnd adjourned about II Z. NJ, the report
ers did not get through TIL daylight next
morning Sunday.
ABUsY SEINE.
About P. VI. the Office is busy place.
Six Remington typewrters, operated by as
many young men, two of whom are work
iug graphaphones in connection with their
typewriters. ore clicking away. One of the
reporters Is debating into a third grapha-
phone while another IS seated at table
reading lis notes aloud and calling out
The punctuatiOn-marks as he reads, which
l. all taken down in shorthand by one of
the young men, who presently rises and
goes and sits down al typewriter, while
smother young man takes his place, and d..
/. Murphy Is sitting at table IN his cor
nei revising the whole business before he
hands II 10 the messenger waiting to take
% 90 the Government Printing Office.
Everything goes through his hands, and
an errOr-a wrong figure or mis-
take Of any kind-has escaped the
eve 81 the assistant when he looked over
ms report. Mr.. Murphy detects il when the
copy gets 10 him. He has been there so
long, andis 50 familiar with men, measures,
and localities, that he knows what a Demo
cr3t or a Republican would say III a speech
on any subject. Sometimes when re-
porter is reading over the transcript OF his
dictauODs, he may be heard calling the at
tenuon OF an amanuensis 70 mistake with
view TO preventing future ones. and
visiting stenogTaphers understand and ap-
pr,clate such incidents as MIR. Speedy,
doyou write proper and appropriate
Ghkef' Mr.. Quick, do you use the same
Characters for neither and 'entire?"
:, Mr.. Short wrote 'Quakers' for acts OF
CQngTess." II is an old chestnut about
LAWYER and liar" having the same
shorthand character, but 1t is true.
ALTOGETHER DIFFERENT.
In the House OF Representatives the
mode of reporting the proceedings is alto
Fether different from the Senate. In the
Senate, where there is not so much noise,
The reporters sit at a table furnished with
an nkstaud and take notes with an
ordinary steel pen on "booSs" of three
sheets Of ioolscap paper fastened together
with piece of ribbon. They write only
on one side Of the paper, and sometimes
The two use up twenty-five of these books
. a Qgy each flhcaa ho,ka ora liant for n