The farmers' union. (Memphis, Mo.) 1891-1895, 1892-03-24

N Hu1 c II > SIltteifi.
But in the matter of diction, to The
surprise of all mankind, the present
House is far in advance of its immedi-
ate predecessor. Strangers IN the gal
.cries have watched with wonder the
,ightning-like speed of the ste nograph-
ers taking down speeches which are
being made for the benefit Of the con-
sttuents of Buncombe County. They
have listened to members whose words;
lap like shingles on Il roof and whose
sentences are telcscopcd worse thin
railroad collision, a"d have marvelcd at
The skill of the stsnographers who make
such speech appear verbatim IN the
Record of the following morning.
But all this is rs nothing compared
with the skill, diplomacy, and discretion
which has to be exercised Icy those sam"
s:cnographerS to get these speeches ar
ranged in grammatical form. The sup
position the country around may be
that Congress, as it furnishes the laws
and the pretedents in all parliamentary
matters, might be accepted as authority
on grammatical construction, and that
the standard diction as we'll as the law
OF the nation might be found i'll tho
House; but as a matter OF fact civil
service reform, sound currency and
!
cd as they arci are not as grossly as
sauted as is the English laEguage-'he
currency of speech. Every dialect that
the nation knows is exemplif"d in some
member OF this asscmblagc Of states
men.
AS Il general rule the intelligence of Il
Congress might he estimated by its
speech. If this test We're 10 be applied
| to the present Congress. | have the
! word of the stenographcrs for it, this is
/ far above the average. Some OF our
! ahlest statesmen, however, have been
| very rugged in speech, and therefore it
will not do i'll every ease TO let Con-
gress be judged by its grammar. The
! stcnogranhcrs tell me that the Fifty
first Congress was conspicuous for poor
grammar. Freely translated, the short
| hand reports Of the FiftytiIst Congress
would be a literary curiosity. 1t may
| be that this Congress has not gone far
enough Yet for fair comparison, but up
to the present point Il very fair record
has been produced in the construction
| Of English sentences. The gift Of CAB
has been bestowed freely upon the gem
tlemen in whose hands or uron whose
tongues rests the fate Of this great and
glorious country temporarily. Yet
| iii Congress be printed in the very lan-
guage of the House it would make Gu
rioHs and very interesting reading.
Comparatively few even Of the most
learned and Intelligent men in Congress
follow Il perfect diction in debate. The
stenographcrs make a report of every
word and almost every sound that o2-
curs upon the floor, though Il great deal
OF editing is done before that copy is
sent TO the printer. If in the morning
Record the grammatical construction Is
accurate, it IS due ;, their careful super
vision, and it is curious what tact anG
dipomac: has to be exercised to bring
this about. The report of a speech is
generally submitted To the member de
livering it for revision, if he desires, tu
corrections of grammatical constructio.
arc seldom made by members them
selves, and often il would be impossible
to get the consent Of a member for :
correction of an obvious error. Usually
the stenographcr makes these corrcc
tions in transcribing his notes. and it il
not infrequent for n member to notice
the correction and take exceptions t.
it, insisting upon being correctly report