Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-02-27
GRAMMAR IN rHE HOUSE


AssAuLre UPoN sYNTAx WHICH voRRY rHr
srKSooRAPHERs TO srRAIeHrES Outflow
SOME SPEECHES ARR CORRECTED AND THE COR
REcrIoSs Losr-rHIs HOUSE Is ABOVE THE
AvrrleE
dramatically the present House IL not a
failure; that il to say, the grammar OF the
Fifty second Congress 10 not as bad as might
be expected The House. as q rule is . curl
Gus constructor Of false syntax and il Ia only
question OF degree q TO how far the rules OF
grammar are 10 be violated and all order and
presidents shattered. 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 galleries
have watched with wonder the hghtning-like
speed Of the stenogrsphers taking down
speeches which are being made for the benefit
OF the constituents Of Buncombe county. They
have listened to members whose words lap
like shingles on roof and whose sentences are
telescopes worse than railroad collision and
have marveled at the skill Of the s.enographers
who make such speech appear verbatim in
the Record Of the following morning
ASSAULTS on sYSrAx
But all this is as nothing as compared with
the skill, diplomacy and discretion which has
to be exercised by those same stenographers to
get these speeches arranged in grammatical
form. The superstition the country around
NAV be that Congress. as il furnishes the laws
and the precedents in all parliamentary mat
tiers, might be accepted as authority on gram
NAUTICAL construction, and that the standard
diction as well as the law OF the nation might
be found in the House, but as a matter of fact
civil service reform. sound currency and ethics
OF craftsmanship (as badly treated as they are)
a N as TOD - tha
language-the currency of speech. Every dIa-
lect that the nation knows is exemplified in
some member of this assemblage of statesmen
This might be a matter of interest and furnish
a subject OF study 70 the dialect writers who
find II profitable to cater to the public taste for
the curious in speech. Every known dialect Of
the English language, not to mention ad-
mixture OF brogue and foreign accent, might be
studied from the galleries Of the House. But
this Is becoming commonplace and is not
noticed. Ungrammatical expressions are
commonplace enough, but such violations Of
the symmetry Of construction sound harsh
even upon the most accustomed ear. An &C
curate measurement Of the capacity Of Con-
gress cannot be taken by sound; that is, by the
symmetry of sentences put forth By this grea.
s8nd-producing assemblaRe.
ABOVE THE AVERAGE N pIcrIoS.
But as q general rule the intelligence Of q
Congress might be estimated by its speech. If
this test were to be applied to the present Con-
gress have the word of the stenographers
for it. this is far above the average. Some Of
our ablest statesmen, however. have been very
rugged in speech and therefore it will not do
In every case to let a Congress be judged by its
grammar. The stenographers tell me that the
Fifty first Congress was conspicuous for poor
grammar and that q large number of its men,
bers were as arbitrary in their construction of
the English language as was Speaker Reed in
his control of the House. Freely translated,
the shorthand reports Of the Fifty-first Con-
gress would be literary curiosity. 1t may be
that this Congress has not gone Ear enough vet
for fair comparison, but up to the present
point a very fair record has been produced in
the construction of English sentences. This is
somewhat remarkable in body constructed as
this Is of amateurs, accidental statesmen.
Farmers Alliance advocates and cultivators of
popular prejudices. Quite large proportion
of this House is composed of men OF little
education, yet they seem to have considerable
veneration for syntax, and rhetoric has received
afair amount of their attention. The gift Of
CAB has been bestowed freely upon the gentle
men in whose hands or upon whose tongues
rests the fate of this great and glorious country
temporarily. Yet should q report of ore of its
proceedings in Congress be printed in the very
language of the House it would make curious
and very interesting reading.
AS IN STRANGE LANGUAGE.
Comparatively few even of the most learned
and intelligent men in Congress follow per-
feet diction in debate. The stenographers
make a report Of every word and almost every
sound that occurs upon the door, though great
deal OF editing is done before that copy is sent
to the printer. II in the mornings Record the
grammatical construction is accurate, it is due
to their careful supervision, and it is curious
what tact and diplomacy has to be exercised to
bring this about. The report Of a speech is
generally sumbitted to the member delivering
y farv x,fctn ~ haA A.,,
grammatical construction are seldom made by
members themselves, and often il would be
impossible to get the consent II q member for
correction Of an obvious error. Usually the
stenographer makes these corrections in trans
crlbing his notes, and it is not infrequent for a
member to notice the correction and take ex-
ceptions to it. insisting upon being correctly
reported as to his very language. In order to
get good language into the report the stenog-
raphers often have to make plea of inaccu-
racy on their part and take the blame for
omissions and changes which they are COM
PEELED to make. There have been cases where
members have corrected proof and restored
their own Inaccurate expressions for the cor
rected manuscript Of the reporters, and it has
been necessary to lose this revised proof aud
receive some slight censure for it in order to
preserve the responsibility Of the Record
MEASURED WITH THE scHooLMAsrER's RULE
1t Is quite remarkable, however, that during
this Congress the reporters have had compare
lively little difficulty upon this score. The
new members who have been doing q consid-
cradle amount Of talking have proven them
selves not only speakers of considerable ca
pacity in force and effectiveness, but to be
finished and capable constructors of English
sentences Bailey, the long haired young Texan,
who has succeeded Martin, the guy of the last
Congress. has astonished the stenographers by
the delivery OF free, off-hand speeches. which,
while delivered with great rapidity. have been
smooth and we'll balanced and almost entirely
free from errors in construction. The same
may be considered of Bryan of Nebraska, who
came in with the upheaval which threw the
Farmers Alliance into Congress. His speeches
have been printed in the very language of
their delivery without violation Of the canons of
good taste. Watson of Georgia. who was the
Farmers Alliance candidate for Speaker, is not
an educated man, though an exceedingly fluent
talker yet his speeches require very little edit
ing. The young members from Massachusetts
write better than they speak. but the English
language does not suffer distortion upon their
tongues even while they are embarrassed in
their speech before thus new and august assem-
blage.