The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1892-12-13
OFFICIAL REPORTING IN FRANCE.
How tho Speeches I'm tho Chamber of
Deputies Arc Recorded.

Deputies Arc Recorded.
Fifty-onc candidates assembled few
days ago ut the Palais Bourbon TO compete
for one of the vacant posts in the steno-
graphic corps of the chamber Their ey-
animation furnishes the occasion to say u
word upon the ingenious service which
permits everybody to assist at the lcsisla-
tive debates while seated at home in his
armchair.
The first serious application of stcnog-
raphy for tho reproduction of parliament
airy debates dates back us far rs 1880. One
of the few surviving reporters of this time
is VI. Logachc vino was for nearly fifty
years attached 60 the official services His
compatriots of the Disc sent him to the
senate in 1879. His colleague was NJ. Flo
con. minister of commerce in 1918.
Abroad n considerable number of cele-
bratcd men began life in this modest pro
fcssion. In England we find Charles Dick
ems, Lord Campbell and John Payne Col
lier.
The verbatim report published Ivy The
Oliicicl is the result of IL division of work
carried to its extreme limits, not on ac-
count OF the fatigue which it occasions, but
on account of the necessity to give the
speeches TO the printers about as soon as
they are PRONOUNCED. Twelve stenogra-
pliers succeed each other every two min
utes at the foot of the tribune. The edit
ing i'll clear style of each one of these
takes" requires from eight to ten times
as much time lis the take" itself. When
it is terminated the stenographer returns
to the desk to take" for two more minutes
and so on to the end of the session, which
is completely written out about twenty
minutes after the adjournmcnt
Another stenographer called the ''re-
wiser takes check notes for quarter of
an hour. i'll order to have clear under
standing of the discussion, so that he can
dovctail the takes of his colleagues and fill
in the gaps
In addition to the embarrassment of the
man who, after having assisted at the dis
cusslon, for example, of an Interpolation
upon the Dahomey question, returns after
twenty minutes to hear discussion on
something else, there is the difficulty and
often the impossibility of following some
orators. NJ. Dcroulede, for instance, is "un-
taxable" formost stenographers on account
OF the irrcSularity and the rapidity of his
utterance, which attainS the maximum of
human force, 2i0 words Il minute while
the average rate of speed is $50 words and
represents seventeen or eighteen lines of
The Ofliciel. NJ. Clemenceau is also very
| difficult, while NJ. de Freycinet and NJ.
Rouvier spare the reporters by their uni
formity.
The reviser is also charged with the cor
rection of the proofs, and his work is some.
times prolonged until o'clock in the
morning, owing to the alterations in man
uscript of the speakers, who often go be-
You'd the delay Of midnight allowed them
by the rule. 1t is, however, his duty to
suppress all abusive corrections or altcra-
tons, and to give the matter its final re-
| vision.
The recruiting of the stenographers is
extremely difficult. The competent men
| are so rare that the chambe has been
| Obliged to extend the age for admission to
the competitive examinations to forty-five
| years. The salary varies from 900 to S, OOC
francs. The work is very arduous. 1t re-
quircs tension of the mind which it is
difficult to form an idea of, and during
the last few years there occurred in tn,
staff of the chamber four cases of menta
failure and two cases of blindness. 1t i.
hardly necessary to add that u considerable,
| number of these valuable functionarie.
must pay their tribute to the writers
cranp.-Paris Figaro.