Omaha daily bee., 1893-10-15
DANGEROUS STENoGRApHERs.

Within less than ten years the stenog-
rapher has become an indispensable
factor of the commercial and legal
world. While shorthand has been
practiced for nearly a century in one
form or another the invention of the
typewriter has given the art ire
mendous momentum. Every first class
business house, every banking concern,
every prominent railway official and
nearly every lawyer of large practice
employs a shorthand writer. Stenog-
raphers are now an adjunct of every
court of justice and wherever deposi-
tions are taken before a notary a stenog-
raphcr takes down the testimony.
Now there are honest and dishonest
stenographers, just as there are honest
n dishonest b~oOkkcepers and clerks.
n corrupt accountant may play havoc
with the business of his employers, but
he is found out sooner or la er and dis
missed from the service. Such men
very rarely wreck more than one con
corn. They are usually denounced and
made harmless by exposure. The dis
honest stenographer is by far more
dangerous. He is usually as subtle as
he Is unscrupulous aud. unprincipled.
He can do an enormous amount of mis-
chief and ruin scores of firms and indi-
viduals without being found out. And
if, p%erchance, his trickery is discovered
he is very seldom denounced and adver-
tised rs Il fraud.
For obvious reasons the dishonest
ste~nographer is more dangerous than a
pcrjured witness or IN embeazler. The
dishonest stenographer inserts words in
the wrong place or omits words where
they are vital. Many cases involving
vast sums are won or lost by the omission.
perversion or addition of a single word
in taking down or transcribing the
testimony of witnesses. Dishonest stcnog-
raphers often play an important part
i~nswinning cases for corporations by
whom they are periodically fabricated.
We know some stenographers in these
parts who are constantly making them
selves useful in this fashion or in divulg-
ing testimony taken by them in which
their patron lawyer is interested,
although not directly employed. At
every legislative session certain Doodle
stenographers press Onward to get
themselves employed in taking down
testimony before investigating commit
tees. Secret sessions with such stenog-
raphers become a farce. Testimony
which members are pledged or sworn
not to divulgc leaks to the parties i'm.
plicated in some job or steal. tips are
mysteriously given to witnesses to de-
camp n the whole object of investiga-
ton is frustrated. In other instances
testimony given before Investigating
committees is garblcd so as to mislead or
Justify a whitcwash. We have in mind
q brace of these iugglcrs in shorthand
who make it their business on every oc-
casion to play into the hands of corpora
ton attorneys, and even carry their ne
farious work into politics. On close in,
spection they are found to be unmiti-
gated frauds who are not in the habit o
discriminating closely between mine and
thine. One is an embezzler: the other
not much better.
These facts are very generally known
to lawyers and experienced Legislators.
but so far as we know they never have
been commented on by the press. 1t is
manifestly all important that dishonest
stenographers be exposed and driven
from the profession. They are danger.
Gus in the broadcast sense of the term.
They promote k~navery and help to in.
tlict rank injustice upon litigants and
the communities in which they are en-
ploycd.