The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-06-08
SHORTHAND WRITER'S.
Modern StenOsrapheTS Must Be Men
of No Small Capacity.

graphic Talent-Experts Born, Not
Made.
From the Washington Star.
mo city in the United States contains
more stenographers than Washington
This assertion came from a well-known
membe of that profession who has made
hobby of collecting statistics. and for
this reason cannot very well be contra
dicted. 1t was while discussing the
avocations of certain people, as they
passed along F street, that the remark
was made TO a reporter of the Evening
Star 1t appeared as if nine out of every
ten people of this city were employed in
following the ideas of Pitman, or Graham.
or dozen others, for livelihood.
You can hardly conceive" continued
the stenographic statistician chow many
people in this city possess the knowledge
of shorthand. l have calculated that
there are in the neighborhood of 1000
people in Washington who are paid sal
aries to follow dlctation with the mystic
characters, and almost again that num-
Der who have knowledge of shorthand.
but do not follow it regularly. This state
OF things Is, of course, brought about
through the passage of the civil service
law Any one passing an examination of
clerk or copyist with stenography as an
auxiliary will stand mul better chance
OF receiving an appointment than without
this extra knowledge.
Strange as it may appear, the govern
ment IS almost continually in need of
stenographers, and very frequently has
TO advertise for them. There Is so much
work of nature that requires dietation
IN the departments that it would be
almost an impossibility to get along with
out 1t. This is one reason for the demand.
Another is the promotion of worthy
people to higher positions thereby taking
them out of the ranks of stenographers
THE RATIO OF ABILITY.
ut has been frequently asserted by out
of-town stenographers that the govern
ment does not pay salaries large enough
to secure the pick of the profession, and
that, with the exception of the stenO-
graphic force up at the capitol, the ratio
as to ability is very low in Washington.
Is that true assertion" asked the
reporter
ITO that question would give an EN-.
phatic not" replied the stenographer, al
though there is some slight foundation
upon which to base the charge. Leaving
the capitol force out of the discussion-as
there is no question that the stenog-
raphers up there are the best in the
world-the only cause for complaint with
the force in the departments is that in
great many cases their work is so light
that they almost unconsciously slip back
ward. Then comes a time when their
ability is tested, and their weakness
brought out There are hundreds in this
class, and the danger of slack work has
become menace TO The profession.
II know young man up in the treas
ury department that held an 81 500 posi-
tion up until a few months since that
will aptly illustrate my point When he
first entered the department it was at
big salary, as he was one of the best
stenographers in the country. AS ill
luck would have it, he was assigned to
the private secretaryship of one of the
chiefs of department This gentleman
was Slow thinker and talker. For sew
eral years those two worked in harmony
and thoroughly understood each other;
but, unconsciously, the stenograpner
.drifted backward. Not long ago the
chief was fired on short notice. The
man that took his place came out of the
west, and was full of nervous energy
he started in with a rush on his dicta-
ton, and, in the language of the profess
sion, put it up the back of his stenog-
rapher. 1t was al a speed the young man
would have smiled at when he entered
the department The chief fumed and
fretted at the stenographer's breaks and
mistakes, and in one weeks time the lat
ter was RELOCATED to $1,000 position.
PRACTICE THE SECRET OF SUCCESS.
almost every body knows that prac-
tice is the secret of success in shorthand.
and there is no such thing as too much Of
1t. | can imagine the smiles of sarcasm
that would illumine the faces of the force
up at the capitolif they heard that express
sion, but it is fact, Notwithstanding The
art of shorthand writing is not learned
without continued study and patience.
ana ready longhand writers are more apt
to acquire IL in the shortest time The
number OF those who are able to fit them
selves as Office shorthand clerks is, how
ever, solely dependent upon qualifications
entirely apart from knowledge of swift
writing. In other words, an intelligent
person with good general education is
capable of learning enough of the art to
make successful business amanuensis.
II takes years of constant practice to be-
come thoroughly proficient, and probably
not more than one person out of nun
dred who study shorthand is physically
and mentally qualified to make yer
batim reporter.
although shorthand colleges endeavor
" GShCu JuC pTdCIlCc dS wei as theory, IL
is not until pupil obtains a situation
that his or her training begins and they
really commence to learn how little they
know. The civil service examiners. as
rule, keep this class of stenographers out
of the government service, as the person
that does the examining is generally an
expert and can tell greener' at a dis
lance of fifty feet. Business men who en-
ploy this class have to exercise consider
able patience before these inexperienced
people meet their requirements AS
have before remarked, competent stenog-
raphers are scarce; they are seldom out
Of employment and command from 5000
up to -, 800. This, of course. does not
take in the capitol force. The work
down there is done by contract, and the
salaries range as high as 5000 a year.
"A great and growing evil to be found
in each and every city in the country is
the professor that guarantees to teach
the student certain kind Of shorthand
in three months, and at the end of that
time TO furnish position for his innocent
patron. The people that patronize these
pro. essors' are generally from the coun-
try, and have but slight ideas as to the
length and breadth of Pitman or Ora
mans ideas. Sometimes, | will admit.
they do secure positions, but the reten-
tion Of the same is hardly long enough to
warrant the expenditure of car fare TO
the expected FL Dorado. These three
months graduates, when they do secure
employment, receive salaries but little
higher than those paid Office and errand
boys; but business men soon become
weary of revising their work and corraat-