The sun., 1895-05-05
LIMITATIONS OF TYPEWRITERS.
Advantages of fstenogrnpherr for the Work
Of Verbatim E-porting.

AdvnntnGcs OF StcuoErnphers ers for tho Work
Of Verbatim Reporting.
The question is sometimes n.ked, VIII the
time ever como when the typewriter will super
scde the stenographcr for verbatim reporting 2
That 1t will is oonjecturcd BY some stenog-
raphers and is hoped by expert typewriters
who have not learned shorthand and want to
avoid tho necessity Of studying 1t. Lawyers
and others who require the services of an
amanuonsis also look for the day when the fee
per folio for verbatim reporting may be reduced
ono-half. and the time now consumed in tran
scribing shorthand notes may be saved. 1t Is
argued that II the improvement OF the type
writer continues. and tho number Of expert
operators increases correspondingly. in few
years the need of n stenographer will be we'll
nigh eliminated.
For some time the typewriter has occasionally
snpplanted shorthand for purposes OF corre-
spondence, and has been used in preliminary
legal proceedings. such as the taking OF testi-
mony and afildavits. where the character of the
work renders the process necessarily slow and
the manuscript is needed for signature immcdi-
ntcly. But 1t cannot be said that this of the
typewriter has on the whole proved desirable.
Not one witness in ten is aware how fast he
should talk for the operator to follow him on
the typewriter, or how much time it is likely
to take to erase interine parts OF
his testimony. He generally believes that
hst s fast sfs WIN I. s rn
rying to keep pace with the speaker, an operator
has no time to revise HIS work or TO be particu-
Is said he must often rewrite All expression that
has been corrected In debating without stop
ping to erase the part that is wrong; this may
such corrections the witness Is allowed to edit
or rcvise hts deposition, the manuscript is likely
has seen the interior of the Patent Office.
Another obstacle in the way OF neat verbatim
tynewrtinG Is the spell spelling OF proper % names
such troublesome names rs "Reade' or
Thompson" and even photography may be
proper names that are met with daily. When
several carbon copies are to be made of a die.
tation. the process Of arranging the sheets and
ment to be in the midst Of a detailed expiana-
Of thought. Persons with nervous tenn
peraments are often distracted by the
T
ant to occur. The most satisfactory use of the
typewriter for reporting speech direct lies in the
documents OF routine character with which
the operator is somewhat familiar. In such work
strain upon the eyes and the men tai and physical
fatigue Incident to continuous writing
From my knowledge and observation" said
percentage of typewrters in this city receive
dictaton on the machine than in any other city
in the world. The competition here is so great
that unless an amanuensis is can do this work his
difficulty II finding employment Is greatly in
creased. Many typewriting schools are begin
ming to appreciate this fact, and are training
their pupils accordingly. Yet. for all-round
satisfaction n typewriter. however skilful he
no9rapher. This fact does not depend entirely
upon the formers ability TO keep pace with
speaker but rather upon his inability to revise
liver neat and readable copy.