Evening star., 1896-02-29

after reporting apprenticeship during his
boyhood in the Senate, did court and gen
erai work in Philadelphia, and was for sew
eIaI years an official reporter in. the Penn
sylvania legislature.
MIR. White had proved his skill in legal and
convention reporting In several leading
cities of the south. Mr.. Devine had won
DIS spurs as court reporter in New York
city, as Associated Press reporter in the
United States Senate and as official stem
ographer of House committees MrWelch
In addition to large experience in general
reporting, had also served with marked skill
as one OF the official reporters OF congress
sIonal committees. Mr. Iriand the Youngest
member of the corps (appointed by Speaker
Reed during the Fifty-first Congress. at the
time OF the death of the well-known House
stenographar, Mr.. J. j. McElhone), before
entering a newspaper office at the ape ~
eighteen, mastered shorthand, and subse
quentIy made an enviable record in general
reporting and official court work in the
city CT Detroit.
Importance of the Work.
The official reporters of the House of Rep
resertatives are appointees of the Speaker.
but their tenure Of office is not dependent
upon the alterations and fluctuations of
partisan majorities. In 1873 when their
cfhcial status was established. Mr.. Blaine.
men onen Speaker. took the lead in placing the
o1nclal reporting upon a civil service basis.
lie was able to appreciate the demands of
reporting work. His experience as memhe~
ana Speaker had familiarized him with the
pecunar dinlculty and responsibility of con-
gressional reporting. He recognized that
effcient reporting service could not he oh
tanned If the official reporters were liable to
displacement for partisan reasons at the end
OF every two years.
So, in appointing as official renorters of
the House the gentlemen who had been rem
dering satisfactory service as reporters of
the Globe, he declared that the officers thus
M 06 Lob l.
only for cause. What was thus nossih1v -
mere dictum Of Mr.. Rlaine's was su6se-
quently made rule of the House which
however, would of course prove nugatory
but for the daily exhibition Of efficient 60:
ice which it insures. ~
Not an Easy Work.
The difficulty of the work done bv tho
ohhciai reporters OF the House Is conceded.
not only by all who from day to day oh.
serve the proceedings. but by the opinion
or the reporting profession throughout the
country. For instance, the late Andrew 7
Graham, whose shorthand system ia prac-
tlced by so many able reporters decIa sol
In print that there was probably no more
oli1icult reporting In the world than that
=, pa ,ne House OF Representatives.; and Mr.
Benp Pitman, the greatest rival of Mr.
Graham as shorthand author and nuh.
Usher, has said that after listening "a
did on one or two occasions to the debates
VIII VIII, their interruptions, catch remarks,
as1des, doubtful cheers and unouestjooed
1eers. and afterward reading the renorr T
1elt that II there was one feat to he ac
complished in this world more difficult than
another 1t was to make an accurate renort
OF the proceedings of the American House
OF Representatives"
The peculiar difficulty of this wor,, arises
from number of different causes. The
rapid utterance of many members is by no
means the principal trouble though a
representative body recruited from leading
men or every state and neighborhood must
OF course, contain striking Instances of the
,,y so,uDiiity TO which the people of each To-
eanty are accustomed in the court room
and on the platform. The fact that the So
called reporters desk can never be used
Dy the reporters while taking notes he
cause from no fixed point in the House can
any one hear all the various speakers who
may rise In different parts of the hall re-
the move, or at least ever ready to move
as the tempestuous waves of debate flow
In one direction or another
In Babel of Confusion,
With note book in hand (no comfortable
desk facilitating his work. he must pass
quickly from one part Of the hall to
another, writing not only as he stands but
as he walks OF course the babel of con-
fusion on the floor which strikes every
visitor to the House gallery makes the re-
porters task of hearing at times extremely
dliilcuit And when, as often happens, hot
ana angry words are flung from member,
to member, the reporter (cool, If possible
while others are full of excitement) must
strain every nerve that he may not lose a
syllable Of the wordy battle, for at any mo-
ment some stern voice asserting itself above
the disorder may cry out. 'Mr. Speaker, /