The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-03-15

senate looks over his notes, he can
ulctate them to machine with the
assurance that they will come out In
acceptable form. But what do you
thhnk would be the result Of TRANSCRIPT
ing and putting in the Congressional
record exactly what is said by each
nemper OF the house and senate in
public debate? 1t would make the
Record the most amusing publication
in existence.
One Of the official reporters read to
me from his notes the other day the
language Of distinguished senator ut
tered In debate. You would have
thought it came from a man with very
little education. 1t was full of gram
NAUTICAL errors: double negatives
abounded, and, though you could not
nave mistaken the mans meaning if
you had heard him speak, you would
not been at all. sure of 1T If you had
seen his language and not heard it.
The official reporter always edits his
notes as he dictates them to the graph
ophone. He keeps the notes for ref
erence in case question of his accur-
acy is raised. The fact that his re-
port is not verbatim is recognized
when member Of the house or senate
demands that the language of another
member be taken down." This means
that he proposes to hold the speaker
dCOuUIdDI0 LOT the exact udSS he
used and not for the tempered report
Of it, which may go into the Record
the next day.
The official reporters of congress,
judged by money standard are as
important as the senators or repre-
sentatives. The reporters of the house
receive $4,000 year each, and they
work only when congress is in session.
In the senate the work Of reporting
mis- Murphy had the contract for many
years. When he died. couple of years
ago. it was transferred to his chief
assistants, Edward V. Murphy and
Theodore F. Shuey. Mr. Shuey has
been one of the senate reporters since
1859. Edward Murphy service ante
dates that time. and Dennis Murphy
first entered the senate's employ in
1848
HARD WORK. BUT SHORT HOURS.
Out Of the $4,000 a year which the
senate pays them, Shuey and Murphy
pay four assistants These assistants
do other work as well. One of them.
Harry Gensler, was clerk to Senator
Cameron for many years at Sc day,
and he is one of the brightest, quickest
stenographers in Washington. Murphy
and Shuey rank high as reporters OF
debates, ard they undou btedly make as
much as the house reporters-$5 600
each-out of their contract with the
senate. Their pay, you must renaem-
Der, is for work which usually avera ges
twelve months in twenty four-tha
snort session of congress being three
months long and the long session sell
dom more than nine months. Two
years ago, when the senate met in
special session, an extra sum was ap-
propr1ated to pay for the extra work
OF the stenOgra piers, though under
their contract with the senate Murphy
and Shuey could have been compelled
to report the exact session without
extra pay
The $4,000 which the congressional re-
porters receive is not the limit of their
earnings. That sum pays for their work
in reporting debates. When they are
asked to report committee hearings,
they are paid according to the amount
of testimony taken. Not all this COM
mlttee work goes to the official ste
nograph ers, but they have enough of
1t to fill in much of their time, and it
is not an uncommon thing for one of
the reporters to make $1,000 during
the session at this extra work
These men are not OverpaiL. 11emem-
Der that tle house reporters must r
not only the first StenOgrap pliers in the
country, but Intelligent, well read men;
that they must have sufficient knowl-
edge of every question before con-
gress-fr0m science to agriculture. from
Indians to tariff rates-to be able to
follow understandingiy all the intric-
actes Of high pressure debate, and
then take into account the fact that
the strain on their nerves is So great
that they are likely to break down
before they are past middle age The
price is not too high
The house reporters have been look
ing forward with some apprehension
to the tariff debate. When the Mills