Arizona silver belt., 1897-12-23
PRoCEEolnos OF CONGRESS
How They Are Reported in the Senate
 and the House.

| bS iSi'o' tN VI tbO pIOCctulBgb Hutl debates of congress ara made by two Independent corps of reporters-one for each housewife are not subject to change for political reasons, as seua- tors and representatives have always recognized the importance of having the official reporters free of party con trol and party changes. The Con- gressional Record is the one publira ton where all who speak ia congress are certain of full, fair and impartial report of what they have uttered in debate. It Is their hulWatk of deieEce against misrepresentation; by itthey cnn show to their constituents their i position on any subject of congress sional consideration.
 IB the ssadtg the reporting is done 1 by contract, s25, ,OUU a year being the yearly price. The work is done by five shorthand reporters.
 The reporting is divided into what are called "turns"-a half hour gen erally constituting turn" in the sen ate--the first reporter is relIeved by the next in order, who at the conciu- siun of his half hour is followed by the next, aud so on.
 As soon as reporter IS relieved from note taking he hurries to the off cial reporters office, on the main floor convenient to the senate chamber, and eithe: dictates his notes to shorthand amanuenses, who trauscrihe on the typewriter from their own notes, or, seating himself before graphophone, repeats into the instrument the words uttered m the debate, which are re- corded on d waxen cylinder holding d thousand or more words As each cylinder is filled it is quickly removed from the machine-whlch, by the way, is run by electrlcity-and turned over to typewriter operator, who attaches 1t to reproducing graphoph one, and with hearing tubes fastened to hls ears, proceeds to transcrIbe the record which the cylinder contains
 As rule, the transcription is re- markedly accurate, and when tle re- porter comes tO revise hIs copy be ls not obliged to refer SD frequently to his notes as when they bave been dlc- tllrd tO shorthand smsnuensis If the words have ',een clearly spoken { iuto the graphophoue, they will be as clearly reproduced.
 From the moment when the note taking begins until adjournment, whether at , or 6 p. m., or at mid night or later, the reporter has no respite. When not reporting in the senate he is dictating Lis notes or re- vising them.
 He feels at liberty iu his revision not only to make any grammatica l changes which may be necessary, but such other changes as he believes the speaker himself would make if tue copy were submitted to him. His ob- ject is sU to edit his report that sena- tors themselves, observing his accuracy and care, will not ask to have their speeches sent them for revision, which causes delay at the printing office and sometimes prevents speech appearing i in the Record on the day following its delivery.
 The reporter must be eqnal to any emergency and record without the slightest partiality the words of the contestants. In all personal discus sions the reporter Is cbary of making even slight changes in his copy, lest the scales should be inclined more to one side tban the other. Occasionally where, in the heat of debate, harsh personal language has been used ny one member of the body against another, It is modified or entirely eiim mated from the Record, for few ulen desire to have standing as monument abusive words uttered in a torrent of passion
 The course of procedure iu thehouse of rpprpyeutatiyes is s1mevhat similar to that in the senate There is a large desk provided for tbe reporters (oi whom there. are fve) on the floor in front of that occupied by the clerks, which is on somewhat higher eleva. tion, and back of this and still more elevated is the desk at which sits the speaker.
 When debate is progressing in au orderly way at point not too remote, the reporters take notes at the desk
 
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