The times., 1899-01-05
THE WORK BADLY DONE
The Alger Relief Commissions
Poor Stenographic Service.
THEWRITERSINCOMPETENT
inexperienced md Not Equal to the
Task-Much of the Testimony Left
out-unable TO Transcribc All the
Notes-Price Paid 10 omcinI Re
porters Too Small for Experts.

1t is extremely doubtful if the report to
be made by the Alger Relief Commission
viii be of any practical value. 1t will
net be a complete report of all the testi-
mony taken before the commission. This
condition of affairs grows cut Of the fact
that the official stenographers selected by
the commission to take the testimony
have proven themselves wholly incompe-
tent. They We're stencgraphers taken
from the War Department whose duties
there consisted merely in taking dictation
for official correspondence. In other
words they were accustomed TO writing
only letters, and the majority Of such
letters were brief, they experienced little
difficulty in transcribing their notes after
the dictation had been made.
When it came to taking testimony such
as was submitted to the commission an
entirely different state of affairs existed.
Neither of the stenographers was equal to
the emergency. They could not take near
ly so rapidly as the witness would talk,
and in this way a great deal of evidence,
perhaps the most important, has gone un-
recorded.
The stenographers have been anywhere
from one TO three weeks behind in tran
scribing their notes. The stenographers
able, after so long time had elapsed. TO
make legible transcription. Therefore it
will be impossible to make for the COM
mission anything like a complete record
of the testimony.
When General Miles was before the
commission he took with him his own
stenographer, who is among the best in
the city. He asked for a transcription of
his testimony taken by the official stem
ographers and TO his astonishment he
found that almost one-half of the more
important part of ii was not in the report
of the official stenographers. but was COM
plete and full in the report furnished by
his own stenographer. Knowing what he
had testified to he readily saw that the
report OF the official stenographers was
incomplete, incorrect and badly mixed in
hundreds CT cases.
The commission, il seems, has changed
stenographers about as often as its mem
bers have changed their shirts, which may
or may not have been every day. When
a member of the commission made the
discovery that a stenographer was not
equal to the task he was Immediately re-
moved and another cne substituted. The
compensation to the stenographers was
the same as they received in the depart
ments, and there are few expert stenog
raphers employed in any of the depart
ments except at the Capitol.
As the matter stands now. many Of the
stenographers who took The testimony are
unable TO read their notes. and as there
is no other stenographer in the United
States who can read them. il can readily
be seen that what report the commission
may make is going TO be exceedingly i'm
perfect. The commission being unwilling
10 pay a good price for the work it Of
course is unable TO get expert stenog-
raphers.
So much difficulty has been experienced
by the commission that recently the work
has been let under contract TO an expert
from New York. and it is asserted by the
commission that from this time forth the
testimony viii be reported correctly, but
as the commission has about completed its
labors it will have very little further use
for an expert or any other kind of
stenographer.
II is argued by a great many people
that the commission viii have eliminated
a great deal Of the damaging testimony
10 the War Department, and the excuse
VIII be made that it was because of the
ineficiency of the stenographic corps.
Thereby the report may not contain any
thing damaging TO Secretary Alger's man.
agement.
Stenographers who are familiar with the
situation think the commission is absolute
ly ignorant Of what a stenographer can or
ought to do. They seem 10 have gone
upon the theory that any stenographer
should take anything and everything. no
matter how rapidly it may be uttered or
read, or what confusion may prevail in
the room at the time
General Beaver is known to have re-
marked TO Colonel Moore who complained
that the record Of his testimony was
SO distorted that it was absolutely sense
less, that he talked so fast in propounding
questions to witnesses that he did not ex-
pect stenographers TO correctly report what
he said. This, upon its face. seems to be
practical admission on the part of Cen
eral Beaver that the record that he and his
associates are TO make is going TO be in
complete. 1t is argued that General Beav-
er should know that the questions he pro-
pounds to witnesses is as important some
times as are the answers
In the opinion Of those who are more
familiar with the work OF the stenograph-
ers, it is badly mixed up affair. and II
may take months or years to so straighten
the things out that any intelligence may
De gained from the testimony of the var
ious witnesses.