The age-herald., 1900-02-04

feat unusual in reporting, and 1t was made possible by the elearness of the notes.
 'The senate is much easier to report than it used to be-" said Mir. Shuey, when he was explaining to me his work. "It may be . that We are better accustomed to it, and possibly that makes 1t seem easier. Or perhaps the average of speakers Is better. We have had some men in the senate who were very difficult to follow There was MT. Plumb, of Kansas He would burst out with a long string of words spoken so rapidly that it was almost impossible to understand them all then he would pause and moment later he would start another stream of words. He was not one of the fast speakers of the senate, but he was one of the most difficult Senator Morgan is one of the fastest speakers in the sen ate, and he has been for many years. He speaks at the rate of about 1S0 words a minute, You would not think it if you heard him, because his words come so smoothly. Except for his speed in speak ing he is not difficult ito follow, because his flow of words is even and his enunciation is very distinct Senator Stewart is viz orous speaker, but we are so accustomed to his style and to what he says that we find little difficulty in reporting him. Seps ator Tillman is another explosive. .speaksh and one whom 1t Is somewhat hard to fol- low" -
 The reporters look forward with some dread to the possibility of the return of Senator Blackburn. of Kentucky. He was one of the most difficult men to follow and his speeches ran up to 1sO or 200 words a minute, Senator Hawley is another fast speaker. Men whom the reporters like to follow are Daniel of Virginia, Allison of Iowa and Cullom of Illinois. These repre- sent three different schools of oratory. MT. Daniel is of the old school He makes a rather fiowery speech and delivers it with all the airs and graces of the orator of a hundred years ago. MT. Beveridge of In- diana, who made his debut in the senate as a speaker this week, belongs to the Daniel school. There is no difficulty in following him. MT Depew is another of the new senators who make an art of ora- tory, and his speeches are delivered with such care in emphasis and enunciatio that there is little difficulty in following every thing he says. Still, it will be some time before the reporters are wholly familiar with the style of either MT. Depew or MT. Beveridge, and until that time they will not feel that they on sure ground.
 Every man has his peculiarities of speech and uses certain familiar expressions. When the reporters are used to these their work is much simplified.
 In view of the fact that it costs more than quarter of million dollars each year to get out the Congressional Record, it Is amusing to read the history of con- gress that in 1922 objections were raised to making contract to report all the pro ceedings in congress because 1t would cost $20,000 year.
 The exceptional work of the senate re- G0orters is generally recognized in the pro- fession There are frequent reports of re-
 markable feats by shorthand men, who are said to have written 300 words a minute
 Experts say this Is impossible, as the writ inS of 200 words minute requires the making of four characters a second. The senate reporters frequently take 200 words a minute, and the number of errors they make is very few.