Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-04-12
OFFICIAL. REPORTERS
aia 81



For over fifty wears the proceedings of
the Senate and Mouse of Representatives
have been reported verbatim. 1t was not
until 1S4S that this practice was begun, but
since then a complete report of the pro-
eeeoihgs has been as important a part of
the routine work of the Senate as has been
the keeping ofPthe journal itself There
nave peehOmportant changes in the method
OF ooins this work since 1t was inaugu-
rated When it was begun there were no
tSpewriteps and no graphophones. The
typewriter came first to lessen the labor of
transcribfffg the reporters notes, and few
years ago the graphophone was added to
sun further facilitate the work. Today
squire oi the expert stenographers prefer to
uictate their notes to assistants who take
them geographically and transcribe them
on tSpewriters. while others prefer dictat-
ing 10 graphophones, the cylinders of which
transcript made. Immediately after this
mas been done the cylinder is run through
a machine by which the surface is shaved
OH, ana II is again prepared for use.
Stenographers throughout the country
credit the corps of reporters in the Senate
ana House of Representatives in this city
| as standing at the head of their profession,
having all those qualities of Skill judgment
ana education which enter so largely into
their work. Many people have little reali-
zatioh or the many qualities that are re-
CURED IN order to make firSt-clasS STEM
| ographer, capable of doing such work as
the reporting of debates in the Senate and
Rouse or Representatives. The mechani-
cal SIKH of writing shorthand is but one of
THESE requisites. The art requires long
years or practice and is only attained by
men OF tenacious memory and quick
thought. But there are other qualities that
are quite as necessary as is the power to
| develop the mechanical skill to write the
characters used by the shorthand expert.
A shorthand writpr all times keen
| cool and self-possessed. He must under
| stand perfectly everything he reports and
must possess a knowledge Of English so
| thorough that he will act as delicate filter
through which the language Of the senator
and representative will flow only to be
| purified and improved. To report correct
| ly grammatical error would be more apt
| to subject the stenographer to criticism
| than would be an apparent error in his
notes. For these reasons only men Of edu-
cation. judgment and tact can hope to fill
| positions in the corps of reporters on both
| sides of the Capitol.
| The work of reporting the Senate is given
out by contract, $4,000 year being al
lowed for it. In the House of Representa-
tives the stenographers who take the re-
ports on the floor are paid salaries of 5000
| a year each, which is regarded as mod
crate salary to secure men Of the ability
needed to do the work. The practice OF
| having the Senate debates reported by con-
tract resulted from the suggestion of Mr..
Dennis F. Murphy. who was the first to
take that contract, in 1873. Mr.. Murphy
preferred having complete control over the
corps of stenographers that he might Sc
lect to assist him, and, upon his request he
was given a lump sum for doing the work
instead of a salary. Mr.. Dennis F. Muir
ply, who died some years ago. was a
brother Of Mr.. Edward V. Murphy, who.
with Mr. Theodore F. Shuey, now holds the
contract for reporting the proceedings OF
the Senate Other members of the Senate
| corps of reporters are Henry J. Gensler,
Daniel B. Lloyd. Milton w. Blumenberg.
Eugene c. Monkey and James w. Murphy.
The official reporters of the House of Rep
| resentatives are David Wolfe Brown, John
H. White IA. c. WEIGH, Fred Irland, Reuel
Small and John J. Cameron.
The events which led up to the reporting
of debates In the Senate are Of interest and
relate to the earliest development of the
phonogra phic art ;iin this country In lS4S
Oliver Dyer went to Philadelphia and
formed classes in shorthand with high
school boys as his pupils. Among these pu-
pills was Mr.. Dennis F. Murphy. The whig
national convention. which nominated Gen.
Taylor for the presidency, met in Phiiadel-
pha in 1913, and Mr. Dyer organized a
| corps of his pupils, among whom was MIR.
Murphy, to report the proceedings Of the
convention. The success Of their efforts
came to the attention of the Senate, then
considering the question of obtaining full
reports of, it's debates, which up to that
time had nsver been res ularly secured. Be
fore the, close of the session in August the
Senate arranged for reports Of it's proceed
ings to be published in the two leading
party. organs in this city, the National
I intelligencer and the Mon. Among the
assistants in this work was Mr.. Muir
ply The corps organized was made up
of onographers-sound writers-rather
than the old class of writer's, who
used only arbitrary characters. In Deem
ber 1S4S, this corps of reporters began the
making of regular complete reports of the
debates which have never been interfered
with The making of regular reports of the
proceedings of the House of Representa-
tives was begun at about the same time.
In 1851 the re ports Of the debates were pub
| lished in the Globe. When Mr.. Sutton re-
tired from the corps of reporters of the
Senate of which he was the head. Mr.. Den
mis- F. Murphy was made chief Of the corps
OF Senate reporters In March, 1873, Con-
gress began publishing its reports at the