Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-04-23

speaker. He is one of the official reporters
of the House. and his pen traces on his
notebook a record of the proceedings, accu-
rate, complete and indestructible. Another
Stenographer threads way to his side. He
has come to relieve his colleague. Watch
them pass the procedure of the House from
one to the other as If it were something
tangible, something you could see, and not
apparent babel of incoherent words.
Leaving his brother stenographer in pos
session of the floor, the first man makes his
way to the room set aside for the official re-
porters, where he reads his notes to a
graphophone.
From Note Book to Type Font.
From the wax cylinder these notes are
written out on the typewriter by aman-
uenses. This is done hour after hour, so
that a member may see the whole of his
remarks in type shortly after he has sat
down.
After each stenographer has revised the
typewriter transcript of his own notes
they are piled on the desk of the assistant
reporter, who, after the adjournment, as
sembles the copy and prepares it for the
congressional printer. Thence this copy
journeys to the government printing office,
where a corps of experts set it up the
same evening. Next morning a copy of
the Congressional Record is on each mem
ber's desk. 1t contains the whole of the
proceedings of both houses, together with
the brilliant attack, the sparkling repartee
the pertinent anecdote, the epigram, which
gave dash of pique to yesterdays debate
and which were the inspiration of the mo-
ment the mute, ingiorious stenographer
has caught them up and put them into en-
during form.
Reporting of the Senate.
The reporting of the Senate is done on
similar lines. Appointed by the Speaker,
on the recommendation of his ability alone,
and without regard for politics, it Is an
unwritten law in the House that the re-
porter is never to be removed for political
reasons. The House reporters are thus
officials of the body; the Senate is reported
by contract with Mr.. f. Y. Murphy and
Mr.. Theo. F. Shuey. The Senate, too, is
a smaller and more orderly body than the
House; its members speak more deliberate
ly and with fewer Interruptions than the
representatives, so that it is reported from
the central desk. Immense condensation
and great rapidity of utterance are char
acteristic of all speeches delivered in the
House. These circumstances have evolved
the perambulating reporter, for it has been
found that from the floor he can hear the
speaker more distinctly as well as hear
the questions which other members pre-
sent to him. The reporter takes his notes
standing-a trick not easily learned-and
uses slender note book of 100 pages In
the Senate dozen sheets of fools-cap
paper ruied with red lines and tied with a
bow of ribbon, are used. Dip pens are used
exclusively in both houses of Congress-
Growth of Congressional Reporting.
Once you understand how the two houses
are reported, the daily publication of the
Congressional Record begins to seem phe-
nomenal. AS matter of fact the history
of congressional reporting is one long story
of the hourly triumph of mind over matter.
Verbatim reporting began after fashion
in Congress in 1887, when the newspapers
first sent reporters to the Senate and House
galleries. Articles published at the time,
however, were partisan to degree and the
full account of the debates could be gained
only from Gales & Seatons Reports, COM
piled from all the newspapers of the coun-
try In 1S4s John c. Rives began to
publish in the Congressional Globe YER
batim reports of the Senate debates
The Globe went out of existence In 1873,
when Dennis F. Murphy, who had been re-
porting in the Senate since 1913, was given
the contract with the government for such
reports. At the same time the House de-
ctded to appoint stenographers and pay
them fixed salaries. These arrangements
have continued up to the present day.
Training Needed for the Position.
With the reporters of Congress 1t Is a
matter of pride, of tradition of noblesse
oblige, that the Record shall appear the
morning after every debate, no matter what
the cost. The story is told how on one
occasion Congress met at o'clock in the
forenoon and did not adjourn until the next
morning. All this while perfect tumult of
debate was raging. Half an hour after adj
jOurnment the copy was in the hands of
the printer and when Congress met at noon
the same day the Record containing ver-