The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1904-06-10

But He Does Ii in One Min ties They
Say.

In a dark room where he could see
nothing but the outline of his machine.
with a stop watch held on him and stx
witnesses present, John A. Shields. OF
Ottawa, Kan. clattered of 80 words ON
a typewriter in a single minute. thus
breaking the worlds record by ten
lords and demonstrating his right to
be hailed as the worlds champion
Charles McGurrin has for a number OF
years held the worlds record at III
words per minute
You. who have never run a ~typewrit-
er do not. perhaps. realize what this
means. During a single minute each OF
the thirty-nine keys or 4 shift key ma
eIine was struck twenty-seven and
one-third times. or seventeen n two
third keys hit every second. 1t further
mean that there were 1854 depressions
made in sixty-two seconds. the machine
running one and three-quarter seconds
after time was called. These strokes
were 60 autcrN~ &c that there was not
a single Pile-up N the entire work Or
IL is equivalent 10 each finger on both
hands being worked. with perfect reg
ularity. more man twice In any single
seconC, whiIe there was n pivot move
ment at the elbow every fifth letter.
There were more than 2.Ies distinct
muscular actions. taking the expan-
sion and contraction of the ma les
as separate movements. during ne
sixty-two econds There were more
han sixty articulations at the Joints
every second. II you wish. try to work
your finger that rapidly. pounding on
the desk. table or chair. and see he
difficulty of h thing. The carriage
crossed the machine thirteen times.
or orCe every four and two-third sec
onds. 1t requires six or seven seconds
for an experienced stenographer TO run
the carriage seventy-two spaces TAX
ing the letters S | s ]. and remember
that he wrote a connected paragraph
You now begin TO realize what IL was
necessary TO do in order TO make this
worlds record and earn the name OF
champion"
The speed which today holds the
worlds record showed n thing at
least, and that is that the muscles OF
the hands and forearm had been so
trained by practice that they needed
not the incentive OF the thought to d.
rect their movement. II Is this con-
slant practice to which the champion
claims his record is due.
Shields is 19 years old, but looks even
younger He was graduated from the
business department OF Campbell UNI
versity at Holton, Kan, a little over
two years & and he has since then
been employed principally by one OF
the typewriter companies.
In conversation he said: Il do not
see that 1 have done anything so Won
derful. What brought my
Ia nv speed was the challenge I re-
ceived. I went into training for a week
or So, / then learned that / was passing
the 200 a minute mark. When / got
ready for the contest the challenges
refused to write. Determined not to
be outdone ! invited some Of my
friends 10 witness the little ~demonstra-
ton and made nv first record OF 2lS
words. / again tried my speed, ana
made the record in the presence OF sig
witnesses. whom / had previously In
vited. They mad affidavit to the fact
that L had done the work in min
ute, and since then my challenger a
kept quiet.
The main principle underlying the
record is practice. / have sat before
the machine and hammered out letter.
after letter, line upon lire, and L have
run over and over that keyboard until
far in the night. This unceasing and
%fatiguing work consider the secret OF
my success. / do o believe that there
is any other speed secret. 1t Is no. an
intricate problem. but simply that old
old story-perseverance. i know that
it takes work and long. hard work,
but il seems that il Is this one thing
that so many are not willing TO pay.
of course / have some methods OF
lingering that / obtained from no one
else. / have my own idea as TO the
kind OF material one should use when
practising for speed, and / might say
here that is not writing one seventy
two space sentence over and over"
For the first two weeks after Mr..
Shields had made his record OF Us he
was regarded as a prodigy. Since his
second record he has been regarded
If
tawa University. where he is
school,. made the statement that he was
.hypnotiZed, or he could never have
written that many words in a minute
Those who know him best agree that
this is the case. but add that he hypno-
tiZed himself by hard work.
Shields does work for the students
of the University, making most OF his
expenses in this way. Since making
his record he has been Deseiged with
letters from the different typewriter
companies, and visitors at the ST.
Louis Fair may have the op~portunffJ
of seeing the most rapid work
done on a typewriter.
The trick OF most Of such tests,
said n of the typewriter managers
on Wabash avenue. is based upon m
old line Now is the time for all good
men to come to the aid OF the party
Sixteen words are accounted for in IL,
with one word having as many as five
letters and Only three words with as
many as four letters. When hcGurrin
had written the PIP words Of his record
the manuscript was about as
less in tumbled words asSauskrit would
be in a primary schooi.
1T is a well practised man and voice
which can utter 257 words intelligibly
in a mute 1t is a good man and a
good s~tenographer who can dictate and
take one hundred and fifty words or
matter of ordinary difficulty. the stem
ographer putting the words in short
hand upon paper. As to debating to
the machine. the good operators OF
machines may take from fifty TO sew
enty-fve words In a minute. and that
is god work."-Chicago Tribune.