The new enterprise. (Madison, Fla.) 1901-1908, 1908-06-11

~
porting Is Identical in the Senate and
House OF Representative the remhn
Grafton of the reporter is ON a differ-
ent basis In the two houses of Con
gress. In the House the shorthand ex-
perts are paid on the salary plan. The
six oficial reporters, Messrs. A. G.
Welch, Fred Ireland, Reuel Small,
Allister Cochrane, George G. Lafferty
and Samuel H. Gray, each receives
compensation at the rate of $4,000 per
year and there are four official steno.
graphers-W. j. Kehoe, M. R. Blum
enberg, John d. Cremer and Harry f.
Dodge. who also receive $4,000 salaries.
An assistant official reporter receives
$1,000 per year and an assistant stem
ographer is paid at the rate Of $500
per year.
In the Senate the work Of reporting
the proceedings is covered by con
tract The stan of official reporters
comprises Messrs. Theodore F. Shuey,
Edward " Murphy, Milton w. Blum
enberg, Henry ]. Gensler Daniel B.
Lloyd and James w. Murphy, with
Eugene C. Monkey as assistant, The
first two men on the llst-Messrs.
Shuey and Murphy-hold the contract
and employ their associates. That
the contract plan prevails in the Sen.
ate was due to the wish of the late
Dennis f. Murphy pioneer of the ia
nous Senate reporters. When the
method to be followed in allowing
compensation for the official reporting
in Congress was under consideration
third of a century ago Dennis Muir
/ ply who was in charge of the Senate
reporting, expressed a preference for
contract system, which would give
him a lump sum for doing the work,
instead Of a salary, and would incl
dentally allow him a free rein in the
! selection of assistants Mr.. Murphy
first took the contract in the early '70s
and after his death It was transferred,
in 1896, to his brother Edward V. Muir.
ply and Mr. Shuey, who hold It joint
~
The price paid for reporting the pro
| ceedings of the Senate is $4,000 a
year, so that It would appear on the
! face of things the House OF Represen-
tatives pays somewhat more for the
verbatim record Of its proceedings
than does the Senate. II was the orr
ginal intention, however, that the ex.
penditure for this purpose should be
about equal for the two houses Of Con-
/ gress. In the investigation of the
matter which resulted in the adoption
OF the contract plan in the Senate
and the salary scheme in the House
It was discovered that there was very
little difference in the volume of the
reporting in the two houses. A com
putation covering several years
showed that on an average the varia-
ton between the chronicles Of the
Senate and House Of Representatives
did not exceed thirteen columns OF
the Congressional Record for an entire
session of the law making body.
To the army of stenographers en-
ployed on small salaries in all parts
Of the country the $4,000 received by a
Congressional official reporter for work
that seldom occupies more than seven
months of the year, and sometimes
does not exceed three months in II,
may appear decidedly alluring. As o
matter Of fact, however the pay is
not excessive considering the high or
der of ability and exceptional quail
Acations required. The shorthand
sharps at the Capitol are In literal
truth the pick Of their profession
First of all, it is requisite that they
shall have the ability to attain the
acme of high speed work-not in an
occasional squirt but as regular daily
grind.
Many OF the achievements in rapid
writing which the Congressional on
cial reporters dismiss lightly as com
monplace feature Of their regular rou
tine are little short of miraculous
Issac Pitman in his text books claimed
that 100 words a minute is the average
, public speaking, whereas many Of th'
, revised modern text books on shor
hand promise the beginner that
speed OF $50 words minute win quail
ify him to do verbatim reporting. =
! speed OF 200 words a minute is gener
! ally considered amply sufficient 10
. all court and convention stenogra
r ply, and yet even this rate Of writinl
would fall far short OF the require
r ments in recording the sharp colo
J qules that occur in any exciting de
E bate in Congress- Just to illustrat
r the skill Of the ohicial reporters
+ might be cited that one OF them 4
a recent demonstration before the stl
D., 49,. - q shorthoud school wrote o.