The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1908-05-15

| cOTu ulCtaltCu.
IN Although the system of Official re-
| porting is Identical in the Senate and
House Of Representative the remun.
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 official reporters, Messrs. A. G.
WEIGH, 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. ]. 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 $1,000
per year.
In the Senate the work of reporting
the proceedings is covered by con.
tract. The staff Of official reporters
comprises Messrs. Theodore F. Shuey
Edward v. Murphy, Milton w. Blum
enberg, Henry j. Gensler, Daniel B.
Lloyd and James w. Murphy, with
Eugene G. Monkey as assistant. The
first two men on the list-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 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 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
ly.
The price paid for reporting the pro-
ceedings of thes 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. 1t 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 Representative
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 a
matter of fact, however, the pay is
not excessive considering the high or
der of ability and exceptional quail
fications 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 Off
ciaI 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 120 words minute is the average
PuDAAS oPO"hAAS1 WAOA Se'F' Ai''AJ Va S
revised modern text books on short
hand promise the beginner that a
speed of $50 words minute will quail
ify him to do verbatim reporting. A
speed of 200 words minute is gener-
ally considered amply sufficient for
all court and convention stenogra-
ply, and yet even this rate of writing
would fall far short of the require
ments in recording the sharp colo
quies that occur in any exciting de-
bate in Congress. Just to illustrate
the skill of the official reporters it
might be cited that one of them III
a recent demonstration before the stu
dents of shorthand school wrote on