The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1908-05-15
pED0pTINr nEDaTEC HOW WHOM IL Is DONE IN
III UnalNu UEDAlEO-- CONGRESS-.

SI6SS u lHS united States are having
an unusually strenuous time this year
in chronicling the proceedings of the
national Legislature. 1t is not neces-
sary to seek far for the reason. This
is presidential year, and the oppor-
tunity is seized by many legislators
las similar occasions have been at
intervals Of four years in the past-to
make political hay while the sun
shines. Therefore the country has a
surfeit OF debate literally favored
with politics, while constant reader"
finds the Congressional Record bur-
dened with innumerable speeches in
which national issues are discussed to
the neglect of the measures ostensi-
bly, under consideration.
All this means hard work and plen-
ty OF it for the expert stenographers
who comprise the corps of official re-
porters OF the Senate and House of
Representatives. Not only is the de-
bate under such circumstances par
ticularly lively and many of the
speeches particularly lengthy, but the
orators are exceptionally concerned
as to the form in which their remarks
will appear in print. Dozens of these
speeches in Congress will later be
sent broadcast as campaign ammuni-
ton. Naturally the authors are soli-
citous as to how their efforts will APP
pear in cold type and make revisions
and corrections almost without end.
However, the official reporters are
well equipped to keep tab on the say
1ngs OF the nations lawmakers. A sys-
tenn has gradually been developed
which makes it possible to present a
complete detailed record of all that
has transpired at daily session of
either House of Congress in an al
most incredibly short space of time
after the body has adjourned. This is
accomplished by having the official
reporters work in relays and by the
introduction of the most up to date
mechanical equipment, not the least
notable feature of which is found in
the business monographs into which
most OF the reporters now talk"
their notes instead of debating them
to stenographers or personally trans
cribing them.
The present day working system
and equipment of the official report
ers, like this body of shorthand ex-
perts itself, has been brought to the
stage of perfection as the result of
gradual evolution. The plan of re-
porting verbatim the proceedings of
the Senate and House of Representa-
tives has been in vogue since 1848;
and in the three score years that
have interviewed since this important
feature of Congressional routine was
1naugurated there have been many
changes of method. At the outset the
official reporters took their notes in
shorthand and then at their leisure
laboriously transcribed the record in
longhand.
When the typewriter was invented
it revolutionized tho labor of tran
scribing the reporters notes, and more
recently another advance almost as
notable has been made by the intro
duction of the business photograph.
Some of the veterans of the corps of
official reporters still prefer to die
tate their notes to assistants, who take
them geographically and transcribe
them on typewriters, but the majority
of the experts dictate to monographs,
the cylinders of which are at once
taken by typewriters and transcript
made.
1t is claimed that the monograph
method is the most economical Of
time and it also offers superior adj
vantages against error. If type
writer has reason to believe that he
has made an error in transcribing from
a phonograph he has only to turn
back the cylinder and again listen to
the remarks regarding which he is in
doubt, but if there is suspicion OF
error in stenographic notes there is,
of course. no way for the typewriter
operator to determine the matter with
out consulting the official reporter
who gave the dictation. While on the
subject of the economy of time in this
work it may be noted that the highest
attainment in this line is possible
where men can read one another's
shorthand notes, but this is rare ac-
complishment. However, some of the
Murphys, family conspicuously tden-
titled with the whole history of Con-
eressional reporting this gift,
and it was at one time possible for
one member of the family to remain
practically continuously on duty in the
Senate chamber, merely turning over
his notes for transcribing to his broth
er, who acted as his assistant.
There are six official reporters in