The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1922-05-27

version. 1ad IL not been 1Or tne
fact that the writer had studied
Latin in his school days, he would
certainly have had some trouble in
spelling out the Latin quotation,
and even then it was only because
he happened to be more or less
familiar with the particular quo
tation that he was able to look it
up and transcribe it correctly. The
only greater grief the writer can
imagine is to have somebody come
along and quote something from a
Greek author and then expect the
stenographer to transcribe his notes
in the Greek characters. 1t is also
possible to write shorthand without
being an authority on grammar,
spelling and punctuation, but good
sound knowledge of these subjects
saves a large amount of time hunt
ing in the dictionary. In many
instances the employer is not an
exceptionally well-educated man
and will pass up many mistakes in
spelling and punctuation, but he
does expect his stenographer to
know how to spell and punctuate,
and how to correct his grammar.
Many dictators will say "if | was"
meaning if | were" and it is up
to the stenographer to automatically
correct such errors.
A good many young people go
into the stenographic game with the
idea of using it as stepping-stone
to something better, but unfortu-
nately for them, they find that those
stepping-stones are far apart and
large number of them give up
the hope of future betterment and
stay in the old rut, some of them
even staying with the first job they
ever tackled. Some, however, feel
that by changing their line of
stenography, they can improve
their financial conditions. A young
man fresh from business college
may accept job with a hard
ware firm. After a while he be-
comes thoroughly familiar with the
terms used in that business, but his
chances for promotion appear slim
and he decides the law game is
more favorable. Here he finds him
self up against an entirely different
style of language. Bolts, nuts
screws and pipe-fittings are not
common terms in law office. The
punctuation used by lawyers is
more intricate than in any other
line of work that a stenographer
tackles. A misplaced comma may
change the entire sentence, and, if
what we have read is true, in many
instances, depends upon the stenog-
rapher for the punctuation, or else
he has hurriedly glanced over the
document and missed some error in
punctuation. Who gets the blame?
The law stenographer may decide
that the big money is in the re-
porting game and finally lands a
position as Court Reporter. He
now finds that he has to be able
to write very rapidly on every
imaginable subject, the more in
tricate the subject, the more apt
he is to have to make a transcript.
The writer remembers two instances
very distinctly where he wished he
had never been born. In the first
case he had just, broken into the
reporting game and was called upon
charged with criminally violating a
County Ordinance covering the
crossing of a county bridge with a
thrashing machine without using
planks. The bridge broke down in
the middle, the man was arrested
and his case came up for trial. A
large portion of the testimony
related to the construction Of the
bridge. Engineers were employed
by both sides to show whether or
not the bridge was properly con-
structed. The county engineer
became quite angry and his testi-
mony came fast. The trial resulted
in the man being found guilty with
a recommendation that he be fined.
The Judge, however, decided that
prison sentence was the proper
thing SO he sentenced him to 90
days in the county Jail. The de-
PENDANT did not object to the fine
but did object to the prison end
Of it and promptly decided to appeal
the case. He came to the writer
to ascertain what it would cost to
get out the transcript and the
writer can assure you that he did
everything in his power to dissuade