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

up with them and he could see
them in his sleep. What they
meant he does not know to this day,
and he does not believe that either
of the lawyers engaged could give
proper definition of either of
them. This case was also appealed
and the reporter spent many weary
hours trying to get some kind of
sense into his transcript.
Surprising the stenographer de-
cides that he can do better by
working for some large mining,
milling or smelling corporation.
Here he bumps into more new and
unfamiliar words. He is expected
to know instinctively that Au.
means gold, Ag. silver, Pb. lead,
Gu. copper, etc. He is also ex-
pected to know how to transcribe
his notes when the Boss says, "your
ore runs approximately as follows:
Au. point 05, Ag. 52.65, Wet Pb.
35 per cent and Wet Gu. 3 point
six-five," that he really meant to
say, T"your ore runs 5-100 OF. gold,
52.56 OF. silver, 35 per cent Wet
Lead and 3.65 per cent Wet Cop
per-" An elementary knowledge of
chemistry would be life saver.
In conclusion: May the writer be
allowed to say a few words to the
Boss. Do you realize that when
you hire a stenographer that he
may not be familiar with the sub
jects as you are upon which yor are
debating? Does that Metallurgist
or Engineer realize that when he
sits down to dictate technical
paper that his familiarity with his
subject has been gained from long
experience, whereas the stenog-
rapher may be comparatively new
to the game? Could the Boss turn
around and dictate as readily upon
some subject regarding which he
has only a superficial knowledge?
The general stenographer in large
office may have three or four
bosses, one writing about supplies
and repairs needed around the
works, one writing about the fnan-
cial side, one writing about the
technical phase and another about
the general administrative end of
the business. Each one of these
bosses is thoroughly familiar with
his particular portion of the bust
ness, but the stenographer has to
be able to transcribe all of it into
intelligent, grammatical English.
You will undoubtedly say, why all
he has to do is to transcribe what |
say" That is absolutely true, but
do you realize that in order to
transcribe your thoughts correctly,
he has to know how to punctuate
his transcript, and how can he
punctuate properly unless he has
very fair knowledge of what you
are writing about. Is it not fact
that when you get hold of a good
stenographer, you dislike very much
to let him go or to advance him to
some other position where his re-
Enumeration would be larger and
his sense or responsibility greater?
In looking back, how many stenog-
raphers have you employed whom
you have ever advanced, whereas
other men around the plant or office
have gradually advanced to posi-
tions of responsibility. How many
men are there who could turn
around and do the stenographer's
work in case of emergency or short
age of help? Stenography has to
be learned by hard study. This is
not true of a good many other
lines Of office work, nor is it en-
tirely true in the assaying end of
the mining game. The writer
knows of young men who have
worked around the assay office
(whose education was confined to
the elghth-grade), who IN short
time were running determinations
for gold, silver, lead and copper and
making success of it, but he has
yet to see the young man enter an
office as clerk and work up to
head-stenographer, unless he has
taken long course in some day or
night school learning the business.
1t is not the intention of this
article ito discourage any young
man or woman from entering the
stenographie profession but the
wrier would like to impress upon
the student that it is not altogether
a' bed of roses. There are many
lines where the financial remunera-
ton in higher and the work less