American Radio Library has started a section for Telegraph Age, a long-lasting magazine that ended up as Communications News.
A 1903 issue includes several glowing praises for the Phillips Code, which I hadn’t heard of before. It was common among newsmen, and was apparently equal in speed to Pitman or Gregg shorthand. True shorthand is like Japanese kana, with flowing symbols for syllables instead of letters. Phillips simply omits most vowels, omits automatically required words, and has many digraphs and trigraphs for complete phrases. It takes some learning to write consistently, but it can be read with very little practice.
Phillips stenographers could hand their written page to a telegrapher or newspaper typesetter for direct processing, with no need for an intermediate translation into English. The article gives an example:
= = = = = STRT QT:
T amn sprit as ix cld, h a cntemt fo ti’s halowg inflnes. Inded, it sems to bv tt ti cann halow, bt can ony dstroy. N mny ys ago Lafayette Plc ws 1 f most imposg patricn qrs o N Y. T clmrs o Bway ca to it ony in a dremy murmr. Its length ws n gt, bt it hd a lordly bredth. Win easiest akc f most busy purlus, its quietud ws provrbl. So infq wr vhicls alg its pavmt tt in sumr t gras wd ofn crop ot tr Ik fringy scrolwrk nr t wl swept sidwlks & clnly gutrs. At 1 end4 ts staly ave is crosd bi a naroer st ro an imens chh, in rigid clascl stile, w t pintd roof o an anent tmpl & imens gra flutd pilars frmg its portico.
= = = = = ND QT.
Ntrstgly, t autrdr x ignrg ts pst ntrly. Ix rdg al otr psts 5 o 6 tms, bt 0 rds hr at al. Ix prgmd t ignr cd?
Polistra's Mill 