Page:Graphic methods for presenting facts (1914).djvu/46

title for each bar at the left, then the figures, then the bar. With such an arrangement, one title will be below another, easily perceived by the eye, and the figures will all be in one column with the decimal points in a straight line.

Figures running into millions can be easily read from long columns if sufficient white paper is left between figures in the vertical arrangement, and if each group of three figures in the horizontal arrangement is widely set off by means of a comma. For graphic work, the groups of three figures should, in general, be more widely set apart than they are ordinarily.

Fig. 24. Production of Copper in Different Countries for One Year

This chart is a redrawing of Fig. 25. The title here should state the year, but that was not given in the book from which Fig. 25 was taken

Fig. 24 shows the arrangement with the figures at the left of the bars. Here again, however, the ciphers have been omitted when it would probably have been just as clear if they had been included and set off by means of a comma and a wide space. The drawing for the pigs of copper shown at the left of the illustration gives an idea of what can be done by hand drawing in order to attract attention to the subject which the chart itself is intended to illuminate. In this case the lettering also has been done by hand and is a good example of what a skilled draftsman may do without any great expenditure of time. The solid black bars of Fig. 24 come out in much better contrast than the gray bars of Fig. 23.

Philips' Chamber of Commerce Atlas

Fig. 25. A Year's Production of Copper in Tons

This illustration was copied from a prominent book on international trade. Accurate interpretation of the chart is impossible. Graphic work of this sort is dangerous because it may be misleading