Morning journal and courier., 1891-09-15
nLEGIBLE WRITING.
Some of the Trouble It Makes.

SOme the fOuDle NVakcs.
 From the St. Louis Globe-Democratl
 How many of the mistakes made in tele- graphing are due to the carelessness or in- efficiency of the operatorl This question was asked of an old operator a few days ago, and he replied that the proportion was very small; that the mistakes were gener ally made in sending, the receiving operator making very few. Then he explained why they were made in sending. The reason, he said was to be found in the illegibility of the writing of the message, and particu- larly in the signature. Business men are particularly careless in writingtheir names. Many of them make a scrawl that would be recognized by any one familiar with it, but which would be puzzle to any one unacquainted with it. A case was cited with a recent secretary of war. The opera tor knew who the secretary was, but did not know his signature, and did not know he was away from the department. He could not read the signature but made it that of the secretary. Later he found 1t to be that of subordinate officer. A case even more peculiar had been related to the operator by business man who had had
 
 illegibility of the writing. In this case the cashier of bank of Wheeling, w. Va, had writted him for information on some certain matters. He got through the letter | all right, after some study, but he was not acquainted with the inqnirer and could not not read the signature. Finally happy l solution of the affair suggested itself He answered the letter, cut the signature of, pasted it on the envelope, and writing Wheeling, w. Va, below it, deposited it | in the mails. The signature was known in the Wheeling post-ofice, and the letter went correctly.
 The telegraph operator finds many cases | just as bad as this. There is nothing exag- l gerated in this statement. One of the most | puzzling pieces of copy he has to deal with | is that written by person employing part | German and part English. The writer dashes of what he has to say; it is plain to him and he thinks it should be to every body else. The operator, however, finds the combination one which requires great deal of study, and if he is pushed the chances are even that he will make a mis- l take, though he should not be blamed for l it. A telegram written in this way was l recently taken in over the counter of the | St. Louis Western Union office. It was in | quiring as to whether a money package had
 been delivered to Miss Shilling in Toledo. | The ''s" was combined with the ''h" in
 such 8 way that it resembled an "m," and thus the operator sent it Milling instead of | Shilling. When called upon with an in- quiry as to what he had made the name he
 replied promptly Milling. There was the copy, and it looked more like Milling than
 anything else, though it might have been anything else as well as that. When told that it was Shilling the operator was very greatly surprised yet after he had been told
 what it was he could easily recognize it.
 It was like being given the key to @ trick puzzle, easy enough to solve after you
 know how, so easy that you wonder you
 never thought of it before. The key in this
 case, however, answers for the emergency
 only. The operator is liable to run up
 against some kind of snsg the very next
 message he sends.
 | Another frequent cause of mistakes is
 through the carelessness of business men | in making letters of similar character.
 For instance, great many writers make
 their ia" and ''o'' characters as mach alike
 the "n' and the Unframed so nearly alike
 that there is no possible way of telling
 which is which except by the meaning. The operator may guess at this where he has a straight message, but when it comes
 to a cipher, the most important of the
 messages, he has absolutely no guide.
 He must send the message back for cor rection or take chances. The latter course , may be very expensive, while in sending
 back for correction he may delay e very important message and jeopardizeimmense
 business interests. A case of this kind came up but short time ago. One of the tord.n The 'in" was built more Ikea "u,