Semi=weekly graphic., 1898-11-23
Anent Vertical Writing.

f l1E NaE1 C ID 4O 4GEAA VI eHA AAAAI Sf A -~ all lines of life knowledge of writ ing is useful. Ia fact, it is one of the most useful arts of civilization and by it each generation has be- come debtor to all preceding gener- ations. The complicated affairs of modern society could not be carried on without knowledge of this art, and therefore proper instruction in writing is a matter of prime i'm portance in any course of study.
 In teaching writing the results sought should be first legibility and speed, secondly, beauty. Of recent years there has been an increasing disposition to eliminate the Grnamen- tai and artistic features, hair hnes, shading, founshes, etc., and the en- tire energies have been expended in an effort to secure a plain, neat and leglble style.
 The artistic features have been placed in the department of draw ing where they properly belong. Writing is not culture" study, Much of the drill used in an effort to secure an artistic finish to writ ing is "love's labor lost" The de- sire to secure legibility and speed have led to the almost universal adoption of vertical writing. Some of the strcng polnts in favor of the vertical are as follows:
 1. It is easy to learn because be- ginners have a tendency to write vertically. This, I think, every one who has had experiencein teach ing beginners will readily admit.
 2. It is easy on the eyes as the paper is directly in front of the pu pill and not at one side.
 3. Itis certainly more legible.
 4. Tbe eyes are taxed equally.
 5. It's more rapid.
 6. It is more economical.
 7. HYgienic advantages. By this method there is no artificial or ab- normal position of the body, head, l hand and eyes.
 At the Seventh International Congress of Hygiene and Demo graphy held in the5city of London, the following resolution was adopted:
 That as the hygienic advantages of vertical writing have been clearly demonstrated and established both by medical investigation and practi- cal experiment, and that by it's adoption the injurious posturas so productive of spinal curvature and short sight are to very great ex- tent avoided, it is hereby recon mended that upright penmanship be introduced and generally taught in our elementary and secondary schools.
 Drs. Von Reuss and Lorenz for the Supreme Council of Hygiene of Austria, decided that the erect style of writing obviates the cause of spinal curvature.
 Noble Smith, P. R. c. S., the great authority on spinal diseases, declares that the pastures of young people assumed in the sloping writ ing are one of the chief factors in the production of spinal curvature. Vertical writing is consistent with all hygienic principles.
 The Imperial and Royal Council of Hygiene. Vienna, favored vertical handwriting on hygienic grounds.
 So far as speed is concerned the testimony of rapid writers is over whelminglY in favor of the vertical. As a rule special teachers of pen manshlp, if they favor the slant sYs-t tem, evidently oppose the vertical, because it's simplicity destroys al opportunity for artistic dourishes and the like. Speaking of the verti- cal the General Manager of the Wes tern Union Telegraph company says: Investigation shows that the nat ural tendency ot a rapid penman is toward the vertical. I think tele- graphers generally-and particular Iy the higher grades-write the yer tical hand, and telegraphers are the fastest penmen in the world. TheI best recommendation for the verJi- cal is that telegraphers adopt the evStann naturally and without anv