The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-05-09

Ar the recent meeting of the
teachers Of Dakota county, Minnesota, at
Pennington, w. F.. Kunze, superintendent
of Red Wing public schools, read pa
per on 1.-THE Relative, Merits OF slant and
Vertical writing which attracted much
attention. inasmuch as, he had made an
unusual effort to get at the practical side
through a consensus of business men. His
method and conclusion are given IN the
following: .'.' .s,,
In the days of our forefathers, when
the school curriculum consisted: OF the
three RS, writing was placed next to
the last in the short list Of subjects.
since then the school curriculum has
been greatly extended so that now in
stead of having but three subjects we
have at least three times that many, but
writing, curiously enough, IS still at the
tail end of the list. In preparing this
paper did not start out with theory,
but have simply undertaken to get at the
facts from the point of view of the bust
ness man. With that end in view, sent
out to business men, train dlspatchers
and registers of deeds a circular contain
ing the following ten questions on Wit
ing: '''.r''
First-In your business, which of the fol-
lowing is of first Importance In penmanshlp!
Which second? Which third? Which fourth?
(a) Legibility, co. rapidity. Cc) beauty, td)
space occupied. <-,
standardization any other quality of i'm
portance. .. .... ~ -
Third-Has there been employed with you at
any time one who wrote vertical writing! %l.
Fourth--What advantage would you say
vertical has over slanting script! f q
Fifth-What disadvantages?
Sixth-How many words per minute 90 YOU
consider average for business writing?
Seventeen all communications coming to
YOU, which are the more legible, the more
easily and quickly read-those of the vertical
or those of the slant writing?
Eighth-About how many communications
written in script do you read daily?
Ninth-Which would. you prefer to have
your account books kept in, vertical or slant
script? Why?
Tenth-What is your opinion as TO the
effect Of teaching vertical writing in the
schools?
One hundred answers were received.
Here are the results:
| Legibility- Eighty eight considered legtbil-
| ity as of first Importance in writing: six
| ranked it second two considered legibility
and rapidity of equal Importance, and four
gave no answer at all. "s
| Rapidity-Seven considered rapidity as Of
first Importance; seventy-three placed it sec
ond nine ranked it third; two, fourth: two,
rapidity and legibilityj of equal Importance,
| and seven did not commit themselves on this
| point.
Beauty-one person gave beauty first place
| in importance in penmanship; five second
twenty two, third; forty-six. fourth, and
| twenty three gave no answer to this question.
| Space Occupied-No one reported this as Of
| first importance: six ranked it seconds forty
eight, third; twenty one fourth; two did not
consider it important, and twenty three gavs
| no answers. $50 u
These answers clearly indicate that in
practical life, legibility is by all odds the
first requisite in penmanship, rapidity
comes second, space occupied third, and
/ beauty. fourth rs, ..esti5:
Other Qualities In answer to the sec