The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-02-01
SPEAKS FOR THE
VERTICAL STYLE
Miss Georgia McManis Talks on Pen
manship Systems.
AUTHOR OF TEXT BOOKS
GIVES REASONS FOR NOT FAVOR
ING SLANT METHODS.


tom of handwriting, now comes Miss
Georgia MeManis of Colorado Springs.
She replied yesterday 10 the criticisms
made in interviews on the system by
local business men and members of the
board of education.
Miss McManlS. supervisor of inStruc-
ton in the vertical system, has de-
voted much time. thought and labor to
bring tn vertical system up TO a plane
Of excellence where its best features
would be recognized al a glance. She
Is author of some OF the text books on
penmansAip now i'm USE in Salt Lake.
When asked yesterday to give her
opinions on the subject she was some
what diftident about entering into a
discussion for the reason that she has
perfect confidence that the results from
the system she advocates are sufficient
evidence of its merits
Il wish to be clearly understood at
the outset" she said. that my posi-
ton in regard TO vertical writing is
wholly from principle and not from Il
mercenary standpoint. as might be in
ferred from the closing statement in a
published interview in which j am
quoted as having stated: The eppOsi-
ton or business men and others could
make no difference. as my text books
had been adopted for five years The
reporter who interviewed me must
have misunderstood my language or
else have confused my words with
those uttered by some one else. for the
expression of such an opinion is en-
tirely foreign to the position 1 have
always maintained
Miss McManis, you understand that
by many business men the vertical
system is looked upon as a kind of fad
and they are rather skepticaI as TO its
success" was suggested
Denies it Is a Fad.
ITO some people who do not know
about and appreciate a new thing il is
CINE. the telegraph, the telephone, the
electric light the electric street rail-
way, the bicycle, the automobile-in
fact everything now recognized as
having come to stay. were at one time
characterized by some people as a fad.
And at that time those who advocated
the new thing were what we now call
Cranks- / don't intend to be under2
stood as wholly decrying the one class
FOR as unreservedly praising the other.
Without them both, the progress of
civilization would have been much less
steady and certain. They have been
of ineStimable service to the great class
of people who have patiently stood
between them until the worth or worth
leEsneSS of each new thing has been
demonstrated. The fad crisrs prevent
the great class of the people being car
RED away premturely by the enthusi-
asm of the cranks. This value of man
kind is of the negative sort, however.
The cranks are the ones who do. They
re the ones who determine by actual
experiment whether the new things is
success or not. Bearing these truths in
mind, the value of a fad crier as a
source of information is easily deter
mined.
Vertical System the Pioneer.
When this upright system was re-
vived many looked upon it as a ques-
tionable fad. But today its every
symptom indicates that il is the es-
tablished penmanship. Hundreds of
years ago vertical writing was the
standard penmanship of the day. n
Frenchman invented a Slanting system
later claiming for it great advan-
tages over the vertical. Finally il was
accepted by the society people in their
Cesire to have a handwriting different
from that used by the masses So in
time, il became the recognized penmau-
ship Later il was ascertained that as
pupils advanced through the grades
there was an increased tendency to
curvature of the spine Many physi-
clans believed that the position as
sumed by pupils during the writing
exercises had "A tendency to produce
spinal curvature. Finally. the medical
authorities of Germany made prOtract-
investigations to determine the by
Giene of writing. Other countries
made similar tests and invest gatiOnS
which confirmed the conclusions
reached i'm Germany. The results of
these Investigations are greatly in ia
Nor OF the vertical script Professor
Edward r. Shaw of the New York
University has published a book on
School Hygiene in which he makes
these deductions: The reasons in IA
Nor of vertical writing adduced as the
outcome of the Investigations which
extended over a somewhat long period
OF years. are, first. that it is the nat
ural way of writing, as children, when
they begin to write, write vertically.
Second. that the vertical hand Is easier
for the eyes. as the eye sees vertical
lines with less difficulty than Oblique
lines. Third, that an unequal accom-
mediation of the two eyes is not i'm
posed upon the pupil is the case in
the use of the slanting script. Fourth.
the position assumed by the pupil is
lot conducive to lateral curvature of
the spine. Fifth, the pupil has less
difficulty in conceiving the form of the
letters, and in learning to coordinate
his muscles so as to produce the
forms.
Takes Up LegibiIity.
you recognize. do YOU not that