San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1923-01-25
POOR ENGLISH UNPRoFITABLE

One does not customarily associate bad
Grammar, poor English and misspelled
words with dollars and cents unless on
he theory that as a rule, the uneducated
nan has a smaller earning power than
he educated man.
Education however, is matter OF
pinion. There have been men who
never went to school a day in their lives
who are far better educated than col
icge graduates so far as the essentials
of life were concerned. There are plenty
Of educated ignoramuSes. contradictory as
that may sound; likwisc there are many
men who can not be called educated in
the generally accepted sense who are
very good businessmen, good husbands
and fathers, good citizens and morally
ruitc sound
But as general proposition, the man
Without ability to write terse, correct
English, spell correctly and use good
grammar is sadly handicapped in the
business world and in life generally. That
This is true is evidenced by statement
lust issued by one of the large industrial
corporations having branches in all i'm
portant cities in the United States. At a
meeting of board OF supervisors having
TO do with the finances Of this concern
in its northern territory the other day,
the increasing volume OF correspondence
deemed necessary by employees OF the
company in conducting business came in
Tor severe arraignment There were far
90 many letters and the letters were
90 1ongwinded" to quote the supervis-
RS verbatim.
A letter which does not present plainly,
ne idea it is to convey costs the COM
lany money, states a message to en-
ployes on the subject If it conveys a
mistaken idea, it may cost the company
actual expenditure. Other gems from
the same message are:
Correct English shows clear thinking
Many of the greatest utterances and
writings have been brief and concise
The use of foreign words and phrases is
uecdless-The English language is suffi
cient to express ones self and it is GER
ain that all readers do not understand
oreign languages-It is not necessary &c
,ay reside when YOU can say live which
S shorter word
To this document, every businessman
will say Amen. That is, every business
man except those who are arch Of
lenders. 1t is remarkable, the number
Of business letters received by the aver
age concern in the course OF a year thai
are composed OF miserable English
wrechedIy spelled words and half-formu
lated ideas. Nine times out of ten, no.
the stenographer but the boss is t.
blame. The businessman who can dc
ate concise. clean-cut, clear and &C
cuiate business lette; is in the minority
Yet it requires no extensive vocabulary
10 dictate business letter. The iewei
the words, the shorter they arc, thu
clearer their nearing and the briefcr your
letter, The better for ali concerned.
But annually, millions and millions o
unnecessary letters pass through the mail.
of .the United States because we are ;
nation of poor writer's. Often bushes:
deal is held pending for drys and days
waiting an exchange OF useless CORE
spondencc which had the original lette
been clear and concise need never hav,
resulted
Time is the most valuable adjunct It
practically every business establishment
next to the actual bank account AnC
when we write poor English we vast
both time and money.