Page:Graphic methods for presenting facts (1914).djvu/45

 required for the figures, it would be possible to make a visual error of 100 per cent in the comparison. If the figures had been placed at the left of the bars, they would have been in a neat column and not at all likely to affect the accuracy of the visual comparison.

The chart, Fig. 22, was taken from a report devoted entirely to the city of Newburgh. On this account, it would have been much better if the word "Newburgh" had been printed in heavy-faced type so that it would stand out from the other cities in the list. Where the use of colored ink is possible, it is frequently desirable to make the item under foremost consideration stand out prominently by giving it a brilliant color such as red or green.

Fig. 23. Comparison of the Registered Shipping of the Principal Countries of the World

The picture at the top of the chart assists in attracting the attention of the reader. After the attention is gained, the bars set forth the comparison more accurately than it could be given by any pictures of ships of different sizes

Fig. 23 is an attempt to give a popular touch similar to that attempted in Fig. 19 by the bale of cotton. As a general thing, it is possible to attract attention by some such scheme as the steamship used in Fig. 23 and then, after the attention is attracted, to give the comparison by methods which are entirely correct and also familiar to the average observer. In Fig. 23 the figures are given for the data from which the bars are drawn. The values, however, were so large that it was necessary to leave off the last three ciphers and state that the values given are in "thousands of tons." Though the dropping of ciphers is very common, it is a practice likely to lead to serious error and should not be encouraged. Even with the ciphers omitted, the values could not possibly have been given inside the bar if more countries had been included in the list, or if the scale had been any smaller than that shown here. To place above each bar the title for that bar is not good practice. In general, it is desirable to have a