Because of the disproportionate area, the right-hand picture gives the reader a false and exaggerated impression of growth. See Fig. 41

ONE MILE

32,837,000 ONE MILE

Fig. 41. Number of Passengers Carried on the Railroads of the United States in 1899

and in 191 1 Compared

Here is a chart drawn from the same data as Fig. 40. It was not a larger passenger, but more passengers, that the railroads carried. The ratio expressing increase in business can be clearly and accurately seen from this method of portraying the facts

GRAPHIC METHODS

250.440,000,000 Tons

WoTld's Work

Fig. 42.

Comparison of the Total Amount of Freight Service on the Raikoads of the United States in 1899 and in 191 1

It would have improved this illustration if the two locomotives had been shown one exactly above the other facing to the left. The additional cars representing the increase in 1911 would then be seen as though added to the rear of the train

to be brought out is not that the railroads carried a larger passenger in 1911, but that they carried more passengers.

If it is necessary to have a popular method, we can at least be accurate by portraying the data in the form of Fig. 41, not as in Fig. 40. Copy for an illustration of this sort is very simply made by taking proofs from a cut of one man and then pasting these proofs on a long strip of paper until a row of the correct length is obtained. The whole arrangement can then be photographed down to produce the effect shown in Fig. 41. To avoid fractional men at the end of a row, it is usually easy to express the ratio with a sufficient number of men in each row or bar to get numerical correctness.