In this case, the double lines at the bottom of the chart draw too much attention to the bottom

and may cause a wrong interpretation of the chart. As charts of this type are usually made so as to have the bottom at zero, the reader of Fig. 54 may get an entirely erroneous idea of the actual increase in the rates of wages. This chart of Fig. 54 should have been drawn with % inch more room at the bottom so that the scale would begin at zero rather than at $1.00. A glance at the chart as it is shown here might convey to any but a careful reader that the wages of trackmen had more than doubled, within the period of ten years covered by the records thus graphically presented, though the actual wage increase was only from about $1.12 to $1.50. Though Fig. 54 contains a good suggestion for presenting data in popular form, it is in itself misleading because it does not have its base line at zero. Fig. 55 is a commendable piece of work for popular presentation, as for instance in a magazine. Note the use of dimension marks in two independent horizontal rows so that the upper row indicates the material from which the ships are made while the lower row shows the

Reprodvced by Permission from Droege's " Freight Terminals and Trains", copyright, 1913, by the McGraw-Hill Book Company

Fig. 53. Changes after Ten Years in Costs of Railroad Materials and in Freight Rates for a Large Railroad System