Brinton, Willard C. Graphic Methods for Presenting Facts. New York: The Engineering Magazine Company, 1914. Internet Archive identifier: cu31924032626792 (Cornell University Library copy). The first American textbook on what we now call data visualization.

Such an illustration can, however, be made by using pins like those shown in Fig. 196, or like pin No. 20 in Fig. 199. This latter MAPS AND PINS No R-R. Cap. Bbls. per day 1,BOO ?. H«LDEaBERa Cem. Co . . . Howo Can, N. Y . ., D. A H.R R AJfloo.N. Y . N. Y. C 4H. R N. Y. C. 4 H. R. N. Y. C & H. R. L. V. R R 4,300 . Hudaon. N. Y fj . . . Portlaad Poial, N. V 1£00 f Wayland, N. Y …

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Below the Map Is a Tabulation Giving the Name, Address, Capacity and Shipping Raihoad for Each Plant A pin map like this can be quickly made up by using pins such as are pictured in number 20 of Fig. 199 or pins such as are used in Fig. 196. An outline map with the pins can illustration like the above pin has black figures on a white background, and does not give as striking …

GRAPHIC METHODS case of emergencj\ One prominent manufacturer of locks for bank vaults uses a map Avhich shows at all times the location of each of some fifty bank-lock experts who are routed from city to city each day by telegraph. The locations of the pins, and the railroad lines represented on the map, show instantly which man can best be sent to any bank which reports …

Even the mention of railroad tracks in the title does not make up for not showing them on the chart. In preparing Fig. 198 a scale was very carefully selected to use one dot to represent a definite number of people so as to avoid having dots crowd each other too closely on the map. A map of this kind could be made in a very large size, and then be reduced photographically to a …

In Fig. 198 each dot represents two hundred people. A dot in the suburbs may therefore represent all the people in one square mile of territory. If a map were first made with two hundred dots for the two hundred people, the one dot actually used on the final map would have to be placed not at the geographical center of the area represented, but at the center of gravity of the …

Long pin with glass head used in conjunction with a piece of sheet celluloid cut into the shape of a flag. William D. McAbee in the Survey Fig. 197. Relative Soot Deposits in Indianapolis, March, 1912 The greatest soot tall is in the vicinity of railroad tracks Carefully selected samples of snow were melted and the soot of twenty-four hours weighed after the water was …

The size of the various beads and pins can be determined by measuring on the above picture with an ordinary ruler, as the articles are shown in their exact size 4. A celluloid flag, with beads above the flag to represent quantity, or beads in different colors to denote various characteristics for the data portrayed. The grip of the sheet celluloid on the pin is sufficient to …

Beads in various colors of a size to correspond with the map pins in No. 8. Here the beads were red. White beads, used for every tenth position, show at a glance that there are 22 beads on the pin. Note that the color red photographs as black. 10. Map pins having sharp needle points and spherical glass heads in contact with the map. The pin is of the same general style as No …

Since both sizes and colors may be varied, and almost any number of beads used on one pin, there are practically unlimited possibilities for the showing of complex data. 16. Beads on a pin which holds down on the map a sheet of colored celluloid cut to the exact shape of a small land area to which attention is directed. 17. A sheet-celluloid marker held by a map pin like that …

Map pins and tacks of this sort placed upon the surface of a map can give a spot map with any desired diameter of spots, no matter what size of map is used or what the amount of photographic reduction may be. It is simply a question of selecting from the spherical heads, 8 or 10, and the flat heads 18, 22, and 24, to determine which size head is best suited to the size of the …

Pins having red letters on a black background cannot be used for photographing, as the red letters would photograph black and disappear entirely, leaving a solid black circle instead of a circle with figures. Since pins with a black background and white figures are not commonly obtainable, it may occasionally be necessary to use pins like No. 20 in Fig. 199 having black …

Allen, Dodd, Mead & Cu. Fig. 200. Sources of the First 3,000 Letters of Appeal Sent to Mrs. E. H. Harriman. These 3,000 Letters Asked for $70,000,000 Eight different kinds of pins were used on this map to represent different kinds of appeals. Long pins like those seen here are apt to fall out of the map, and thus destroy the accuracy of the record. Note the area around New …

When there are several units in a town, the beads strung on a long pin or wire can be counted quickly if a bead of a different color is used for every tenth bead, so the whole column may be counted by tens as possible in Fig. 201. A bead map like Fig. 201 should be mounted on several layers of corrugated straw-board to allow the long pins sufficient depth in the mounting to …

If long columns of beads must be used as in Fig. 201 for New York and Boston, the beads may be strung on piano wire such as may be secured in any good hardware store. The piano wire should be heated in a gas flame so as to remove some of the spring temper. After the wire has been heated it can be straightened and it will remain straight without continually springing back into …

The men of the group portrayed who reside in foreign countries are indicated by pins near the seacoast with arrows pointing toward the country of residence. The fact that there were large numbers of the men in Massachusetts made necessary an extremely long wire for the beads of the Boston district. Because of the small size of the finished illustration and the size of map …

The bead wires for New York and for Boston were accordingly pulled entirely out of the map and the map was photographed without these two bead wires. The two bead columns were drawn in by hand on the surface of a photograph measuring 8 inches across the base of the map. With a little care, using a fine-pointed pen, bead columns such as these can be drawn in so that the …

On the fire map the height of the multi-story loft buildings in which the difi^erent factories may be found is indicated by using one bead for each floor. Thus, in some of the taller buildings, twenty stories are indicated. Different colors of beads according to the fire risk or the sanitary defect to be shown mark the stories very plainly, and the heights of the bead columns …

WITH the exception of the railroads, there are relatively few businesses which make a practice of plotting curves to show operating records in convenient form for the use of executives. Railroad accounting is more highly standardized than accounting in industrial corporation work. The standardized method of accounting has made it rather easy to compare the operating records of …

By the method in the lower part of the illustration the plotted line more closely approaches a true curve, there is much less variation in the direction of the lines from month to month, and the general trend of the curve line is easier for the eye to grasp. Compare the two curves for the summer months of the year 1909-10. In the upper curve a series of steps, and in the lower …

Another disadvantage of the method of steps with flat tops as compared with the method using slanting lines and peak tops, is seen when two or more curves are so drawn that they intersect on the same sheet of co-ordinate paper. Curves plotted with peak tops can be drawn very close together and yet be fairly distinct from each other, as will be noticed in many of the …

, . Courtesy of Factory Fig. 203. Lubrication Cost per Ton of Product for a Factory in the Year 1908 The figures at the top of the co-ordinate ruling give the data from which the curve was plotted. Though data should be put on all charts, figures arranged in the direction here shown are not in convenient form for addition. See the later illustrations in this chapter for …

If a peaktop method of plotting is used, numerous curves may be run across the same sheet and yet be distinct enough for identification even when all are reduced to uniform white fines on the blue print. It would be easy to name fifteen reasons why the method of plotting with peak tops is superior to the method of plotting with flat tops. The advantages of the peak-top method …

The resulting value for the point is ordinarily more or less inaccurate, depending upon the scale to which the curve is drawn. Not, only is the reader's time taken in estimating the value for any point on the curve, but when he gets his result he is dissatisfied, for he cannot feel that the figure obtained is really accurate. There is a great advantage in showing on a chart …

Here the data of .January, 1913, are indicated by a dot rather than by a line. The change occurring from December to .January is not easily seen. This difficulty can be easily overcome by allowing an extra space for one month as in the following illustrations CALENDAR YEAR !|I3 ° Bureau of Railway Economics, Washington, D. C. Fig. 204. Monthly Revenue, Expense, and Net Revenue …

At the beginning of the card we repeat the line for July, so that instead of showing a dot when the August figures are plotted w^e are able to draw a line showing the change which has occurred from July to August. In general, it is good practice to use one more vertical line than there are points to be plotted, so that the last point on one curve, sheet or card may be repeated …

Cards for different years can easily be looked over and the yearly total figures compared instantly, to the great advantage of the executive who has these additions made for him and recorded where they are always in plain sight. Curves as they were used in the past gave the values of single points only, without any summation for a series of points. In Fig. 205 we have not only …

By repeating the point, however, and not repeating the figures, the curve is made continuous without any danger of adding too many items into the total. In the right-hand margin of Fig. 206 a vertical green line may be seen. This line may be used as the shank of an arrow to indicate, as CURVES FOR THE EXECUTIVE -> sx o +• < > V) in IVo'fiCb'l OOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOq 3 0. " 6^0 d d …

If the curve is to show expenses per unit of output, the head must be placed on the vertical line so that the arrow will point downward. In Fig. 206 no head is placed on the arrow, as fluctuations in a payroll mean nothing unless we know the output of work. An increasing payroll may result either from increasing sales or from inefficient production. A decrease in payroll may …

The paper commonly used becomes brown and brittle within five or ten years, so that records on such paper are likely to be useless in a comparatively short time. The high-grade paper used for record cards as are shown in Fig. 205 and Fig. 206, contains only the finest selected linen stock and is guaranteed absolutely against any deterioration for twenty years. The chief …

machines cannot be run slowly enough to give the required length of exposure. Some of the older machines can be changed at rather slight expense so as to have an extra belt-pulley reduction between the motor and the blue-printing machine itself. The newer types of machine can usually be run slowly enough to give the exposure necessary for this special paper. If a new …

It is impossible for anyone to predict what conditions will come up in the future of a business, and the only safe plan is to install from the start such a curve-record system that any card may be duplicated by blue-printing in future years if desired. It frequently happens that an executive wishes to have a blue print made of a recent year's curve card to compare with the …

The space toward the left-hand side of the cards shown in Fig. 205 is for remarks which may be necessary to explain different fluctuations in the curves. In Fig. 206 full circles along the curve show those weeks in which a full holiday reduces the amount of the payroll. In the month of x4pril there was, for this particular plant, a half-holidaj' on the nineteenth. This is …

An example of the kind of information which should be noted on the curve-card margin came up in a large public-service company, where the manager was for several minutes unable to explain a very great fluctuation which had affected the earnings of a trolley company some two years before. After careful study to explain the drop in the curve, he finallj^ recalled that this …

Though weather conditions have affected the curves quite largely, we can see, by comparing the curves for 1910 and 1911, that probably conditions of management as well as weather conditions caused smaller shipments in November and December, 1911, than in those same months of 1910, when shipments were quite good. The card for 1912 is shown with the curve incomplete, just as the …

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for the last month of the preceding fiscal year instead of using a dot as shown in Fig. 204. The separate cards for different years, which in Fig. 207 are arranged vertically one above the other, may be laid horizontally as in Fig. 208. Here the cards are superposed on a black background, the left-hand and middle cards each overlying the card to the right, so that the curve …

Thus in Fig. 208 it is much easier than in Fig. 207 to see that sales dropped seriously in the first half of 1911, and that they increased far beyond any previous record during the last half of 1911. The vertical arrangement is useful for one purpose : the horip . '^ q: u- p p-i to isil ^ UtOU p p ? P p p p p J b b 1 oooooooooo ', QOOOOQOOOO A (9 w ro u 109. aze \ \ \ ' ^ …

When the cards are arranged horizontally the figures for the curve over a series of years are in plain sight, while in the vertical arrangement one card hides the figures on another card. Figures are essential to the true interpretation of curves like those seen in Fig. 208. In looking at Fig. 208 most readers are likely to feel that the business of the year 1911 was much …

In the latter half of the fiscal year, sales increased so rapidly that men had to be hired in large numbers. Inevitably, therefore, many unskilled men were obtained who were sure to spoil a large volume of any output requiring the great accuracy needed by automobile parts. The record for the fiscal year ending 1911 was in every way bad, as compared with that for the fiscal …

CURVES FOR THE EXECUTIVE 267 difficult with a loose-leaf book to arrange a system for keeping hundreds of curves in such a way that quick comparisons between any of them can be made. When loose cards are used any card can be compared with any other card instantly, and, if desired, cards for any curve for a series of years may be laid out for comparison with cards for any other …

In Fig. 209 we have in the upper curve the actual sales of an automobile branch house selling direct to the automobile user. Notice that the sales in the spring months greatly exceed the sales at any other time of the year. In the first two fiscal years sales were at a maximum in May, while in the third fiscal year sales reached the maximum in April and were fairly large in …

It is quite easily seen from the upper curves that the sales for the second fiscal year were much greater than those for the first fiscal year. The total figures, however, show much more clearly the extent of the increase. Because of the excellent sales during the spring months, the curve for the third fiscal year at the right gives the impres- GRAPHIC METHODS 5i os-g-ass ^ •5 …

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sion of a prosperous year. Reference to the figures for the total yearly sales, however, shows that the sales for the third year increased only very slightly over the preceding j^ear. When we compare the sales of this branch house with the expenses, we get quite a different story from that read from sales curves alone. The increase in sales from the first year to the second …

No arrow was used in connection with the curve for expenses. 270 GRAPHIC METHODS It was permissible that expenses should go up in the second fiscal year, for the volume of sales increased very rapidly. The cost per unit of sales or the ratio of expenses to total sales had decreased greatly. An arrow pointing downward would have given a wrong impression as the total expenses …

There was a profit in all the months of the second year except two, with a total profit of very considerable size, though not a tremendous one compared with the volume of sales, since the profit was only 5.9 per cent of the sales. In the third year the profits were on the ragged edge throughout the whole year except in the three spring months of March, April, and May when …

The branch manager blamed the factory because the factory could not deliver a sufficient C][uantity of cars. The factory manager was not to blame, however, as the engineering department (reporting direct to the president instead of to the factory manager) had delayed the design for the new car, and the factory manager was, of course, unable to build a car until he had the …

As the curves are in each case accompanied by the actual figures for the value of each point on the curves, it is not necessary that one should be able to measure accurately for points falling between horizontal co-ordinate lines. Instead of consulting the vertical scale to get the value at any point, reference is made to the actual figures above the various points. These …

It will be noticed, in Fig. 208, that the cards are overlapped in such a way that the right-hand edge of the uppermost card coincides with the left-hand edge of the ruled field of the lower card, and that the zero line is continuous. The extension line drawn at the left of any lower card shows where the extension drawn across the right margin of the upper card is to be joined …

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Two more spaces were again allowed in 1912 in anticipation of even further upward progress in the curve. As joint lines may be drawn in continuation of any horizontal line on either the upper or the lower card, any amount of expansion in future years may be provided for. The curve cards are small enough to be very convenient to handle and yet they may be joined together in …

Whenever zero is not shown at the bottom of the ruled field, this wavy line should be used. Any card can thus be read independently, with safety so far as its interpretation from the zero point is concerned. When several cards are laid out together, and the zero line is shown on the left-hand card, as in Fig. 211, it is a simple matter for the eye to imagine the zero line …

By drawing the left-hand joint line on the later cards above the bottom of the ruled space, and by putting the right-hand joint lines for the first cards at the bottom of the ruled curve field, the series of curves can be made to progress downward to any desired extent in exactly the same manner as the curves in Fig. 211 progress upward year by year. By the use of these joint …

Scales must usually be made in full size, one-half size, one-quarter size, etc., and it is usually too big a jump to change from one of these sizes to another. The ideal arrangement is to have a supply of co-ordinate paper with different rulings so that when one ruling does not suit, some other ruling may be used. On the curve cards shown in this chapter the horizontal scale …

The ruling having vertical spaces of one-sixth of an inch is ten spaces high. This ruling is very convenient for curve plotting on a percentage basis when 100 per cent is shown at the top of the chart as in Fig. 126, Fig. 128 and Fig. 129 in Chapter IX. If, on the tenspace card, each space is used to represent 10 per cent with zero for the bottom line and 100 per cent for the …

This would allow the sales to be trebled in volume before the curve would extend over the top of the ruled portion and necessitate a change in scale or a step upward so that the zero line could no longer be shown at the bottom of the card. It is well to start all curves for output or sales at about one-third of the height of the card so as to allow plenty of room for future …

The engineers' scale in fortieths or sixtieths of an inch gives ten divisions to each space between the horizontal lines on the card and makes it possible to locate each plotted point with a very finely sharpened lead pencil or a needle. Practice, however, proves that there is no necessity for using an engineer's scale in plotting curve points on the cards here described. The …

He need only glance at the figures above any point to learn the value for that point far more correctly than would ever be possible with even the most accurately plotted curve if the value of the point had to be interpolated from the vertical scale of the chart. The vertical scale of these cards on which the figures are given in the upper margin fulfills almost no purpose …

■^ w B' if^ o In w ip| V H» ^ "n t^ o' N in e-' d w" « ^ ^o^SAui i^nuu^ ^ o :^ ■^■^■^M <x[jlll, ps:!iJOHJn^ other sources of information. This is straight clerical work and may be done with a pen on one card after another with great rapidity. Ordinary liquid drawing ink is the best for the figures, as the opaqueness of the drawing ink gives better blue prints than are …

In Fig. 212 we have complete in black ink the same card which in Fig. 206 is given full scale, using two colors to make the contrast between the green-ink background and the black-ink curve. Though Fig. 212 shows the card in reduced size, it nevertheless gives a very good idea of the appearance of a card suitable for the plotting of records for one year by weeks, making it …

By referring to the calendar for the year 1911 one may see how the short lines for months are put in. As the pay weeks ended on Thursday, there were only four pay weeks ending in July, but there were five pay weeks ending in March. March 1 came on Wednesday. The last day of March was on Friday. The vertical co-ordinate lines for March show clearly that there were five …

A supply of cards for any year can thus be made up at small expense, without having to have cards printed differently each year just because mankind has not yet made a calendar which always has the same relation between days of the week and days of the month. The scheme of indicating the relation of weeks and months by the short vertical pen marks permits the carrying on hand …

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In Fig. 212 the figures 8, 9, 10, etc., indicating the months, can be printed on the cards and thus leave to be inserted by hand each year only the short vertical markings indicating the relation of the weeks and the months. Fig. 213 shows the weekly curve card used in the records of a dairy farm. The particular curve shown is for a prize Jersey cow which was being very …

Note the diagonal arrangement of the two headings, "Pounds" and "Per cent Butter Fat". This diagonal arrangement is a convenient one as it is easy to read and refers to each of two columns of figures, one column vertical and the other horizontal. A card for each cow as indicated above is worth while in a modern dairy. Individual records are fundamentally necessary to efficient …

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O =« .3 o o « p^ *i M J s > t o hi ti£) a; § .a §■1 -« o 8t IT) I^ a <u l-l o 2i ^ Wh o M-a L.> 4-» t: M-H -^^ « o o -^ rrf bjD«t; ta a; r. oj (H o ^ ^ :^ o^ o 1) -- rt cu a. ■4-* o O) o ?^ -s ,_, w .ti -t-» o o <J1 in & (M hfl ■SJ 1^ fully watched tliere are certain to be in every herd cows whose milk production is far below the average. Individual records of each cow are now …

As the card 12 inches long is necessary for weekly records, a card of the same size can be used conveniently to show five years by months instead of using five separate 4-by-6-inch cards, one for each year. In Fig. 214, the figures at the top of the card show the CURVES FOR THE EXECUTIVE 281 milk production each month and the total milk production for each calendar year. The …

In Fig. 215 certain peaks in the curve appear to have somewhat similar shape. Thus the peak for 1908 looks like the peak for 1907 until closer examination shows clearly that the low point for 1908 was in July, while the low point following the peak of 1907 came not in July, 1907, but in January, 1908. The waves themselves, although of somewhat similar shape, have peaks at …

Having five separate cards causes the reader to take more time in handling cards in order that he may save mental effort and avoid error in interpreting the yearly waves. Having five years on one card saves handling the cards, but it takes more mental effort to be accurate in reading the curve horizontally. The choice between five cards of one fiscal year each and one card for …

This is an important point for any small business to watch, for it may involve bankruptcy to assume that the particular business is not affected by slack seasons of the year such as affect most businesses. Fig. 211 gives an example of a curve in which a large amount of seasonal fluctuation might be easily seen if the rapid increase in the business did not make the upward trend …

In making comparisons between separate curves there is a great advantage in having a standard arrangement of the five-year cards so that there may be no danger of comparing two curves for different years when it is intended to compare for the same year. It is desirable, as seen in Fig. 215, that all five-year cards should have the years arranged by half-decades. One …

If the executive wishes to know the general trend of his costs, he refers at once to this fine line and sees what the cost has been for the last twelve months for which costs are known. In making up this moving average (as explained in Chapter VI), one month is dropped from the addition and another month is included in the addition, so that the twelve months added are always …

It is accordingly good practice to have twelve points included here in making up the moving average, so as to give as smooth a curve as possible. If there had been a complete wave or cycle every six months instead of once a year, it would have been desirable to use six points in the moving average, rather than twelve points. The practice in many offices is to use the last …

in Fig. 91 it would be following so far behind the periodic record curve that the ordinary reader would not realize that the moving-average curve is really up-to-date. For executive work, the object of a movingaverage curve is not so much to get a smooth curve as to show the average for the preceding year or other period of time considered. Under these circumstances it seems …

The fact that the curves are all put into the same size of space on the curve cards causes them to have somewhere near the same percentage scale of height, even though the actual numerical scales may be widely different. Having all curves on the curve cards thus gives more accuracy and ease of reading than would be obtained if several curves were shown on large sheets of …

For instance, if three thousand dollars a year is expended for the labor, materials, etc., necessary in plotting all the curves in an organization, and there are three thousand curves kept regularly, it can be seen that the expense per curve per year will be about one dollar. Therefore, if the man should wish one hundred curves plotted for different data relating to his …

The authorization plan here outlined, if any man leaves a corporation, would automatically give his successor an opportunity to consider how much of the curve plotting should be continued on the basis formerly used. There is always a great personal difference in the manner in which executives desire reports prepared. The authorizing of curves periodically gives each executive …

This serial number remains the same year after year, even though changes are made in the manner of assembling data or in any other minor details affecting the curve. The serial number is placed at the upper left-hand corner of the card, where it can easily be seen when the cards are filed in card-index fifing cabinets. The cards are identified by the number and year, as may be …

^^^ '^'^'^^'^• ■ ^'^"^^'f"^ '' P^ hand corner of the Fig. 2 1 6. Each Curve Card Plotted Periodically Has a Serial Number. A 4-incli by 6-uicli Record Card is Filed by the Curve Serial Number to Give the Complete Information Necessary so that Anyone May Know How to Collect the Data and Plot the Curve. The Card, Shown Above, Refers to Curve 2678 Shown for Three Years in Fig …

Fig. 216 shows a 4-by-6-inch card such as is used in conjunction with each curve card regularly plotted. The number on this card corresponds with the serial number on the curve card as will be seen by referring to Fig. 205 and Fig. 207. If two or more curves appear on the curve card, a card like that in Fig. 216 would have subheadings such as 2678A, 2678B, etc., all shown on …

Though information cards like that depicted in Fig. 216 are used principally by the man who plots the curves, they are filed in such convenient location that they may be referred to by any executive who wishes to know the source of the data plotted on any curve card, or who wishes to see just what figures are included and what are excluded in making up any grand totals. The …

The executives of our corporations, the men who are mayors of our cities, and the men in active charge of the government of our country are, without exception, the hardest worked men in the world. The stoker heaving coal into the furnaces of an express steamer has a better chance for long life than the man who accepts the presidency of even our best managed railroads and …

The present executives are extremely fortunate in that they had an opportunity to develop themselves at the same time that their jobs grew bigger. What are we going to do ten years hence, when executives who have had such thorough training have all retired or have been killed off by the strain of the job? Where shall we find men with broad enough knowledge and experience to …

It is perfectly feasible to focus a whole business into records so simple that a trained- man could see, in half a day, all the important tendencies well enough to give an intelligent director's vote. This, too, without a spoken word of explanation from anyone. The records themselves could tell the complete story in every detail if placed in proper graphic form. It is the …

Of course a special filing cabinet 12 inches wide can be made if desired. 290 GRAPHIC METHODS but it is not really necessary. In a cabinet like that shown in Fig. 217, the original curve cards would ordinarily be filed behind the guide cards showing the factory or selling-house locations, or behind guide cards showing the names of departments in any large business. All the …

For this reason the original curve cards should be filed by departments so that the complete history of any department may be had from the cards behind the guide card for that department. A large portion of the executive's work, however, involves the study of his general business not by departments but by functions. For instance, the executive may wish to know how many …

RECORDS FOR THE EXECUTIVE this total card would be filed blue prints showing the employees in each department of the whole plant. Thus, if a total card at the front showed that the employees were increasing, the manager could refer to each one of the department cards filed immediately back of the total card to see in just which departments there had been an increase during the …

If expenses had increased the manager could refer to the departmental or account-number cards and see just which departments or accounts were responsible for an increase or decrease in the curve giving the total. The cards in a large business would be filed by expense-account numbers, with the total card referring to any expense account for the whole business filed at the …

This feature alone may save a large amount of his time by making necessary information more accessible, and by afi^ording information which may show leaks in his business that he would otherwise never know to exist. In a business of any size the cost of making one blue print each month from each original curve card is almost insignificant. The guide cards showing functions or …

Though such a room might be combined with a technical library for books relating to the particular art or industry in which the company finds its field of operation, it is advisable to have the amount of furnishings in the room limited so that there may be no likelihood of valuable confidential papers being lost or misplaced. Such a room really needs to have no more furniture …

Since the information contained in this room is practically a history of every phase of the business, it would be desirable to have the room enclosed with fire-proof walls and fire-proof doors and equipped with fire-proof file cases and furniture so that the destruction of the records by fire would be absolutely impossible. As good light is essential in such a room, large …

Very desirable information could also be obtained concerning the business conditions of the country as a whole. Since practically every business is affected by the general waves of financial prosperity and depression, a good man in this position could be of great assistance to the chief executive, by carefully studying some series of curves (which might, after long experience …

If a man of the right type were told that he would report directly to the chief executive, and that he would have a confidential position with complete access to the records of every department of the whole business including both manufacturing and selling, he would be quite willing to start the work at a reasonable salary, knowing full well that the opportunities given would …

One man can add one more point monthly to several thousand difi^erent curves, and do also a certain amount of the clerical work involved in making up ratios, grand totals, etc. If a record file of curves like that shown in Fig. 217 is once made thoroughly up to date, for any business, it is easy to keep it up to date with only routine work such as any man of even ordinary …

The record department should be in a quiet place to which the president or any other official may retreat to get completely away from the distractions which are common in his own office because of the telephone and constant visitors. In the record room the executive would be free to concentrate his whole attention on the records of what his business has been doing in the last …

There is an advantage in having one man put all the cards back in the files, as in this way there is less chance of the cards being misplaced in the file than if several different executive officers were to use the cards and themselves put the cards back. It should be stated here that in the ordinary use of curve files such as are shown in Fig. 217 an executive would not need …

Day and Zimmermann, of Philadelphia, are plotting a total of about eight thousand curves, most of the curves on a cumulative basis somewhat as shown in Fig. 134. In order to allow space enough for a cumulative curve (which naturally takes up more room than a curve plotted on a non-cumulative basis), the curves are plotted on cards 8}^ inches by 11 inches, and these cards are …

In using the notched-card scheme two notches may, if desired, be placed in the top of each card, thus permitting many more group combinations than would be possible if only one notch were used. The notches may be cut with a special instrument of rather simple construction so as to insure their uniform spacing right or left from the upper corners of the card. A notch in the …

If the drafting office is not near the record room, however, it may be well to equip the record room with an electric blue-printing machine and a small washing tank, so that blue prints of each card may be made without the necessity of taking confidential record cards out of the room. Photographic processes for copying records have recently been much improved. A machine called …

The value of the president's time in a large corporation cannot be figured out on the basis of his salary, for it is certainly true that the executives of large corporations receive salaries much less than the value of their services to their corporation. A single "yes" or "no" decision of the corporation executive usually involves a gain or loss in the earnings of the …

As it may not be desirable to have department heads in a business know anything about the finances of the company as a whole, or anything regarding the records of departments other than their own, it may be best to have the curve cards filed in several drawers with a separate drawer for the cards relating to the work of each department head. If the drawers are equipped with …

When a new man comes into a corporation as an executive or a director, the value of his service to the corporation is at first practically nothing, and he may even for a while be considered a handicap to the corporation in that it is necessary for men who have been associated longer with the corporation to spend a great deal of their time in explaining to the new member the …

With a card-index file of curves and a record department like that described in this chapter, it should be possible for any trained man coming into a corporation as a new director or new official to give a fairly intelligent vote after only half a day's study of the curves, and this too without having spoken a single word to anyone. If the record department and the curves are …

It would certainly make a great difference to any new mayor if he could RECORDS FOR THE EXECUTIVE 299 go to a record room and study a set of curves showing, for instance, the total number of men in the employ of the city year after year under different administrations. He would be able to see over a period of years the number of men in each city department such as fire …

Councilmen, civic organizations, newspapers, etc., wanting copies of any record card should be able to get blue prints or photographs at a nominal charge of say ten cents per card copy. The New York Public Library is successfully working a plan by which photographs of any page of any book in the library can be provided to readers in a few hours at a cost of only twenty-five …

It is not, however, right that executive officers who must determine pohcies and who must make instant decisions should be forced to base all their decisions on information provided to them only in the form of the accovmtant's standard arrangement of balance sheet and operating statement. The accountant must necessarily take a bird's-eye view of the whole business from time to …

Most managers are forced to work from the accountants' monthly statement, and their procedure is accordingly to go through the separate operating statements for several months and take off on scratch pads the figures for the items in which they may be particularly interested at the moment. These figures may have to be added together in order to compare a certain number of …

The accountant's report would, of course, be filed carefully for future reference purposes if reference is ever necessary, but for the purposes of the executive the curve cards with the figures they contain are sufficient. Not only is the information for any subject shown on the cards as a curve over a long period of time, but the actual figures of the accountant's report are …

Some managers consider the ratio of indirect expenses to the direct labor in any department of a manufacturing business as an infallible barometer by which each department of the business can be run. They little realize the absurdity of paying too much attention to overhead-expense ratios and the danger to the business of using overhead-expense ratios as a yard-stick by which …

It is perhaps worth while to point out here that there is danger in giving too much information and too many facts to executives of small brain capacity who do not know how to use their authority intelligently. Curves such as those described in this and the preceding chapter, placed for the first time in the hands of the executive who does not know the technology or the …

An executive of the right type will soon realize as he uses the curves that he must do the constructive work himself, and that the curves will really have more effect in changing the procedure in his own office than in changing the detailed routine in the departments of his various subordinates. One of the first tasks confronting any modern executive is that of training, on …

A man prepared to show his data in the form of curves, for example like Fig. 157 or Fig. 159, feels that he would have an almost hopeless task to convey the vital facts if only spoken words might be used. The writer ventures to predict that within ten years practically all corporation directors and executives will be able to interpret curves with satisfaction to themselves and …

Another disadvantage of using lantern slides is the impossibiUty of getting shdes made quickly enough to represent always the latest points plotted on the curves. By using the original curve cards directly in the reflecting lantern there is always a certainty that the picture shown on the screen represents the very latest data which are available in curve form. When these …

If a carriage about two feet long is used, the carriage may be moved alternately from right to left, and while one side contains the cards which are being reflected on the screen, the other side may be loaded with the cards next desired. On account of its length the carriage will hold curve cards for several succeeding years. By pushing the carriage slowly across the lantern …

With this arrangement it will be necessary to take the curve cards from the record room to the place where the lantern is installed. The file for the curve cards (see Fig. 217) had better be ecjuipped with spring locks so that there will be no danger, when the file is carried, of drawers slipping out and spilling the cards. A rod arrangement is never desirable with such cards …

He can start talking to his men, and, at pleasure, ask the lantern operator (ordinarily the statistician) for any set of curve cards which may be of interest to him at the moment, or which may be referred to at any time during the discussion. The use of curves on a lantern screen in the manner suggested would entirely revolutionize the meetings of the department heads of a …

By using the lantern, the president could show facts relating to the business much more rapidly, much more clearly, and with greater accuracy than would be possible with any spoken words. The showing of curves would give the directors a chance to check the president's statements so that there would be less danger than at present of a corporation president so choosing his words …

On the swinging-leaf fixtures a series of curves are plotted giving all the salient facts relating to a group of public-service corporations. Though this type of wall chart is in many cases desirable, there are limitations to the use of wall charts because the number of charts cannot be sufficiently increased to give all the detailed information which is usually necessary …

For the length of one cigar the financier sits in his chair slowly revolving the chair until he has covered the information given on all of the wall charts, perhaps, if necessary, asking a few brief questions of his secretary. Though very little of the financier's time is taken, he is able by concentrated thought on the facts shown by his wall charts to keep in full touch with …

The bankers and large investors who can preserve in their files annual reports of a corporation over a long period of years probably number less than one per cent of the total number of stockholders to whom the annual reports are sent. It is only in very large, well managed offices that a file of corporation reports is made so that a complete set of reports for a long period …

The only way a new stockholder can possibly determine whether he wishes to buy some more stock or sell what stock he already has, is to hunt up some other stockholder or some banker who may happen to have a file of the annual reports over a period of years. Assuming that a complete file of annual reports can be found, most stockholders, if left to their own resources, would be …

Even if the stockholder should know how to make such a cross-index properly, there are very few stockholders who would be willing to give the time and the mental effort requisite to make a tabulated comparison of the kind necessary. The absorption of good securities by the public has increased in the last ten years at a tremendous rate. The Wall Street Journal has compiled …

CORPORATION FINANCIAL REPORTS 309 While the number of stockholders has been increasing, the average holdings of each stockholder have been steadily decreasing, and now average ninety-eight shares. The stocks of the United States Steel Corporation are great favorites among small investors. Taking the stockholders' list, it was found that among one hundred people, chosen at …

To be sure, a stockholder can always get an impartial and valuable opinion from an investment banker concerning the past records and future prospects of any company, but it would be well if the annual reports of boards of directors to stockholders contained material from which the investor could judge for himself to a greater extent. The material included should show the …

Though Fig. 1 has not been used in any annual report, it shows a type of chart which could very readily be included in a financial report to give complete facts to stockholders regarding complex conditions on which the average stockholder would gather very little information from the kind of corporation financial report ordinarily sent to him. The railroads have used charts in …

Four distinct subjects are treated in this chart, but the horizontal bars are arranged in such manner that the reader is likely to think there is only one subject. Probably most readers would prefer to turn the chart so that it may be read from the left-hand edge as four separate curves. To a trained reader this information would be much more clear if put in the form of curves …

The indiscriminate mixture of so many different kinds of bars in one chart makes a complex diagram to interpret, and it is probable that the chart would at least be no more difficult to apprehend if made entirely in the form of curves instead of bars. Though it is true that curves are not understood by some people who can readily grasp the bar method of presentation, there is …

This chart shows by years the per cent of increase over the year ended June 30, 1898, in the gross revenue from the transportation of commercial freiglit, the number of tons of commercial freight carried one mile, and the number of miles run by cars and locomotives in freighttrain service. Locomotive miles include revenue freight-train miles, all mixed-train miles, and …

Omitting the bottom of the chart makes the dividends appear a smaller percentage of net earnings than they really were. Fig. 223 could have been considerably improved, also, if the line showing net earnings were made much heavier than it is seen in the illustration. Year FEB CENT OF (NCneASE OVER 18BS J 4 1 U 1 LJ 1 L L 1 1 -IT ^ -- -- -- Jii_L±.U_,CLLr_LLlii J J Hi 191 I ^L …

Passenger Service and Traffic on the Union Pacific Railroad and Auxiliary Companies This chart shows by years the per cent of increase over the year ended June 30, 1898, in the gross revenue from the transportation of passengers, the number of passengers carried one mile, and the number of miles run by cars and locomotives in passenger-train service. Locomotive miles include …

-- -- \ 1 -- -- ■■ ~ ' / / / / \ v -\ / \ \ f \. \ ?(? ■x \ i \ r \ s / \ / / / ' / / / Pft / / / / / i / / j / / / \ _ r- _ wm. i« _ _. / / \ \ \ / \ ;■ / / ' \ / .- ■ _ / -- - -- ■ / / 'T ' ' \ „- - - -^ ■■ / ■ / / ■ ■ \ / ' ^ ^ -. ~ -- *. '- , i- ■ i , . •^ .-:. • _ :j_ _._ ■ , , ;. „ , ■ ■, ,■ ^ a^ New York Times Annalist Fig. 223. Net Earnings and Dividends of the United …

Dividends exceed net earnings in portions of the years 1911 and 1912, but the total earnings of those years were nevertheless great enough to justify maintaining the dividend rate Though this illustration contains some interesting information, the chart is misleading because the scale does not extend to zero. At first glance, the dividend of 1909 would seem to be more than …

The chart shown in Fig. 224 is designed to answer the first question: "Has the earning power of the company been maintained?" In order to bring out more clearly the very important relation between the surplus for dividends and the dividends paid, curves Nos. 3 and 4 are redrawn on a considerably enlarged scale as seen in Fig. 225. Curves No. 3 and No. 5 are therefore …

Preferred and common dividends paid This chart and the following charts relating to the United States Steel Corporation arc submitted as a suggestion to show how the annual report of a corporation could easily give comparisons over several years. The space required for the charts is insignificant, yet the stockholders would receive the vital facts in such form as to permit a …

A glance at the chart shows that, during 1905-6-7, gross earnings tended to increase faster than operating expenses, which is again true in 1909 and 1910. In 1908 and 1911, it proved impossible to reduce operating expenses to conform to the reduction in gross earnings, with the result that profits were sharply reduced in both these years. In 1912, a unique situation occurs …

The data are depicted here on a large scale so that the relation of dividends to surplus earned may be seen clearly throw the necessary light on this item. The average wages per man in 1907 were $765 per annum, and in 1912, $857. It has been shown that gross earnings in 1912 were less by $12,000,000 than in 1907, yet operating expenses in 1912 were $45,000,000 more than in …

The margin was very slim in 1903 SI 6 GRAPHIC METHODS and 1904 and again in 1911 and 1912. As the balance of earnings for the common stock in 1911 was only 5.9 per cent and in 1912 only 5.7 per cent, a continuance for another year of such narrow margin would probably have meant the reduction of the 5 per cent rate, especially in view of the reduced appropriations for new …

Curve 8 shows that even the panic of 1907 failed to curtail new construction to any great extent. But the poor profits in 1912, coupled with the higher rate of dividend on the common stock, did produce a sharp contraction -- from $50,- 000,000 in 1911 to less than $15,000,000 in 1912-- the latter figure being the smallest since 1902. This, however, is not to be criticised too …

Up to 1908, curve 9 follows curve 8 very closely, indicating that the new construction was largely paid out of earnings, and not capitalized. Since 1907, there has been a tendency to finance such additions by the sale of bonds. This tendency, if not carried too far, is not open to criticism. One may, therefore, answer the second question in the CORPORATION FINANCIAL REPORTS …

Note the large quantities expressed by the numbers in the vertical scale, yet the wide spacing of the groups of three figures makes interpretation very easy i > w / ^ / \ / / ^ / / \ / r > f / «/ \ / // / \\ / / ^^, / / ( / / \ \ 9/ \ \ / / \ \ \ / f / f / • \ \ i / * f \ \ / / \ \ > I / / / \ \ \ // \\ .'/ / \ \ \ '/ \' y f \ \ / \ / \ / \ / > r / \ / ^ - Dollars 400, ooo …

320, 300, 280, 260, Z40, 2ZO, 200, 180, 160, 140, 120, 100, SO, 60, 40, 20, / ^ / > 10^ / \ / y \ / > r > r ^■^ /^ ' ^ ^^ < 12. ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ y^ , \ '02 '03 '04 '05 '06 '07 '08 '09 '10 'II '12 Fig. 227. Financial Condition of the United States Steel Corporation in Different Years as Shown by the Balance Sheet Curve 10. Current assets Curve 11. Cash holdings Curve 12. Current …

This chart is very conclusive, for it shows a very large excess of current assets over current liabilities, while cash holdings have tended to eciual or exceed the total current liabilities. The balance sheet, therefore, indicates continuous and increasing financial strength. Current assets in 1912 reach nearly CORPORATION FINANCIAL REPORTS 319 $300,000,000, compared with …

In studying a language, we begin with the grammar before we try to read or write. In mathematics, we practice ourselves in simple arithmetic before we proceed to the subtleties of algebra and the differential calculus. But it is the grave misfortune of the moral and political sciences, as well shown by Mr. Herbert Spencer in his " Study of Sociology, " that they are …

This chapter is largely hased on an article prepared at the suggestion of the author by Mr. Pierpont V. Davis, of New York City, and published by Mr. Davis in Moody's Magazine. GRAPHIC METHODS »_^ 1- m w O d '^ Cj « S' a> c-3 o •S'5 ^ =^ .g of ^ 9 s o ^ X! bS •r- 3 sti S »-l c -^ M-l 1) .g o 4J a > o C5 "S ■■vB w ol n1 •4-' ^^- •^ cU 4> O d hn ° i' t3 .g W J^_. (1> t; o. r! o …

When the methods of tabulation are too laborious, not only are the records so extensive as to be in disfavor, but they may occasionally include errors, in spite of the greatest care that can be taken by even the highest grade of employees. Anything which will reduce the amount of mental concentration necessary on the part of persons collecting and tabulating facts, will …

It will be noticed that the card contains different columns of names or numbers and that there are twelve classifications possible in each vertical column in which a punched hole may be made. Ordinarily the different columns are used for different subjects, and the position of the punched hole in each column records the classification of the data relating to that particular …

Cards are sorted for one particular characteristic at a time, so that all cards having that characteristic are obtained for tabulating purposes. After the data on one set of cards have been tabulated, the cards can then be run through the sorting machine again and sorted for other characteristics. This permits using the punched cards over and over again until all of the …

After any group of cards has been run through the machine the totals can be read off from the counting dials and written down by the operator. Then the machine is ready for some other set of cards. Machines are built with different numbers of counting heads to suit the complexity of the data in any kind of business. By having several counting heads on the same machine …