Nothing is more important to the average bookkeeper or office clerk than
good figures. In many lines of accounting, thousands of business figures
are made without the writing of a single word.
This, in a measure, is true in many branches of statistical work
connected with railroad bookkeeping where headings are printed and page
after page is filled with figures. The first requisite is legibility,
and its importance cannot be emphasized too much. Letters in a word may
be known by the context, but each figure must depend upon itself for
legibility. It is very important, then, that each figure should be so
formed that its value, in groups or by itself, cannot be mistaken.