SCRAWLING SIGNATURES

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 119, 15 November 1929, Page 4

SCRAWLING SIGNATURES

Every time father becomes critical of Junior's, handwriting as displayed on his latest school composition, perhaps ho will do well to consider what kind of signature, he himself attached that afternoon to his pile of outgoing mail, states the' "Christian Science •Monitor."

If father's signature is at all like the average pen tracks, Junior need not feel greatly ashamed. Probably son's handwriting does not-exhibit such a gorgeous assortment of angles and culitues as father's, but it is doubtless more printlike, more restful to the. eye.

The increased momentum of the business day, the necessity for signing letters in job lots, has played havoc with present-day script, declare teachers of penmanship. The copperplate dignity and legibility that characterised the correspondence of a former generation is now studied 'under a glass case, along ■with the feathered pen and the bowl of blotting sand. Our jiggling chirography is but another striking example of tho modern demand;.for fast'work.

No wonder army regulations insist that all official correspondence must have-tlie typewritten name of the writer in close" proximity to the inked signature, so that no time will be wasted in deciphering scrawling penmanship. Indeed, this system might well be adopted in many civilian organisations.

It is fortunate that the typewriter and telephone have come to the aid of the busy executive. If he were compelled to drive a pen many hours a day, recipients of his letter's would probably loquire a board of high-salaried mizzle exports to interpret their meaning.'