out information valuable to a corporation executive. Department stores might also have use for charts on the general plan of Fig. 157. Different departments could be considered by the number of orders of various sizes. As the margin of profit in different classes of goods in different quantity sold would be fairly well known, the manager could get a good idea as to how much of the time of his sales force was occupied in handling small orders, and how much in handling large orders.
Fig. 158 is drawn on the same general scheme as Fig. 157. In Fig. 158, however, we have the additional complexity that the freight under consideration must be handled by two distinct departments working in very close harmony with each other. As there is a difference in the cost of doing the work handled by the two departments, the chart was purposely so drawn as to show the number of orders and the number of packages handled by each of these two distinct departments which together do all of the work under consideration. Curves "B" and "F" show respectively the percentage of orders and the percentage of business handled as a whole. The other curves show the relative proportions of the orders and the business done by the two departments. The position of the curves on the chart gives a fairly clear idea as to whether the first department or the second department handles the larger number of orders and the larger percentage of the actual business.
In Fig. 153 it was shown that, because the curves were plotted on a "less than" basis, the curve showing the smaller length of time appears at the top of the chart, when one would naturally expect to find the smaller quantities of time recorded relatively toward the bottom of the chart. In Fig. 158 the data are plotted on a "more than" basis, and the curves are seen in their proper relation to each other. Since the reader knows that the chart is plotted on a "more than" basis (as can be seen by the words "more than" at the lower left-hand corner of the chart), he may know instantly that the curves relating to the two different departments show in their correct relation to each other. Curves "G" and "C" relate to one department, while curves "E" and "A" relate to another department. Curve "C" appears above curve "A" on the chart, and the reader may accordingly know without detail study that the department to which curve "C" relates handles larger orders than the department to which curve "A" relates. In a similar way, the upper portion of the
