When I was a very young journalist I was given
one piece of advice by a very shrewd old journalist. "Always write large sums in figures," he admonished me, " not in words. Figures impress, words don't." He was perfectly right, and I recalled his counsel when I read an article by Lord Beaverbrook in the Sunday Express, an article that to my mind came near being ruined by giving large sums in words instead of figures. It dealt with very large sums- " three thousand, three hundred and seventy-five million pounds," " nine hundred and forty-nine million pounds "—but as I read nothing registered and I soon passed on to another page. If it had been £3,375,000,000, L949,000,000, and the rest I should probably have realised what an admirable article it was. But I never did, and I never shall. * * * *
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