Library Collections: Document: Full Text


As I Saw It

Creator: Robert Irwin (author)
Date: 1955
Publisher: American Foundation for the Blind
Source: American Printing House for the Blind, Inc., M. C. Migel Library
Figures From This Artifact: Figure 2

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Page 6:

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Helen Keller's letter to Mr. Palmer summed up much of the argument in behalf of American braille. It reads as follows:

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"My Dear Sir:

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"I regret that I cannot appear at the hearing before the Board of Education of New York City on March the 24th. I have been deeply interested these many years in the question of raised types, not so much for my own advantage (I read all the systems) as for that of the large number of blind persons who may not share my good fortune. I understand that you are to consider the relative merits of American braille and New York Point. Between these two systems, it seems to me, there can be no question when the facts are all properly presented to you.

65  

"I have always found New York Point a difficult, unsatisfactory system. I object to it as it appears in most books which I have seen because it does not use capitals, apostrophes and hyphens. This sometimes spoils the sense for the reader. But it has a worse effect upon the young pupil. He is liable to get an imperfect idea of capitalization and punctuation. I have received letters written on the ordinary ink typewriter from blind persons which contained errors significantly like the defects of New York Point, and I cannot but believe that this illiteracy is traceable to their habitual use of a defective mode of punctographic writing during school years.

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"It is true, the makers of New York Point have devised capitals; but it is noteworthy that this very winter the State Library at Albany was trying to decide upon a suitable capital sign. Forty years after this system was supposed to be 'perfected,' it is still in an undecided state! The capitals, when they are used, are not always unequivocal. I have often mistaken D for j, I for b and Y for double o in signatures, and I waste time looking at initial letters over and over again. I am not satisfied with the signs for hyphen and apostrophe that I have found because they are cumbersome. It is possible to mistake the apostrophe for ou, especially in proper names.

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"New York Point is much harder for me to read than American braille. It wears my reading finger more to travel over letters three dots wide and two high as they are in New York Point than over letters two dots wide and three high as they are in American braille. Also, it is a most trying task to decipher many letters which I get in New York Point. The writers evidently have trouble either with the system or the machine. Of the letters I receive in the two systems, a far larger proportion are well written in American braille.

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"I note, too, that in the great world of the blind New York Point is a provincialism. The machines for it are made only in New York, and write only New York Point. On the other hand, machines for braille are made in Germany, France, England and America. I have owned American and German braillewriters which place me in communication with people all over the world.

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"I am sure that in all important respects American braille is superior to New York Point because it meets completely the needs of capitalization, punctuation, legibility and physical ease of reading.

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"With high regards, I am
Respectfully yours,
(signed) Helen Keller"

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One of the high points of the evening for the writer was the effect the hearing had on his companion Charles F. F. Campbell. While Charlie was more in sympathy with English braille than with either of the American systems, he dearly loved a good fight. He had suggested to the writer that they find a secluded corner where they could listen unobserved. Being the editor of the Outlook for the Blind he felt he should hold a neutral position. Except when presenting a matter in written form where words could be carefully weighed, a neutral role was a very difficult one for him to play as he was always enthusiastic about anything in which he believed.

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When the exhibit of the two title pages was placed on the blackboard and the stunning effect of its appearance on the seeing members of the audience was evident, Charlie threw his arms around the author and added to the applause a burst of laughter which might have been termed a whoop! Charles had hoped his presence in the room would not be noticed but this now became a vain wish as every worker for the blind knew his expressive laugh. Friends and enemies alike (and he had both of a plenty) exclaimed in an audible whisper, "Charlie Campbell is here!" This is mentioned because it was so characteristic of this exuberant man who had such a profound influence on work for the blind during the first two decades of the century.

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After mature deliberation the committee of the New York Board of Education finally handed down its decision in favor of American braille.

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Most of the money for educational books for the blind comes from the United States Government. The federal appropriation for school books is made to the American Printing House for the Blind of Louisville, Kentucky. This institution, which is today the largest embossing plant for the blind in the world, is governed by a board of trustees on which the superintendent of every publicly supported school for the blind in the United States is ex officio a member. In addition there are seven lay board members residing in Kentucky. From these lay members the president is invariably selected, and they constitute the executive committee which handles the day-to-day business of the institution.

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