10/05/98 DID A TRADE CHART GET OVERSIMPLIFIED?

DID A TRADE CHART GET OVERSIMPLIFIED?

I was disconcerted by the chart you presented with ''Remedies for the global crisis'' (Editorials, Sept. 14). This chart, which is drawn in the form of a spider web, shows the contraction of trade that took place between January, 1929, and March, 1933. The only data points that are explicitly shown are the January figures, and they are not drawn to scale.
The chart suggests that there was a steady contraction of trade during this period. It is unlikely that the situation was so elegant. The simplification of this graph, while serving to illustrate your point, is deceptive and ultimately harmful to your position.

Mark Pixley
Taipei

Editors' note: The lines of the spider web chart were smoothed in error by the graphics department. But neither the shape nor the message it conveys was significantly altered.