The original design of the keyboard positioned keys in alphabetical order in two rows. Makes sense, right? Well, this arrangement caused the typebars of the most commonly used combination letters of the alphabet (ie. TH and ST) to be positioned close together, so when the keys were hit right after the other with a speed faster than a snail, the keys would jam.

The attempt to solve this malfunction resulted in a rearrangement of keys. In 1868, in collaboration with educator Amos Densmore, Sholes arranged the letters on the keyboard for better spacing between popular keys used in combination. The results was that this initially made it difficult for people to find the letters they needed to type efficiently.

However, someone who mastered this new key arrangement would actually be able to type faster because the keys wouldn’t jam. This was the beginning of the QWERTY keyboard, which first appeared in 1872.

QWERTY has no intrinsic speed or comfort benefits (somebody who learns alphanumeric from the get go will be just as fast). You're thinking of DVORAK, which was designed for comfort and speed.