the other. Efforts are made to phrase propositions so that they shall not be evenly balanced, but shall seem so to opponents until the choice of sides has been announced. Such attempts to win the debate before the other side has a chance, bring debating into ill repute, because the aim is victory rather than the pursuit of truth, and the resulting contest is often a mere quibble over the meaning of an intricate proposition.

It is better to have two teams from each institution, one for the proposition and one against it, provided this plan can be carried out without requiring any debater to speak against his convictions.

As soon as we have an interesting, debatable proposition, embodying one central idea which is not too broad, phrased briefly and definitely, free from ambiguous and general terms, and placing upon the affirmative the burden of proof, we are ready for the work of getting at the heart of the question.

SUMMARY OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR PHRASING
THE PROPOSITION

1. It should be debatable.

2. It should not employ ambiguous words.

3. It should not be too broad.

4. It should embody one central idea.

5. It should give to the affirmative the burden of proof.

6. It should be interesting.

7. It should cover familiar ground for first practice. 8. It should be phrased briefly and simply.

EXERCISES, FOR THE FIRST CHAPTER

1. APPLY the tests to the following propositions:

a. Japan and Italy should not have entered the war.

b. The relative condition of wage-earners in the United States is inferior to that of fifty years ago.

c. It was for Japan's best interests to waive the indemnity clause in the peace treaty with Russia.

d. The colonial policy of Great Britain is justifiable.

e. The pen is mightier than the sword.

f. Self-made men are the strongest.

g. The ministry is a nobler profession than the law.

h. Education is a good business investment.

i. The protective tariff should not be revised.

j. The highways of this State retard the progress of civilization and should be improved by the Federal Government. k. War is a crime against humanity.

2. From the list of propositions in the Appendix XVIII, select any which seem to you objectionable. Rephrase them.

3. Phrase satisfactory questions for argument with reference to the next municipal election; college entrance requirements; the regulation of child-labor; the study of Latin; the Panama Canal; Sunday newspapers; interstate commerce; commerce of neutral nations in time of war; conscription of soldier.

4. Select a question for your written argument.

SECOND CHAPTER

ANALYZING THE PROPOSITION

'As in any art, in argumentation use makes perfect, and he who is told he has promise as a debater will be wise to submit to severe training in the principles which underlie argumentation; nor should he allow himself to be led astray by that ignis fatuus of the weary or lazy student, the idea that because in his first careful study of the rules of the art he finds his work hampered by them, he is losing his individuality and may even work less well after his study than before. There is undoubtedly a stage in learning and applying laws of any art when, for a time, the student feels hampered by warnings for and against this or that, and longs for his old freedom of movement which certainly brought him large results. Gradually, however, the laws that were at first so hampering become a matter of course. When this stage in his work is reached, if he compares his result with the results of his labor before he studied at all, he will see his great gain. Certainly, only when a man has so thoroughly learned his art that instinctively he works rightly, can he be said to be master of it." — G. P. BAKER.

SUCCESSFUL argumentation ordinarily accomplishes three objects:

(1) It sets forth both clearly and convincingly just what must be done to establish or to overthrow the proposition; (2) does this by convincing arguments; and (3) arouses in connection with these arguments emotions of sufficient strength to move the will.

First of all, then, an argument should show definitely and clearly the work that must be done. It should find all the central ideas embodied in the question and exclude all else. In other words, it should first show what the main issues are, that is to say, the points upon which the truth of the proposition depends. This, then-finding the main issues - is the most important work of what is called the Introduction.

IMPORTANCE OF THE MAIN ISSUES

The importance of finding the main issues and keeping them constantly in mind was aptly suggested by O'Connell, when

he said that an orator should always know what he is aiming at, for when a man aims at nothing he is almost sure to hit it.

In law courts the main issues are sometimes set forth in the pleadings, before the debating begins. The method of the law court thus guards against talking beside the point; everything which has no evident bearing on one of the issues as stated in the briefs is at once excluded as irrelevant. In other forms of argumentation, to make the main issues clear and convincing is to guard against going astray.

The habit of searching beneath the surface for the central ideas, of weighing each contention with reference to all the others, and of giving just as careful and fair study to one side of the question as to the other, will help a man to hew to the line of his argument. Furthermore, it will help him to pull his opponents' argument to pieces on the spot, find what is relevant and what is not, determine what essentials are omitted, and thus hold his opponents to the issues which they must prove in order to establish their case.

This matter of the main issue is of universal application. There is a main issue in all the affairs of life. Success depends on directing effort toward that issue. Without the ability to analyze a given situation and discover the particular difficulty to be overcome, i.e., the main issue, a man may waste his energy in blind endeavor, like a fly trying to escape through a window. The fly bumps along from pane to pane until, by accident, it discovers the opening the one direction in which its efforts can be used to some purpose. The aim of analysis is to economize effort, to find the opening intelligently rather than by the trial and error method of the fly.

One man works hard, and, we say, deserves success; while another man, apparently with little effort, attains success. The difference often lies in the sureness with which the effort is directed toward the desired end. One lawyer wearies the court all day in talking all around the point on which the legal

decision rests. Another lawyer spends all day in discovering that point, talks five minutes to the point, and wins the case. A thousand hard blows around a nail will not move it; one hard blow on the head will drive it in. The method of the main issue may be described as "hitting the nail on the head."

A successful argument - whether it is presented on a bill board, on a motion-picture screen, in the court-room, in the pulpit, or from behind a counter must address itself to the main issues. The following advertising page from a recent magazine, if it achieved its purpose, must be an example of main issues discovered through successful analysis of a proposition to be proved:

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The principles of argumentation are most clearly revealed through a study of rather formal types, but the same principles underlie all types. One manufacturer sinks thousands of dollars in useless advertising of a given food; another discovers the one thing that will sell it, hits that one thing on the