unable to relieve me, but two bottles of your liniment effected a cure." (John Smith.)

(f) "It is evident that the climate of Virginia is changed. The old inhabitants here tell me that they remember when snow lay on the ground four months every year, and they rode in sleighs. Now it is rare that we get enough snow to have a sleigh-ride. It is apparent that the climate of Virginia has changed since 1607, when the settlers came into Jamestown." (From the diary of Thomas Jefferson.)

AS

CHAPTER V

ARGUMENTS-CONSTRUCTIVE

S we have seen, facts are necessary in debate, but this is not all. The debater must learn to use his facts, to reason with and from them-a thing that many erudite men never do learn. That is, a given proposition is to be established or overthrown "by a process of reasoning from facts closely related to the facts in issue." Hence the efforts of writers on argumentation, since the days of Aristotle, to classify the operations of the reasoning faculties. Obviously, any attempted classification has its difficulties and limitations. One process of reasoning easily runs into another; a given process may be one kind of argument, or another, depending upon the point of view; and processes of reasoning are so complex that no hard and fast line can be drawn which will enable us to pigeonhole arguments into mutually exclusive kinds. However, the classification itself is of no great importance. The advantage in some sort of a classification lies in the opportunity it affords of studying the more common forms of reasoning by themselves, and more especially the opportunity it affords of learning what it is in a given argument that makes it strong or weak. To that end, let us look at some of the principal kinds of arguments from the viewpoint of the debater.

It must not be forgotten that Proof includes both Evidence and Argument, and that the presentation of evidence alone is all that is sometimes needed to convince the mind of the truth or falsity of a proposition. However, most evidence is used for the purpose of establishing new truths through the process of reasoning. Again, there are certain propositions that are self-evident, axioms, the mathematicians call them, or assumptions, as they are spoken of by logicians. Assumptions, as we have seen, are propositions accepted as true without proof. Therefore, with these two known factors evidence and assumptions as a basis, we may infer by a process of reasoning what we desire to know.

Arguments may be classified into two main divisions-Constructive proof and Refutation. When a speaker states and supports his own contention, this is Constructive proof; when he meets objections to his argument, it is Refutation. Constructive argument may be either (1) direct or (2) indirect.

I. DIRECT ARGUMENT

We argue directly when we accept the conclusions reached by others, frequently called Argument from Authority. This kind of argument rests on the peculiar force of one's opinion whose special knowledge of, skill in, or experience with a matter under discussion enables him to reach a true conclusion. As a man is unable to investigate for himself every question that arises, he must accept the conclusions reached by others in matters in which they are competent and more or less exclusive judges. In law, if such conclusions be admitted as evidence in the trial of a cause, it is called "expert testimony"; while the opinions of judges, in adjudicated cases, constitute authorities applicable to subsequent similar cases. Although "expert testimony" and "authority" are clearly distinguished in legal practice, for the purposes of general debating they may be classed together, the former usually having reference to the testimony of a specialist on a question of disputed fact, the latter to those fundamental laws and principles found in books and documents, which are generally accepted as authoritative. Thus, in law appeal is made to recorded cases and precedents; in theology, to the Bible; in politics, to constitutions and statutes; in science, philosophy, economics, etc., to the works of those men who are eminent in their respective fields.

While we commonly speak of the use of authority as one of the kinds of argument, it is, more properly, perhaps, a kind of evidence and not a process of reasoning-the debater asking his hearers to accept the conclusions of another as evidence of the truth of a given proposition. Now, if the authority used refers to an elementary principle in economics, or law, or education, ready acceptance may safely be assumed. But if one is debating a question of policy, there is usually such a conflict of authorities on various phases of the question that no one authority, however eminent, can be cited as decisive. It then becomes a matter of weighing authorities-or of comparing witnesses; and all the tests of witnesses, previously referred to, are to be applied. Thus, in an editorial regarding our permanent retention of the Philippine Islands, in the New York Evening Post, the value of an authority quoted is explained as follows:

Mr. John Foreman is conceded to be the foremost authority on the Philippine Islands. A resident in the archipelago for eleven years; continuously acquainted with the natives for twenty; a frequent visitor to various islands of the group; possessed of a more intimate knowledge of Filipino character and a larger circle of friends and correspondents among the inhabitants than any foreigner living; the historian par excellence of land and people, he is a qualified expert to whom we are bound to listen. Certainly there is no need to labor this point with Republicans. He is their own witness, and they dare not try to discredit them. Professor Worcester, of both Philippine commissions, constantly bows in his own book to the authority of Foreman. He was especially summoned to Paris by our Peace Commissioners as the very man to guide their uncertain steps aright.

TESTS OF ARGUMENT FROM AUTHORITY

1. Is the authority competent?

2. Is the authority unprejudiced?

3. Is the authority recognized by the hearers?

4. Is the authority substantiated by others?