Chapter 3

A further objection to force is that you impair the object by your very endeavor to preserve it. The thing you fought for is not the thing which you recover; but depreciated, sunk, wasted, and consumed in the contest. Nothing less will content me than whole America. I do not choose to consume its strength along with our own, because in all parts it is the British strength that I consume. I do not choose to be caught by a foreign enemy at the end of this exhausting conflict; and still less in the midst of it. I may escape; but I can make no insurance against such an event. Let me add that I do not choose wholly to break the American spirit: because it is the spirit that has made the country.

Lastly, we have no sort of experience in favor of force as an instrument in the rule of our Colonies. Their growth and their utility has been owing to methods altogether different. Our ancient indulgence has been said to be pursued to a fault. It may be so. But we know, if feeling is evidence, that our fault was more tolerable than our attempt to mend it; and our sin far more salutary than our penitence.

2. Wells's _Geometry_ gives the following proposition: "Two perpendiculars to the same straight line are parallel." The evidence given is: "If they are not parallel, they will, if sufficiently produced, meet at some point, which is impossible, because from a given point without a straight line but one perpendicular can be drawn." Is this evidence sufficient to constitute proof? Does it convince you? Why, or why not?

3. Set down as much evidence as you can think of in ten minutes, to convince a business man that a high-school education is an advantage in business life.

4. Support the statement that football has benefited or harmed this school, with five truthful statements that are evidence. Indicate which ones would be most effective, if you were speaking to the students, and which would make the strongest impression on the faculty.

5. In the following statements of testimony, tell which ones would be good evidence and which not. Tell why or why not in each case.

(1) X, a student, was told that unless he should point out the pupil who had put matches on the floor, he would be expelled. X then said that Y was guilty.

(2) James Brown, a teamster, asserts that the use of alcohol is beneficial to all persons.

(3) John Burns, a labor leader, declares that labor unions are beneficial to trade.

(4) F. W. McCorkle, a large manufacturer, states that labor unions have proved beneficial to commerce.

(5) Professor Sheldon, a college president and profound student of economics, has declared that labor unions help the trade of the world.

(6) Henry Hawkins, a student at the Johnstown High School, asserts that they have the best football team in the state.

(7) M. Metchnikoff, chief attendant at the Pasteur Institute, says: "As for myself, I am convinced that alcohol is a poison." M. Berthelot, member of the Academy of Science and Medicine, states: "Alcohol is not a food, even though it may be a fuel."

(8) Lord Chatham, a member of the English Parliament, said, in speaking of the Revolutionary War: "It is a struggle of free and virtuous patriots."

6. On the basis of your answers to 5, state three conditions that would make a man's speaking or writing weak evidence as testimony; three that would make a man's testimony strong.

7. In Exercise 5 is (3), (4), or (5) the strongest testimony in favor of labor unions. Why? Which is next?

8. Can you see one danger of relying on testimony alone for evidence?

LESSON VI

THE BRIEF. THE CHOICE AND USE OF EVIDENCE

I. What the brief is.

II. What the brief does.

III. Parts of the brief:

1. The introduction in which--

(1) The end desired is made clear.

(2) The issues are determined.

2. The proof, which states the issues as facts and proves them.

3. The conclusion, which is a formal summary of the proof.

IV. A specimen model brief.

V. A specimen special brief.

VI. Rules for briefing.

When a builder begins the construction of a wall, he must have the proper material at hand. When an engineer begins the construction of a steel bridge, he must have metal of the right forms and shapes. Neither of these men, however, can accomplish the end which he has in mind unless he takes this material and puts it together in the proper way. So it is with the debater. He may have plenty of good evidence, but he will never win unless that evidence is organized, that is, put together in the most effective manner.

The builder, if he were building a wall of concrete, would get the correct form by pouring the concrete into a mold. So also, there is a mold which the debater should use in shaping his evidence. When the evidence has been put into this form, the debater is said to have constructed a _brief_.

In a previous lesson we saw how we might prove that John Quinn was a dangerous man by using the evidence of a court record. If we had put that evidence in brief-form we should have had this:

John Quinn was a dangerous man, for:

1. He was a thief, for:

(1) The Illinois state courts found him guilty of robbing a bank, for:

a) See _Ill. Court Reports_, Vol. X., p. 83.

The brief, then, is a concise, logical outline of everything that the speaker wishes to say to the audience.

Its purpose is to indicate in the most definite form every step through which the hearers must be taken in order that the proposition may at last be fully accepted by their experience.

The brief is for the debater himself. He does not show it to the audience. It is the framework of his argument. It is the path which, if carefully marked out, will lead to success.

Now, as we have seen, there are three principal steps in debating:

1. Making clear what you wish the audience to believe.

2. Showing the audience why the establishing of certain issues should make them believe this.

3. Proving these issues.

The first two of these steps constitute what in the brief is called the _Introduction_.

The third step, proving the issues, is the largest part of the brief and is called the _Body_ or the _Proof_.

In addition to these two divisions of the brief there is a sort of formal summary at the end called the _Conclusion_.

The skeleton of a brief then would be as follows:

INTRODUCTION

In which: (1) the desired end is made clear; (2) the issues are determined.

PROOF

In which the issues are stated as declarations or assertions and definite reasons are given why each one should be believed. These reasons are in turn supported by other reasons until the assertion is finally brought within the hearers' experience.

CONCLUSION

In which the proof is summarized.

Of course no two briefs are identical, but all must follow this general plan. Suppose we look at what might be called a model brief.

MODEL BRIEF

Statement of proposition.

INTRODUCTION

I. Definition of terms.

II. Restatement of question in light of these terms.

III. Determination of issues.

1. Statement of what both sides admit.

2. Statement of what is irrelevant.

IV. Statement of the issues.

PROOF

I. The first issue is true, for:

1. This reason, which is true, for:

(1) This reason, for:

a) This reason.

b) This reason.

2. This reason, for:

(1) This evidence.

(2) This authority.

(3) This testimony, for:

a) See Vol. X, p. --, of report, document, magazine, or book.

II. The second issue is true, for:

1. This reason, for: (1) This reason.

2. This reason, for:

(1) This reason.

(2) This reason.

III. The third issue is true, for:

1. This reason, etc.

IV. The fourth issue is true, for:

1. This reason, etc.

CONCLUSION

Therefore, since we have shown: (1) that the first issue is true by this evidence, (2) that the second issue is well founded by this evidence; (3) that the third and fourth, etc.; we conclude that our proposition is true.

Now, let us look at a special brief, made out in a high-school debate, for a special subject.

The preceding is an affirmative brief and there were four issues. In the following we have a negative brief, in which there were three issues. Refutation is introduced near the close of the proof.

Of this we shall see more in the next lesson.

BRIEF FOR NEGATIVE

INTRA-HIGH-SCHOOL CONTESTS SHOULD BE SUBSTITUTED FOR INTER-HIGH-SCHOOL CONTESTS IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS OF NORTHERN ILLINOIS

INTRODUCTION

I. Definition of terms.

1. Contests, ordinary competitions in:

a) Athletics.

b) Debating.

2. Intra-high-school contests (contests within each school).

3. Inter-high-school contests (contests between different high schools).

II. Restatement of question in light of these definitions. Contests within each high school should be substituted for contests between high schools in Northern Illinois.

III. Determination of issues.

1. It is admitted that:

a) Inter and intra contests both exist at present in the high schools of Northern Illinois.

b) Contest work is a desirable form of training.

c) Not all contests should be abolished.

2. Certain educators have asserted that:

a) The inter form of contests is open to abuses.

b) The intra contests would be more democratic.

c) Intra contests would be practicable.

3. Other educators disagree with these assertions.

4. The issues, then, are:

a) Are the inter contests so widely abused in the high schools of Northern Illinois as to warrant their abolition?

b) Would the proposed plan be more democratic than the present system?

c) Would the proposed plan work out in practice?

PROOF

I. Contests between the high schools of Northern Illinois are not subject to such abuses as will warrant their abolition, for:

A. If the abuses alleged against athletic contests ever existed, they are now extinct, for:

1. The alleged danger of injury to players physically unfit is not an existing danger, for:

(1) It has been made impossible by the rules of the schools, for:

a) This high school requires a physician's certificate of fitness before participation in any athletic contest, for: (a) Extract from athletic rulings of school board.

b) Our opponent's high school has a similar regulation, for:

(a) Extract from school paper of opponents.

c) The X High School has the same ruling.

d) The Y High School has the same requirement.

2. The charge that athletic contests between high schools make the contestants poor students is without sound basis, for:

(1) A high standard of scholarship is required of all inter-high-school athletic contestants, for:

a) Regulations of Illinois Athletic Association.

B. The evils charged against inter-high-school debating cannot be cured by the proposed scheme, for:

1. They are due, when they exist, not to the form of contest, but to improper coaching, for:

(1) "Too much training," one of the evils charged, is an example of this.

(2) Unfair use of evidence, the other evil alleged, is simply an evil of improper coaching.

II. The proposed plan would not be so democratic as the present system, for:

A. The present plan gives an opportunity to all students, for:

1. Its class and other intra contests give a chance to the less proficient pupils.

2. Its inter contests afford an opportunity for the more proficient pupils.

B. The proposed plan would deprive the more capable pupils of desirable contests, for:

1. They can find contests strenuous enough to induce development only by competing with similar students in other schools.

III. The proposed plan would not be practicable, for:

A. It is unsound in theory, for:

1. No pupil has a strong desire to defeat his close friends.

2. There is no desirable method of dividing the students for competition under the proposed plan, for:

(1) Class division is unsatisfactory, for:

a) The more mature and experienced upper classes win too easily.

(2) "Group division" is not desirable, for:

a) If the division is large, the domination of the mature students will give no opportunity to the younger students.

b) If the division is small, it is likely to develop into a secret society.

B. Experience opposes the proposed plan, for:

1. College experience is against it, for:

(1) N. University tried this plan without success, for:

a) Quotation from president of N.

2. High-school experience does not indorse it, for:

(1) It is practically untried in high schools.

REFUTATION

I. The argument which the affirmative may advance, that the experience of Shortridge High School demonstrates the success of this plan, is without weight, for:

A. It is not applicable to this question, for:

1. The plan at Shortridge is not identical with the proposed plan, for:

(1) Shortridge has not entirely abolished inter contests, for:

a) _School Review_, October, 1911.

2. Conditions in Shortridge differ from those in the high schools of Northern Illinois, for:

(1) Faculty of that school has unusual efficiency in coaching, for:

a) Extract from letter of principal.

(2) Larger number of students, for:

a) Extract from letter of principal.

CONCLUSION

Since there is no opportunity for serious abuse arising from contests between schools, and since the adoption of contests within the schools alone would lessen the democracy of contests as a form of education, and since the proposed plan is impracticable in theory and has never been put into successful operation, the negative concludes that the substitution of intra for inter contests is not desirable in the high schools of Northern Illinois.

From these illustrative briefs we can draw:

RULES FOR BRIEFING

The introduction should contain only such material as both sides will admit, or, as you can show, should reasonably admit, from the phrasing of the proposition.

Scrupulous care should be used in the numbering and lettering of all statements and substatements.

Each issue should be a logical reason for the truth of the proposition.

Each substatement should be a logical reason for the issue or statement that it supports.

Each issue in the proof and each statement that has supporting statements should be followed by the word "for."

Each reason given in support of the issues and each subreason should be no more than a simple, complete, declarative sentence.

The word "for" should never appear as a connective between a statement and substatement in the introduction.

The words "hence" and "therefore" should never appear in the proof of the brief, but one should be able to read _up_ through the brief and by substituting the word "therefore" for the word "for" in each case, arrive at the proposition as a conclusion.

SUGGESTED EXERCISES

1. Turn to Exercise 1, in Lesson V, and carefully brief the selection from Burke.

2. Is the following extract from a high-school student's brief correct in form? Criticize it in regard to arrangement of ideas, and correct it so far as is possible without using new material.

SOCCER FOOTBALL SHOULD BE ADOPTED IN THE "A" HIGH SCHOOL AS A REGULAR BRANCH OF ATHLETIC SPORT

INTRODUCTION

I. Recent popularity of soccer.

1. In England.

2. In America.

II. Soccer a healthful game, for:

1. Develops lungs.

2. Develops all the muscles.

III. Issues.

1. Soccer is a beneficial game.

2. Would the students of "A" support soccer as a regular sport?

PROOF

I. Soccer is a beneficial sport, for:

1. It requires much running, kicking, and dodging, both in offensive and defensive playing, therefore--

(1) It develops muscles.

(2) It develops lungs.

2. It is played out of doors, therefore

(1) It develops lungs.

II. Students of "A" would support soccer as a regular sport, for:

1. Who has ever heard of students who would not support soccer, baseball, basket-ball, and all other exciting games?

3. The following is the conclusion of an argument by Edmund Burke in which the speaker maintained that Warren Hastings should be impeached by the House of Commons. If it had been preceded by a clear "introduction" and convincing "proof," do you think that it would have made an effective "conclusion"?

Therefore, it is with confidence that, ordered by the Commons:

I impeach Warren Hastings, Esquire, of high crimes and misdemeanors.

I impeach him in the name of the Commons of Great Britain, in Parliament assembled, whose parliamentary trust he has betrayed.

I impeach him in the name of all the Commons of Great Britain, whose national character he has dishonored.

I impeach him in the name of the people of India, whose laws, rights, and liberties he has subverted, whose property he has destroyed, whose country he has laid waste and desolate.

I impeach him in the name and by virtue of those eternal laws of justice which he has violated.

I impeach him in the name of human nature itself, which he has cruelly outraged, injured, and oppressed in both sexes, in every age, rank, situation, and condition of life.

4. Take any one of the following propositions and without other material than that of your own ideas, state at least two issues, and, in correct brief form, proof for belief or unbelief.

(1) High-School Boys Should Smoke Cigarettes.

(2) No One Should Play Football without a Physician's Permission.

(3) Girls Should Participate in Athletic Games While in High School.

(4) High-School Fraternities Are Desirable.

(5) Women Should Have the Right to Vote in All Elections.

LESSON VII

THE FORENSIC

I. What the forensic is.

II. How the forensic may be developed and delivered: 1. By writing and reading from manuscript: (1) Advantages and disadvantages. 2. By writing and committing to memory: (1) Advantages and disadvantages. 3. By oral development from the brief: (1) Advantages. III. Style and gestures in the delivery of the forensic.

When the brief is finished, the material is ready to be put into its final form. This final form is called the _forensic_.

As practically all debates are conducted by means of teams, the work of preparing the forensic is usually divided among the members of the team. The brief may be divided in any way, but it is desirable that each member of the team should have one complete, logical division. So it often happens that each member of the team develops one issue into its final form.

The forensic is nothing but a rounding-out of the brief. The brief is a skeleton: the forensic is that skeleton developed into a complete literary form. Into this form the oral delivery breathes the spirit of living ideas.

No better illustration of the brief expanded into the full forensic need be given than that in Exercise I, Lesson V. Compare the brief which you made of this extract from Burke with the forensic itself, a few paragraphs of which are quoted there. Any student will find that merely to glance through a part of this speech of Burke's is an excellent lesson in brief-making and in the production of forensics. First study the skeleton only--the brief--by reading the opening sentences of each paragraph. Then see how this skeleton is built into a forensic by the splendid rhetoric of the great British statesman.[4]

There are two ways in which the forensic may be developed from the brief. Both have some advantages, varying with the conditions of the debate. One is to write out every word of the forensic. When this is done, the debater may, if he wishes, read from his manuscript to the audience. If he does so, his chances of making a marked effect are little better than if he spoke from the bottom of a well. The average audience will not follow the speaker who is occupied with raveling ideas from his paper rather than with weaving them into the minds of his hearers.

The debater who writes his forensic may, however, learn it and deliver it from memory. This method has some decided advantages. In every debate the time is limited; and by writing and rewriting the ideas can be compressed into their briefest and most definite form. Besides, the speaker may practice upon this definite forensic to determine the rapidity with which he must speak in order to finish his argument in the allotted time.

At the same time this plan has several unfavorable aspects. When the debater has prepared himself in this way, forgetting is fatal. He has memorized words. When the words do not come he has no recourse but to wait for memory to revive, or to look to his colleagues for help. Again, the man who has learned his argument can give no variety to his attack or defense. He is like a general with an immovable battery, who, though able to hurl a terrific discharge in the one direction in which his guns point, is powerless if the attack is made ever so slightly on his flank. Perhaps the greatest disadvantage of this method is that it does not give the student the best kind of training. What he needs most in life is the ability to arrange and present ideas rapidly, not to speak a part by rote.

It would seem, then, that this plan should be advised only when the students are working for one formal debate, and are not preparing for a series of class or local contests that can all be controlled by the same instructor or critic. With beginners in oral argumentation this method will usually make the better showing, and may therefore be considered permissible in the case of those teams which, because of unfamiliarity with their opponents' methods, can take no chances. This plan of preparation is in no way harmful or dishonest, but lacks some of the more permanent advantages of the second method.

The second method of developing the brief into the forensic is by _oral composition_. This method demands that the debater shall _speak extemporaneously_ from his _memorized brief_. This in no way means that careful preparation, deliberate thought, and precise organization are omitted. On the contrary, the formation of a brief from which a winning forensic can be expanded requires the most studious preparation, the keenest thought, and the most careful organization. Neither does it mean that, as soon as the brief is formed, the forensic can be presented. Before that step is taken, the debater who will be successful will spend much time, not in _written_, but in _oral_ composition.

He will study his brief until he sees that it is not merely a succession of formal statements connected with "for's," but a series of ideas arranged in that form because they will, if presented in that order, bring conviction to his hearers. "Learning the brief," then, becomes not a case of memory, but a matter of seeing--seeing what comes next because that is the only thing that logically could come next. When the brief is in mind, the speaker will expand it into a forensic to an imaginary audience until he finds that he is expressing the ideas clearly, smoothly, and readily. Pay no attention to the fact that in the course of repeated deliveries the words will vary. Words make little difference if the framework of ideas is the same.

This method of composing the forensic trains the mind of the student to see the logical relationship of ideas, to acquire a command of language, and to vary the order of ideas if necessary. In doing these things, there are developed those qualities that are essential to all effective speaking.