Chapter 9
A. Introduction. B. First alternative and objections. C. Second alternative and objections. D. Third alternative. E. Introduction. F. Considerations.
1. Question one of policy, not of abstract right. 2. Trade laws. 3. Constitutional precedents. 4. Application of these.
The Brief. One of the shortest briefs on record was prepared by Abraham Lincoln for use in a suit to recover $200 for the widow of a Revolutionary veteran from an agent who had retained it out of $400 pension money belonging to her. It formed the basis of his speech in court.
No contract.--Not professional services.--Unreasonable charge.--Money retained by Def't not given to Pl'ff.--Revolutionary War.--Describe Valley Forge privations.--Pl'ff's husband.--Soldier leaving for army.--_Skin Def't_.--Close.
The following will give some idea of the form and definiteness of briefs for debate.
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
_Resolved:_ That capital punishment should be abolished.[1]
_Brief for the Affirmative_
I. Capital punishment is inexpedient. (_a_) It is contrary to the tendency of civilization. (_b_) It fails to protect society. (1) It does not prevent murder. (2) New crimes follow hard on executions. (_c_) It makes punishment uncertain. (1) Many criminals are acquitted who would be convicted if the penalty were imprisonment. (_d_) It is not reformatory.
II. Capital punishment is immoral. (_a_) It rests on the old idea of retribution. (_b_) It tends to weaken the sacredness of human life. (_c_) It endangers the lives of innocent people. (_d_) Executions and the sensational newspaper accounts which follow have a corrupting influence.
III. Capital punishment is unjust. (_a_) Its mistakes are irremediable. (_b_) Many men are criminals from force of circumstances. (1) From heredity. (2) From environment. (_c_) Inequalities in administration are marked. (1) In some states men are hung, in others imprisoned for the same crime.
[Footnote 1: Taken from Brookings and Ringwalt: _Briefs for Debate_, Longmans, Green and Co., where specific references of material for many of the topics are given, as well as general references for the entire subject.]
(2) Many jurors have conscientious scruples against condemning a man to death. (3) Men of wealth and influence are rarely convicted.
IV. The abolition of capital punishment has been followed by satisfactory results, (_a_) In Europe. (1) Russia. (2) Switzerland. (3) Portugal. (4) Belgium. (5) Holland. (6) Finland. (_b_) In the United States. (1) Michigan. (2) Rhode Island. (3) Maine. (4) Wisconsin.
_Brief for the Negative_
I. Capital punishment is permissible. (_a_) It has the sanction of the Bible. (1) Genesis ix, 2-6. (_b_) It has the sanction of history. (1) It has been in vogue since the beginning of the world. (_c_) It has the sanction of reason. (1) The most fitting punishment is one equal and similar to the injury inflicted.
II. Capital punishment is expedient. (_a_) It is necessary to protect society from anarchy and private revenge. (1) Death is the strongest preventative of crime. (_b_) No sufficient substitute has been offered. (1) Life imprisonment is a failure. (2) Few serve the sentence. (_c_) Its abolition has not been successful. (1) In Rhode Island. (2) In Michigan. III. The objections made to capital punishment are not sound. (_a_) Prisons are not reformatory. (_b_) The fact that crimes have decreased in some places where executions have stopped is not a valid argument. (1) All causes which increase the moral well-being of the race decrease crime. (_c_) The objection that the innocent suffer is not strong. (1) The number of innocent thus suffering is inconsiderable when compared with the great number of murders prevented. (_d_) The objection that the penalty is uncertain may be overcome by making it certain.
A few paragraphs back it was said that an outline or brief shows the relative significance of all the parts of a speech. This is done by a systematic use of margins and symbols. From the quoted forms in this chapter certain rules can easily be deduced.
Margins. The speech will naturally divide into a few main parts. These can be designated by spaces and general titles such as introduction, body, development, main argument, answer to opposing views, conclusion. Other captions will be suggested by various kinds of material. Main topics next in importance are placed the farthest to the left, making the first margin. A reader can run his eye down this line and pick out all the main topics of equal importance. Entries just subordinate to these are put each on a separate line, starting slightly to the right. This separation according to connection and value is continued as long as the maker has any minor parts to represent in the brief. It should not be carried too far, however, for the purpose of the entries is to mark clearness and accuracy. If the helping system becomes too elaborate and complicated it destroys its own usefulness.
It is perfectly plain that such an outline might be made and be quite clear, without the addition of any symbols at all, especially if it was short.
Discrimination in the use of words is secured by
The study of synonyms antonyms homonyms and care in employing them.
Symbols. Some scheme of marking the entries is a great help. There is no fixed system. Every student may choose from among the many used. If there are many main topics it might be a mistake to use Roman numerals (I, XVIII) as few people can read them quickly enough to follow their sequence. Capital letters may serve better to mark the sequences, but they do not indicate the numerical position. For instance, most of us do not know our alphabets well enough to translate a main topic marked N into the fourteenth point. By combinations of Roman numerals, capitals, usual (Arabic) numerals, small letters, parentheses, enough variety to serve any student purpose can easily be arranged.
The following are samples of systems used.
_Specimen_ 1
Introduction Argument
I-------------------------------------------------- A------------------------------------------------ 1---------------------------------------------- _a_-------------------------------------------- _b_-------------------------------------------- _c_-------------------------------------------- (1)---------------------------------------- (2)---------------------------------------- (3)---------------------------------------- 2---------------------------------------------- B------------------------------------------------ 1---------------------------------------------- 2---------------------------------------------- II------------------------------------------------- Conclusion
_Specimen_ 2
A-------------------------------------------------- I------------------------------------------------ _a_---------------------------------------------- 1-------------------------------------------- 2-------------------------------------------- _b_---------------------------------------------- II----------------------------------------------- _a_---------------------------------------------- _b_---------------------------------------------- _c_---------------------------------------------- 1-------------------------------------------- 2-------------------------------------------- 3--------------------------------------------
_Specimen_ 3
1-------------------------------------------------- 1^1---------------------------------------------- 2^1---------------------------------------------- _a_^1-------------------------------------------- _b_^1-------------------------------------------- _c_^1-------------------------------------------- 2-------------------------------------------------- 1^2---------------------------------------------- 2^2---------------------------------------------- _a_^2-------------------------------------------- _b_^2-------------------------------------------- _c_^2-------------------------------------------- 3-------------------------------------------------- 1^3---------------------------------------------- 2^3----------------------------------------------
Tabulations. With unusual kinds of material and for special purposes there may be value in evolving other forms of outlines. A technically trained person accustomed to reading tabulated reports with hosts of figures to interpret might find a statistical statement at times better suited to his needs. Such tabulations are not any easier to prepare than the regular brief. In fact to most people they are infinitely more difficult to get into form and almost beyond speedy comprehension afterwards. The following is a good illustration of a simple one well adapted to the speaker's purpose--a report of the objections to the first published covenant of the League of Nations. He knew the material of his introduction and conclusion so well that he did not represent them in his carefully arranged sheet. The form was submitted as regular work in a public speaking class and was spoken from during more than forty minutes.
CRITICISMS OF PROPOSED COVENANT OF LEAGUE OF NATIONS
1.--Draft indefinite and loosely written. Lg Lo Sp Tt Br Hu 2.--Should have clause-limiting powers to those specifically granted. Lo 3.--Proportion of votes required for action of Council not generally stated--should be unanimous. Lg Sp Tt Hu 4.--Should have clause reserving the Monroe Doctrine. Lg Lo Sp Tt Br Hu 5.--Should state that no nation can be required to become a mandatory without its consent. Lg Lo Br Hu 6.--Should have provision for withdrawals. Lg Lo Sp Tt Hu 7.--Jurisdiction of League over internal affairs (immigration, tariffs, coastwise trade) should be expressly excluded. Lg Br Hu 8.--Terms of admission of other nations too strict. Br 9.--Basis of representation not fair. Br 10.--Provision should be made for expansion of nations by peaceable means. Br 11.--Each nation should have right to decide whether it will follow advice of Council as to use of force. Br 12.--Each nation should have right to determine whether it will boycott delinquent nations. Br Note:--items 11 and 12 are apparently directed against Art. XVI containing the Ipso Facto clause and Art. X. 13.--Should not guarantee the integrity and independence of all members of the league. Lg Hu
Above criticisms taken from published statements of
Messrs. Lodge Lowell Spencer Taft Bryan Hughes (denoted respectively Lg, Lo, Sp, Tt, Br and Hu).
Authorities in the Brief. Authorities for the statements made in the brief may be put into parentheses, if they are to be included. Such further devices will suggest themselves to students. In addition to such markings as here listed, some men who use many outlines emphasize upon them details which they may have to find quickly by underlining the symbol or first word with colored pencil. Such a device is especially valuable to a technical expert whose system could be uniform through the outlines of all his reports, etc. Or a lecturer with so much time to fill may mark upon the outline 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, to indicate to himself that his material is being covered at a proper rate to correspond with the time. He might put in _15 min._ or _30 min._ or _45 min._ if he was to speak for an hour. The first division is the better, for he might be required to condense a twenty-minute speech to ten.
Selections for Briefing. Before the student makes many briefs of his own he should work in the other direction by outlining material already in existence so that he can be assured he knows main topics from minor ones, important issues from subordinate reasons, headings from examples. If all the members of the class outline the same material the resulting discussion will provide additional exercise in speaking in explanation or support of an interpretation. After the teacher and class together have made one, the students should work independently.
EXERCISES
Besides the extracts quoted here others should be supplied. Editorials from a single issue of a newspaper can easily be secured by the entire class for this work. A chapter from a book may be assigned.
1. INCIDENTS OF GOVERNMENT TRADING
An expert before the President's street railway commission of inquiry testified that he disapproved of public ownership and operation theoretically, but approved it practically, because it was the quickest and surest way of making people sick of it. Otherwise he thought that education of the public out of its favor for high costs and low profits by public utilities would require a generation, and the present emergency calls for prompt relief.
New York City has just resolved to build with its own funds a Coney Island bathhouse, and has on file an offer to build it with private money at a cost of $300,000, with a guarantee of 15-cent baths. Accepting no responsibility for the merits of the private bidder's proposal, it does not appear likely that the city can supply cheaper baths or give more satisfaction to bathers than a management whose profits were related to its efforts to please patrons. On the other hand, it is sure that the city's financial embarrassment is due to supplying many privileges at the cost of the taxpayers, which might have been supplied both more cheaply and better by private enterprise with profit than by the city without profit, and with the use of ill-spared public funds.
New York does not stand alone in these misadventures, which are warnings against trading by either local or national government. Take, for example, the manner in which the army is disposing of its surplus blankets, as reported from Boston. A Chicago firm which wished to bid was permitted to inspect three samples of varying grades, but a guarantee that the goods sold would correspond to the samples was refused. The bales could neither be opened nor allowed to be opened, nor would information be given whether the blankets in the bales were cotton, wool, or mixed, whether single or double, whether bed blankets or regulation army blankets. The likelihood that the Government will get the worth of its blankets is small. There may be unknown reasons for such uncommercial procedure, but what shall be said of the fact that at the same time that these blankets are being sold the Interior Department is asking for bids to supply 10,000 blankets for the Indians? The reason for buying more when there is an embarrassing over-supply is that the specifications call for the words "Interior Department" to be woven into the blankets. To an outsider it would seem that the words might be indelibly stamped on the old blankets of similar description, and that the departure from custom would be better than the loss on the old blankets and the increased expenditure for the new blankets.
The reason for mentioning such incidents is that there are so many more of which the public never hears. Their combined educative effect would be great, but it is wasted without publicity. Since the public is not unanimous against public ownership and operation, there must be a considerable number of persons who are proof against anything but a catastrophe greater than the prostration of the railway and utility industries. That is an expansive way of education, but perhaps Dr. Cooley, Dean of the University of Michigan, is right in his view that the method is necessary to prevent a greater calamity by persistence in the error.
_New York Times_, July 21, 1919
2. Fourscore and seven years ago our Fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived or so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate--we cannot consecrate--we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather, to be here dedicated to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN: _Gettysburg Address_, 1865
3. Every thoughtful and unprejudiced mind must see that such an evil as slavery will yield only to the most radical treatment. If you consider the work we have to do, you will not think us needlessly aggressive, or that we dig down unnecessarily deep in laying the foundations of our enterprise. A money power of two thousand millions of dollars, as the prices of slaves now range, held by a small body of able and desperate men; that body raised into a political aristocracy by special constitutional provisions; cotton, the product of slave labor, forming the basis of our whole foreign commerce, and the commercial class thus subsidized; the press bought up, the pulpit reduced to vassalage, the heart of the common people chilled by a bitter prejudice against the black race; our leading men bribed, by ambition, either to silence or open hostility;--in such a land, on what shall an Abolitionist rely? On a few cold prayers, mere lip-service, and never from the heart? On a church resolution, hidden often in its records, and meant only as a decent cover for servility in daily practice? On political parties, with their superficial influence at best, and seeking ordinarily only to use existing prejudices to the best advantage? Slavery has deeper root here than any aristocratic institution has in Europe; and politics is but the common pulse-beat, of which revolution is the fever-spasm. Yet we have seen European aristocracy survive storms which seemed to reach down to the primal strata of European life. Shall we, then, trust to mere politics, where even revolution has failed? How shall the stream rise above its fountain? Where shall our church organizations or parties get strength to attack their great parent and moulder, the slave power? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? The old jest of one who tried to lift himself in his own basket, is but a tame picture of the man who imagines that, by working solely through existing sects and parties, he can destroy slavery. Mechanics say nothing, but an earthquake strong enough to move all Egypt can bring down the pyramids.
Experience has confirmed these views. The Abolitionists who have acted on them have a "short method" with all unbelievers. They have but to point to their own success, in contrast with every other man's failure. To waken the nation to its real state, and chain it to the consideration of this one duty, is half the work. So much have we done. Slavery has been made the question of this generation. To startle the South to madness, so that every step she takes, in her blindness, is one step more toward ruin, is much. This we have done. Witness Texas and the Fugitive Slave Law.
WENDELL PHILLIPS: _The Abolition Movement_, 1853
4. Until just a few years ago flying was popularly regarded as a dangerous hobby and comparatively few had faith in its practical purposes. But the phenomenal evolutions of the aircraft industry during the war brought progress which would otherwise have required a span of years. With the cessation of hostilities considerable attention has been diverted to the commercial uses of aircraft, which may conveniently be classified as mail-and passenger-service.
Men who first ventured the prediction that postal and express matter would one day be carried through the air were branded as dreamers. Parts of that dream became a reality during 1918, and a more extensive aerial-mail program will be adopted this year. The dispatch with which important communications and parcels are delivered between large cities has firmly established its need.
Large passenger-carrying aircraft are now receiving pronounced attention. Lately developed by the Navy is a flying-boat having a wing area of 2,400 square feet, equipped with three Liberty motors and weighing 22,000 pounds with a full load. It is the largest seaplane in the world, and on a recent test-trip from Virginia to New York carried fifty-one passengers. At the present moment the public is awaiting the thrilling details of the first flight between Europe and America, which has just occurred as a result of the keen international rivalry involved between the various entrants.
The British are now constructing a super-triplane fitted with six 500 horse-power engines. Originally intended to carry 10,000 pounds of bombs and a crew of eight over a distance of 1,200 miles, the converted machine is claimed to be able to carry approximately one hundred passengers. It has a wing span of 141 feet and a fuselage length of 85 feet.
What about the power plants of the future aircraft? Will the internal-combustion engine continue to reign supreme, or will increasing power demands of the huge planes to come lead to the development of suitable steam-engines? Will the use of petroleum continue to be one of the triumphs of aviation, or will the time come when substitutes may be successfully utilized?
For aerial motive-power, the principal requirements are: great power for weight with a fairly high factor of safety, compactness, reliability of operation under flying conditions, and safety from fire. Bulk and weight of steam-driven equipment apparently impose severe restrictions upon its practical development for present aircraft purposes, but who is willing to classify its future use as an absurdity?
Steam operation in small model airplanes is no innovation. Langley, in 1891-1895, built four model airplanes, one driven by carbonic-acid gas and three by steam-engines. One of the steam-driven models weighed thirty pounds, and on one occasion flew a distance of about three thousand feet. In 1913 an Englishman constructed a power plant weighing about two pounds which consisted of a flash boiler and single-acting engine. This unit employed benzolin, impure benzine, as fuel, and propelled a model plane weighing five pounds.
_Power Plant Engineering_, Chicago, June 1, 1919
Making a Brief. The next step after making outlines or briefs of material already organized is to make your own from material you gather. Speeches you have already prepared or considered as fit for presentation will supply you with ideas if you cannot work up new material in a short time. At first you will be more concerned with the form than the meaning of the entries, but even from the first you should consider the facts or opinions for which each topic or statement stands. Weigh its importance in the general scheme of details. Consider carefully its suitability for the audience who may be supposed to hear the finished speech. Discard the inappropriate. Replace the weak. Improve the indefinite. Be sure your examples and illustrations are apt.
Be wary about statistics. In listening to an address many people begin to distrust as soon as figures are mentioned. Statistics will illustrate and prove assertions, but they must be used judiciously. Do not use too many statistics. Never be too detailed. In a speech, $4,000,000 sounds more impressive than $4,232,196.96. Use round numbers. Never let them stand alone. Show their relationship. Burke quotes exact amounts to show the growth of the commerce of Pennsylvania, but he adds that it had increased fifty fold. A hearer will forget the numbers; he will remember the fact.
Similar reasons will warn you concerning the use of too many dates. They can be easily avoided by showing lapses of time--by saying, "fifty years later," or "when he was forty-six years old," or "this condition was endured only a score of months."
The chapters on introductions, conclusions, and planning material will have suggested certain orders for your briefs. Glance back at them for hints before you attempt to make the general scheme. Let two factors determine your resultant development--the nature of the material itself and the effect you want to produce.
In argumentative speeches a usual, as well as excellent, order is this:
1. Origin of the question. The immediate cause for discussion.
2. History of the question.
3. Definition of terms.
4. Main arguments.
5. Conclusion.
Why is the proposition worth discussing at this present time? Why do you choose it? Why is it timely? What is its importance? Why is a settlement needed? Any of these would fall under the first heading.
Has the matter engaged attention prior to the present? Has it changed? Was any settlement ever attempted? What was its result?
Are any of the words and phrases used likely to be misunderstood? Are any used in special senses? Do all people accept the same meaning? Good illustrations of this last are the ideas attached to _socialism_, _anarchist_, _soviet_, _union_.
To illustrate: the question of woman suffrage was brought into public interest once more by the advance woman has made in all walks of life and by the needs and lessons of the great war. To make clear how its importance had increased a speaker might trace its history from its first inception. As applied to women, what does "suffrage" mean exactly--the right to vote in all elections, or only in certain ones? Does it carry with it the right to hold office? Would the voting qualifications be the same for women as for men? Then would follow the arguments.
How could this scheme be used for a discussion of the Monroe Doctrine? For higher education? For education for girls? For child working laws? For a league of nations? For admitting Asiatic laborers to the United States? For advocating the study of the sciences? For urging men to become farmers? For predicting aerial passenger service? For a scholarship qualification in athletics? For abolishing railroad grade crossings? For equal wages for men and women?
EXERCISES
Make the completed brief for one or more of the preceding.
Briefs should be made for propositions selected from the following list.
1. The President of the United States should be elected by the direct vote of the people.
2. The States should limit the right of suffrage to persons who can read and write.
3. The President of the United States should be elected for a term of seven years, and be ineligible to reëlection.
4. A great nation should be made the mandatory over an inferior people.
5. Students should be allowed school credit for outside reading in connection with assigned work, or for editing of school papers, or for participation in dramatic performances.
6. This state should adopt the "short ballot."
7. The present rules of football are unsatisfactory.
8. Coaching from the bench should be forbidden in baseball.
9. Compulsory military drill should be introduced into all educational institutions.
10. Participation in athletics lowers the scholarship of students.
11. Pupils should receive credit in school for music lessons outside.
12. The United States should abandon the Monroe Doctrine.
13. In jury trials, a three-fourths vote should be enough for the rendering of a verdict.
14. Strikes are unprofitable.
15. Commercial courses should be offered in all high schools.
16. Employers of children under sixteen should be required to provide at least eight hours of instruction a week for them.
17. Current events should be studied in all history or civics courses.
18. The practice of Christmas giving should be discontinued.
19. School buildings should be used as social centers.
20. Bring to class an editorial and an outline of it. Put the outline upon the board, or read it to the class. Then read the editorial.
Speaking from the Brief. Now that the brief is finished so that it represents exactly the material and development of the final speech, how shall it be used? To use it as the basis of a written article to be memorized is one method. Many speakers have employed such a method, many today do. The drawbacks of such memorizing have already been hinted at in an early chapter. If you want to grow in mental grasp, alertness, and power as a result of your speech training avoid this method. No matter how halting your first attempts may be, do not get into the seemingly easy, yet retarding habit of committing to memory. Memorizing has a decided value, but for speech-making the memory should be trained for larger matters than verbal reproduction. It should be used for the retention of facts while the other brain faculties are engaged in manipulating them for the best effect and finding words to express them forcefully. Memory is a helpful faculty. It should be cultivated in connection with the powers of understanding and expression, but it is not economical to commit a speech verbatim for delivery. The remarks will lack flexibility, spontaneity, and often direct appeal. There is a detached, mechanical air about a memorized speech which helps to ruin it.
With the outline before you, go over it carefully and slowly, mentally putting into words and sentences the entries you have inserted. You may even speak it half aloud to yourself, if that fixes the treatment more firmly in your mind. Then place the brief where you can reach it with your eye, and speak upon your feet. Some teachers recommend doing this before a mirror, but this is not always any help, unless you are conscious of awkward poses or gestures or movements, or facial contortions. Say the speech over thus, not only once but several times, improving the phraseology each time, changing where convenient or necessary, the emphasis, the amount of time, for each portion.
Self-criticism. Try to criticize yourself. This is not easy at first, but if you are consistent and persistent in your efforts you will be able to judge yourself in many respects. If you can induce some friend whose opinion is worth receiving either to listen to your delivery or to talk the whole thing over with you, you will gain much. In conference with the teacher before your delivery of the speech such help will be given. As you work over your brief in this manner you will be delighted to discover suddenly that you need refer to it less and less frequently. Finally, the outline will be in your mind, and when you speak you can give your entire attention to the delivery and the audience.
Do not be discouraged if you cannot retain all the outline the first times you try this method. Many a speaker has announced in his introduction, "I shall present four reasons," and often has sat down after discussing only three. Until you can dispense entirely with the brief keep it near you. Speak from it if you need it. Portions which you want to quote exactly (such as quotations from authorities) may be memorized or read. In reading be sure you read remarkably well. Few people can read interestingly before a large audience. Keep your papers where you can get at them easily. Be careful not to lose your place so that you will have to shuffle them to get the cue for continuing. Pauses are not dangerous when they are made deliberately for effect, but they are ruinous when they betray to the audience forgetfulness or embarrassment on the part of the speaker. Anticipate your need. Get your help before you actually need it, so that you can continue gracefully.
Results. This method, followed for a few months, will develop speaking ability. It produces results suited to modern conditions of all kinds of life. It develops practically all the mental faculties and personal attributes. It puts the speaker directly in touch with his audience. It permits him to adapt his material to an occasion and audience. It gives him the opportunity to sway his hearers and used legitimately for worthy ends, this is the most worthy purpose of any speech.