able books on the subject you are looking up. It is well to read the table of contents of all the books you can get before undertaking a careful study of any one.

III. MAGAZINE LITERATURE is exceedingly well indexed in Poole's Index, The Reader's Guide, and The Annual Library Index. In these places we are put on the track not only of the latest contributions to a current discussion, but also some of the best writings on various topics, which are not to be found in book form.

IV. YEAR BOOKS such as the New International, the American Year Book, and the Annual Register, give brief but trustworthy accounts of the events of a particular year. Such sources are valuable primarily because they put you on the track of more detailed accounts to be found and verified elsewhere.

V. REPORTS of a special character and GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS also are valuable, especially in economic or political discussions.

Remember, however, wherever you find your facts, to apply to them the tests of acceptability. No man is infallible and errors may originate even close to the seats of the mighty.

It is not honest to yourself or to your audience to form and give out opinions when you have not made sure of the facts upon which they rest. It is certain that you will fail to convince an audience if you are not in a position to produce the facts when necessary.

ASSIGNMENT OF WORK

The written exercises in this entire lesson should be carefully worked out. Keep copies of the written exerelses in your notebook.

First Day. Read the lesson twice carefully; then take a magazine article and underline every opinion expressed which is not adequately supported by facts.

Second Day.-Select one of the following opinions and support it by two or more subordinate opinions as indicated on pages 235 and 236 of this lesson, in connection with the Irish Home Rule question. Then write down the actual facts you know in support of the minor opinions.

1. The influx of foreign labor into the United States is detrimental to the welfare of American labor.

2. The influx of labor into the United States is a desirable economic force for prosperity.

3. Judges should be subject to recall by direct vote of the people.

4. The United States should increase its army and navy. 5. The United States should diminish its armed forces and work for neutrality agreements.

6. The Single Tax is (or is not) desirable for the United States.

7. The Monroe Doctrine is of more harm than good to our interests as a nation.

8. The United States should relinquish all colonial possessions.

9. A national Prohibition Law is desirable.

10. All institutions of learning, from kindergarten to university professional school, should be conducted free to students by the government.

Third and Fourth Days.-Carefully formulate and write down. an opinion you hold on some current problem or national policy. Then go to the nearest library and make the most complete list you can of the available books, reports, and articles on the subject. After making your bibliography, begin to read up on the subject, taking notes as you read.

Fifth Day.-Continue your reading and note-taking. Then write down a series of facts gathered from the reading, noting the name of the witness in each case and the acceptability of the facts. Use the following form.

TEST QUESTIONS

They

These questions are for the student to use in testing
his knowledge of the principles in this lesson.
are suggestive merely, dealing largely with the practical
application of the principles, and are to be placed in the
notebook for future reference.

1. Did you ever hear a speaker whose vivid presentation struck you as good, but who never took the trouble to demonstrate the acceptability of what he presented? How do you feel when listening to such a man? Do you doubt his honesty?

2. What is the difference between representation and demonstration?

3. Give a definition of argumentation.

4. What are the main features of a judgment?

5. What is a proposition?

6. Why do opinions need verification?

7. What are the two processes by which we arrive opinions?

8. What is meant by a fact? What is an inference?

at

9. In what ways can an opinion be supported? What is the nature of the final or ultimate support of an opinion?

10. Do you know any "generally accepted opinion," that is, a belief held by all without any question?

11. What is a mental fact? Who may witness such a fact? What three things must be checked up to insure the

acceptability of a fact?

13. Can you give an example of a physically incompetent witness of a mentally incompetent witness?

14. Why is it difficult to get witnesses of a railroad accident or a theater panic to agree in their accounts of the facts f

15. What two features must be considered in passing on a man's credibility?

16. Do you reject facts because they are reported by a witness of low morals!

17. What are the generally recognized sources of published facts?

LESSON 14

INDUCTIVE AND DEDUCTIVE ARGUMENTS

In our last lesson, we dwelt upon the importance of facts as foundational to all arguments. In this lesson, we shall consider the types of reasoning-the logical workings of the mind beyond the direct observation of facts. Yet, at the very threshold of our study of reasoning, we must once more insist that the most valuable asset of the argumentative speaker is a wide and accurate grasp of facts; no amount of skill in logic, no amount of cunning in the construction of arguments can take the place of trustworthy facts. Indeed, dialectic facility, without a mastery of facts, produces only an empty shell of pretense. On the other hand, a knowledge of facts usually insures clear reasoning, for the human mind has a normal tendency to formulate correct opinions if it is provided with the proper materials of thought.

Yet there is need for the public speaker to understand the fundamental principles of reasoning and to master all types of argument. In this lesson we shall consider the two great classes of inferences or reasoning processes, the inductive and the deductive.

INDUCTION

Just as it is natural for the mind to form general notions or concepts after perceiving many objects of a similar character, so it is natural for it to formulate general laws deliberately. For example, you throw a stone up in the air and it falls to the ground; you toss up a ball and it falls to earth; the stem of an apple on