for argument that is expressed in the form of a question. "Shall women be granted the right to vote?" must be understood to mean one or the other of these propositions, -"Women should be granted the right to vote" or "Women should not be granted the right

The proposition should be the clear and exact statement of the conclusion which the writer or speaker has reached in his own thinking, and to which he hopes to bring his audience by means of his arguments. In formal debate the situation requires that the exact proposition be made known beforehand, and that the precise meaning of the terms of the proposition, what it includes and what it does not include, be agreed to by both sides and explained at the outset. In less formal argumentation this is not usually deemed necessary.

Nor is it always advisable; for if the audience is thought to be hostile to the speaker's views, the full statement of the proposition may best be deferred until his hearers have been prepared to receive it. Thus, in Burke's speech on Conciliation with the Colonies, you are made aware in the very first paragraph that Burke desires to conciliate the colonies somehow; in the ninth paragraph you learn that Burke's proposition is peace ; that he proposes, by a simple plan, somehow to remove the ground of the difference between the colonies and the mother country; but it is not until the ninety-first paragraph that he lets his audience know precisely what he proposes namely, that Parliament should establish, by passing certain resolutions, the principle of raising money in the colonies by voluntary grants of the colonial assemblies rather than by imposing taxes. Burke

knew his audience to be out of sympathy with his proposition, and so he deferred its full and exact statement until he was ready to present his resolutions. For similar reasons, doubtless, Hosmer in his Samuel Adams (see p. 46, ante, for the paragraph in question) delayed announcing the full statement of his proposition until the very end of the paragraph had been reached. By this delay he was able to forestall opposition that would inevitably have been offered had the proposition been stated boldly at the outset.

Whether the proposition is stated at the beginning or is reserved until necessary explanations have been made, it is kept definitely in mind by the writer all of the time. He knows exactly what it is before he begins to write and holds it before him while writing.

130.

Assignments on the Proposition.

A. Read the following and write out the exact proposition that was in the father's mind on the subject of shooting birds.

He went hunting the very next Saturday, and at the first shot he killed a bird. It was a suicidal sapsucker, which had suffered him to steal upon it so close that it could not escape even the vagaries of that wandering gun-barrel, and was blown into such small pieces that the boy could bring only a few feathers of it away. In the evening, when his father came home, he showed him these trophies of the chase, and boasted of his exploit with the minutest detail. His father asked him whether he had expected to eat the sapsucker, if he could have got enough of it together. He said no, sapsuckers were not good to eat. "Then you took its poor little life merely for the pleasure of killing it?"

-HOWELLS: A Boy's Town, p. 154.

B. Is the first sentence, or the last, or a combination of the two, the exact proposition in the following?

When men strike, the side which can afford to be idle the longest will win. The masters are usually rich enough to live on their accumulated property for some time. The men often have no savings, and rarely, if ever, have large ones. They may belong to a trade-union which will supply them with means of subsistence for some time, but the small funds of such a society, divided among a number of men, cannot go far. The masters must have the men work in order to have their capital yield them anything, but the men must work in order to live. It is plain that the masters can, as a rule, stay idle the longest.

- LALOR AND MASON: A Primer of Political Economy.

C. Criticise the wording of the following propositions. The words that are ambiguous or in need of definition or modification are printed in italics. From one of these make a proposition that you would be willing to advocate.

1. United States senators should be elected by the people. (On a general ticket? Ignoring state lines?)

2. The elective system should be adopted in our schools. (In all of them? Define elective system.)

3. Sunday recreations should be prohibited by law. (What is included in recreations?)

4. All anarchists should be deported. (What is an anarchist?) 5. A high school education insures success in life. (Is a high school education the same for everybody? What is success in life?)

6. A trade is better than a clerkship. (For whom? in what sense?)

7. The policy of Conservation should be supported by legislation. (What is Conservation? What legislation is wanted?

state or federal?)

D. Make a proposition that precisely expresses some conclusion to which you have come.

to clearness and accuracy. form.

Word it with extreme care with a view

Bring it to class for criticism of its

E. Think of a proposition that would be unwelcome to your classmates, something about restricting a certain privilege, for instance, or curtailing a holiday recess, and consider what you might say before announcing the proposition, in order to render it less unwelcome when announced.

Arguments for the Proposition based on Pertinent Facts.

131. Whatever helps to persuade others to accept a proposition as true is an argument for the proposition, a reason for believing it. The fact that A is a financier long accustomed to the safe management of large funds, is an argument for the proposition that "A should be elected city treasurer." The absence of The absence of any accusation affecting A's integrity or ability to perform the duties of the office, is a further argument for the same proposition. As an argument for the proposition that "revenue by voluntary grant of the colonial legislatures is the most productive means of obtaining money from the colonies," Burke cited the fact that the colonies had granted voluntarily more than £200,000 sterling for his Majesty's service. As a further argument for the same proposition, he pointed to the absence of revenue from the system of imposing taxes on the colonies.

A pertinent fact and the absence of a pertinent fact are alike arguments for a proposition.

132. Assignment in finding Pertinent Facts.

Find two or three pertinent facts that tend to prove the affirmative or the negative of the following propositions. Make at least one additional argument from the absence of a pertinent fact.

1. The interurban railways hurt retail business in small villages near larger cities.

2. Smith should be made captain of the baseball nine.

3. Jones should be elected secretary of the literary society. 4. Final examinations should be required of every student in every study.

5. Basket-ball affords better exercise for a girl than ice-skating.

Arguments based on Pertinent Circumstances. 133. The mayor of a city, a candidate for reëlection, was accused of unfriendliness to the working classes because he had vetoed an appropriation for free band concerts. As an argument that the accusation was false, the absence of any motive for unfriendliness was urged, and the circumstance was pointed out that there was no money left in the city treasury to meet that or any other appropriation. The very circumstance that he had vetoed the measure when a candidate for reëlection was cited as an argument for his good faith. A certain house with windows and doors secure has been robbed. After the robbery, the lock on one window is found to have been broken. This circumstance is an argument that the robbery was probably committed by some one from without. If there is no sign that the windows and doors have been tampered with, this circumstance is an argument that the robbery was committed by, or in collusion with, an inmate of the house.

A mere circumstance, if pertinent to the proposition, and the absence of a circumstance are alike arguments.

134. Assignment in finding Pertinent Circumstances. For one of the following propositions (or the negative of it) find several pertinent circumstances. Note also the absence of any circumstance that would be significant if present. (Take a real case for each proposition.)