Practical Argumentation

it advisable, upon completing their proof, to add a few summarizing words and to make a final appeal to the emotions. This part of the argument that comes

ce may frequently happen to a salesman, a preacher, a lawyer. Arguments, however, that are written or that are delivered before large audiences cannot be curtailed in this way. Under such conditions the arguer is unable to tell when he has won his

e used in the first two divisions of an argument apply equally to the third division. In every case the relative amount of space to be devoted to conviction and to persuasion depends upon the nature of the subject

question of whether or not a certain law passed in New York was repugn

that these objects are connected, and that the first loses much of its importance, if the last, also, be not accomplished. Fourth, that, reading the grant to Congress, and the prohibition on the States together, the inference is strong that the Constitution intended to confer exclusive power to pass bankrupt laws on Congress. Fifth, that the prohibition in the tenth sect

have been out of place. In direct contrast to the preceding method of summarizing a speech a good example of a persuasive conclusion may be found in The Dartmouth College Case, which Webster argued befo

oration. The following is a typical example of a conclusion into which persuasion cannot well enter. It is

ment of all the naturalists who have sailed through the Pacific and Indian oceans. The necessity, also, that a foundation should have existed at the proper depth for the growth of the corals over c

ld make his greatest effort. Since belief and action ordinarily depend upon both the intellect and the will, the arguer who would attain success must appeal to both. Merely to call to mind the proof that he has advanced is seldom enough: he must arouse the e

wever, is for one to use his common sense. He must consider his subject, his audience, his ability, and his own interest in the case-all the circumstances in connection with his argument-and then depend, not upon some set formula, but upon his j

be a question difficult to settle, but it is quite clear that we are pitifully, disastrousl

n of educational influences-can there be any objects of expenditures more likely than these to repay themselves a thousandfold in the improved vig

he awful responsibility resting upon the

e of that everliving God, I do therefore conjure you to reflect that you have your characters, your consciences, that you have also the character, perhaps the ultimate destiny, of your country in your hands. In that awful name I do conjure you to have mercy u

's plea in The Dartmouth College Case consider how he s

angerous experiment, to hold these institutions subject to the rise and fall of popular parties, and the fluctuation of political opinions. If the franchise may at any time be taken away, or impaired, the property also may be taken away, or impaired, or its use perverted. Benefactors will have no certainty of effecting the object of their bounty; and learned men will be deterred from devoting themselves to

erred in choosing the best method of persuasion; he may have injured his argument in almost countless other ways. In these matters a text-book can give only general and rather vague instructio

hear a student at the close of his discussion say, "This is my proof; I leave the decision to the judges"; or "Thu

en arranged in its proper place and in its logical order. Furthermore, the purpose of the conclusion is to review the points that have already been established. If

procedure smacks of trickery or ignorance, and is sure to be disastrous. Not only will the audience throw out that particular point, but they will be highly prejudiced against both the arguer and his argument. It

oposition from that with which he started. To illustrate, a student once attempted to argue on the affirmative side of the proposition, "The United States should discontinue its protective tariff policy"; but he gave as his concluding sentence, "These facts, then, prove to you that our present tariff duties ar

two possible ways of removing it: one is to change the whole argument so that the conclusion will affirm the truth or falsity of the proposit

d States Senate, on The Presidential Veto of the United States Bank Bill. Notice the skillful interweaving of conviction and persuasi

It presents the chief magistrate of the Union in the attitude of arguing away the powers of that government over which he has been chosen to preside; and adopting for this purpose modes of reasoning which, even under the influence of all proper feeling towards high official station, it is difficult to regard as respectable. It appeals to every prejudice which may betray men into a mistaken view of their own interests, and to every passion which may lead them to disobey the impulses of their understanding. It urges all the specious topics of State rights and national encroachment against that which a great majority of the States have affirmed to be rightful, and in which all of them have acquiesced. It sows, in an

The one or the other must be rejected. If the sentiments of the message shall receive general approbation, the Constitution will have perished even earlier than the momen

END

END

RGUMENT AND

RESTRICTED? [Footnot

ay, 1897,

EENLEAF

al restrictive measures are already in force: paupers, idiots, contract laborers, the Chinese, and several other classes of people are prohibited from entering our ports. The subject has been discussed in legislatur

s it for the advantage of the United States that immigration be further checke

n the two fields be examined simultaneously, for the reasons, if there are any, from a political point of view, w

ich all the laborers whom the country can support have been introduced. Adam Smith says that labor is the wealth of nations. If this is true, the laborer is the direct and only primary means of acquiring wealth. The facts of the history of our country bear out this view. Beginning with the clearing of the forests, the settlements of the villages, the cultivation of farms, proceeding t

and clothing. This saturation point may be reached many times in the history of a country, for the ratio between the food and clothing products and the population is constantly varying. New modes of cultivation, and the use of machinery, as well as natural causes affecting the fertility of land, w

the United States has reached the same point. This is far from being the case, and a single glance at the comparative average density of pop

her a country has reached the point of over-population. We may admit that Great Britain, with its average of three hundred and eleven inhabitants per mile, is over-populated, though the conditions of life do not seem to be wholly intolerable, even to the lowest classes there. If Great Britain is over-populated, a fortiori are the Netherlands, and we may even go so far as to admit that Germany, with its average of two hundred and thirty-four inhabitants per square mile, is over-populated. But when we come to France, with its one hundred and eighty-seven inhabitants per square mile, we may pause and see what are the conditions of the French people. So far as it is possib

e mile. It would seem as if the mere statement of this fact were alone sufficient to disprove any proposition which asserts that the saturation point of population has been reached in the United States. While that immense expanse of country averages only six individuals to the square mile, there can be no reason for saying that this country is over-populated. Coming now to the more thickly settled portions of the United States, we find a large area spread out over various parts of the States having a

far the United States is from complete population. This appears still more clearly when the average population of the United States taken as a whole, is considered, which is the extraordinary low figure of twenty individuals per square mile of territory What a striking contrast! Can the most ardent advocate

es for expansion in the number of representatives in Congress in proportion to the increase in population, and increases the number of Senators as new States are formed and added to the Union. Similarly each State government has elastic provisions which enable it to cover a

s previous political training in its native country for undertaking the duties of American citizenship. The disintegration of the tide of immigration into these constituent parts affords some interesting information which will be seen to hav

1882 the total German immigration into the United States amounted to no less than 250,000, but in 1883 and 1884 there was a great decrease, and since then the average has remained in the neighborhood of 100,000. We shall see later that on the other ha

uted 76,000 immigrants to our population. It is noteworthy to remark, in this connection, that Italy has more than doubled her annua

and that country shows a woeful falling-off of nearly one-half in the ten years under consideration, for in the year 1882 it sent 64,000. Poland in 1891 sent us 27,000 immigrants, showing an enormous increase of nearly sevenfold over its contribution of 4,000 in 1882. Scotland and Norway and Denmark all send about the same number, that is, about 12,000 each; Norway showing a diminution in the decade ending 1891, from 29,000 in 1882, but the other two remaining about stationary. Switzerland in 1891 sent 6,000, a diminution from 10,000 in 1882. The Netherlands

r wholly or partially, gained a footing, with the inevitable result of accustoming people more or less to representative institutions. Yet the short time that this has been the case in many of the countries which pour half or over of the total flood of immigration into the United States, and the long centuries of despotism which

. Nor is the material out of which the prospective citizen is to be made wholly unfitted for its purpose. To be sure, the Latin races, the Slavs, Hungarians, Poles, and others have no inherited aptitude, nor if we may judge from the history of the races, any inherent capacity for self-government and free institutions, but, as I have before said, in almost every case they have had in their own count

is a continuous residence of five years in the States, and one year in the special State in which citizenship is applied for, and the d

e suffrage, and the franchise is granted (after a certain residence, which will be discussed later) with only certain general limitations of obvious utility, such as that the voter must be twenty-one years of age, that he must not be an idiot or insane, and generally, that he must not have been convicted of any felony or inf

. These States are California, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington. This requirement is admirably calculated to secure that preliminary training in the practical working of our institutions which must be necessary to most of the immigrants before they can intelligently exercise the rights which are conferred upon them by American citizenship and we cannot but admire the sagacity and

Connecticut the voter must be able to read any article in the State Constitution, and any section of the statutes. In Massachusetts he must be able to read the Constitution and to write his name. Too much praise can hardly

resent danger of our country is the danger of becoming a plutocracy, and while there is no doubt that a widespread interest in property develops stability of institutions, yet there is also great danger of capital obtaining so firm and strong a hold upon political institutions as to cr

country. What are the conclusions to which the view of these facts brings us? They seem to me to be these: first, that the growth of immigration is a desirable thing for this country from an industrial point of view; second, that the immigrants who arrive at our shores are for the most part good material out of which to make American citizens. Applying these conclusions to the questions which were stated at the outset of this article; first, is

thed itself with flesh with almost incredible rapidity in the hundred years of its existence. But it is still young. We should avoid any measures which would stunt or deform its growth and should allow it to develop freely and genero

NT AND

GRATION BE

IVE B

ODUC

a growing interest in some plan for further limiting

s, the Chinese, and several other cl

latures, in political meetings, from pulpi

des itself into two

he United States that immigrati

ay should the check

rst, from the industrial point of view; and

CUS

ld not be furthe

nt of view, the United St

, immigrants repres

tes needs more la

r into an undeveloped or partially developed cou

that labor is the

merica has borne ou

ned the forests, fields

ates is still un

ion to the square mile than i

average of three hundred and fifty

d the average of thr

d two hundred

one hundred a

hird of the whole

average is l

e thickly settled

even to f

Pennsylvania, M

rage is from for

ts of Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and

tates as a whole, t

oint of view, the immi

s make good

itical training has b

earning how to pe

citizen

that arrived in 1891, Germa

y sent

ria sen

d Ireland sen

lusive of Pola

en sent

nd sent

way, and Denmark

erland s

therlands

nce sen

gium se

ements of representative government are

orm of popular government has either

American citizen are

titutions are not

rance of the immigran

can insist on requirements that will secure some prel

s entirely a matter of

which is regulate

with it th

o one to vote who has not been in th

d Connecticut have

nsist on a pecuni

CLU

points have

ration is a desirable

ustrial poi

o arrive at our shore

of which to make

heck or limit should be

END

OF PROP

tes army should b

ified in waging w

nd Great Britain for the protection and advancem

should be taught i

tes navy should b

f England in South A

combine to bring about drastic

ould be grant

political and economic interests of C

ny nation to collect private claims aga

with Great Britain would be economica

ould establish commercia

in a system of subsidies for the pr

decided in favor of a s

d be adopted by an amend

cy by temporary deposits of United States Treasu

rimental to the best int

lished between the United Stat

ulsory powers, should be appointed to sett

hould discontinue the p

ld own and operate the intersta

pooling shoul

ssues of state banks

ates should adopt

es should own and operate

should be elected for a term of six y

United States should be

United States should be S

nators should be ele

er of the House of Represen

d institute a system of res

e elected by direct

at least ten thousand inhabitants should

age should be limited

dopt the initiative and refe

ld repeal the Fif

should be forbidden by law to ac

rstate commerce should be requir

hould be permitted to vot

the United States would be f

ld grant full citizenship

sh an old age-pension system similar

uba would be for the advan

should permanently r

entatives should elect

thern States are justified in mai

t corporate contributions t

f courts to grant injunc

e-fourths of a jury should be

government is treating

nishment shoul

d be compulsory to

tem of studies should be i

rade of eighty-five per cent, in a subject should

should be abolish

ld be abolished

debarred from intercoll

cted at present, are de

ain a college for the education of men

better location for a col

stem" should prev

es should admit women o

should admit student

d confer the degree of Bach

s should not furn

should not exist in

erican negro should be indu

, the small college is pref

adopt the recommendations of

the German university is preferable t

s are undesirab

tes Army canteen s

ational laws governin

e is preferable

ion to prevent children under the age of f

te profits offers the best s

ified in refusing reco

tes should grant p

ould be excluded f

ohibit vivisection i

tes should establi

s should establish a

f the House of Lords

mid was unju

o Chinese immigration should be

admit the Chinese on equal

of the Federal government is contrary to

servation of natural resources is contrary

en the United States and Brazil

States should maintain no

should admit all raw m

tes should admit s

residential inaugurat

should be electe

ed States should establish

is preferable to the sem

abor should not be allowed t

hould establish a d

not be farmed out to

uld establish a property