Practical Argumentation · Chapter 18Exercises
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A. In the following passage point out all assertions that are made, note whether the source of the evidence is definitely stated, and test the witnesses that give the evidence.
Reciprocity is the only remedy for the commercial antagonism which is fast separating Canada and the United States. Canada has long waited in vain for the culmination of treaties whereby she can trade with us on equal terms. Now, angered by our long evasion of the question, she is, according to prominent Canadian statesmen, contemplating the passage of high protective tariff laws, which will effectually close the doors of Canadian trade to us. Canada is young, but she is growing fast. The value of her imports is steadily growing larger, and if we do not make some concession to her we shall lose this vast trade. She makes and sells many things of which we do not have a home supply. Why not then open our doors to her and admit her products? Would it not be of distinct advantage to us?
The American Press is almost unanimous in declaring that the sum of the advantages attending this step would far offset any disadvantages. For instance, the supply of lumber in the United States is fast becoming exhausted; experts say that in fifteen years we shall have a lumber famine. If we turn to Canada, however, we see her mountain slopes green with trees and her wooded valleys covered with millions of feet of lumber. Why, then, not get our lumber from Canada and preserve what few forests we do have? Because of the exorbitant tariff on imported lumber. Lumber at its present high prices is even cheap compared with the price of imported lumber. Moreover, lumber is not the only article that is expensive here, though it is cheap just across the line in Canada. The World's Work, Vol. V, page 2979, says that reciprocity with Canada would cheapen many articles that are now costly.
B. Point out the kind of reasoning found in each of the following arguments:—
1. The wholesale destruction of the forests in many States portends the loss of our whole timber supply.
2. His faithful performance of every duty assures him an early promotion.
3. Since he succeeded well in his college work, it is an assured fact that he will make a brilliant reputation for himself in business.
4. Caesar had his Brutus, Charles I his Cromwell, and George III—may profit by their example.
5. The well-tilled fields, the carefully-trimmed hedges, and the sleek appearance of the stock bespoke a thrifty and industrious farmer.
6. You tried in Wales to raise a revenue which the people thought excessive and unjust: the attempt ended in oppression, resistance, rebellion, and loss to yourselves. You tried in the Duchy of Lancaster to raise a revenue which the people believed unjust: this effort ended in oppression, rebellion, vexation, and loss to yourselves. You are now trying to raise in America a revenue which the Colonists disapprove. What must be the result?
7. Then, sir, from these six capital sources: of descent; of form of government; of religion in the northern provinces; of manners in the southern; of education; of the remoteness of situation from the first mover of government—from all these causes a fierce spirit of liberty has grown up.
8. Collective bargaining is an advantage to working men; it tends to give them some share in the control of the industry to which they contribute.
9. That a free labor union is not the impractical dream of an idealist is to be found in the fact that some of the greatest and most successful of the labor organizations have always adhered to the principle of the open shop. In the Pennsylvania coal-mines union and non-union miners labored together in the same mine and reaped the same benefits from the collective bargaining carried on for them by John Mitchell. In the recent anarchy in Colorado, the one mine which went on with its work peacefully, prosperously, and without disturbance, until it was closed by military orders, was a mine which maintained the principle of the open shop, and in which union and non-union men worked peacefully together.
10. Suppose that all the property you were worth was in gold, and you had put it in the hands of Blondin, the famous rope-walker, to carry across the Niagara Falls on a tight rope. Would you shake the rope while he was passing over it, or keep shouting to him, "Blondin, stoop a little more! Go a little faster!" No, I am sure you would not. You would hold your breath as well as your tongue, and keep your hand off until he was safely over. Now the government is in the same situation. It is carrying an immense weight across a stormy ocean. Untold treasures are in its hands. It is doing the best it can. Don't badger it! Just keep still and it will get you safely over.
C. Prove or disprove the following statements, using, wherever it is possible, argument from antecedent probability, sign, example, and authority. Give references for all evidence except generally admitted facts.
1. The negro is not prepared to receive the same kind of education that the white man receives.
2. Railway pooling lowers freight rates.
3. The election of Senators by State Legislatures is undemocratic.
4. The present commercial relations between Canada and the United States are detrimental to the industries of the United States.
5. The influence of labor unions has greatly diminished child labor in the United States.
6. Woman suffrage would purify politics.
7. Egypt is benefited by the control of England.
8. Strikes benefit the working man.
9. The municipal ownership of street railways is a financial failure.
10. Lumber companies threaten the extermination of the forests in the United States.