Part 13 (1/2)

6. Consider and weigh the value of your material.

7. Why is it good?

8. What limits, or drawbacks has it?

9. What could be said against it from the other side?

Interview. If a person cannot himself experience or observe all he wants to use for material his first impulse will be to interview people who have had experience themselves. In this circ.u.mstance the speaker becomes the reporter of details of knowledge furnished by others. The value of this is apparent at once. Next to first-hand knowledge, second-hand knowledge will serve admirably.

Every newspaper and magazine in the world uses this method because its readers' first query, mental or expressed, of all its informative articles is ”Is this true?” If the author is merely repeating the experience of an acknowledged expert in the field under discussion, the value of the interview cannot be questioned. In this case the resulting report is almost as good as the original testimony or statement of the man who knows.

The first requisite, therefore, of material gathered in such a manner is that it be reproduced exactly as first delivered. The man who told a woman that a critic had p.r.o.nounced her singing ”heavenly” had good intentions but he was not entirely accurate in changing to that nattering term the critic's actual adjective ”unearthly.” The frequency with which alleged statements published in the daily press are contradicted by the supposed utterers indicates how usual such misrepresentation is, though it may be honestly unintentional. The speaker before an audience must be scrupulously correct in quoting.

This accuracy is not a.s.sured unless a stenographic transcript be taken at the time the information is given, or unless the person quoted reads the sentiments and statements credited to him and expresses his approval.

Signed statements, personal letters, printed records, photographs, certified copies, and other exhibits of all kinds are employed to substantiate material secured from interviews and offered in speeches.

If you notice newspaper accounts of lectures, political speeches, legislative procedure, legal practice, you will soon become familiar with such usages as are described by the expressions, filing as part of the record, taking of a deposition in one city for use in a lawsuit in another, Exhibit A, photograph of an account book, statement made in the presence of a third party, as recorded by a dictaphone, etc.

The first danger in securing material by the personal interview is the natural error of misunderstanding. The second danger is the natural desire--not necessarily false, at that--to interpret to the user's benefit, the material so secured, or to the discredit of all views other than his own. It is so easy, so tempting, in making out a strong case for one's own opinions to omit the slight concession which may grant ever so little shade of right to other beliefs. Judicious manipulation of any material may degenerate into mere juggling for support. Quotations and reports, like statistics, can be made to prove anything, and the general intellectual distrust of mere numbers is cleverly summed up in the remark, ”Figures can't lie, but liars can figure.”

To have the material accepted as of any weight or value the person from whom it is secured must be recognized as an authority. He must be of such eminence in the field for which his statements are quoted as not only to be accepted by the speaker using his material but as unqualifiedly recognized by all the opponents of the speaker. His remarks must have the definiteness of the expert witness whose testimony in court carries so much weight. To secure due consideration, the speaker must make perfectly clear to his audience the position of his authority, his fitness to be quoted, his unquestioned knowledge, sincerity, and honesty.

Knowledge secured in this manner may be used with signal effect in a speech, either to supply all the material or to cover certain portions. If you listen to many speeches (and you should), notice how often a speaker introduces the result of his interviews--formal or merely conversational--with persons whose statement he is certain will impress his audience.

EXERCISES

1. Make a list of five topics of which you know so little that you would have to secure information by interviews.

2. Of these choose two, define your opinion or feeling in each, and tell to whom you could apply for material.

3. Choose one dealing with some topic of current interest in your locality; define your own opinion or feeling, and tell to whom you could apply for material.

4. Explain exactly why you name this person.

5. Prepare a set of questions to bring out material to support your position.

6. Prepare some questions to draw out material to dispose of other views.

7. Interview some person upon one of the foregoing topics or a different one, and in a speech present this material before the cla.s.s.

8. In general discussion comment on the authorities reported and the material presented.

Reading. The best way and the method most employed for gathering material is reading. Every user of material in speeches must depend upon his reading for the greatest amount of his knowledge. The old expression ”reading law” shows how most legal students secured the information upon which their later practice was based. Nearly all real study of any kind depends upon wide and careful reading.

Reading, in the sense here used, differs widely from the entertaining perusal of current magazines, or the superficial skimming through short stories or novels. Reading for material is done with a more serious purpose than merely killing time, and is regulated according to certain methods which have been shown to produce the best results for the effort and time expended.

The speaker reads for the single purpose of securing material to serve his need in delivered remarks. He has a definite aim. He must know how to serve that end. Not everyone who can follow words upon a printed page can read in this sense. He must be able to read, understand, select, and retain. The direction is heard in some churches to ”read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest.” This is a picturesque phrasing of the same principles.

You must know how to read. Have you often in your way through a book suddenly realized at the bottom of a page that you haven't the slightest recollection of what your eye has been over? You may have felt this same way after finis.h.i.+ng a chapter. People often read poetry in this manner. This is not really reading. The speaker who reads for material must concentrate. If he reaches the bottom of a page without an idea, he must go back to get it. It is better not to read too rapidly the first time, in order to save this repet.i.tion. The ability to read is trained in exactly the same way as any other ability.

Accuracy first, speed later. Perhaps the most prevalent fault of students of all kinds is lack of concentration.