Part 5 (1/2)

EXERCISES

1. Bring to cla.s.s editorials from different newspapers on the same local subject, and point out differences of att.i.tude which they a.s.sume in the audiences they address.

2. Suggest three different possible audiences for your argument, and show what differences you would make in your argument in addressing each of them.

16. The Burden of Proof. The principle which underlies the responsibility for the burden of proof may be summed up in the adage of the common law, _He who a.s.serts must prove_.

At the law this principle has been elaborated into a large and abstruse subject; in ordinary arguments where there is no judge to make subtle discriminations, you must interpret it in the broadest way. The average man lacks both the interest and the capacity for making keen distinctions; and when you are writing for him you would make a mistake if you were to stickle for fine points concerning the burden of proof.

In general, the principle as it bears on the arguments of everyday life implies that any argument in favor of a change shall accept the burden of proof. This application of the principle is ill.u.s.trated in the following extract from an editorial article in _The Outlook_ some years ago, on a proposed change in the law of New York concerning the safeguards of vivisection.

The real question is not as to the merits of vivisection, but as to the proper safeguards with which the law should surround it.

At present the law of New York state applies to experiments upon animals the same principle that it applies to surgical operations upon men, women, and children. It does not attempt to prescribe the conditions under which either experiments or operations should be conducted; but it does prescribe the standards of fitness which every person who may lawfully engage in surgery and which every person who may lawfully engage in animal experimentation must meet. It penalizes with fine or imprisonment or both the unjustifiable injuring, mutilating, or killing of animals; and it confines to regularly incorporated medical colleges and universities of the state the authority under which animal experimentation may be conducted.

The burden of proof rests upon those who would have the state abandon this principle and subst.i.tute for it the principle of prescribing the conditions of scientific investigation. It rests upon them to prove, in the first place, that the present law is inadequate. It is not sufficient for them to produce lawyers who give opinions that the law is not efficient. There are lawyers of the highest standing in the state who declare that it is efficient. The only adequate mode of proof would be by the prosecution of an actual abuse. So far as we have been able to learn, only one authentic case of alleged unjustifiable experimentation has been brought forward by the supporters of the bills. This is certainly not proof that the present law is inadequate.

In the second place, the burden of proof rests upon them to show that legal restrictions on the methods of science would not vitiate investigations, and would not, therefore, entail upon human beings greater suffering than would otherwise be inflicted upon animals ...

It is because _The Outlook_ is convinced by overwhelming evidence that the practice of vivisection has not increased suffering but has rather widened immeasurably the merciful ministrations of medicine and surgery that it regards as dangerous unintelligent interference with vivisection, and urges the maintenance of the principle underlying the present New York law.

So with other questions of policy, the burden of proof would be on any one who proposed a change from a policy long established, such as free trade in England, and to a less extent protection in this country, the elective system in many American colleges, the amateur rule in school and college athletics.

Always, one must remember that the burden of proof depends on the prepossessions of the audience, and that on the same question it may change within a moderately small number of years. Ten years ago, on the question of the popular election of senators the burden was clearly on the side of those who advocated a change in the Const.i.tution. By this time (1912) the burden of proof has for a majority of the people of the United States probably swung to the other side. In the state of Maine, where prohibition had been embodied in the state const.i.tution for a generation, the burden of proof was on those who in 1911 argued for its repeal; whereas in Ma.s.sachusetts, which has done well for many years with local option and high license, the burden would still be on those who should argue for state prohibition. In the discussions of the game of football a few years ago the burden of proof before an audience of athletes would have been on those who declared that the game must be changed; with college faculties and men of like mind the burden of proof would have been on those who defended the old game. In each case that comes up, you cannot place the burden of proof until you know whether the people you are trying to convince have any prepossessions in the matter: if they have, the burden of proof is on him who attempts to change those prepossessions; if they have not, the burden is on him who is proposing to change existing views or existing policies.

In no case, however, with a popular audience is it very safe to depend much on the burden of proof; almost always it is better to jump in and actively build up the argument on your own side. In argument, as in strategy, take the offensive whenever you can.

Notebook. Note whether the burden of proof is with you or against you, taking into account the probable prepossessions of the audience you have selected.

Ill.u.s.tration. In the argument for the introduction of the commission form of government into Wytown the burden of proof is on the affirmative to show that the Des Moines plan of city government will cure the evils of the present government of Wytown. With the audience a.s.sumed (see p. 43), there is no burden of proof on the affirmative to establish the need of a change.

EXERCISES

1. In three subjects which you might choose for an argument show where the burden of proof would lie.

2. In the case of one of these arguments show how the burden of proof might change with the argument.

17. The Brief. When you have settled these preliminary questions of the audience you wish to win over to your view, and of the way their prepossessions and knowledge of the subject will affect your responsibilities for the burden of proof, you are ready to begin work on the brief, as the plan for an argument is called. This brief it is better to think of as a statement of the logical framework of the argument, which you are constructing for the purpose of clearing up your own mind on the subject, and especially to help you to see how you can most effectively arrange your material. It differs from the usual brief in a case at law in that the latter is ordinarily a series of compact statements of legal principles, each supported by a list of cases already decided which bear on that principle. The brief you will be making now will consist of an _introduction_, which states whatever facts and principles are necessary to an understanding of the brief, and the _brief_ itself, which consists of a series of propositions, each supporting your main contention, and each in turn supported by others, which again may each be supported by another series. Such an a.n.a.lysis will thoroughly display the processes of your reasoning, and enable you to criticize them step by step for soundness and coerciveness.

I shall first explain the several steps which go to the making of the introduction to the brief; and then come to the making of the brief itself.

18. The Proposition. The first step in making the introduction to your brief is to formulate the question or proposition (the two terms are interchangeable in practice). Until you have crystallized your view of the subject into a proposition you have nothing to argue about.

”Commission form of government” is a subject, but it is not arguable, for it gives you no hold either for affirming or denying. ”Commission government should be adopted in Wytown,” or ”Commission government has improved political conditions in Des Moines,” are both propositions which are arguable (though not yet specific enough), for it is possible to maintain either the affirmative or the negative of either of them.