E-text prepared by Stephen Schulze
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A Manual for Use in High Schools andAcademies
By
Head of the Department of Civic Science in theJoliet Township High School
1919
This book pretends but little to originality in material. Itsaim is to offer the old in a form that shall meet the needs ofyoung students who are beginning work in debate. The effort hasbeen made only to present the elements of forensic work so freedfrom technicality that they may be apparent to the student with thegreatest possible economy of time and the least possibleinterpretation by the teacher.
It is hoped that the book may serve not only those schools wheredebating is a part of the regular course, but also thoseinstitutions where it is a supplement to the work in English or isencouraged as a "super-curriculum" activity.
Although the general obligation to other writers is obvious,there is no specific indebtedness not elsewhere acknowledged,except to Mr. Arthur Edward Phillips, whose vital principle of"Reference to Experience" has, in a modified form, been made thetest for evidence. It is my belief that the use of this principle,rather than the logical and technical forms of proof and evidence,will make the training of debate far more applicable in other formsof public speaking. My special thanks are due to Miss Charlotte VanDer Veen and Miss Elizabeth Barns, whose aid has added technicalexactness to almost every page. I wish to thank also Miss BellaHopper for suggestions in preparing the reference list of AppendixI. Most of all, I am indebted to the students whose interest hasbeen a constant stimulus, and whose needs have been to me, as theyare to all who teach, the one sure and constant guide.
L.S.L.