2. The climate of our country is changing.
3. Gutenberg did not invent the printing press.
4. The American Indians have been unjustly treated by the whites.
5. Nations have their periods of rise and decay.
(Are the facts you use true? Are they pertinent? Do you know of facts
that would tend to show that your proposition is not true?)
+182. Number and Value of Reasons.+--Although a statement may be true and
pertinent it is seldom sufficient for proof. We need, as a rule, several
such statements. If you are trying to convince a friend that one kind of
automobile is superior to another, and can give only one reason for its
superiority, you no doubt will fail in your attempt. If, however, you can
give several reasons, you may succeed in convincing him. Suppose you go to
your principal and ask permission to take an extra study. You may give as
a reason the fact that your parents wish you to take it. He may not think
that is a sufficient reason for your doing so, but when he finds that with
your present studies you do not need to study evenings, that one of them
is a review, and that you have been standing well in all your studies, he
may be led to think that it will be wise for you to take the desired extra
study.
While we must guard against insufficiency of reasons, we must not forget
that numbers alone do not convince. One good reason is more convincing
than several weak ones. Two or three good reasons, clearly and definitely
stated, will have much more weight than a large number of less important
ones.
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