QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES
1. Give a short speech describing the conversational bore.
2. In a few words give your idea of a charming converser.
3. What qualities of the orator should not be used in conversation.
4. Give a short humorous delineation of the conversational "oracle."
5. Give an account of your first day at observing conversation around you.
6. Give an account of one day's effort to improve your own conversation.
7. Give a list of subjects you heard discussed during any recent period you may select.
8. What is meant by "elastic touch" in conversation?
9. Make a list of "Bromides," as Gellett Burgess calls those threadbare expressions which "bore us to extinction"—itself a Bromide.
10. What causes a phrase to become hackneyed?
11. Define the words, (a) trite; (b) solecism; (c) colloquialism; (d) slang; (e) vulgarism; (f) neologism.
12. What constitutes pretentious talk?
APPENDICES
APPENDIX A
FIFTY QUESTIONS FOR DEBATE
1. Has Labor Unionism justified its existence?
2. Should all church printing be brought out under the Union Label?
3. Is the Open Shop a benefit to the community?
4. Should arbitration of industrial disputes be made compulsory?
5. Is Profit-Sharing a solution of the wage problem?
6. Is a minimum wage law desirable?
7. Should the eight-hour day be made universal in America?
8. Should the state compensate those who sustain irreparable business loss because of the enactment of laws prohibiting the manufacture and sale of intoxicating drinks?
9. Should public utilities be owned by the municipality?
10. Should marginal trading in stocks be prohibited?
11. Should the national government establish a compulsory system of old-age insurance by taxing the incomes of those to be benefited?
12. Would the triumph of socialistic principles result in deadening personal ambition?
13. Is the Presidential System a better form of government for the United States than the Parliamental System?
14. Should our legislation be shaped toward the gradual abandonment of the protective tariff?
15. Should the government of the larger cities be vested solely in a commission of not more than nine men elected by the voters at large?
16. Should national banks be permitted to issue, subject to tax and government supervision, notes based on their general assets?
17. Should woman be given the ballot on the present basis of suffrage for men?
18. Should the present basis of suffrage be restricted?
19. Is the hope of permanent world-peace a delusion?
20. Should the United States send a diplomatic representative to the Vatican?
21. Should the Powers of the world substitute an international police for national standing armies?
22. Should the United States maintain the Monroe Doctrine?
23. Should the Recall of Judges be adopted?
24. Should the Initiative and Referendum be adopted as a national principle?
25. Is it desirable that the national government should own all railroads operating in interstate territory?
26. Is it desirable that the national government should own interstate telegraph and telephone systems?
27. Is the national prohibition of the liquor traffic an economic necessity?
28. Should the United States army and navy be greatly strengthened?
29. Should the same standards of altruism obtain in the relations of nations as in those of individuals?
30. Should our government be more highly centralized?
31. Should the United States continue its policy of opposing the combination of railroads?
32. In case of personal injury to a workman arising out of his employment, should his employer be liable for adequate compensation and be forbidden to set up as a defence a plea of contributory negligence on the part of the workman, or the negligence of a fellow workman?
33. Should all corporations doing an interstate business be required to take out a Federal license?
34. Should the amount of property that can be transferred by inheritance be limited by law?
35. Should equal compensation for equal labor, between women and men, universally prevail?
36. Does equal suffrage tend to lessen the interest of woman in her home?
37. Should the United States take advantage of the commercial and industrial weakness of foreign nations, brought about by the war, by trying to wrest from them their markets in Central and South America?
38. Should teachers of small children in the public schools be selected from among mothers?
39. Should football be restricted to colleges, for the sake of physical safety?
40. Should college students who receive compensation for playing summer baseball be debarred from amateur standing?
41. Should daily school-hours and school vacations both be shortened?
42. Should home-study for pupils in grade schools be abolished and longer school-hours substituted?
43. Should the honor system in examinations be adopted in public high-schools?
44. Should all colleges adopt the self-government system for its students?
45. Should colleges be classified by national law and supervision, and uniform entrance and graduation requirements maintained by each college in a particular class?
46. Should ministers be required to spend a term of years in some trade, business, or profession, before becoming pastors?
47. Is the Y.M.C.A. losing its spiritual power?
48. Is the church losing its hold on thinking people?
49. Are the people of the United States more devoted to religion than ever?
50. Does the reading of magazines contribute to intellectual shallowness?
APPENDIX B
THIRTY THEMES FOR SPEECHES
With Source References for Material.
1. Kinship, a Foundation Stone of Civilization.
"The State," Woodrow Wilson.
2. Initiative and Referendum.
"The Popular Initiative and Referendum," O.M. Barnes.
3. Reciprocity with Canada.
Article in Independent, 53: 2874; article in North
American Review, 178: 205.
4. Is Mankind Progressing?
Book of same title, M.M. Ballou.
5. Moses the Peerless Leader.
Lecture by John Lord, in "Beacon Lights of History."
NOTE: This set of books contains a vast store of
material for speeches.
6. The Spoils System.
Sermon by the Rev. Dr. Henry van Dyke, reported
in the New York Tribune, February 25, 1895.
7. The Negro in Business.
Part III, Annual Report of the Secretary of Internal
Affairs, Pennsylvania, 1912.
8. Immigration and Degradation.
"Americans or Aliens?" Howard B. Grose.
9. What is the Theatre Doing for America?
"The Drama Today," Charlton Andrews.
10. Superstition.
"Curiosities of Popular Custom," William S. Walsh.
11. The Problem of Old Age.
"Old Age Deferred," Arnold Lorand.
12. Who is the Tramp?
Article in Century, 28: 41.
13. Two Men Inside.
"Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," R.L. Stevenson.
14. The Overthrow of Poverty.
"The Panacea for Poverty," Madison Peters.
15. Morals and Manners.
"A Christian's Habits," Robert E. Speer.
16. Jew and Christian.
"Jesus the Jew," Harold Weinstock.
17. Education and the Moving Picture.
Article by J. Berg Esenwein in "The Theatre of
Science," Robert Grau.
18. Books as Food.
"Books and Reading," R.C. Gage and Alfred
Harcourt.
19. What is a Novel?
"The Technique of the Novel," Charles F. Home.
20. Modern Fiction and Modern Life.
Article in Lippincott's, October, 1907.
21. Our Problem in Mexico.
"The Real Mexico," Hamilton Fyfe.
22. The Joy of Receiving.
Article in Woman's Home Companion, December, 1914.
23. Physical Training vs. College Athletics.
Article in Literary Digest, November 28, 1914.
24. Cheer Up.
"The Science of Happiness," Jean Finot.
25. The Square Peg in the Round Hole.
"The Job, the Man, and the Boss," Katherine
Blackford and Arthur Newcomb.
26. The Decay of Acting.
Article in Current Opinion, November, 1914.
27. The Young Man and the Church.
"A Young man's Religion," N. McGee Waters.
28. Inheriting Success.
Article in Current Opinion, November, 1914.
29. The Indian in Oklahoma.
Article in Literary Digest, November 28, 1914.
30. Hate and the Nation.
Article in Literary Digest, November 14, 1914.
APPENDIX C
SUGGESTIVE SUBJECTS FOR SPEECHES[36]
With Occasional Hints on Treatment
1. Movies and Morals.
2. The Truth About Lying.
The essence of truth-telling and lying. Lies that are not so
considered. The subtleties of distinctions required. Examples of
implied and acted lies.
3. Benefits That Follow Disasters.
Benefits that have arisen out of floods, fires, earthquakes, wars,
etc.
4. Haste for Leisure.
How the speed mania is born of a vain desire to enjoy a leisure
that never comes or, on the contrary, how the seeming haste of
the world has given men shorter hours off labor and more time for
rest, study, and pleasure.
5. St. Paul's Message to New York.
Truths from the Epistles pertinent to the great cities of today.
6. Education and Crime.
7. Loss is the Mother of Gain.
How many men have been content until, losing all, they exerted their
best efforts to regain success, and succeeded more largely than
before.
8. Egoism vs. Egotism.
9. Blunders of Young Fogyism.
10. The Waste of Middle-Men in Charity Systems.
The cost of collecting funds for, and administering help to, the
needy. The weakness of organized philanthropy as compared with
the giving that gives itself.
11. The Economy of Organized Charity.
The other side of the picture.
12. Freedom of the Press.
The true forces that hurtfully control too many newspapers are not
those of arbitrary governments but the corrupting influences of
moneyed and political interests, fear of the liquor power, and the
desire to please sensation-loving readers.
13. Helen Keller: Optimist.
14. Back to the Farm.
A study of the reasons underlying the movement.
15. It Was Ever Thus.
In ridicule of the pessimist who is never surprised at seeing failure.
16. The Vocational High School.
Value of direct training compared with the policy of laying broader
foundations for later building. How the two theories work out in
practise. Each plan can be especially applied in cases that seem to
need special treatment.
17. All Kinds of Turning Done Here.
A humorous, yet serious, discussion of the flopping, wind-mill
character.
18. The Egoistic Altruist.
Herbert Spencer's theory as discussed in "The Data of Ethics."
19. How the City Menaces the Nation.
Economic perils in massed population. Show also the other side.
Signs of the problem's being solved.
20. The Robust Note in Modern Poetry.
A comparison of the work of Galsworthy, Masefield and Kipling with
that of some earlier poets.
21. The Ideals of Socialism.
22. The Future of the Small City.
How men are coming to see the economic advantages of smaller
municipalities.
23. Censorship for the Theatre.
Its relation to morals and art. Its difficulties and its benefits.
24. For Such a Time as This.
Mordecai's expression and its application to opportunities in modern
woman's life.
25. Is the Press Venal?
26. Safety First.
27. Menes and Extremes.
28. Rubicons and Pontoons.
How great men not only made momentous decisions but created means
to carry them out. A speech full of historical examples.
29. Economy a Revenue.
30. The Patriotism of Protest Against Popular Idols.
31. Savonarola, The Divine Outcast.
32. The True Politician.
Revert to the original meaning of the word. Build the speech around
one man as the chief example.
33. Colonels and Shells.
Leadership and "cannon fodder"—a protest against war in its effect
on the common people.
34. Why is a Militant?
A dispassionate examination of the claims of the British militant
suffragette.
35. Art and Morals.
The difference between the nude and the naked in art.
36. Can my Country be Wrong?
False patriotism and true, with examples of popularly-hated patriots.
37. Government by Party.
An analysis of our present political system and the movement toward
reform.
38. The Effects of Fiction on History.
39. The Effects of History on Fiction.
40. The Influence of War on Literature.
41. Chinese Gordon.
A eulogy.
42. Taxes and Higher Education.
Should all men be compelled to contribute to the support of
universities and professional schools?
43. Prize Cattle vs. Prize Babies.
Is Eugenics a science? And is it practicable?
44. Benevolent Autocracy.
Is a strongly paternal government better for the masses than a much
larger freedom for the individual?
45. Second-Hand Opinions.
The tendency to swallow reviews instead of forming one's own views.
46. Parentage or Power?
A study of which form of aristocracy must eventually prevail, that
of blood or that of talent.
47. The Blessing of Discontent.
Based on many examples of what has been accomplished by those who
have not "let well-enough alone."
48. "Corrupt and Contented."
A study of the relation of the apathetic voter to vicious government.
49. The Moloch of Child-Labor.
50. Every Man Has a Right to Work.
51. Charity that Fosters Pauperism.
52. "Not in Our Stars but in Ourselves."
Destiny vs. choice.
53. Environment vs. Heredity.
54. The Bravery of Doubt.
Doubt not mere unbelief. True grounds for doubt. What doubt has led
to. Examples. The weakness of mere doubt. The attitude of the
wholesome doubter versus that of the wholesale doubter.
55. The Spirit of Monticello.
A message from the life of Thomas Jefferson.
56. Narrowness in Specialism.
The dangers of specializing without first possessing broad
knowledge. The eye too close to one object. Balance is a vital
prerequisite for specialization.
57. Responsibility of Labor Unions to the Law.
58. The Future of Southern Literature.
What conditions in the history, temperament and environment of our
Southern people indicate a bright literary future.
59. Woman the Hope of Idealism in America.
60. The Value of Debating Clubs.
61. An Army of Thirty Millions.
In praise of the Sunday-school.
62. The Baby.
How the ever-new baby holds mankind in unselfish courses and saves
us all from going lastingly wrong.
63. Lo, the Poor Capitalist.
His trials and problems.
64. Honey and Sting.
A lesson from the bee.
65. Ungrateful Republics.
Examples from history.
66. "Every Man has his Price."
Horace Walpole's cynical remark is not true now, nor was it true
even in his own corrupt era. Of what sort are the men who cannot
be bought? Examples.
67. The Scholar in Diplomacy.
Examples in American life.
68. Locks and Keys.
There is a key for every lock. No difficulty so great, no truth so
obscure, no problem so involved, but that there is a key to fit the
lock. The search for the right key, the struggle to adjust it, the
vigilance to retain it—these are some of the problems of success.
69. Right Makes Might.
70. Rooming With a Ghost.
Influence of the woman graduate of fifty years before on the college
girl who lives in the room once occupied by the distinguished "old grad."
71. No Fact is a Single Fact.
The importance of weighing facts relatively.
72. Is Classical Education Dead to Rise No More?
73. Invective Against Nietsche's Philosophy.
74. Why Have we Bosses?
A fair-minded examination of the uses and abuses of the political
"leader."
75. A Plea for Settlement Work.
76. Credulity vs. Faith.
77. What is Humor?
78. Use and Abuse of the Cartoon.
79. The Pulpit in Politics.
80. Are Colleges Growing too Large?
81. The Doom of Absolutism.
82. Shall Woman Help Keep House for Town, City, State, and Nation?
83. The Educational Test for Suffrage.
84. The Property Test for Suffrage.
85. The Menace of the Plutocrat.
86. The Cost of High Living.
87. The Cost of Conveniences.
88. Waste in American Life.
89. The Effect of the Photoplay on the "Legitimate" Theatre.
90. Room for the Kicker.
100. The Need for Trained Diplomats.
101. The Shadow of the Iron Chancellor.
102. The Tyranny of the Crowd.
103. Is Our Trial by Jury Satisfactory?
104. The High Cost of Securing Justice.
105. The Need for Speedier Court Trials.
106. Triumphs of the American Engineer.
107. Goethals and Gorgas.
108. Public Education Makes Service to the Public a Duty.
109. Man Owes his Life to the Common Good.