b. The United States should provide for an immediate increase in the navy.
c. Intercollegiate football should be abolished.
d. Children under fourteen years of age should be prohibited by law from working in factories.
e. Marriage and divorce should be controlled by Federal law.
2. What sources of evidence would you consult in regard to each of the above propositions? State one or more items (books, magazine articles, persons, or documents) under each source.
3. Write out and hand in for inspection ten cards on one of the above propositions. These cards should show the application of all the rules given for recording evidence.
4. Apply to these cards the rules to be observed in selecting evidence. Does any one of these cards or any combination of the cards show evidence sufficient in amount to prove any one contention?
CHAPTER V
CONSTRUCTING THE BRIEF
The construction of a brief is a most interesting task, for the bringing of order out of chaos always gives a thrill of satisfaction to the active thinker. It indicates the mastery of the human mind over material facts and conditions. In this as in all other spheres of endeavor the joy of victory possesses him who overcomes.
The work of constructing a brief is usually looked upon by the uninitiated with considerable apprehension. It is regarded as a most difficult task, and so it is. But the difficulty of the task is greatly overshadowed by the pleasure which may be derived from it, providing the preliminary work has been done thoroughly. Every step in the argumentative process up to this point must have been taken with diligence. If this work has been well done the student finds himself in the possession of a large amount of evidence. The analysis of the proposition and the collecting of the evidence have given the student a broad outlook over the field to be covered by the brief. Now, to get the most comprehensive view of this field, he must look at it from the standpoint of the Purpose of the Brief.