not held out as a matter of bargain and sale.

EDMUND BURKE: _Conciliation with America_, 1775

Position of Refutation in the Speech. The position of refutation in
the finished speech will depend always upon the nature of the
proposition, the exact method of the refutation, and the audience. If
you are making the only speech upon the proposition and you feel that
the audience may have a slight prejudice against what you are about to
urge, you may gain adherents at once by refuting at the beginning the
possible arguments in their minds. By this procedure you will clear
the field for your own operations. To change the figure of speech, you
erase from the slate what is already written there, so that you may
place upon it your own speech and its convictions.

If you are debating and the speaker just before you has evidently made
the judges accept his arguments, again you might remove that
conviction by refutation before you proceed to build up your own side.
If your regular arguments meet his squarely, proceed as you had
planned, but be sure when any reasoning you offer nullifies any he has
delivered, that you call the attention of the audience to the fact
that you have wiped out his score. In this way your constructive
argument and refutation will proceed together. You will save valuable
time.

Constructive Argument Is More Valuable than Refutation. Often the
rebuttal speeches of debate, coming at the close of the regular debate
speeches, seem reserved for all the refutation. This is certainly the
place for much refutation, certainly not all. The last speakers of the
rebuttal speeches should never rest content with leaving only
refutation in the hearers' minds. If they do, the debate may leave the
condition entirely where it was at the beginning, for theoretically
every argument advanced by either side has been demolished by the
other. After the rebuttal the last points left with the judges should
be constructive arguments.

In a single speech the refutation may be delivered in sections as the
demands of coherence and the opportunities for emphasis may suggest.
Here again, always make the last section a constructive one with
arguments in support of your proposition.

CHAPTER XII

DEBATING

The Ideal of Debating. A long time ago so admirable a man as William
Penn stated the high ideal of all real debating whether practised in
the limited range of school interests or in the extended field of
life's ac