p."

If any farmer anywhere in the United States will look up the fire
insurance policy on his farm building, and will read it carefully,
in nine cases out of ten, he will find tucked away somewhere therein
a clause exactly like the one quoted above, or practically in the
same words.

BEGINNING WITH A QUESTION. Every question is like a riddle; we are never
satisfied until we know the answer. So a question put to us at the
beginning of an article piques our curiosity, and we are not content
until we find out how the writer answers it.

Instead of a single question, several may be asked in succession. These
questions may deal with different phases of the subject or may repeat
the first question in other words. It is frequently desirable to break
up a long question into a number of short ones to enable the rapid
reader to grasp the idea more easily. Greater prominence may be gained
for each question by giving it a separate paragraph.

Rhetorical questions, although the equivalent of affirmative or negative
statements, nevertheless retain enough of their interrogative effect to
be used advantageously for the beginning of an article.

That the appeal may be brought home to each reader personally, the
pronoun "you," or "yours," is often embodied in the question, and
sometimes readers are addressed by some designation such as "Mr. Average
Reader," "Mrs. Voter," "you, high school boys and girls."

The indirect question naturally lacks the force of the direct one, but
it may be employed when a less striking form of beginning is desired.
The direct question, "Do you know why the sky is blue?" loses much of
its force when changed into the indirect form, "Few people know why the
sky is blue"; still it possesses enough of the riddle element to
stimulate thought. Several indirect questions may be included in the
initial sentence of an article.

QUESTION BEGINNINGS

(1)

(_Kansas City Star_)

TRACING THE DROUTH TO ITS LAIR

What becomes of the rainfall in the plains states? This region is
the veritable bread basket of our country; but in spite of the fact
that we have an average rainfall of about thirty-six inches, lack of
moisture, more frequently than any other condition, becomes a
limiting factor in crop production. Measured in terms of wheat
production, a 36-inch rainfall, if properly distributed through the
growing season and utilized only by the crop g