60.  The Nature of Debate.  The essential difference between debate and written argument lies not so much in the natural difference between all spoken and written discourse as in the fact that in a debate of any kind there is the chance for an immediate answer to an opponent.  Quickness of wit to see the weak points on the other side, readiness in attacking them, and resource in defending one’s own points make the debater, as distinguished from the man who, if he be given plenty of time, can make a formidable and weighty argument in writing.  The best debating is heard in deliberative bodies which are not too large, and where the rules are not too elaborate.  Perhaps the best in the world is in the British House of Commons, for there the room is not so large that hearing is difficult, and skill in thrust and parry has been valued and practiced for generations.

The military figure for argument is more apposite in debate than anywhere else, for in the taking of the vote there is an actual victory and defeat, very different in nature from the barren decision of judges in intercollegiate and interscholastic contests.  It is undoubtedly rare that a particular debate in any legislative body actually changes the result; but in the long run the debates in such bodies do mold public opinion, and within the body amalgamate or break up party ties.  The resource and the ready knowledge of the subject under debate necessary to hold one’s own in such running contests of wit Is an almost essential characteristic of a party leader.  It is on these two qualities that I shall chiefly dwell in this chapter.

61.  Subjects for Debate.  Debate almost always deals with questions of policy.  In trials before a jury there is something approaching a debate over questions of fact; but the rules of evidence are so special, and within their range so strict, that even though the arguments are spoken, they can have little of the free give and take which makes the life and the interest of a real debate.  Accordingly I shall draw my illustrations here from questions of policy, and so far as is possible from the sort of question that students are likely to turn their attention to.  The later years of school and the whole of the college course are often the molding years for a man’s views on all sorts of public questions.  It has been said that a man’s views rarely change after he is twenty-five years old; and though one must not take such a dictum too literally, yet unquestionably it has truth.  At any rate it is certain that a student, whether in high school or college, if he is to do his duty as a citizen, must begin to think out many of the questions which are being decided in Congress, in state legislatures, and in smaller, more local bodies.  At the same time, in every school and college questions are constantly under discussion of a nature to provide good practice in debate.  Some of these questions must be decided by school committee, principal, faculty, or trustees, and most of them call for some looking up of facts.  They would provide admirable material for the development of judgment and resource in debating, and in some cases a debate on them might have effect on the actual decision.