Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-02-24
THE FOOLS
ARGUMENT


Will somebody explain why sensible men.
who expect to be taken seriously, persist
in that stupid form OF speech that begins.
"Ill bet you? Just bend an ear attentive
iy some day to the conversation of a crowd
of men who read the newspapers and
gather lot of half-baked opinions inside
their brains. They think they have mas
tered every subject they start to talk about
They remember every detail perfectly. They
have dates pat and cannot possibly be
wrong. Suddenly two of them run past
signals and a head-on collision of ideas
| results. 1t is lucky if blood does not flow.
In some grades of society 1t almost in
variabiy does follow "A dispute as Sc
quentially as an extra follows a disaster
But In the more polite lines of life hsti-
cuffs is not precisely recherche. The dis
putants fall back upon verbal body blows
| and one of the surest swings is the offer
to bet money. Just why this is regarded
as positive proof of accuracy is for others
to answer 1t suffices now to declare that
of all the silly senseless. stupid forms of
conversation the bet-argument is about the
limit.
4
1t is possible to judge fairly of the mental
caliber of a man by noting the manner in
which he maintains his opinion The man
who is sure he is right who really has his
data down fine. seldom busters and rarely
bets. He states his case and lets 1t go at
that. He knows well enough that sooner
or later the other fellow will find out that
he has been mistaken and will realize what
fool he has shown himself to be by rails
ing his voice and talking about more money
than he has seen in month. The man
who is right and who knows he is right
will ultimately get his vindicaton and it
will be much more delectable than the pos
session of the other mans dollar, or more
or less
Usually these disputes relate to easily
verified matters of record. Who the
motor-car race on Long Island in 1915?
Which team of professional ball tossers
opened the season in Washington in 1900?
What Is the trotting horse record? Such
are few of the sporting questions that
crop out of the talk of men and cause the
Hash of COIN. Politics comes second-not
counting election bets, which are a class by
themselves-in furnishing the foundation for
good lively verbal scraps with financial
trimmings.
Often both men in such controversy are
wrong, and yet each is absolutely sure he
is accurate the encyclopedia. Bad
memory is to blame for most of these mix
ups Few men have good memories, and
still fewer cultivate the use of the storage
department of the brain. In these days of
almanacs and ready-reference books and
index schemes there is less need to remem-
Der by sheer mind power than in the old
times when the family that owned a die
tionary was literary aristocracy, and still
less than in the older times when the only
books i'll the mOnaSterieS and the
average king had hard time making his
mark.
The wise man frankly confesses that he
does not remember exactly. The foolish
man hates to acknowledge that there is a
single unoccupied cell in his brain. He
wants the mental standing room only
sign hanging out all the time He gets de-
cidedly stung very often in consequence
and If he has the .'I'll bet you" habit that
so often goes with this common form of
mental monopoly or brain trust enterprise
he is apt to say goodbye to a good many
hard dollars that really belong to the grocer
and the tailor.
. Whenever l hear a crowd of young men
arguing over a matter of fact and begin
to talk like sporting editions of John Rookie
Teller. in big sums. l feel like stepping in
and claiming a bet or two, just to call these
dsturbers of the atmosphere down a few
pegs. But / always restrain myself. 1t is
not exactly safe to project yourself into
every game you see in progress. You may
not be welcome in ali cases, and the worlds
history is all speckled up with instances of
the unwanted who came to grief. Further
more, those braggart youths really have no
idea of being taken literally when they talk
about betting all the way from a nickel to
a weeks wages. This phraseology has be
come a part of their vocabulary, just like
the very" of many people who have neg
lected the study Of adjectives Instead OF
shocking the layers of these phantom odds
into a realization of their folly you would
probably persuade them that you were
less than a sharper. hanging around for
sure things and looking for cash.
Finally, there is one more reason why it
pays to mind your own business, even
though you feel virtuously offended by such
silly talk. 1t is quite possible that you may
lose money yourself. Because however SUI
perior you may feel in point of CONVERSE
tional morals. you are just as likely to get
hold of the hot end of the bet not. Your
own memory, you must bear in mind, il
not beyond criticism. and one of these fresh
youngsters with his ready proposition of
five-dollar argument to prove an opinion or
recollection may happen to be right.
Then when you have kissed your money
farewell you will feel that you worth
about thirty cents and your judgment Is
worth about twenty-nne cents less.
UNCLE JASPER.