Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-01-13

The chief ends Of conversation, &C
cording to Benjamin Franklin, are ito
inform or to be informed, to please or
persuade"
Information, entertainment, convic-
ton are as much the products OF tax
as automobiles are Of the great motor
shops Of the country.
This being so, Franklin said, although,
OF course, he included no mention OF
automobiles, 1t might be well for well
meaning, sensible men to refrain from
domineering manner Of speech.
The know-it-all tone, he continued.
seldom fails to disgust, and commonly
defeats every one Of the purposes for
which speech was given to us.
"A positive and dogmatical manner
IN advancing your sentiments may pro-
woke contradiction and prevent a can
did attention" he went on. III you
wish information and improvement
from the knowledge Of others, and yet
az the same time express yourself Is
firmly fixed in your present opinions,
modest, sensible men, who do not love
disputat1on, will probably leave you I'M
disturbed in the possession Of your error.
AND by such q manner you can sell
dom hope to recommend yourself in
pleasing your hearers or to persuade
those whose concurrence you desire"
One has but to recall such men as
Roosevelt, Dawes, Shearer, Billy Sum
day-an Il-aSsorted quartet. 1t must be
admitted-to know that in the above
statements Franklin was indulging IN O
bit Of dogmatism himself.
Conversation is not as easily solved
as the wise one made out. Every one
cannot have that precise balance OF
bined with affable physical presence,
which distinguished Benjamin Franklin.
A man must be himself, and II this
means plain assertion of facts e. he
sees them, so much the worse for those
who are too easily offended.
Yet Franklin was right. There can
be no doubt Of 1t. He usually was. II
1t is possible, and II for no other rea-
as easy going In talk as the first Post
master General of the United States.
He further elucidated the matter In
his autobiography: II never use, when
advance anything that may possibly
be disputed, the words certainly, UNI
doubtedly or any other words that give
the air of positiveness to an opinion,
but rather say conceive or apprehend
q thing TO be so and SO; 1t appears to
such and such reasons; or I imagine
it to be so; or it is so, If I am not
mistaken"
Surely this is as neat lesson in gen.
tie guile as any man would want to
receive. It is a lesson, too, from which
most of us may profit. How easy 1t is to
believe and, therefore, to think one Is
right-undoubtedlyl
Doubt comes hard; he who doubts
knows suffering. This believing world
has now reached a pitch Of faith In
the printed word and spoken voice
which has never been known before In
the history of mankind.
We turned on the radio the other
morning at o'clock and heard q voice
which had come all the way from New
York State telling the wide, wide world
that there are just exactly $4,000 peo-
pie who are going to be saved, and the
ranks are filing rapidly.
y y n \
It is so easy to believe (what we want
to believe) that 1t follows logically
enough that men think they know what
they are talking about. There Is .
hitch In the logic somewhere, but most
listeners are too polite to point 1t out.
Nor can all of us be little Bonnie