Evening star., 1932-07-08

litical campaigning ahead the honest
man who strives to arrive at the truth
will find himself called on to use tact
in large quantities
In the first place, he will realize that
there is a deeper truth than the mere
surface truth; that there is no harm at
all in refusing to answer blow for blow;
that often much may be gained by
permitting ones opponent to believe
that he has carried off the victory.
To attain this philosopherlike atti-
tude he must be willing to agree that
argument for the sake of changing
another human beings opinions is not
the only sort of argument He must be
capable of feeling that argument for
the sake Of ascertaihing the truth is
far more important, because it contains
all the advantages Of good attack. not
Just one of them.
This attitude may seem to smack of
"pussyfooting" to some but that IS
only because they belong TO the
hanlmer-and- tongs school of action
Too often their ruthless methods de-
feat the very purpose they aim at.
When a man becomes red in the
face and begins TO wave his arms. a
listener may feel sure that the fellow
mental warfare He wants to take it
out of the brain and put it on the
sidewalk. He wants to make it physi-
cal warfare.
If one honestly wants to fight over
mere differences of opinion that is his
business. but he who believes in the
authenticity of the search for truth will
have to find some method of handling
such customer.
This method then. is what is pro-
posed here, call it "pussyfooting' If
you want to. We call it common sense
or tact.
Every disputant must be handled in
a different manner. Each is a study
in himself. There is no good reason
for giving up political-or any other
sort of-argument because there Is
some bit Of danger attached to the
sport.
The wise course is to make it a
double-barreled adventure in talk.
Keep in mind not only the necessity
for arguing as well as you can. but
also for studying your man as well as
you can.
Whether he is converted to your
opinion or you happen to be converted
to his makes no difference at all, per-
haps.
The main thing is that mind strike
sparks from mind.
And the second main thing is that
you take the measure of the other
mind and determine whether it is the
sort worth putting to the test.
If you discover in it influences which
are not to be moved by proper argu-
ment, no matter how well done, then
the thing to do is to use tact.
If you find out that the other is not
aiming to see all sides. but merely
wishes to see his own side, then you
can let him see his precious side for
all 1t is worth, if that is what he
wants to do.
Take a measure of your antagonist,
and determine whether the full value
of mind against mind is to be secured.
II not. run the next time you see
him coming This running may be
mental, of course. and this simply
means that you will smile placidly at
his remarks, no matter how much you
may disagree with them or are able
to refute them.
The real gain of antagonistic po-
litical ideas, however, comes when one
meets a worthy adversary who has
exactly the same idea about the ne
cessity for honest difference of opin-
ion that you have, and is willing to
make serious attempt to wrest the
truth from the multitude of facts
which bear upon it.
This is the happiness of disputation
carried on according to the rules. Out
of it can come only good. Perhaps it
is too much to expect any one to ad-
nit he is wrong but rest assured that
if you really convince such a man, he
will admit it in his own talk and ac-
tions, perhaps months later, but surely
some time.