es
believe--that a court record is reliable.

Sometimes an issue cannot be supported by a reason that will come at
once within the experience of the audience. It is then necessary to
support the first by a second reason that does come within its
experience. Remember, then, as the fundamental rule, that the judges
and audience will believe the issues of the proposition, and, as a
result, the proposition itself, only when we show them, by the
standard of their own experience, that we are right.

The reasons that we give in support of the issues are, in debating,
called _evidence_. Evidence is not proof; evidence is the material out
of which proof is made. Evidence is like the separate stones of a
solid wall: no one alone makes the wall; each one helps make it
strong. Evidence is like the small rods and braces of the truss
bridge: no one alone supports the weight; each helps to sustain the
great beams that are the real support of the bridge.

Suppose we had the proposition: "The Honor System of Examinations
Should Be Established in the Greenburg High School." We assert: "There
is but one issue: Will the students be honest in the examination?"
Now, what evidence shall we use to show that they will be honest? We
may turn to the experience of other schools. After a careful
investigation we find evidence with which we may support the assertion
in the following way:

The Honor System should be established in the Greenburg High School,
for:

I. The student will do honest work under that system, for:

1. Experience of similar schools shows this, for:

(1) This plan was a success in X High School, for:

a) The principal of that school states [quotation from
principal], for:

(a) See _School Review_, Mar., 1900.

(2) This plan is approved by Y High School, for:

a) Etc.

Here the statements used in support of the issue are evidence. If the
evidence is strong enough to bring conviction to the audience to which
you are speaking, it is proof.

But notice here an important point. Why should this tend to make those
in the audience believe that the honor system should be adopted?
Simply because we have shown them that it has worked well elsewhere,
and _their own experience tells them that what has been a benefit in
other schools similar to this will be a benefit here_.

And in its final analysis this evidence is no stronger than the words
of the men who state that it has