In business correspondence; as well as in our friendly letters, we shall often naturally adopt an argumentative or persuasive style of expression. We are constantly meeting the necessity of proving something on paper. The young men and women who will win success in the selling side of a business - whether at the counter, on the road, or through letters - must be expert in the use of oral or written argument.

Examine the following letter, written by the private secretary of the general manager of a large department store, as an illustration of the practical adaptation of the persuasive style of argument to business uses.

ELLIS, COOPER & CO.

NEW YORK CITY

May 15, 1913.

Mrs. Mary A. Emerson,

122 Somerset Ave.,

New York City.

Dear Madam :

We are in receipt of your communication of May 12 in which you say that you have been so greatly annoyed by inattentions at our lace counter that you are going to take your patronage elsewhere. We regret that anything should have occurred in any department of our store to cause you either inconvenience or annoyance. But we realize that because of changes in the personnel of our clerks, which are inevitably of frequent occurrence in a store of these dimensions, conditions may occasionally exist which are annoying not only to our customers but also to us. We have therefore given your complaint prompt and thorough attention, and find that conditions apparently do not warrant the criticism of "incompetent and rude," which you have entered against our clerks in the department mentioned above.

Both the assistant buyer and the head clerk of our lace department are among our most trusted and efficient employees, and they have exercised more than ordinary care in selecting the clerks under them. The only explanation which either of these persons could give for your complaint was that because the prevailing early summer styles call for elaborate lace effects in trimming, the demand for certain kinds of lace has been almost unprecedented, with the result that the clerks have been overcrowded with work, and "extras," have had to be employed. This would account for delays in serving our customers, but would not of course explain or excuse incivilities of any kind. We feel that perhaps you have somewhat overstated your grievance, so far as this department is concerned, but if you can make a specific complaint against any one clerk, we shall investigate further.

We should regret losing your patronage and goodwill, and trust that you will find our explanation satisfactory.

Very truly yours,

George M. Brown,

General superintendent.

G. H. T.

In this quotation from Patrick Henry we have an example of persuasive composition which we shall do well to study:

We have, sir, an extensive country, without population. What can be a more obvious policy than that this country ought to be peopled ? People, sir, form the strength and constitute the wealth of a nation. I want to see our vast forests filled up by some process a little more speedy than the ordinary course of nature. I wish to see these States rapidly ascending to that rank which their natural advantages authorize them to hold among the nations of the earth. Cast your eye, sir, over this extensive country - observe the salubrity of your climate; the variety and fertility of your soil - and see that soil intersected in every quarter by bold, navigable streams, flowing to the east and to the west, as if the finger of Heaven were marking out the course of your settlements, inviting you to enterprise, and pointing the way to wealth. Sir, you are destined, at some time or other, to become a great agricultural and commercial people; the only question is, whether you choose to reach this point by slow gradations, and at some distant period - lingering on through a long and sickly minority - subjected meanwhile to the machinations, insults, and oppressions of enemies foreign and domestic, without sufficient strength to resist and chastise them - or whether you choose rather to rush at once, as it were, to the full enjoyment of those high destinies, and be able to cope, single-handed, with the proudest oppressor of the old world.

Exercises

635. Write a letter with the object of persuading a friend to join you for two weeks in August at a camp in the mountains.

636. Write to your father or guardian a letter which shall virtually be an argument for increasing your monthly allowance of spending money.

•

637. Write a short argumentative theme on one of the two following questions: (1) Should every high-school girl study either dressmaking or cooking? (2) Should every high-school boy study manual training ?

638. Write a theme setting forth some of the reasons why every pupil should attend the school contests in athletics, declamation, and debate.

639. Refer to the argumentative editorial on "Electrifying our Railroads" on page 332, and write one on "A New Bridge," "A New Street," or a similar subject.