Moses combined practical consolidation arguments with appeals to self-sacrifice to win over reluctant parties.

Evidence

Persuading the minor sports to combine into one association, which meant turning over their finances to an outside body, proved almost as difficult as persuading Camp. Hockey and basketball, which were classed among these sports but were popular enough among students so that their managers could generally raise money by a door-to-door appeal on campus, were particularly reluctant. Yet because hockey and basketball were the only two of the minor sports in which there was much interest, their participation was essential. … Moses argued that even for hockey and basketball the existence of a formal association would make it much easier to obtain money from alumni and students who had treated as a joke the many separate appeals from the different minor sports. And the idealist also argued on higher grounds. In one editorial, he wrote: “As far as Basketball and Hockey are considered per se, they have nothing to gain. But…there must be a sacrifice on the part of the Basketball and Hockey teams for the sake of common good.…” — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 187

Categorization

• XREF: This foreshadows Moses’ lifelong skill at combining instrumental rationale with high-minded ‘for the common good’ rhetoric — the same pattern Caro will detail across highways, parks, and public authorities. — connects to: Extreme acts of self-sacrifice can function as argument rather than abandonment of it — Jamal Awil, The Whispering Archive: The Complete…, 569

Broader Connections

• Extreme acts of self-sacrifice can function as argument rather than abandonment of it #expands (0.78) — Jamal Awil, The Whispering Archive, 569