A town committee's note reads: 'Either the town goes on running its night ambulance at a loss of eleven lakh rupees a year, or the town is left with no ambulance after dark at all. The loss must therefore be borne.' The note's reasoning is most open to criticism because it

The note's whole force comes from there being nothing between the present loss and no night ambulance at all, and that is simply asserted. A fare from those who can pay, a vehicle shared with the next municipality and a transfer to drivers already on night duty at the district hospital each keep an ambulance running for less than eleven lakh, and the note must rule them out before its 'therefore' can stand. The number of patients carried bears on whether the ambulance is worth keeping, which the note assumes and nobody disputes; the town's ability to pay is not what is being argued; and the source of the figures is not in question, since the error survives whatever the loss turns out to be.