The Life and Work of James A. Garfield, Twentieth President of the United States: Embracing an Account of the Scenes and Incidents of His Boyhood; the Struggles of His Youth; the Might of His Early Manhood; His Valor As a Soldier; His Career As a Statesman; His Election to the Presidency; and the Tragic Story of His Death.Ridpath, John Clark
History
The Life and Work of James A. Garfield, Twentieth President of the United States: Embracing an Account of the Scenes and Incidents of His Boyhood; the Struggles of His Youth; the Might of His Early Manhood; His Valor As a Soldier; His Career As a Statesman; His Election to the Presidency; and the Tragic Story of His Death.
Ridpath, John Clark
Garfield, James A. (James Abram), 1831-1881
“It is not generally known how large a proportion of each nation is
wholly or partially unfitted by physical disability for
self-support. The statistics of France show that, in 1851, in a
population of less than thirty-six millions, the deaf, dumb, blind,
deformed, idiotic, and those otherwise mutilated or disabled,
amounted to almost two millions. We thus see that in a country of
the highest civilization the effective strength of its population is
reduced one-eighteenth by physical defects. What general would
venture to conduct a campaign without ascertaining the physical
qualities of his soldiers as well as the number on his rolls? In
this great industrial battle, which this nation is now fighting, we
ought to take every available means to ascertain the effective
strength of the country.”
Farther on he says:
“An inquiry was also added in regard to dwellings, so as to exhibit
the several principal materials for construction, as wood, brick,
stone, etc., and the value of each. Few things indicate more fully
the condition of the people than the houses they occupy. The average
home is not an imperfect picture of the wealth, comfort, refinement,
and civilization of the average citizen.”
The next paragraph is devoted to the question of determining the number
of voters. The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution reduced a
State’s representation in Congress to the measure of its votes. This was
thought at the time to refer merely to the States where negroes were not
allowed to vote, but Garfield found that in all the States, there were
_eighty restrictions in the right to vote, besides color_ and crime,
ranging all the way from residence to education and character.
Under the topic of agricultural products, he said:
“It is believed that the schedule thus amended will enable us to
ascertain the elements of those wonderful forces which have made our
country the granary of the civilized world; will exhibit also the
defects of our agricultural methods, and stimulate our farmers to
adopt those means which have doubled the agricultural products of
England since the days of the Stuarts, and have more than doubled
the comforts of her people. The extent of that great progress can be
seen in such facts as these: that ‘in the reign of Henry VII. fresh
meat was never eaten even by the gentleman attendant on a great
earl, except during the short interval between midsummer and
Michaelmas,’ because no adequate means were known of fattening
cattle in the winter, or even of preventing the death of one-fifth
of their whole number each year; that Catharine, queen of Charles
II. sent to Flanders for her salad, which the wretched gardening of
England did not sufficiently provide.”
Under the head of corporation statistics, he makes the following
significant statement:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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