The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1880-06-11
Garfeld's Library,
How 1t is that He is Always Ready to
Speak on Any Subject. -.t.l


A correspondent of the Cleveland Leader
thus describes visit to Gen. Garfeld's home:
After rambling talk on general matters, the
general said, "See here, what fine idea this
is in the way of memoranda of reading and
study" and he brought out large leather
bound blank book, arranged with indexes and
classification divisions for the name, author,
page and subjects of books, so that student
might hoard scaaps from his fugitive readings.
This incident changed the topic, and the
general went into an enthusiastic description
of this system of study, thereby showing that
he had matured it with much thought, and
credited it with having great deal to do with
the success of his extemporaneous speeches,
the like of which, for wealth of information,
are not heard in either branch Of Congress
to-day, and have not been for many years.
There is commonplace saying in the report
ers' gallery that, when Garfield chooses to
cram on subject, there is no man in WASH
ington who can stand before the
DELUGE OF FACTS
with which he will overwhelm all opposition.
He opened his desk and brought up an armful
of large memorandum books for my examina-
tion. There were many hundreds of pages
filled with scraps, annotations, picked sem
tences, incidents and witticisms from a collec-
ton of authors and newspapers, representing
the best thought in the literatures, modern
and ancient, of almost the entire world. Be-
side these quotations there were numerous
thoughts of his own upon the innumerable
things he had read during the course of his
prolonged studies, and which he had embalmed
in black and white when the "idea divine"
was warm and living in his brain. All were
arranged in the incest order, and through the
series of books one could follow the trail of the
great debater's readings from their beginning
almost to the present time. Thus for the year
1859, you find the first annotations on financial
subjects. These are at first somewhat strag-
Cling, mixed in with more or less of the classic
poets; then they become more frequent until
they outnumber all other topics, and are full
of 'Tooke's History of Prices and "Sir Arch
ibald Alison,'' when Garfield followed Pig
Iron Kelley into the history of France and
England last Winter and Fall. to the discomft-
ture of the old man and his soft money friends.
Reinforcing the scrap-book, the general has a
large case OF pigeon-holes, holding perhaps, go
tion," Tariff, - Geneva Award" General
Politics. estate Politics." public Men,"
parliamentary Decisions" Anecdotes"
electoral Laws and Commission" etc. These
are all filled with the choicest references and
bits of current literature on the various special
topics, and are continually replenished from
every product Of the printing press. 1t is COM
mon for men of affairs, lawyers, editors, states
men and litterateurs to have system of this
kind, and write not of General Garfield's as
being new idea, but because it is interesting
on account OF the
WONDERFUL COMPREHENSIvENESS
of his readings and the closeness with which
he follows such great number of public ques-
tions. and is thus able to prepare in an hours
time to speak with detailed intelligence on any
question that may be sprung in the House of
Representatives. In case he wants to talk
against the Democrats when they are yelling
fraud" and denouncing the electoral commits
sion, he goes to his box and runs over the
newspaper clippings on that subject, and is
almost sure to find Just the thing he wants
some.ugly fact that the opposition has forgotten.
because none of them have taken the care to
preserve it in the cold exactness of black and
white. "Oh," said the general, "Td rather
have this old hen-coop, which has cost me 20
years of mental toll to stock a thousand times
over than old Sam Tilden's barrel and all 1t
contains and he looked at that unimpressive
and modest affair more atfectionately than
most men gaze on their wives. George Alfred
Townsend's versatility in writing of public