Talk:James A. Garfield

He who controls the money supply of a nation controls the nation

I've just attended an online course which asserted that James Garfield said this. But cannot see it on here. Anyone have any thoughts on the veracity or otherwise of this quote. I note it is referenced from a few of the perhaps less rigorous quotations sites such as thinkexist, as well as others.


 * A real quote that is on the page is "It would convert the Treasury of the United States into a manufactory of paper money. It makes the House of Representatives and the Senate, or the caucus of the party which happens to be in the majority, the absolute dictator of the financial and business affairs of this country. This scheme surpasses all the centralism and all the Caesarism that were ever charged upon the Republican party in the wildest days of the war or in the events growing out of the war."


 * This was paraphrased in the 19th century as "Whoever controls the volume of money in any country is absolute master of all industry and commerce."


 * The quote you give is almost certainly another paraphrase of the original.


 * KHirsch (talk) 21:00, 1 March 2015 (UTC)

Man cannot live by bread alone, he must have peanut butter.
This quote needs to be in the Misattributed section for President James A Garfield. Garfield, though a great orator, was not really known for his humor. Furthermore he died in 1881 and peanut butter as we know it today was not a common product during his lifetime. George Washington Carver who promoted peanuts extensively and made peanut butter an American staple apparently first shared his peanut butter recipe in 1903. Regardless I cannot find a single reference to when or where Garfield might have said such a thing.

That exact line is, however found on a Brother Dave Gardner comedy record from 1959, Rejoice Dear Hearts, released on RCA. I ran a comedy radio show for years and I still have my vinyl copy. I have seen at least one reference to this being a Bill Cosby line, but Rejoice Dear Hearts predates Cosby's first album, which was 1963.