where the hereditary aristocracy is physically equal to that of
England, or where the intellectual class has so good a physique. But set
either the House of Lords or the "Saturday Review" contributors upon a
hand-to-hand fight against an equal number of "navvies" or
"coster-mongers," and the patricians would have about as much chance as a
crew of Vassar girls in a boat-race with Yale or Harvard. Take the men of
England alone, and it is hardly too much to say that physical force,
instead of being the basis of political power in any class, is apt to be
found in inverse ratio to it. In case of revolution, the strength of the
governing class in any country is not in its physical, but in its mental
power. Rank and money, and the power to influence and organize and command,
are merely different modifications of mental training, brought to bear by
somebody.

In our country, without class distinctions, the same truth can be easily
shown. Physical power lies mainly in the hands of the masses: wherever a
class or profession possesses more than its numerical share of power, it
has usually less than its proportion of physical vigor. This is easily
shown from the vast body of evidence collected during our civil war. In the
volume containing the medical statistics of the Provost Marshal General's
Bureau, we have the tabulated reports of about 600,000 persons subject to
draft, and of about 500,000 recruits, substitutes, and drafted men; showing
the precise physical condition of more than a million men.

It appears that, out of the whole number examined, rather more than 257 in
each 1000 were found unfit for military service. It is curious to see how
generally the physical power among these men is in inverse ratio to the
social and political prominence of the class they represent. Out of 1000
unskilled laborers, for instance, only 348 are physically disqualified;
among tanners, only 216; among iron-workers, 189. On the other hand, among
lawyers, 544 out of 1000 are disqualified; among journalists, 740; among
clergymen, 954. Grave divines are horrified at the thought of admitting
women to vote, since they cannot fight; though not one in twenty of their
own number is fit for military duty, if he volunteered. Of the editors who
denounce woman suffrage, only about one in four could himself carry a
musket; while of the lawyers who fill Congress, the majority could not be
defenders of their country, but could only be defended. If we were to