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David Ames
IAVI I ) A. 1VKLLS.
Wells , the well-
known political economist , died at his
home in Norwich , Conn. , November 5 ,
1808. Pie had been ill for some time ,
and his death had been expected for the
last two weeks.
Mr. Wells was born in Springfield ,
Mass. , on June 17,1828. He was a de
scendant on his father's side of Thomas
Welles , one of the first governors of
Connecticut , and on his mother's side of
David Ames , who directed the construc
tion of the United States armory at
Springfield , from which stock comes alee
the well-known manufacturing and rail
road-building family of Massachusetts.
In 1847 Mr. Wells was graduated from
Williams college , and at once proceeded
to repay his obligations to his Alma
Mater by joining in the preparation of a
work entitled "History and Sketches of
Williams College , " which was published
the same year at Springfield. In 1848 he
was employed on the editorial staff of
the Springfield Republican , and while
thus engaged gave the first , conspicuous
proof of the practical bent of his mind
by suggesting and participating in the
invention of a machine for folding news
papers and booksheets in connection
with the power printing press. The first
machine ever successfully constructed
and operated was made at his expense
and worked under his direction in the
office of the Springfield Republican :
The sale of his interest in this inven
tion pxit him in position to continue his
studies , and leaving journalism he en
tered the Lawrence Scientific school at
Harvard college , where he became a
special pupil of Agassiz , and was gradu
ated in 1852 , with the first class that
completed the course in that school. He
remained at Harvard as assistant pro
fessor , and was also lecturer on physics
and chemistry at the Lawrence academy
in Groton , Mass. While in Cambridge
in 1849 he began with George Bliss
( since a well-known lawyer in New
York ) the publication of the Annual of
Scientific Discovery , which he continued
until I860. In 180G ho invented an im
proved process for the preparation of
textile fabrics. During the years 1857-8
ho was a member of the Now York pub
lishing firm of G. P. Putnam &Co. , and
during this period brought oiit a number
of scientific text-books , which were ex
tensively circulated. His "Science of
Common Things" will be remembered by
many persons now of middle age as con
taining just those facts in natural science
a knowledge of which is indispensable
in ordinary life , but which knowledge
children do not know how to obtain.
Other worlcs in this series were upon
natural philosophy , chemistry , and geol
ogy ; two of which enjoyed the distinc
tion of being translated into Chinese ,
while that upon chemistry was adopted
as the text-book in the United States
Military academy.
The excellent reputation obtained by
Mr. Wells as a scientific writer was very
soon dimmed by the brilliancy of his
achievements in another field. While
residing at Troy , N. Y. , in 1864 , ho read
before a literary club there an essay
which was immediately published under
} ho title "Our Burden and Our Strength. "
[ t was reprinted by the Loyal Publica
tion society of New York , republishcd
also in England , translated into French
ind German , and had a sale estimated
at 200,000 copies. At that time the enor
mous increase of our debt and the inad
equacy of our complicated and oppres
sive system of taxation to produce a
sufficient revenue alarmed the nation
and impaired the credit of the govern
ment. This essay is generally believed
to have had a most powerful influence
in restoring public confidence and im
proving our financial position. Upon
reading it President Lincoln formed such
an opinion of Mr. Wells' abilities that
lie invited him to come to Washington
and confer with him and Mr. Fessendeh ,
then secretary of the treasury , upon the
best methods of dealing comprehensively
with the financial necessities of the gov
ernment. As the result of this confer
ence the Revenue commission was es
tablished in 1865 , Mr. Wells being ap
pointed chairman by Hugh McCulloch ,
then secretary of the treasury. T-his
commission reported the result of its
labors in 1806 , reducing to some order
for the first time the chaotic mass of
laws enacted during the stress of the
war for the purpose of raising money ,
from which the only principle deducible
was expressed in the maxim , "When
ever you find an article , a product , a
trade , a profession a source of income ,
tax it. " In its endeavor to establish a
scientific basis for estimating the rev
enue of the government the commission
made the first systematic attempt to col
lect and apply statistics for national pur
poses , and not long afterwards , iinder
the direction of Mr. Wells , the bureau
of statistics was established , Gen. Fran
cis A. Walker , the first chief , being
failed from the office of the Springfield
Republican , where he was then assistant
editor.
The term of office of the Revenue
commission having expired in 1866 , Mr.
Wells was at once appointed "special
commissioner of the revenue" for four
years , a position created for the purpose
of giving his abilities a more extended
scope. The great work of reconstruct
ing , repealing , and modifying the laws
relating to the internal revenue was now
substantially committed to his charge ,
and it was performed in a manner that
entitled him to the permanent gratitude
of his country. Ho may be said to have
originated all the important reforms in
the revenue system that were adopted
by congress down to 1870 , and to have
carried many of them through against
strong opposition by the convincing
power of his reasoning. Among these
reforms were the redrafting of the whole
system of internal revenue laws , the
reduction and final abolition of the cot
ton tax , and the taxes on manufactures
and crude petroleum , the creation of sup
ervisory districts , and the application of
stamps for the collection of taxes on
tobacco , fermented liquors , and distilled
spirits. Corruption was then at its
height in Washington , and the very ab
surdities and iniquities of taxation had
reared powerful forces interested in
their maintenance. In Mr. Wells' book
entitled "Practical Economics "
, pub
lished in 1885 , a most instructive collec
tion of essays suggested by the experi
ence of this period is preserved. It there
appears how the whiskey distillers had
more than once prevailed upon congress
to raise the tax upon their product , ex
empting that already in bond , with the
result of obtaining profits amounting
to more than one hundred millions of
dollars.
Fiscal legislation of this kind Mr.
Wells exerted all his energies to check.
In one of his earliest reports ho demon
strated the folly of attempting to collect
a tax of $2 a gallon on distilled liquors ,
perhaps 7,000 per cent of the first cost ,
and argued that half a dollar a gallon
was the rate of tax which would be
most productive of revenue. Congress
was persuaded eventually to adopt his
conclusion , with results which perman
ently established his reputation as a mas
ter of finance. Under the reduced tax
the revenue from this source at once
rose to nearly three times the amount
previously collected from $18,655,000
in 1868 to $55,606,000 in 1870. As an
illustration of the statesmanship with
which the country was governed and
with which Mr. Wells had to contend ,
we may mention the opposition of a dis
tinguished senator to his proposals , upon
the ground that he could never bring
himself to confess upon the part of the
government of the United States that it
was unable to collect any tax that it
chose to ordain. No better contrast be
tween genuine and spurious ' 'practical
statesmanship" was over presented.
In 1867 the secretary of the treasury
was instructed by congress to present at
its next session the draft of a new tariff
which should embody a proper reduc
tion of the high duties imposed during
the war. Mr. Wells was selected to
prepare this draft , and for the pxarpose
of qualifying himself for the work ho
visited Europe in his official capacity ,
and thoroughly investigated the condi
tions and processes of all the leading
manufactures , both in England and on
the Continent , which could be regarded
as competing with those of our own
country. Up to this time Mr. Wells ,
who was identified through his family
connections with the manufactures of
New England , had been a firm and even
fanatical believer in the policy of pro-