APPLETONS' SPRING BULLETIN 



Owen, and Fanny Wright ; the beginning of the Antimasonic party, and the early 

 signs of native Americanism. 



The next chapter is a full account of The State of the Country from 1825 

 to 1829 ; the rapid growth of cities ; early problems in city government ; the in- 

 troduction of gas and anthracite coal ; the opening of the Erie Canal and the 

 tremendous struggle for Western trade, etc. Following this is a chapter on The 

 Negro Problem ; and the next chapter, under the title The Industrial Revolution, 

 is an account of the rise and development of manufactures ; of the conditions 

 which led to the tariffs of 1824 and 1828 ; their peculiar characters ; the violent 

 opposition of the South, and asserdons of the State-Rights Doctrine of Calhoun 

 and his party. 



This is followed by an account ot our early literary efforts which is singularly 

 fresh, informing, and interesting. There is a chapter on The Common Schools 

 during the first half century, and another, quite dmely now, on British Criticism 

 of the United States, setting forth very fully why our fathers hated Great Britain 

 so heartily. Then follows an elaborate review of Political Ideas ; a chapter on 

 foreign complications ; the Panama Congress ; the prevention of the independence 

 of Cuba by the United States in the interest of the slaveholding States ; the 

 Maine boundary dispute with Great Britain; the Oregon agreement of 1827; 

 and, finally, a chapter on The Triumph of Democracy, detailing the famous 

 struggle ending in the election of Jackson, the removals from ofKce, and the 

 attempt to buy Texas. 



In the introducdon to his Principles of Taxation 

 the late Dr. Wells wrote : " It is the purpose of the 

 writer, in the chapters which follow, to discuss the prin- 

 ciples of taxation from a broader basis and by different 

 methods than have heretofore been attempted, special 

 consideration being given to the experience of the United 

 States. Such a discussion primarily involves the inquiry, 

 of how far the varied and curious experience of nations 

 leads up through what may be regarded as a process of 

 evoludon, to a recognition of the underlying and essen- 

 dal principles of a just and at the same dme an efficient 

 system of taxadon. And it also necessitates, for the at- 

 tainment of correct conclusions in the prosecudon of such inquiry, that illustra- 

 tions drawn from the world's great record of experience should take precedence 

 of theory, especially in the way of example and exhibit of the many abuses of 

 the power of taxation which the ignorance of legislators and the cupidity of de- 

 signing men have inflicted upon nations. 



" There can be no civilization without government, and no government with- 

 out an adequate supply of revenue obtained from the persons and property of the 

 people governed. There can be no health in the body politic without sound 



DAVID A. WELLS. 



