SKETCH OF DxiVID AMES WELLS. 835 



1865 and the year 1870, namely : the redrafting of the whole system of 

 internal-revenue laws, the reduction and final abolition of the cotton- 

 tax, and the taxes on manufactures and crude petroleum ; the creation 

 of supervisory districts and the appointment of supervisors ; the ori- 

 gination and the use of stamps for the collection of taxes on tobacco, 

 fermented liquors, and distilled spirits, and the creation of the Bureau 

 of Statistics. To the head of this Bureau Mr. Wells called, from the 

 office of the Springfield " Republican," its assistant editor General F. A. 

 Walker ; and under his management the Bureau was first efficiently 

 organized. 



In one of his earliest official reports, Mr. Wells took earnest 

 ground against the attempt to collect a tax of two dollars per gallon, 

 or 1,000 per cent on the first cost, on distilled spirits, and maintained 

 that fifty cents per gallon was the rate of tax certain to be the most 

 productive of revenue, and little oppressive to manufacturing indus- 

 tries. This report, made in 1866, although attracting much attention, 

 by reason of its detailed narration of the singular experiences of the 

 Government in attempting to enforce so high a tax, found little favor 

 in respect to its recommendation for tax abatement. But, in the 

 winter of 1867-'68 Congress, becoming alarmed at the increasing 

 frauds, and steadily diminishing receipts of revenue, acceded to Mr. 

 Wells's recommendation and fixed the tax at fifty cents per proof 

 gallon. The result was one of the most remarkable in all economic or 

 fiscal experiences, for the total collections rose at once from $18,665,000 

 during the last year of the $2 tax in 1867-'68, to $45,071,000 in the 

 first year of the 50-cent tax, 1868-'69, and to $55,606,000 in the suc- 

 ceeding year, 1869-70 ; a gain to the Government in two years of 

 over sixty millions of dollars in revenue, with great diminution of 

 fraud and great relief to the industries of the country. 



Up to the year 1867, Mr. Wells, who was born and reared a 

 member of one of the largest manufacturing and Whig families of 

 New England, was an extreme advocate and believer in the economic 

 theory of protection. In 1867, Congress having instructed the Secre- 

 tary of the Treasury to present at its next session a draft of a new 

 tariff looking to reductions of war-rates, and the business of preparing 

 the same having been turned over to the office of the Special Com- 

 missioner, Mr. Wells, with a view of qualifying himself for the work, 

 visited Europe under a Government commission, and investigated, 

 under almost unprecedented advantages, nearly every form of indus- 

 try, competitive with the United States, in Great Britain and on 

 the Continent. The results of this visit and investigation enlight- 

 ened him in respect to two salient and fundamental points : First, 

 that no country, with the exception of the United States, which 

 had adopted in a greater or less degree the policy of protection 

 through duties or restrictions on imports, had ever regarded the taxa- 

 tion of the importation of crude, or partially manufactured articles to 



