840 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



earnings. For two years the efforts of this board were successful and 

 acceptable ; but, at the commencement of the third year, from causes 

 to which the board was not a party, arbitration was refused by certain 

 roads, and tlie arrangement was first suspended, and finally terminated. 

 Pending final action as to the continuance of the board, Messrs. Wells 

 and Adams voluntarily relinquished the sum of ten thousand dollars 

 each, that was due them, on the ground that no service having been 

 required of them or given, they were not honorably entitled to com- 

 pensation for doing nothing. 



During the last twenty years few Americans have written and 

 spoken more frequently and more accej^tably to the public on subjects 

 connected with the industry, commerce, finance, shipping, railroads, 

 taxation, and labor of the country, than Mr. Wells ; and some of his 

 productions in pamphlet form, as "The Primer of Free Trade," 

 " Why we Trade and How we Trade," and "The Dollar of the Fathers 

 vs. The Dollar of the Sons," have attained a wide circulation. Of books, 

 the following are well known : " Robinson Crusoe's Money," illustrated 

 by Nast, or the experiences of an island people in using different kinds 

 of money, 1876 ; " Our Merchant ]\Iarine ; How it Rose, Increased, 

 Became Great, Declined, and Decayed," 1882 ; " Practical Economics," 

 1885; "A Study of Mexico," 1887. Concerning the latter work, M. 

 Romero, the Minister of Mexico to the United States, writes: "Al- 

 though I differ with you on several points, and in respect to some of 

 your conclusions, it is surprising to me how well you have understood 

 the condition of Mexico and its difficult problems, especially so far as 

 its relations with the United States are concerned." To which the 

 Rev. George B. Hyde, one of the leading and oldest missionaries of 

 the Methodist Episcopal Church in Mexico, adds, under date, at, the 

 Mission of Puebia, of May, 1887 : " I have, I think, read all works of 

 importance relating to the social and political economy cf Mexico ; 

 and the ' Study ' is the only one that has not either looked with eyes 

 that saw a paradise or a desert. I consider the book the most valuable 

 yet published on the real condition of Mexico." 



The series of papers " On the Economic Disturbances since 1873," 

 now publishing in the "Popular Science Monthly," being also reprinted 

 concurrently in Europe, are regarded both in this country and Europe 

 as among the most instructive and valuable contributions that have 

 been made in recent years to any department of economic science. 



Mr. Wells's present residence is at Norwich, Connecticut, where 

 he is the owner of one of the most pleasant old-fashioned houses in 

 New England, and one of the best private economic libraries in the 

 country. 



