578 



OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. (WELLS.) 



visors, the origination and the use of stamps for the 

 collection of taxes on tobacco, distilled spirits, etc., 

 and the creation of the Bureau df Statistics. An 

 episode in his official career which strikingly illus- 

 trates his practical foresight was that connected 

 with the taxing of distilled spirits. Mr. Wells took 

 strong ground against the attempt to collect a tax 

 of 1,000 per cent. ($2 a gallon), pointing out the in- 

 variable inefficiency of such an excessive tax in 

 producing revenue," and the fraud and dishonesty 

 which it would be certain to create. He was not 

 listened to, however, until the great increase of 

 illicit distilling and largely diminished revenue 

 made some action absolutely necessary. In the 

 winter of 1867-'68 Congress reduced the tax to 50 

 cents a proof gallon, and the result was a most re- 

 markable confirmation of Mr. Wells's prediction. 

 During the last year of the $2-tax the revenue was 

 $18,665,000 ; during the first year of the 50-cent tax 

 it was $45,071,000. In 1867, with a view to qualify- 

 ing himself for special work, on {he revision of the 

 war tariff, Mr. Wells went to Europe, where his 

 studies of the industries competitive with the United 

 States, for which he had unusual advantages as an 

 official of the Government, led him to a radical 

 change of view regarding the free-trade policy. He 

 had been up to this time an extreme advocate and 

 believer in the theory of protection ; but gradually, 

 and much against all his preconceived ideas, he 

 came to believe that free trade, made subordinate 

 to revenue and gradually entered upon, was for the 

 best interests of the whole country. The announce- 

 ment of these views and the publication of his re- 

 port in 1869 created much dissatisfaction among 

 the protectionists, and Horace Greeley publicly 

 charged Mr. Wells with having been "corrupted 

 through British gold," although the charge was the 

 grossest libel, as every one personally acquainted 

 with Mr. Wells knew, yet it gained wide circulation 

 and credence, and was no doubt, in conjunction 

 with the personal antagonism between Mr. Wells 

 and the Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Boutwell, 

 largely responsible for his retirement from Wash- 

 ington, which occurred on the expiration of his 

 office as special commissioner in 1870. Upon his 

 retirement a large number of members of both 

 houses of Congress, without distinction of party, 

 united in a letter of appreciation, from which the 

 following is an extract : " The undersigned, mem- 

 bers of the 41st Congress, who have been cognisant 

 of your labors as special commissioners of the reve- 

 nue, take the occasion of your retirement from pub- 

 lic duties to express to you their appreciation of 

 the work you have accomplished and the great 

 ability with which you have discharged the duties 

 of your office. How much soever they may perhaps 

 have differed with you touching the matter of your 

 conclusions upon particular points, they desire, 

 nevertheless, to bear testimony to the great value 

 of your work, and to the honesty and the faithful 

 and untiring zeal which have characterized your 

 whole public career." Shortly after leaving Wash- 

 ington Mr. Wells was appointed chairman of a New 

 York State committee for investigating the subject 

 and the laws relating to local taxation. He was a 

 member, or received nonorary degrees from a great 

 number of societies and institutions, of which the 

 following are the most important : He was elected 

 a member of the French Academy in 1874 to fill 

 the chair left vacant by the death of John Stuart 

 Mill. In the same year he received the degree of 

 D. C. L. from the University of Oxford, England. 

 Williams College had already conferred upon him 

 the degree of LL. D., and the Berkshire Medical 

 College that of M. D. In 1870 he had become a 

 member of the Cobden Club, and in 1871 was 

 elected an honorary member of the Royal Statis- 



tical Society of England. He was president of the 

 American Social Science Association in 1875, in 

 1877 a foreign associate member of the Regia Acad- 

 emie dei Lincei of Italy, and in 1881 was elected 

 president of the American Free-Trade League. He 

 was closely connected with the reorganization of the 

 Erie Railroad in 1879, and in the same year was 

 chosen by the associated railroads of the United 

 States, together with Charles Francis Adams and 

 John M. Wright, a member of a board of arbitra- 

 tion to which the associated railroads agreed to refer 

 all disputes and all arrangements for pooling, etc. 

 The following list comprises the most important 

 of Mr. Wells's writings not already mentioned: 

 In 1875, " The Creed of the Free Trader " and " The 

 Production and Distribution of W'ealth " ; in 1876, 

 " Robinson Crusoe's Money " ; in 1878. " Why we 

 Trade and how we Trade " and " The Silver Ques- 

 tion ; or, The Dollar of the Fathers vs. the Dollar 

 of the Sons": in 1882, " Our Mercantile Marine: 

 How it Rose. Increased, became Great, Declined, 

 and Decayed " ; in 1884, " The Primer of Tariff Re- 

 form " ; in 1885, a series of essays entitled " Practi- 

 cal Economics " ; in 1886, " Principles of Taxation " ; 

 in 1887, ' A Study of Mexico " ; in 1888, " A Short 

 and Simple Catechism " and " The Relation of the 

 Tariff to Wages"; in 1889, "Recent Economic 

 Changes." The substance of the last-mentioned 

 book appeared as articles in the " Popular Science, 

 Monthly," the title there being "Economic Dis- 

 turbances since 1873." In December, 1895, h<s 

 began in the same journal the publication of ;i 

 series of articles entitled "The Principles of Taxa- 

 tion," an expansion of his lecture on this subject, 

 which was printed as a small volume in 1886. The 

 series was much delayed, owing to Mr. Wells's pre- 

 carious state of health, but had been almost com- 

 pleted at the time of his death. He himself con- 

 sidered this work the most important of anything 

 he had ever undertaken, it being an epitome of the 

 facts and principles in which he came to believe 

 after many years spent in studying these questions. 

 He frequently referred to it as his "best and most 

 lasting monument." Besides these works, Mr. 

 Wells wrote a great number of pamphlets and mag- 

 azine articles. Some of these attained a very wide 

 circulation, and received much attention and com- 

 mendation from foreign governments. That enti- 

 tled " Our Burden and our Strength " was reprinted 

 in England and translated into both French and 

 German. Mr. Wells's chief claim to distinction 

 lay in his combination of scholarship with ability to 

 apply it to the solution of the practical problems of 

 the statesman and the publicist. It is not an over- 

 statement to say that he was chiefly to be credited 

 with the system of finance which bore the United 

 States Government safely through the dangerous eco- 

 nomic conditions during and following the civil war, 

 and enabled it to handle the enormous debt with such 

 remarkable ease. The four volumes of the report 

 of the special commissioner of revenue (1866-'69) 

 are among the standard works of statistical science. 

 Personally, Mr. Wells was of slight build and me- 

 dium height. A simple but very earnest manner,, 

 combined with remarkable facility of expression, 

 rendered him an extremely agreeable as well as 

 convincing talker. During the last ten years of 

 his life he suffered from an incurable organic dis- 

 ease, but despite his knowledge that he might die 

 at any time, his intellectual work was continued t> 

 within a few weeks of his death, and his interest 

 and insight regarding economic matters was sus- 

 tained to the last. He was twice married, first i i 

 May. 1860, to Mary San ford Dwight, and in Juno, 

 1879, to Ella Augusta Dwight, both of whom were 

 daughters of James S. Dwight, of Springfield, Mass., 

 and Elizabeth Lee, of Norwich, Conn. He had one 



