WALKER 



612G 



WALKING STICK 



work in Connecticut. Because of his keen in- 

 terest in economic questions he retired from 

 business in 1840 to make a special study of 

 political economy, and from 1842 to 1848 was 

 lecturer on that subject in Oberlin College. 

 He was for some years examiner in the same 

 science at Harvard, and between 1859 and 1869 

 was a lecturer in Amherst College. 



Being a zealous advocate of peace, he was 

 chosen a delegate to the first international 

 peace congress, held in London in 1843, and to 

 the one held in Paris in 1849. He served in 

 various state offices in Massachusetts, among 

 them that of secretary of state. While not 

 highly original in his economic theories, he was 

 intensely practical in their application, and his 

 book, The Science of Wealth, has been widely 

 popular for this reason. 



Francis Amasa Walker (1840-1897), son of 

 Amasa Walker, was born at Boston. He was 

 educated at Amherst College and was studying 

 law when the War of Secession opened. En- 

 tering the Union army as a sergeant-major, he 

 gained considerable prominence through his 

 ability in judging the position, strength and 

 probable tactics of the enemy, and showed such 

 bravery that on the request of General Han- 

 cock he was promoted to the rank of brigadier- 

 general. In 1868 he was an editorial writer for 

 the Springfield (Mass.) Republican; in 1869 be- 

 came head of the Bureau of Statistics in the 

 United States Treasury, and the next year had 

 charge of the Ninth Census. After serving for 

 a short time as Commissioner of Indian Affairs 

 he was chosen professor of political economy in 

 the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale, and re- 

 mained in this work from 1873 to 1881. In 1880 

 he again had charge of the census and the next 

 year became president of the Massachusetts 

 Institute of Technology. 



As a student of economics he was an inde- 

 pendent thinker, and such books as The Wages 

 Question; Money; Land and Its Rent and In- 

 ternational Bimetallism had a great influence 

 over other economic investigators. In fact, he 

 is still considered a foremost authority on po- 

 litical economy, and is frequently quoted in 

 modern textbooks on the subject. B.M.W. 



WALKER, SIR [BYRON] EDMUND (1848- ), 

 a Canadian financier, well known as an author 

 on banking and other financial matters, and 

 after 1907 president of the Canadian Bank of 

 Commerce. Sir Edmund was born in Haldi- 

 mand County, Ontario. After some experience 

 in the banking office of his uncle, he entered 

 the employ of the Canadian Bank of Com- 



merce in 1868. Continuing in the service of 

 this institution, he rose steadily, becoming gen- 

 eral manager in 1886, a director in 1906, and 

 president in 1907. Sir Edmund has been presi- 

 dent of the Canadian Bankers' Association and 

 of the Canadian Bank of Commerce, and in 

 1910 was elected chairman of the board of gov- 

 ernors of the University of Toronto. He was 

 knighted in 1910. 



Sir Edmund has large financial interests in 

 addition to those directly connected with the 

 Canadian Bank of Commerce, and was a con- 

 spicuous supporter of the government during 

 the War of the Nations. Among his writings 

 are The Canadian System oj Banking; Banking 

 in Canada; Why Canada is Against Bhndnl- 

 lism, and Canadian Surveys and Museums. 



WALKER, WILLIAM (1824-1860), an Ameri- 

 can adventurer prominently connected with 

 several filibustering expeditions. In 1853 he 

 attempted the conquest of the Mexican state 

 of Sonora, but his expedition was a failure, and 

 he was obliged to stand trial at San Francisco 

 for violating neutrality laws. In 1855 he made 

 himself President of Nicaragua, but was ex- 

 pelled through an insurrection. A later plot to 

 gain control of Honduras was frustrated, and in 

 1860 a Honduran court-martial condemned him 

 to be shot. See FILIBUSTERS. 



Consult Doubleday's Reminiscences of the Fili- 

 buster War in Nicaragua. 



WALK'ERVILLE, a town in Essex County, 

 Ontario, adjoining the city of Windsor and 

 directly across the Detroit River from the city 

 of Detroit. Like Windsor, Walkerville is a 

 manufacturing center, its chief products being 

 steel and automobiles. Wire, drugs, paints and 

 varnishes are also important. The town boasts 

 of being the only one in Canada to have no 

 unpaved streets. It owns and operates its elec- 

 tric light and power systems, and has a splendid 

 Dominion building, completed in 1915 at a cost 

 of $90,000. Population in 1911, 3,302; in 1916, 

 estimated, 5,300. 



WALKING STICK, the name applied to a 

 group of peculiar insects which are remarkable 

 for their close resemblance to twigs. They are 

 related to the locusts, and are most abundant 

 in tropical regions. A common species, found 

 in the Eastern United States, and illustrated on 

 page 6127, has a long, slender body and thin, 

 elongated legs that are literally "walking sticks" 

 in appearance. When first hatched this insect 

 is brown, but it soon turns green, and later in 

 the season resumes its original brown color. 

 These changes are interesting examples of pro- 



