WELLS, David Ames, economist, born in Springfield, Massachusetts, 17 June, 1828. He is a lineal descendant of Thomas Welles, governor of Connecticut, and, on his mother's side, of David Ames, who built and established the National armory in Springfield. In 1847 he was graduated at Williams, and, with others, published a " History and Sketches of Williams College" (Springfield, 1847). For a time during 1848 he was on the editorial staff of the "Springfield Republican." While thus engaged, he suggested the idea, and was associated in the invention, of folding newspapers and books by machinery in connection with power printing-presses. The first machine that was ever constructed and successfully operated was built at his expense, and worked under his direction, in the office of the "Republican." He then sold his interest, and entered the Lawrence scientific school of Harvard, where he became a special pupil of Louis Agassiz, and was graduated in 1851. Mr. Wells continued at Harvard as assistant, and was lecturer on physics and chemistry at Groton academy, Massachusetts In Cambridge he began, with George Bliss, in 1849, the publication of the "Annual of Scientific Discovery," which he continued until 1866. He invented in 1856 improvements in preparing textile fabrics. During 1857-'8 he was a member of the publishing-firm of G. P. Putnam and Co., New York. He compiled "Science of Common Things" (New York, 1857) ; "Elements of Natural Philosophy" (1857)" " Principles and Applications of Chemistry" (1858); and " First Principles of Geology" (1861), of which works two were translated into Chinese, and that on chemistry was adopted as a text-book at the United States military academy. In 1864 he issued an essay on "Our Burden and our Strength," which was considered "one of the most original and startling brochures of political literature." The Loyal publication society of New York reprinted it, and it was published in England. French and German translations were issued abroad, and its entire circulation probably exceeded 200,000 copies. In 1865 he was called to Washington, and made chairman of a commission to consider the subject of raising by taxation the necessary revenue to supply the wants of the government. On the completion of his report in January, 1866, he was appointed special commissioner of the revenue, which office was created for him, and later under his direction the bureau of statistics was formed. He visited Europe in 1867, under a government commission, and investigated industries competitive with those of the United States. Although he was originally a believer in the economic system of protection, his experience resulted in his acceptance of free-trade doctrines. His term of office expired in 1870, and he was appointed chairman of a commission to examine the laws relating to local taxation in the state of New York. In 1872 he was invited to lecture on political science in Yale. He was a delegate to the Democratic national conventions of 1872 and 1880, and in 1876 was a candidate for congress from Connecticut. He was appointed by the United States court in 1876 one of the trustees and receivers of the Alabama and Chattanooga railroad, and in fourteen months rescued the corporation from bankruptcy, and expended a considerable sum for improvements and repairs, without incurring an additional dollar of indebtedness. In 1877 he was appointed by the state board of canal commissioners chairman of a commission to consider the subject of tolls on the New York canals, and in 1878 made an exhaustive report. He was one of the trustees of the bondholders that bought, under foreclosure and sale, and reorganized the Erie railway. In 1879 he was elected by the associated railways of the United States a member of the board of arbitration, to which they agreed to refer all disputes and arrangements for "pooling" or apportioning their respective earnings. Mr. Wells was invited to deliver the annual address before the Cobden club in 1873, and in 1874 was elected a foreign associate of the French academy of political science, also in 1877 a foreign associate of the Accademia dei Lincei of Italy, receiving its medal of honor in 1863. The degree of M. D. was given him by Berkshire medical college in 1863, that of LL.D. by Williams in 1871, and that of D. C. L. by Oxford in 1874. He was president of the American social science association in 1875-'9, president of the New London county (Conn.)historical society in 1880, and of the American free-trade league in 1881. He has been a prolific writer of pamphlets on economic subjects; some of the best known of which are "The Creed of the Free-Trade" (1875) ; " Production and Distribution of Wealth" (1875) : "Why we Trade and How we Trade" (1878) ; "The Silver Question, or the Dollar of the Fathers vs. the Dollar of the Sons" (1878) and "Principles of Taxation" (1886). In book-form he has published "Year-Book of Agriculture" (Philadelphia, 1856); "Wells's Science of Common Things" (New York, 1856); " Report of United States Revenue Commission " (Washington, 1866), " Reports United States Special Commissioners of Revenue" (4 vols., 1866-'9) ; "Robinson Crusoe's Money" (New York, 1876); "Our Merchant Marine: how it Rose, Increased, became Great, Declined, and Decayed" (1882); "A Primer of Tariff Reform" (1884); "Practical Economics, a Collection of Essays" (1885); "A Study of Mexico" (1887); "A Short and Simple Catechism" (1888) and "Relation of the Tariff to Wages" (1888). He has edited Charles Knight's "Knowledge is Power" (Boston, 1856) ; Richard F. Burton's "Pilgrimage to El-Medinah and Meccah" (New York, 1857) ; "Things not Generally Known" (1857) ; and Sir Benjamin C. Brodie's "Psychological Inquiries," with notes (1857).