David Ames Wells, an American economist, born in Springfield, Mass., June 17, 1828. He graduated at Williams college in 1847, and at the Lawrence scientific school in 1851. From 1865 to 1870 he was employed by the government as a commissioner to inquire into questions of revenue and taxation, and published 15 reports on these subjects, some of which were reproduced in England, France, and Germany. In 1870-73 he was employed by the legislature of New York as a commissioner on taxation, and submitted two reports with a plan of a code, all republished in Europe. In 1872 he became university lecturer on political science in Yale college. In 1873 he delivered an address in London at the annual banquet of the Cobden club. In 1874 he was elected foreign associate of the French academy of political sciences, in the place of John Stuart Mill, deceased, and received the degree of D. 0. L. from Oxford university. He resides in Norwich, Conn., and was defeated in April, 1876, as a democratic candidate for congress. He has also published pamphlets on economical subjects, and edited 16 volumes of the 'Annual of Scientific Discovery" (1849-64). Mr. Wells was originally a protectionist, but his investigations in Europe in 1867, and study of the United States customs system, led him to become an advocate of free trade.