Dr. Richard T. Ely

Prof. Richard T. Ely was born in Ripley, N. Y., April 13, 1854. He received his early education in the public schools of his native city and later attended the Normal at Fredonia, N. Y., and at eighteen entered Dartmouth college. One year later he was transferred to Columbia University, from which he graduated in 1876. After three years of graduate study abroad Prof. Ely received his degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the famous University of Heidelberg. In 1881 he was appointed to the chair of Political Economy at Johns Hopkins University, which he retained until 1892, when he came to Wisconsin as Director of the School of Economics, Political Science and History, which was organized that year, and of which he is now the head. During this comparatively brief period of twenty years, Prof. Ely has written voluminously and effectively. His works upon economic and social questions have gained a wide reception in this country and have been translated into many foreign tongues. Almost every important magazine has printed articles from his pen.

Prof. Ely was a member of the Maryland Tax Commission and prepared its report which at once took high rank in the literature of finance. A mere enumeration of his writings which have assumed the proportions of books would exhaust our space. In addition he has edited two important series of works devoted to economic, social and political subjects.