The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1899-05-09
EDw. ATKINSON, PAMPH-
LETTER..
EI)Sv.
sketch Of Ills Career ss n whole From
Office Boy TO Attempting To Guide
the Nations Policy.


Edward Atkinson, whose pamphlets
ON war. Is he'll and -it.ought.to- be-stopped,
have lust been excluded from MAMMA
malls by the postal authorities is generally
known as a voluminous writer on econ
omic subjects and as the inventor Of the
Aladdin oven. Hut many persons are
not acquainted with his career es whole,
extending through more than 10 years
lie was born in Brookline. where be now
resides. being the son Of Amos and Anna
Greenleaf (sawyer) Atkinson, on Feb. 10,
l1sg7. He received his education in private
schools.
On Aug. s, 1912, he entered the COM
mission house of Read s. Chadwick, Bos-
ton, as boy. remaining there five years,
where be received an excellent old-time
training, such as obtained before the
days OF porters and janitors IN every line
of work, from that of building tires and
sweeping lofts and packing goods. to con
| fidential clerk.
| In ls4S Mr. Atkinson became clerk and
subsequently treasurer Of various manu-.
featuring companies, 10 which occupation
he remained until 1877.
Later he bscame president of the Boston
Manufacturers Mutual Fire Insurance
company, an Office which he ILLS at this
writing.
In 1857 he was appointed by President
Cleveland special commissioner to report
upon the status Of bimetallism In Europe
He is one of the most prominent mono
metslisrs of New England.
81
England Emigrant Aid society, and u
founder and director of the Massachusetts,
| institute OF Technology.
He is an honorary member of the Phi
Beta Kappa Harvard unversity). men,
her of the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences, fellow OF the American associa-
tion for the Advancement of Science,
member of the American Statistical asso-
citation, member of the International
statistical Institute, Golden nlub of Eng
land, the Uni arian club Of Boston. etc.
Mr.. Atkinson, before the civil war,
was "A stanch abolitionist, and now after
the war he exhibits with pride the degree
of LID. conferred upon him by the
State university OF South Carolina.
lie is an ardent advocate of currency
based wholly on bullion of full value,
dollar for dollar. In 1874 he took an ao.
tive part IN opposing the green back
bill, which Grant finally vetoed. In
dard in the town hall at .Brookline against
jeremiah L. O'Sullivan, the young cham
pion of silver at 16 to /.
Mr.. Atkinson has held that the most
effective method of protecting and pro-
noting home industry is to remove all
o Instructions to commerce with other
nations which the necessity of the coun-
try for customs revenue will permit.
He is an authority on fire insurance
questions, and has had much to do with
iireproof mill construction In New Eng
land.
The Aladdin oven, which he invented
ana exploited utilized the heat from a
common lamp for making soups and
cooking other foods for the table. He
figured 1t that a man could thus provide
for his family at the cost of q few cents
a lay. He has given exhibitions of his
apparatus, and the delicacies 1t turns
out. He allows its construction by any
one who desires, but SO far no one has
made q vast fortune by manufacturing
1t.
Mr.. Atkinson has been writing pamph-
let's for 40 years. They have been devot-
ed mainly to manufacturingand banking,
labor ana capital, protection from fire and
similar subjects, all being cramned with
statistics. The list of titles alone fills
five foolscap pages, closely penned in ink.
The Hell of War excluded from Manila
mails Is one OF the very lateet of the long,
long series.
He aud the New York Sun hold each
other in great contempt. The Sun has
an attack on him In nearly every issue,
ana he counters to the best of his ability
very frequently.