BEMIS, EDWARD WEBSTER American economist, was born at Springfield (Mass.), April 7, 186o, and was educated at Amherst and Johns Hopkins university. He held the professorship of history and political economy in Vanderbilt university (1889-92), was associate professor of political economy in the University of Chicago (1892-95), assistant statistician to the Illinois bureau of labour statistics (1896), and professor of economics and history in the Kansas State Agricultural college (1897-99). Thereafter he devoted himself to practical rather than theoretical work, ultimately becoming consulting engineer on public utilities, and a member of the advisory board of the valua tion bureau of the Interstate Commerce Commission (1913-23) . In 1901 he became superintendent of the Cleveland waterworks. He wrote much on municipal government, his more important works being Municipal Ownership of Gas-Works in the United States (1891) and Municipal Monopolies (1899).