James

ing to Rhode Island in 1848, he erected the Atlan-
tic De Laine Mill at Olneyville, one of the im-
portant new factories in that state, but a project
which was shortly to involve him in financial

rum.

James came from a family of Democrats and
was much interested in politics, although his nu-
merous business interests prevented for many
years any personal participation. He became a
major-general in the Rhode Island militia and
United States senator from Rhode Island in 1851,
when he was elected as a high-tariff Democrat by
a majority of one on the eighth ballot, his victory
being due to a combination of Whigs and Demo-
crats in a legislature which contained a majority
of Whigs. As senator his chief interest was in
technical and economic problems; he was chair-
man of the Senate Committee on Patents in the
Thirty-fourth Congress. Although an excellent
speaker, he was seldom heard in the Senate. The
records, however, show his belief in upholding
the compromise measures of 1850 and his opposi-
tion to the Kansas-Nebraska bill. He refused to
stand for reelection, chiefly because of the im-
pairment of his fortune during his senatorial
term, his lawyer, Caleb Gushing, later asserting
that the management of the De Laine Mills had
literally fleeced him of his property.

After his retirement from the Senate, James
devoted his chief attention to the improvement
of firearms, an interest which had long been his
hobby. The coming of the Civil War intensified
this interest and he made important contributions
in perfecting a rifled cannon, a cylindrical bullet
with a conical head, and an explosive projectile.
While he was experimenting with the latter at
Sag Harbor, N. Y., on Oct. 16,1862, a shell upon
which he was working exploded and mortally
wounded him. His death occurred the following
day. Above the average in height, James was a
man of commanding presence, marked out to be
a leader both by his appearance and his versatile
talents. He left a wife and four children.

[Biog. Dir. Am. Cong. 1774-192? (1928) ; Edward
Fidd, State of R. I. and Providence Plantations at the
End of the Century: A Hist. (1902), vol. I; Represen-
tative Men and Old Families of Rhode Island (1908),
vol. I; Malcolm Keir, Manufacturing (1928); U. S.
Circuit Court for the R. I. District: James vs. The At-
lantic De Laine Co., Sept. 19, 1866; Mr. Caleb Cush-
ing's Argument for the Plaintiff (1867); De Bow's
Review, Dec. 1850; Boston Daily Advertiser, Oct. 20,
1862; Springfield Republican, Oct. 18, 1862; N. Y.
Commercial Advertiser, Oct. 18, 1862; Providence
Daily Post, Oct. 18, 20, 1862.] H.U.F.

JAMES, DANIEL WILLIS (Apr. 15, 1832-
Sept. 13, 1907), merchant, philanthropist, was
born at Liverpool, England, where his father,
Daniel James, a native of New York State, was
resident partner of the American firm of Phelps,

James

Dodge & Company, dealers in metals. His moth-
er, Elizabeth Woodbridge Phelps, was also an
American, a daughter of the head of the same
firm. The close contacts of both parents with
New York interests naturally resulted in giving
the boy a distinctly American outlook and bent,
even in an English environment. Until he was
thirteen, he attended English country boarding
schools. He was then sent to Edinburgh, where
he was a student in an academy for three years
and for one year at the University. While he
was in Scotland his mother died, and in 1849,
at the age of seventeen, he set out for New York,
his father evidently expecting him to enter on a
business career there with the help of family con-
nections. Little time was lost in getting to work,
and within five years he was admitted as a junior
partner in Phelps, Dodge & Company, with
which establishment he was connected for the
rest of his life. The development of copper mines
owned by his firm in Arizona led to the building
of branch railroads and other pioneering opera-
tions in the Southwest and in Mexico. In these
activities he took a leading part.

While he was still in his thirties, before he
could be counted as a capitalist on a large scale,
he was active in philanthropic effort. For half a
century of his life in New York there was never
a time when his personal contributions to reli-
gious and charitable causes were not far greater
than was known to the public. Enough has come
to light, however, in the records and reports of
organizations to show that the sum total of the
gifts that he made in his lifetime, if it could be
computed, would place him in a high rank among
the philanthropists of his generation. One who
tried so persistently to keep one hand from know-
ing what the other was doing easily escapes the
imputation of selfish motives. Those who knew
James well seem agreed that his affections were
spontaneous and all-inclusive. Dr. Charles H.
Parkhurst declared that he loved everything in
the universe "from God down to the newsboy."
It was only natural that a man of such impulses
should find on every side new channels of be-
nevolence. The Children's Aid Society of New
York, founded by Charles Lor ing Brace [g.vj,
appealed with peculiar force to him and through-
out his life continued to claim his interest and
support. He was a trustee for thirty-nine years
and president for ten. His gifts to the society
from 1868 to 1907 were continuous. It w'as he
who founded the Health Home of the society at
Coney Island'for the mothers of sick children.
Many who never so much as heard his name have
been helped back to health and strength by that
institution.

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