John L. Hayes

John Lord Hayes (1812-1888) was born on April 13, 1812, in South Berwick in the state of Maine, and was the eldest of his twelve siblings. His family descended from a long line of Scottish Puritans who had settled in New England from the 1680s.  His father, William Allen Hayes, was a prominent lawyer and was for some time a Judge of the Probate. His mother was Susannah Lord Hayes, who also descended from old New England stock. John Hayes was well educated. He attended school at the Berwick Academy, before attending Dartmouth College, where he graduated in 1831. Hayes would then study law at his father’s law practice as well as at Harvard Law School. He would then be admitted to the bar in 1835. Hayes then moved to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where he opened his own law practice. It was here that he met his wife, Caroline S. Ladd, and had five children. He was then appointed clerk of the United States Courts for the District of New Hampshire in 1841. During this time, Hayes also became involved in a number of scientific associations, including the American Association of Naturalists and Geologists, the Boston Society of Natural History, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, among others.

In the 1840s, Hayes would be made the general manager of the Katahdin Iron Works in Maine. The iron works would close, however, after the passage of the free trade tariff bill of 1846. This caused Hayes to devote more of his attention to the debate over free trade and protection, and would also lead to his first work on the question through his Memorial of the Iron Manufacturers of New England, Asking for a Modification of the Tariff of 1846. This appeared in 1850 and would be presented to Congress. Hayes would subsequently move to Washington and would eventually be made Chief Clerk of the Patent Office. It was through this role that Hayes became acquainted with Erastus B. Bigelow, who Hayes would be closely associated with for the rest of his life. Hayes would be responsible for overseeing the case of extending Bigelow’s patent for the carpet power loom. After meeting and establishing a friendship with Bigelow, Hayes would later move to Boston in 1865, and would be appointed as Secretary of the newly established National Association of Wool Manufacturers.

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As Secretary of the National Association of Wool Manufacturers, Hayes would also take on the editorship of the Bulletin of the National Association of Wool Manufacturers. The bulk of Haye’s writings on political economy would appear in this publication. Indeed, although Hayes never produced a full book sized economic treatise, his other contributions, including his memorials, addresses, pamphlets, and his articles in the Bulletin, would constitute a vast amount of literature. The most theoretically significant of Hayes’ works would arguably be his 1870 piece The Solidarity of Industries, and his two articles, The Nationalistic and Cosmopolitan Schools of Political Economy, and Customs Duties on the Necessaries of Life and Their Relations to the National Industry, both of which appeared in 1884. In addition to the editorial and literary efforts mentioned above, Hayes would also be picked by the then President of the United States, Chester A. Arthur, to serve as President of the 1882 Tariff Commission. This Commission informed the Tariff of 1883. Hayes would continue in his role as the Secretary and Editor of the National Association of Wool Manufacturers for the remaining twenty years of his life. After several months of ill health, Hayes would die in his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on April 18, 1888.