Ely, Richard Theodore, 1854-1943, American economist, b. Ripley, N.Y., grad. Columbia, 1876, Ph.D. Heidelberg, 1879. He taught at Johns Hopkins (1881-92), the Univ. of Wisconsin (1892-1925), and Northwestern Univ. (1925-33). One of the most influential teachers of his time, he was instrumental in popularizing the study of economics, and his Outlines of Economics (with R. H. Hess, 1889; 6th ed. 1937) was a standard text. He was a founder of the American Economic Association. An early leader of Christian socialism in America, he advocated public control of resources, prohibition of child labor, and the development of labor unions. His many books include Monopolies and Trusts (1900), Studies in the Evolution of Industrial Society (1905), and Land Economics (with G. S. Wehrwein, 1940).

Ely, town (1991 pop. 9,006), Cambridgeshire, E central England. It is a market town for the surrounding rich farming area and has food-processing industries. Tourism is also important. Secluded in the Fens, it was the site of the last serious resistance to William I in 1071. Ely Cathedral, one of the largest in England, is on the site of an abbey founded by St. Ætheldreda in 673 and destroyed by Danes in 870.

Ely, Isle of, region, Cambridgeshire, E central England. Ely is the chief town. The region has extensive fens, drained and devoted to the cultivation of sugar beets and vegetables. Pigs and poultry are raised. The name Isle comes from the high ground amid the fens; Ely supposedly refers to the eels formerly in the waters.

Culbertson, Ely, 1891-1955, American authority on contract bridge, b. Romania. His father was an American engineer then living in Romania, and his mother was of Russian parentage. Culbertson introduced the first successful system of bidding in contract bridge, wrote numerous books on the game, edited Bridge World magazine, wrote a widely read newspaper column on bridge, and won many bridge tournaments. After World War II he wrote and lectured on world peace, setting forth his plans in the book Must We Fight Russia? (1947).

See Ely