Arthur Mellen Wellington (December 20, 1847 – May 17, 1895) was an American civil engineer who wrote the 1877 book The Economic Theory of the Location of Railways. The saying that An engineer can do for a dollar what any fool can do for two is an abridgement of a statement made in this work (see below). Wellington was involved in the design and construction of new railways in Mexico. He was chief engineer of the Toledo and Canada Southern Railroad. He was the editor of the Engineering News.
The pioneering effort of Wellington in engineering economics in the 1870s was continued by John Charles Lounsbury Fish with the publication of Engineering Economics: First Principles in 1923 and the first publication of the Principles of Engineering Economy in 1930 by Eugene L. Grant.
