After solving:

GADGET+BUDGET=EXTRAS

please decode:

28094 879 8 586 *698, 512 *142 90*42.

(Attributed to John *1*7 (1838-1914), U.S.naturalist.)

Find his family name and the country of his birth.

Rem: *s represent letters not appearing in the original alphametics

DECLARE SUB permute (a$)
CLS
a$ = "1234567890": h$ = a$
DO
  IF INSTR(a$, "0") > 3 THEN
    g = VAL(MID$(a$, 1, 1))
    b = VAL(MID$(a$, 2, 1))
    e = VAL(MID$(a$, 3, 1))
    a = VAL(MID$(a$, 4, 1))
    d = VAL(MID$(a$, 5, 1))
    t = VAL(MID$(a$, 6, 1))
    u = VAL(MID$(a$, 7, 1))
    x = VAL(MID$(a$, 8, 1))
    r = VAL(MID$(a$, 9, 1))
    s = VAL(MID$(a$, 10, 1))
    gadget = 100100 * g + 10000 * a + 1000 * d + 10 * e + t
    budget = 100000 * b + 10000 * u + 1000 * d + 100 * g + 10 * e + t
    extras = 100000 * e + 10000 * x + 1000 * t + 100 * r + 10 * a + s
    IF gadget + budget = extras THEN
       PRINT " gadget  budget  extras"
       PRINT gadget; budget; extras
    END IF
  END IF
  permute a$
LOOP UNTIL a$ = h$

finds

 gadget budget extras
 386392 516392 902784
 
taxes are a bad *dea, but *ust ex*st 

John Muir was born in Dunbar, East Lothian, Scotland, according to Wikipedia.

Taxes are a bad idea, but just (must?) exist.

Posted by Charlie on 2014-01-23 17:19:20