THE STRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY 121 



sider the nature and value of money in general. 

 This essay accomplished its purpose in the Assembly. 

 It was the first of those contributions which, arising 

 from Franklin's consideration of the social and indus- 

 trial circumstances of the times, gained for him recog- 

 nition as the first American economist. It was in the 

 same spirit that in 1751 he discussed the question of 

 population after the passage of the British Act for- 

 bidding the erection or the operation of iron or steel 

 mills in the colonies. Science for Franklin was no 

 extraneous interest; he was all of a piece, and it 

 was as a citizen of Philadelphia he wrote those essays 

 that commanded the attention of Adam Smith, 

 Malthus, and Turgot. 



In 1731 he was instrumental in founding the first 

 of those public libraries, which (along with a free 

 press) have made American tradesmen and farmers 

 as intelligent, in Franklin's judgment, as most gen- 

 tlemen from other countries, and contributed to the 

 spirit with which they defended their liberties. The 

 diffusion of knowledge became so general in the 

 colonies that in 1766 Franklin was able to tell the 

 English legislators that the seeds of liberty were 

 universally found there and that nothing could erad- 

 icate them. Franklin became clerk of the General 

 Assembly and postmaster, improved the paving and 

 lighting of the city streets, and established the first 

 fire brigade and the first police force in America. 

 Then in 1743 in the same spirit of public benefi- 

 cence Franklin put forth his Proposal for Promot- 

 ing Useful Knowledge among the British Plan- 

 tations in America. It outlines his plan for the 

 establishment of the American Philosophical Society. 



