SCOTCH CASH ACCOUNTS. 127 



only, and this character his sureties enable him to trans- 

 mute into gold. The Cash Credit becomes thus a pre- 

 mium on integrity. Few men have risen in trade from 

 the lower walks whose character for honesty and per- 

 severing diligence some kind friend has not enabled them 

 thus to coin into money ; but in Scotland alone does 

 there exist an ingenious system, tested by the experience 

 of a century, which provides for accommodations of this 

 nature, as a part of the regular business of the country. 

 Benjamin Franklin devoted by will two thousand pounds 

 to be laid out in loan to young industrious workmen of 

 the cities of Boston and Philadelphia, whose moral cha- 

 racter was such that there could be found at least two 

 respectable citizens willing to become sureties in a bond 

 with the applicants for the repayment of the money so 

 lent, with interest. " I myself," he says in the same 

 document, in rendering a reason for the bequest, " was 

 assisted to set up my business in Philadelphia by kind 

 loans of money from two friends there, which was the 

 foundation of my fortune, and of all the utility in life that 

 may be ascribed to me ; and I wish to be useful even 

 after my death, if possible, in forming and advancing 

 other young men that may be serviceable to their ^coun- 

 try." Now, such was the device of a wise and benevo- 

 lent man. But our Scottish scheme, though a matter 

 of mere business, possesses a mighty advantage, both in 

 wisdom and benevolence, over the device of Franklin, 

 and this advantage we find admirably indicated by 

 Hume. A hundred pounds borrowed from the Franklin 

 Fund would bear interest on its full amount against the 

 borrower from the moment in which it was consigned 

 over to him till it was repaid. And if, during some pause 

 in the commercial world, he suffered it to lie unemployed 

 beside him, it would be a positive disadvantage to him 



