Page:Works of the Late Doctor Benjamin Franklin (1793).djvu/164

154 churches in that town, who are to let out the ſame upon intereſt at five per cent, per annum, to ſuch young married artificers, under the age of twenty-five years, as have ſerved an apprenticeſhip in the ſaid town, and faithfully fulfilled the duties required in their indentures, ſo as to obtain a good moral character from at leaſt two reſpectable citizens, who are willing to become ſureties in a bond, with the applicants, for the repayment of the money ſo lent, with intereſt, according to the terms herein after preſcribed; all which bonds are to be taken for Spaniſh milled dollars, or the value thereof in current gold coin: and the manager ſhall keep a bound book, or books, wherein ſhall be entered the names of thoſe who ſhall apply for, and receive the benefit of this inſtitution, and of their ſureties, together with the ſums lent, the dates, and other neceſſary and proper records, reſpecting the buſineſs and concerns of this inſtitution: and as theſe loans are intended to aſſiſt young married artificers in ſetting up their buſineſs, they are to be proportioned by the discretion of the managers, ſo as not to exceed ſixty pounds ſterling to one perſon, nor to be leſs than fifteen pounds.

And if the number of appliers ſo entitled ſhould be ſo large as that the ſum will not ſuffice to afford to each as much as might other wiſe not be improper, the proportion to each ſhall be diminiſhed, ſo as to afford to every one ſome aſſiſtance. Theſe aids may therefore be ſmall at firſt, but as the capital increaſes by the accumulated intereſt, they will be more ample. And in order to ſerve as many as poſſible in their turn, as well as to make the repayment of the principal borrowed more eaſy, each borrower ſhall be obliged to pay with the yearly intereſt one tenth part of the principal: which ſums of principal and