Page:Works of the Late Doctor Benjamin Franklin (1793).djvu/294

284 and the encouragement to early marriages, by the certainty of ſubſiſtence in cultivating the earth, the increaſe of inhabitants by natural generation is very rapid in America, and becomes ſtill more ſo by the acceſſion of ſtrangers; hence there is a continual demand for more artiſans of all the neceſſary and uſeful kinds, to ſupply thoſe cultivators of the earth with houſes, and with furniture and utenſils of the groſſer ſorts, which cannot ſo well be brought from Europe. Tolerably good workmen in any of thoſe mechanic arts, are ſure to find employ, and to be well paid for their work, there being no reſtraints preventing ſtrangers from exerciſing any art they underſtand, nor any permiſſion neceſſary. If they are poor, they begin firſt as ſervants or journeymen; and if they are ſober, induſtrious, and frugal, they ſoon become mailers, eſtabliſh themſelves in buſineſs, marry, raiſe families, and become reſpectable citizens.

Alſo, perſons of moderate fortunes and capitals, who having a number of children to provide for, are deſirous of bringing them up to induſtry, and to ſecure eſtates for their poſterity, have opportunities of doing it in America, which Europe does not afford. There they may be taught and practiſe profitable mechanic arts, without incurring diſgrace on that account; but on the contrary acquiring reſpect by ſuch abilities. There ſmall capitals laid out in lands, which daily become more valuable by the increaſe of people, afford a ſolid proſpect of ample fortunes thereafter for thoſe children. The writer of this has known ſeveral inſtances of large tracts of land, bought on what was then the frontier of Pennſylvania, for ten pounds per hundred acres, which, after twenty years, when the ſettlements had been extended far beyond them,