Introduction vii 
in inventions, such as the Franklin stove, which con- 
tributes to comfort and efficiency in the household. 
He seems to have been one of the first scientists to 
understand and to recommend the use of oil in 
smoothing down angry waves. 
He reconstituted the postal system of the colonies, 
and made it effective, self-sustaining, and in the end 
even remunerative. He developed the art of print- 
ing and based his contention for the freedom of the 
press on so good an authority as the ‘‘ Areopagitica’ 
of Milton. 
Franklin showed Philadelphia how to clean its 
streets, and how to build its schools. He instituted 
the first municipal library that the United States 
had known. He was the founder of a scientific 
association which, 150 years later, still continues its 
work in Philadelphia. He lived long enough to 
put his signature to the Declaration of Independence 
and to the document which presented to his fellow 
citizens the Constitution of the new Republic. His 
suggestions for the management of the problems of 
life are always deserving of attention. He empha- 
sized the fact that the earning of an income is not 
getting a living. It is only getting the means by 
which a man may enjoy a real living; that is to say, 
secure out of life all that is practicable by the best 
use of his powers for the service of his fellow men. 
Franklin never posed for posterity. . . . Yet he 
never wrote a dull line and there are few of his 
writings which, a century and a half later, have not 
interest and value for the present generation. 
It is fitting that today, 180 years after the birth of