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every penny count. Thus from his vast storehouse of quotations we have "A penny saved is a penny earned."

Therefore the legacy of Benjamin Franklin is his patriotism as an American statesman and his enormous dedication to inventing necessities of the day. He invented a stove that not only saved heat but was one he wanted to be sold reasonably so that those in need could afford one. Toward that end he did not secure a patent which would have restricted its use by making it too expensive for the poor people to afford. I suspect that this frugal gentleman had other irons in the fire and was equally frugal with his time. Yet to his credit his love for his country outweighed his interest in making money. And yet, it is also reported that in his later years when money was not so scarce, he also liked to spend it. Too, he did somewhat learn to enjoy his reputation and too well to the many social opportunities offered while in Europe as a US representative.

Another of is inventions concerns his distance meter. This was a method of charging for postage when he was a postmaster. He had stones placed at intervals along routes that the mail traveled and added the postage accordingly. There was scarcely anything of importance that he did not have a hand in either writing about or actually drawing up plans on how to make it work.

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