ARTICLE I.

THAT this Society be entitled the FRANKLIN SOCIETY; Title of the Society. the propriety of such an institution in this city having been first [Page 4] suggested by the late Dr. Benjamin Franklin—that patriot, philosopher, and friend to the arts, particularly the typographical.

ARTICLE II.
Officers.

§ 1. The executive business of the Society shall be managed by a President, Number of officers. Treasurer, two Directors, and a Secretary, who shall be chosen by ballot; but the judicial shall re­main wholly with the Society. Their dura­tion in of­fice. No officer shall continue in office longer than six months, except the Secretary, who may be re-elected.

§ 2. The President shall preside at all meetings, Duty of the President. and preserve proper order and de­corum. In all cases where the Society or Directors are equally divided, he shall have the casting vote.

All applications, on business concerning the Society, shall be addressed to its Secreta­ry, who must immediately communicate the same to the President, or forfeit the sum of Four Dollars.

That the President shall issue his orders in writing, to the Directors of the Society, for the transacting of its business, beginning with senior Director, (the first chosen) and so in rotation; and for non-performance of such order, said Director shall forfeit the sum of Four Dollars for such neglect.

That the President, if neglecting to issue his orders, and forward the business of the [Page 5] Society, touching his official department, he shall forfeit the sum of Five Dollars.

§ 3. If any member, Fine for not obeying the President. when called to order by the president, refuses to obey, he shall be subject to a fine of 1-16th of a dollar, and this sum shall be doubled for every after of­fence of the same kind, committed at the same meeting; and if said fines are not paid in to the Society at the receipt of the month­ly payments preceding the next general meeting, the Society shall take into consider­ation the same, and he be subject to expul­sion.

§ 4. The Treasurer shall give a good and sufficient bond for twenty pounds more than the sum which he receives at the time of his accepting the office; Duty of the Treasurer. and shall, at the expi­ration of the six months for which he is elected, present a fair statement of his ac­counts, deliver the bonds granted to the So­ciety for monies loaned, and the cash which may be in his possession, to his successor in office, and receive an acquittance from the President, in presence of the Society. He shall make no disbursements of money with­out a written order from the President and Directors; and such written order or or­ders, and the receipt or receipts from the per­son or persons in whose favour such orders have been drawn, when produced by the Treasurer, shall be the only authority for the Secretary to notice them, and give credit in the books of the Society for the same.

[Page 6] § 5. The Directors shall visit by rotation, Duty of the Directors. the persons who may be entitled to receive support from the Society, if within the city and liberties, and, in conjunction with the President, order the Treasurer to make the necessary disbursements; they shall provide any books, &c. necessary for the use of the Society, and, in short, manage all the ordi­nary concerns of the Society, in strict con­formity to the Constitution.

In case of the death of an officer, Vacancy in the office of Director, how supplied or his leaving the city, the remaining officers shall choose another to fill his place until the next quarterly meeting.

§ 6. The Secretary shall keep a fair record of all the proceedings of the Society, Duty of the Secretary. and al­so keep an exact account of the monies re­ceived and disbursed by the Treasurer. He shall make an index to all the resolutions and proceedings of the Society, and distinctly folio the same. He shall receive all monies at meetings, and hand it over to the Trea­surer, and take his receipt for the same, for the use of the Society. For which services, His compen­sation. and for every other service incumbent upon him as Secretary, he shall receive at the rate of six dollars per annum, to be paid out of the fund of the Society.

§ 7. In case any of the officers, Fines for re­fusing offices. when du­ly elected, refuse to serve, they shall pay the following fines, viz. a President, one dollar—a Treasurer, 5s7 1-2—and a Director or Se­cretary, 5s.

ARTICLE III.
Funds.

THE funds of the Society shall consist of the entrance-money, Entrance-money and monthly payment. fines, and monthly pay­ment of 5-16ths of a dollar, by each mem­ber, to be made to the President, Treasurer and Directors, on the first Saturday in every month.

If any member neglect to pay the above sum of 5-16ths of a dollar, Fine for neglecting the monthly payment. he shall be sub­ject to a fine of 1-16th for every month he may be delinquent; and should he continue such neglect until his arrearages amount to the sum of five dollars, he shall be served by the Secretary with a written notice—which notice shall be delivered to said delinquent member, or left at his usual place of abode; and shall be in the form following:

ARTICLE IV.
Meetings.

THE Society shall hold a general meeting on the third Saturday of February, General meetings, & May, [Page 8] August and November, meetings of the Direct­ors, when to be held. in every year; and the President, with the Treasurer, Directors, and Secretary, shall meet on the first Satur­day of every month, to receive the payments of the members. The hours for transacting business shall not be limited, but, on mo­tion, shall be determined by adjournment.

§ 2. A majority of resident members of the Society shall be sufficient to form a quo­rum, Number ne­cessary to form a quorum. who may proceed to business.

§ 3. If any officer of the Society absent himself from any meeting, Fines for non-attend­ance. he shall pay a fine of 5-16ths of a dollar; and if any member shall absent himself from a general, quar­terly or special meeting, having had regular notice, he shall pay a fine of 1-4th, unless an excuse be given which shall be deemed sa­tisfactory by a majority of the officers. Every officer of the Society not attending within ten minutes after the hour of meet­ing, shall forfeit 1-8th, and every other member 1-16th of a dollar.

§ 4. No officer or member of the Society, Penalty for absenting during the time of busi­ness. after the commencement of business, at any meeting, shall absent himself more than five minutes, at any one time, nor oftener than twice in one evening, without permission from the chair.—Every member who shall be guilty of a breach of this section, shall forfeit and pay a fine of 1-8th of a dollar for each offence.

§ 5. At every general, Sum allow­ed for de­fraying the expences of meetings. special and quarter­ly meeting of the Society, the sum of 1-8th [Page 9] of a dollar shall be levied on every resident member, to defray the expence of said meet­ing. The monthly payment of members shall not be received until such payment is made.

ARTICLE V.
Aliment.

§ 1. ANY member falling into sickness, Weekly sum allowed to members incapable of working. and notice thereof being given to the Di­rectors, one of them shall visit him—and if, upon such visitation, the said Director shall find him incapable of working at his busi­ness, he shall make report thereof to the Pre­sident; who shall thereupon, in conjunction with the Directors, draw an order on the Treasurer, in writing, for the sum of Fifteen Shillings per week, during his sickness. And should claims on the Society's fund accumulate, Fund not to be reduced below £160 so as to reduce it to £.160, then all demands, of every kind, shall be provided for by such an addition to the monthly payment of each member as the case may require.

§ 2. Any member residing at a distance from the city, Members in distress, re­siding at a distance, to send a certi­ficate, shall be entitled to the same benefit as above specified, on sending the certificate of a magistrate, clergyman, or two respectable freeholders in the place where he resides, of his indisposition.

[Page 10] § 3. No person shall be entitled to receive any support from this society, One year's membership, &c. requisite to granting support. until he has been a member for one year.

§ 4. In case of a member's dying, Sum allow­ed at the fu­neral, and to the widow of a deceased member. the So­ciety, if applied to, shall expend a sum not exceeding twenty-five dollars towards de­fraying the expences of his funeral; and a sum not exceeding six dollars a quarter shall be allowed to the widow of a deceased member, during the time of her widow­hood.

§ 5. Should the fund of the Society in­crease, Additions to be made to claiments as the funds increase. the following additions shall be made to the sums before specified in § 1. & 4. of this article, viz. when the Society's stock a­mounts to £. 350, one-fourth to be added to the specified appointments,—when to £. 650, one half,—but said allowance to cease, when the capital is reduced, in the first case to £. 300, and in the second to £. 600. When the stock of the Society amount to £. 850, the Society shall have a discretionary power to make further additions for the benefit of claimants, but only agreeably to the ratio above laid down. All sums, however, grant­ed in consequence of such discretionary power, shall cease on the stock's being redu­ced to £. 800.

§ 6. The society shall also provide for the education of the children of deceased mem­bers; Allowance for the edu­cation of the children of deceased members. and for this purpose, a sum not ex­ceeding 15s. per quarter, at the direction of [Page 11] the President and Directors, shall be paid by the Treasurer, for a term of time not ex­ceeding five years, or as the case may re­quire, for each child to be educated. The direct­ors to en­quire into their pro­gress, &c. and report to the socie­ty every quarter. And it shall be the duty of the directors to wait on the schoolmaster, at least once in a quar­ter, and enquire whether the child, or chil­dren, have regularly attended school, and what progress they have made—and make report thereof at the next meeting of the Society.

§ 7. Each member of the Society shall at­tend the funeral of a deceased member, Penalty for not attend­ing the fu­neral of a deceased member. with a crape round his arm, in the same manner as funerals are usually attended by the brethren of other societies, under the penalty of one dollar.

ARTICLE VI.
Qualifications of Members.

§ 1. No person can become a member of the Franklin Society (Printers) but a prin­ter, A good cha­racter, serv­ing an ap­prenticeship, &c. requisite in persons admitted. of a good character, and who has serv­ed an apprenticeship to the printing busi­ness—free from any bodily infirmity at the time of entrance, and not above forty-five years of age.

[Page 12] § 2. Every person admitted a member shall be present at the time of his admission; Persons ad­mitted mem­bers to be present, and to receive a certificate of their mem­bership. and shall, thereupon, be furnished with a certificate of his membership, after the fol­lowing form, signed by the President and Secretary for the time being, with the Soci­ety's seal affixed.

ARTICLE VII.
Terms of Admission.

§ 1. CANDIDATES, Mode of ad­mitting members. qualified as in the preceding article, being proposed for admis­sion by a member, and the question being seconded, it shall be determined by ballot.

[Page 13] § 2. Each candidate shall pay, Sums to be paid by per­sons admit­ted accord­ing to their respective ages. on his ad­mittance as a member, as follows, viz. If not more than thirty years of age, 1s. for every year of his age—if thirty, and not more than thirty-five, 1s3.—if thirty-five, and not more than forty, 1s9,—if forty, and not more than forty-five, 2s6.

§ 3. Any person proposed as a candidate for admittance, Persons ad­mitted, not paying their entrance mo­ney in three months, ex­cluded. shall not be considered a member of the Society, unless, at the expi­ration of three months from the time of his being approved of, he shall have paid his en­trance money. If after three months he shall continue desirous of becoming a member, May be again pro­posed; he may be again proposed, and shall be subject to the same formality as at the time of his being first proposed; But not a third, time. but no person shall be proposed a third time.

ARTICLE VIII.
Loans.

§ 1. No sum of money less than ten pounds shall be loaned by the Society.—No sum less than £10 to be loaned. When application is made for any sum a­bove ten pounds, the Society shall determine on the propriety of the grant, according to the stock in hand. Should there be, If more than one appli­cant, how to be settled. how­ever, more than one applicant, and the stock in the hands of the Treasurer not be suffi­cient to satisfy them all, (if it is agreed that monies shall be loaned) the Society shall de­termine [Page] on the sum which shall be loaned to each person.

§ 2. No money shall be loaned by the So­ciety, Freehold security requisite. without sufficient freehold security therefor, approved of by the Society; nor shall a member be accepted as a security for any loan, either jointly or separately, unless the said member be a freeholder, and his security be deemed sufficient by the Society.

§ 3. The name of the security must be made known by the applicant, Name of the security to be given at the time of application. when the application is made; and if a member, he, together with the applicant, must withdraw until a decision is bad,—which shall be de­termined by ballot.

§ 4. Any person applying for money, Members to have notice of intended applications. shall give such timely notice thereof to the Secre­tary, as will be sufficient for him to give no­tice to the members, one week prior to the meeting, of the nature of such application.

§ 5. All applications for loans shall be made in writing. Applications to be made in writing.

§ 6. The sum of twenty pounds must be retained in the hands of the Treasurer, £. 20 to be retained in the Treasu­rer's hands. for answering any demands which may be on the Society.

ARTICLE IX.
Society-seal.

THAT a society-seal shall be made use of on all occasions, A society-seal to be u­sed. wherein it shall be neces­sary.

ARTICLE X.

IF any member of this Society shall be guilty of a felonious breach of the laws of the country, Members guilty of fe­lony, to be excluded. he shall be for ever excluded this Society.

ARTICLE XI.

So long as three members remain of this Society, The fund, how to be disposed of, in case the number of members is reduced to two. the fund shall never be alienated to any other purpose than that expressed in the foregoing articles. Should, it ever un­fortunately happen, that the number is re­duced to two, in that case the American Philosophical Society shall receive the mo­nies on hand, the interest of which to be applied by them in an annual premium for the best essay on such subject as they may think proper; they paying to the two re­maining members the sums they have re­spectively paid, during the time they have belonged to the society, and to the widows and orphans of deceased members the quar­terly sums stipulated in Article V. § 3, 4.