. The science of railways . es. It also possessed a code of laws for OF TRANSPORTATION. 127 the government of its employes. For differentclasses of business it had different forms, just aswe have blank checks, contracts, deeds, and soon. The instructions which accompanied themwere full, and, so far as possible, minimized thelabor and risks of business. Our knowledge of Babylonia is rendered doublyvivid by these and other ancient records. It isapparent that the community looked to theEgibis for guidance and protection in manythings. Elsewhere it was robbed alike by kingand priest. Everywhere it
. The science of railways . es. It also possessed a code of laws for OF TRANSPORTATION. 127 the government of its employes. For differentclasses of business it had different forms, just aswe have blank checks, contracts, deeds, and soon. The instructions which accompanied themwere full, and, so far as possible, minimized thelabor and risks of business. Our knowledge of Babylonia is rendered doublyvivid by these and other ancient records. It isapparent that the community looked to theEgibis for guidance and protection in manythings. Elsewhere it was robbed alike by kingand priest. Everywhere its interests were neg-lected. But this great banking house, dependingupon the confidence of its patrons, dealt fairly,throwing around its customers, so far as it could,the aegis of its protection. Its carefully drawncode of rules was not less exacting or less clearlyunderstood than that of the Bank of England,albeit they were printed on hardened blocks of clay. Printed upon suchtablets, hardened by fire,twenty-five centuries. have not sufficed to dimor efface them, and aswe pore over these rec-ords of an age long past we discover anew thatthe business man, then as now, was the greatbenefactor of his kind, however unconscious hewas of the fact. While king and priest enforcedan arbitrary interest wholly personal and often-times narrow, the man of affairs encouraged thepeople to be just and to live together peaceably. 128 ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION The Babylonian kingdom was, thronghont itslong existence, the center of ever recurring con-spiracies, revolutions and sieges. Its religion waschanged or modified many times, and its tyrantsflit across the stage of history like the shadowson Bosworth field, but the great commercialhouse of Egibi & Son, it is interesting to notice,continued uninterruptedly to look after the inter-ests of its clients and to foster and protect then?in every way possible. The bank check and draft used to-day, andintended to facilitate exchanges, were invente-during
Size: 2565px × 974px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectrailroa, bookyear1900
