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^ ; *i 5 (' " f { -- * ***-s: SlxlMII "• J r • '• -; f • THE McHENRY PLAINDEALER . '\ Thursday, July 26,11 1,000 Years Of Banking History ecalls Early Days Of Taxes . Rome Oiie of the great sources of loman wealth was the collection >f revenues from subject provinces. The taxes to be collected vere paid in advance, less dissount, by tax-gathering associaions, who then collected from iheir assigned districts. A naturil corollary to the collection of taxes was the changing of foreign moneys into Roman coin and the conversion of taxes in |cind (those paid in wheat, cattle, |lnd so forth) into money. These fvere important banking luiipfions during the Roman period |>f supremacy. The Street of Janus was the all ^street of Ancient Rome, e center of banking activity, e north side of the Forum, being the Street of Janus, conned many of the city's bankestablishments, in offices or partmcnts, one alongside the >ther. Within the walls of the Forum unctioned a banKing system"-not oo unlike that which we have oday. The daily routine included opening accounts .handling de- K)sits and withdrawals, issuing ' kills of exchange, furnishing Icters of credit, making loans, purthaSing mortgages -- in fact, a great?many of the transactions performed by our own modern $>anks. Rome, of course, had the benefit of all the financial knowledge and experience acquired by the Mediterranean world up to that date. : The Middle Ages and .< - The Renaissance i>rigin of the Word "Bank" The Germans were influential ing functions, civilization could never have reached its present •level of advancement. Babylonia Tlie, evolution of commerce _ 1 * o • x r- ' and banking as we know it famous Bank of Saint George, ; started not far from the borders founded there in 12:>2, had a history longer than that of any other bank to this day; it did hot pass out of existence until 1800, during the French Revolution. ( World Wide Banking Following the discovery of America, the flow of precious metals from this new land to of the Mediterranean Sea, in the area where , civilization itself was born. Ancient Babylonia developed the first essentially commercial civi.'izatioh. Two thousand years before the birth of Christ, they were using deeds, leases of land, wills, accounts, notes, mortgages, receipts for ^ . . . . . . s t o r a g e , a n d m a n y o t h e r b u s i n e s s Europe in thc sixteenth ^ccntury fomjs _ th(? progenitors of soon became five times the total One of their largest sources of income was derived from financing the export of salt and iron to the Roman Empire and other parts of the known world. The invention of paper in China (about 105 A;D:) was possibly the most important single contribution to banking and commerce ever to appear in the history of man, for it made possible the issuance ot paper money, certificates of deposit, bills of exchange and simplified records of all kinds that could be easily stored and transported. In the eighth century A.D., invading Arabs captured a num- ,<flaBBaBnaBaaaQaaariraaaniat» Twice Told Tales FORTY YEARS AGO From Issue of July 27, 1016 Plans are now being made for a handsome new Sisters' home to be erected by St. Mary's parish of this city. Other improvements are being planned which will mean the expenditure of about $8,000. Seven- hundred quarts of strawberries were picked on the. Street 'fruit farm at Hebron this those we use today. These were bcr of Chinese papermakers and season °llt?K-t Kfn-he ?ld W.°rld Most engraved in clay tablets, which , spread the art to other eastern Of this bullion found its way to and western iay iu were «|ien baked until hard. Rec- j Mediterranean( countries. °')e' ords were often made in dupli- j Greece it was to liiJgre im- ; cate f,v pressing wet clay over o the growth of industry. aq ffiinn:iBsLheoHd ttaahbil^ett , a»nnrdt tthh™en hbaakk-- ; ing the wet impression. There were no banks in Ihe of the word, but northern where petus to There were men waiting and ready to take advantage of the opportunities- afforded by this : endless stream of gold and trea- | stuct. scnsi ....... . , sure. At first these were mostly ; certain, powerful families earned. Italians like the Medici *ahd the ] on the business of lending mon- Peruzzi, who had developed the ey. Loans were made on signamost up-to-date methods 0f; tures, property and crops which banking -- the discounting of ; Wero attached m advance to in- ! constant state of unrest because bills of exchange, the issuing of I sur0 payment. The same men of the activities of opposing pobank notes, the use of a double- rea* estate, fiiianCed in- i litical. factions. The Temple of- From Greece comes the origination of our mociern safe* deposit | facilities. The .Greeks were a divided people: their many independent states and' cities were almost continuously at war with one another or with- foreign powers. Even during brief periods of peace, Greece was in a / Raymond Phillips, son of. Mrs. L. Phillips, had a narrow escape from drowning oh Tuesday. While out bathing, he went down and was rescued by a boatman near the shore of Fox river. Mr. and Mrs. F. J. Karges have rented their home on Water street to Mr. and Mrs. Charles Stoffel of Milwaukee. They have moved to Woodstock where. Mr. Karges is employed. Mr. and Mrs. M. L. Lavelle and, son, Maurice, left Wednesday for Rochelle, where he has TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO From Issue of July 28, 1931 Mrs. Mary Noonan died at. her home near Ringwood July 16, after & long illness, at the age of 81. Members of the Block family and friends held a family reunion at Harmony Court last Sunday in honor of -Mr. s and Mrs. Frank E. Block and daughters of Tucson, Ariz., who are visiting relatives here. Police Magistrate George Bohr was called upon to perform his first marriage ceremony Friday, July 10. He was aroused from slumber about midnight by not one but two couples from Waukegan who desired to be married. Magistrate Bohr performed the double ceremony and sent them on their happy way. Mr. and Mrs. Lester Bacon announce the arrival of a son, Lester Duane, at the Woodstock hospital last Friday. Mr. and Mrs. John Aylward entertained a large group of relatives and, friends at their Cottage here last Sunday, celebrating the birthdays of M. A. Conway and John' Aylward. Mrs. Minnie - Block observed her eighty-sixth birthday at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Fred Feltz, on Waukegan street July 17. " ' Isabelle McVickers and James Thompson were united in mar-" riage at St". Mary's church July 24. ' Gladys Justen and. Roger Ekholm of Elgin were married at St. Patrick's rectory in this city at 4 p.m. Saturday, July 20. Mrs. Albert Barbian and Mrs. Fred Rbgers were co4iostesses at a miscellaneous shower at the Rogers home last Friday, evening, ^honoring Miss Maureen Miller, who will become the bride of Phillip Doherty Aug. 7j|| Support local baseball teams. entry system of bookkeeping, ! dustrial enterprises, and acted j fere(j the only safe repository j been transferred and they will and the creation of banks of j as buying agents .for clients. ; jor vaiuabies, for the strong redeposit. People • wjio had funds on de- | iigjous beliefs of the educated But in the cities of South | Posjt with such men could pay | ciasses ancj the superstitions and Germany a new group of finan- i their obligations fry drafts, al- j fears Qf non-believers combined • though their "cheats" were, of - ™ «- course, unwieldy in comparison with those we have today. ciers rose swiftly to power Firms like the Fuggers and Weisers established branches n , Spain and bought the whole of ; Assyria, Persia, Lydia and incoming bullion fleets from the ! _ Phoenicia government at a huge discount, j Croesus of Lydia (j70- months before thev arrived. The i ^46 B.C.) fxom whom we get wealth accrued from banking ac- i the expression "rich as Croesus tivities enabled such men to j to give the Temple an atmosphere of greater security than could be attained by any mechanical devise then in existence. It was hot leng before the safeguarding of treasure by the temple priests were put on a purchase huge interests in industrial, trading and mining en* terprises, and to run their affairs on a grand scale, unprecedistinguished himself and took j business basis; regular and suba great step forward, in banking ; stantial charges were made for fn Italy at the time of the . dented in history. Thus did founding of the bank of Venice. America, through her gold, give eir word for joint-stock fund extension to private enterprise, jvas "banck," meaning a "heap" 6r "mound."' "Banca di Venezia" fneant literally "Join-stock Fund Qf Venice." The term, as originally used, therefore, did not imitty all of the functions associated with the word "bank" today, but gradually took on this meaning. (The belief that the term was derived from the counter upon which the moneychangers kept their coins is nowknown to be without foundation.) Beginnings of Modern Banking Italy is the mother of western Ranking as it is practiced today. Before the discovery of America, the Mediterranean was the principal highway for freighted ships. The cities of the Italian peninsula naturally became the "Renters of shipping trade, and jfhe need for banking was great- E there than anywhere else in e world. Venice, Florence and Genoa profited most from the ^revival of commerce during the medieval period. In Florence, 'And to a lesser extent in Venice, ^banking fell largely into the hands of private families; as early as the fourteenth century the Bardi family of Florence had Established agencies as far north 6s England and Germany, and jthe Peruzzi family of the same while she was yet struggling in the earliest stages of colonizaand finance by issuing gold and silver coins, mfhted and guaranteed at their face value by the state. China In about 600 B.C., the Sliansi banks were established in China, and even in those early days this service. Soon the priests were lending their own funds at interest, and thereupon became bankers in a limited sense. make their home. Mrs. Fred Feltz and Miss Alice Simes are assisting in the F. A. feohlander store for the busy season. Miss Mary Fre.und, daughter of the Jacob Freunds, and William Huff of Spring Grove were united in marriage at St. Mary's church last Wednesday. The Jolly Six, Misses Laura Barbian, Clara Miller and Annate Heimer of McHenry and Misses Marian McOmber, Marguerite Friedley and Kathryn Schmidt of Chicago enjoyed a day's outing at Balley-o-Greg on Tuesday. TEN YEARS AGO From Isooe of July 25, 1946 Two well known local men died the past week. They were Paul Schwerman, who passed away at his home on Elm street July 20, and Harry O'Brien of Fox street, who died July 22. STATE FARM 1UT© liSURANCE IN 2 SMALL INSTALLMENTS Not one big yearly bill! There's nothing like a big once-a-year premium to scramble a budget . . . yet it's so unnecessary! With State Farm, you only pay small, easy-fo-meet premiums every six months without extra carrying-charges! Let me tell you more about this and the many other budget-saving features pioneered by State Farm. Call or stop in today. I It pays to know your STATE FARM Agont Bob Conway Phone 285 or 763 312 E. Elm St. McHenry, 111. tion. And private enterprise was ! this banking system performed the economic way of life that {some of the functions of the modern bank. They transferred money from one province to another for a 3 per cent fee. They introduced a system of drafts and discounts, and issued checks and ^certificates of deposit, thus relieving travellers and merchants from carrying heavy bags of silver and gold with them. was eventually to make a part of America, the United States, by far the wealthiest and most powerful of the earth's nations. "Two shekels of silver have been borrowed by Mas-Schamach, the son of Adadrimeni, from the sun - priestess, Amat - Schamach, daughter of Warad-Enlil. He will pay the Sun-God's interest. At the time of harvest he will pay back the sum and interest upon it." Four thousand years ago this earliest known record of a loan | was made, inscribed, and baked j into a clay tablet of Babylon, j Banking in its primal stage be- J gan almost with the dawn of i society among men. Today, bor- j rowing' and lending, and the safeguarding of valuables, are as I basic to a civilized people as I the need to trade with one another, and these functions were common centuries before even the coinage of money took place. (The word "shekels", above, refers not to coins but to a given weight of silver. Shekels as coins did not exist until the seventh century B.C.) We shall see that, through the FIDEL by MAGNAVOX PLAYERS COMBINATIONS PORTABLES CONSOLETTES CONSOLES SPEAKERS Transistor Radios RAD10NIC SALES 306 E. Elm St. McHENRY 1446-J Claire Beauty Shoppe 200 SOUTH GREEN STREET McHENRY, ILL. For 30 years we have pleased our patrpns. Why not call McHenry 10 for an appointment. PERMANENTS - $5.00 UP Including Styled Cut, Shampoo and Hair Set Cold Waves All Work Reasonable AIR CONDITIONED DON'T FORGET WE ARE REGISTERING FOR DOOR PRIZES ON OUR 30TH ANNIVERSARY City had 130 agencies extending : ages, banking has been deeply ifrom London to Constantinople, j WOven into the pattern of man's Banking in Genoa was more i social, cultural and economic denearly a public function. The velopment. Were there no bank- SAVE up to y2 SHOE SALE WOMEN'S CASUALS The V8 Champ packs a 225-hp. sock! Ford offers more power in all models, to give you more of the performance that made the Ford V-8 the world's largest-selling eight . . . performance that set a sizzling new 600-mile mark at the famed Indianapolis Speedway! The 225-h.p. 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