The elegant and dashing Otto Kahn, a noted investment banker (Kuhn, Loeb and Company) and controlling stockholder in the Metropolitan Opera Company, was strolling along Fifth Avenue with the humorist Marshall Wilder, who was a hunchback. Kahn pointed out the church to which he belonged and asked, “Marshall, did you know that I was once a Jew?” “Yes, Otto,” Wilder relied, “and once I was a hunchback.” -Charles Silberman
“Between 1305 and the early 1800’s. the House of Taxis ran a form of pony express service all over Europe…. Its couriers clad in blue and silver uniforms, crisscrossed the continent carrying messages between princes and generals, merchants and money lenders.” –Alvin Toffler, The Third Wave We may think we are the first generation consumed by rapid communication but we are not. Throughout our history it has been a priority. Of course, now in the 21 st century we must ask: are we better or worse for it?
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