Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded.
—Luke 17:28
3384 Largest Corporations
Around the world, there are 137 business corporations with sales exceeding $2,500,000,000. Of these, 82 are U. S., 40 Europeans, 11 Japanese, and 2 Canadians. Exxon is the largest corporation.
The first company in the United States to surpass one billion dollars in annual sales was the U. S. Steel Corporation in 1917.
3385 The Coca-Cola
The world’s most popular and best-selling drink, Coca-Cola, is produced at hundreds of plants worldwide at the rate of 165 million bottles a day.
The coke syrup, however, is made in only one place: Atlanta, Georgia. The formula is not registered with the patent office because the owners didn’t want anyone to know about it. That formula has been kept secret for the last 90 years.
3386 Largest Shop
The Ford Parts Redistribution Center in Michigan is the world’s largest building. It has a floor area of 70 acres. It opened in 1971 and employs 1,400 people.
The building with the largest cubic capacity is the Boeing Company’s main assembly plant in Washington State. Its enclosed capacity is 200 million cubic feet. Inside this gigantic plant, Boeing 747s are manufactured.
3387 John Ruskin’s Prideful Discovery
John Ruskin noted with pride that he was the first traveller in Venice to discover a famous inscription on one of its stones. Near the Rialto Bridge stands one of the oldest churches in Venice. On its northern gable facing the bridge which was the commercial centre of the city, there are carved the following words: Hoc circa templum sit jus mercantibus aquum, pondera nec vergant, nec sit conventio prava (“Around this temple let the merchants’ law be just, let not their weights be false, nor their covenants unfaithful.”).
The inspiration for this was also found in the simple cross set into the wall above it, inscribed with this prayer: “May Thy Cross, O Christ, be the true safety of this place.” This honesty and equity in business were the characteristics of Venetian merchants.
—James Burner
3388 Tablecloth Was On Approval
A. L. Bell, head of the linen department at Marshall Field and Company in the early days, imported an expensive tablecloth from Italy. When he told Marshall Field he was asking eight hundred dollars for it, the head of the store declared the price was too high. “You’ll never sell it,” he said gloomingly.
A week later Field sent for Bell. “I was wrong,” he said. “Your judgment was better than mine. I dined on that tablecloth at a friend’s house last night.”
The blushing Bell replied, “Sorry, Mr. Field, she took it on approval yesterday morning and returned it today.”
See also: Buying and Selling ; Rev. 18:11, 13, 23.