Baghdad

"The caliphs and viziers turned increasingly to these prosperous infidels when they needed funds for some private use which the Sublime Porte at Constantinople might not always have approved. It finally became practical to appoint the lay leader of the Jewish community as Sarraf Bashi or Chief Banker, who would also be responsible for collecting taxes from his co-religionists. Known as 'Nasi' (Prince of the Captivity), he was usually the wealthiest and most respected Jew in Baghdad. It was a satisfactory arrangement all round. The ruler had a shrewd adviser whom he would flatter with ceremonial honours and greet as 'brother', while the Jews had a friend at Court to air their communal grievances or protest when some venal official grew too rapacious."

"More often he devoted his early evenings to talmudic study, receiving visitors and writing letters. Pleas for business advice, dowries, spiritual guidance and endowments came from the Gulf, the Holy Land, China, Japan and even beyond. A small community in New South Wales - one time refugees from Baghdad - might need prayer-books; the congregation in Tientsin required funds to open a new school; and from a dozen rabbis came desperate appeals for Sassoon, descendant of Princes of the Exilarch, to defend his brethren against some local oppressor. He weighed evidence, sifted genuine penury from professional begging letters, and poured out advice, together with his many lakhs of rupees. Every letter was answered in his own firm hand. Visitors who came from afar were given food hampers and clothing for their homeward journey, apart from the inevitable donations. Many stayed. From Baghdad, Aleppo and Damascus he brought over and resettled entire families. Most had to be fed, housed and given medical care. In his last years, no Jewish beggar would ever be seen in the streets of Bombay."

"A waiting game now opened. It demanded a sense of timing as well as tactical subtlety. The rival Sassoon firms would continue to watch each other, both vigilant for any sign that Tata would either crash or survive. Judging from the first two or three years at the Empress Mills, Sir Albert was being proved right. The stocky Parsee had made the beginner's error of buying inferior looms. His cloth was poor in quality, with production figures even lower than those of his Bombay competitors. His Company stock slumped to half its issue value, and several shareholders started to panic. He hurried back to Lancashire and sank most of his remaining cash in better and more up-to-date plant, scrapping the old machinery. Within a very short time, his bales became saleable and output shot up. He could soon pay stockholders a 16 per cent dividend, but continued to plough every spare rupee back into the business. E. D. Sassoon & Co. had now learned enough. They quickly bought land for factory sites and began looking around for any badly-run mills which might be taken over at cost or even below and put on a paying basis. Their branches had long handled Lancashire piece-goods and would find it comparatively simple to distribute cloth manufactured in Bombay. Tata lacked capital and was buried in the interior, while they had superior shipping facilities as well as warehouses ideally sited on Bombay's splendid harbour and docks. Moreover, immigrant Jews from Baghdad would make a reliable home-based labour force, far less prone to absenteeism than the migrants of Nagpur."