Actual Conditions of the British Iron Industry at the End of the 1860's

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  • 一八六〇年代末イギリス製鉄業の実態
  • 1860年代末イギリス製鉄業の実態
  • 1860ネンダイマツ イギリス セイテツギョウ ノ ジッタイ

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In Great Britain, the extent of monopoly in the steel industry was not so remarkable as it was in the United States or in Germany. This situation seems to be the result of the character of wrought-iron production in Great Britain. It is generally recognized that the distinctive feature of wrought-iron production shortly before the Great Depression was the dominance of small unit of production. However, few quantitaitve studies which contemplated on the structure of production have been made even in Britain. At the end of the 1860's, the typical organization of the iron industry was that one enterprise operated one workshop. Small enterprises were mostly engaged in a part of different processes. These of middle size were reducing the number of working furnaces, mills, and forges. Despite the dominance of small enterprises, there were some large-scale enterprises which generally operated several workshops successfully. The declining position of the medium-sized enterprise was especially noticiable e. g., in South Staffordshire. The above tendency was a result of the export boom of the late 1860's, which greatly increased the demand for iron and the availability of funds. It was possible for individual firms to integrate or separate by incidental motives, since even marginal firms were permitted to survive during the boom period. Several examples will be given in this paper. Prof. G. C. Allen mentioned that the movement toward integration in South Staffordshire had been accelerated in the 1850's. His argument, however, is not proven, and quantitaive evtdnce shows the opposite trend. Therefore, his argument should be revised. The major statistical sources of this paper are in the Report of the Royal Commission on Coal in the United Kingdom, 1871.

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