Local Government Regulation

Essay title: In what ways and to what effect did local government intervene to ameliorate the adverse effects of industrialisation on the populations of towns and cities?

Towns and Cities in the nineteenth century grew extremely quickly as vast numbers of people congregated in urban environment’s which were created as a response to rapid industrialisation, this developed problems such as poor public health. The problems that became apparent had to be dealt with and this gave rise to local governments being set up to deal with these adverse effects. The effectiveness of the local government organisations can be demonstrated through looking at different towns and cities across Europe during this time of rapid industrialisation. I. Maver argues that the Glasgow Corporation was kept in prime efficiency by an array of experts who were the best in their fields; this suggests that the local government in Glasgow was working effectively to ameliorate the adverse effects of industrialisation.Whereas, A. Lees argues that the local governing elite in Hamburg effectively neglected the city’s population to focus on improving trade and commerce within the city. The main cities that will be used to demonstrate the contrasts in the effectiveness of local government’s attempts to address the adverse effects of industrialisation are: Glasgow which was largely effective in governing the population, Hamburg where the population was largely neglected by the local governing elites, Munich which can be used as a classic example of a well managed city and finally, Manchester whereby the local government tried to deal with the effects of industrialisation but ultimately failed. Despite all these cities playing a role as examples of the effectiveness of local government’s attempts to ameliorate the adverse effects of industrialisation, it will become clear that each city or town must be taken as an individual case and the effectiveness of the local government in dealing with the problems associated with industrialisation varied in different towns and cities in the nineteenth century.

Glasgow is an example of a city that responded reasonably well to the adverse effects of industrialisation on the population. For example, H. Fraser argues that in Glasgow in the 1860s and 1870s local government felt that it was essential that the populace was encouraged to wash to eradicate the contamination of the slums. In addition, the council in Glasgow made much of the fact that per capita the consumption of water was twice that of any English city. Therefore, this demonstrates the fact that the local governing body of Glasgow was essentially focused on improving conditions within the city and ensuring that the inhabitants of the city kept the highest possible standards of cleanliness to prevent the spread of disease. Furthermore, the officials employed by the Glasgow Corporation to run the gas and water supplies were far more advanced, in terms of ambition and commitment, than their private sector rivals. This is further evidence to show that the local government employed within Glasgow to deal with the adverse effects of industrialisation, were both effective and also had the public’s interests at the centre of their ambitions to improve the conditions with which the population had to deal with due to industrialisation. I. Maver claims that the larger departments within the Glasgow Corporation assumed the character of individual enterprises with no overall control. This demonstrates that despite Glasgow seemingly managing the problems of industrialisation well during this period the central part of local government found it hard to keep control over the development of different sectors such as the development of the tramways. This can be seen to lessen the effectiveness of the control that the local government was able to place upon the city during this period. However, the local government structure that was implemented in response to the problems created by industrialisation in Glasgow was effective in fighting against the adverse effects of the urban sprawl created by industrialisation.

However, Hamburg is a prime example of a city whereby the local governing body neglected the population of the city in favour of healthy commerce and trade. In 1892, there was an epidemic of cholera in which 9,000 people died. This was due to the fact that governing elites had disputed over who was to pay for a filtration system to improve the city’s water supplies. Therefore, this shows that the local government had effectively failed to intervene and ameliorate the detrimental effects of industrialisation as they had been more focused on the welfare of the city’s bank balance than the health of the population in Hamburg. This is in contrast to Glasgow where the governing authority tried to the best of their abilities to provide sufficient solutions to the problems arising from the development of the urban landscape, and is also evidence to suggest that local government’s varied in their effectiveness in dealing with the consequences of the rapid industrialisation in the nineteenth century. Furthermore, A. Lees argues that the spread of Cholera in Hamburg can be owed to politics rather than the actual bacteria. This indicates that the hierarchy within the governing body of Hamburg clearly wanted to concern themselves more with improving commerce instead of dealing with the issues that actually needed to be dealt with. This once again proves that the local government within Hamburg was unprepared to tackle the problems that faced the population in Hamburg that had been brought about by the rapid industrialisation during the nineteenth century. Therefore, this is further evidence to suggest that the effectiveness of local government varied across different towns and cities as in some cases the local government structure intervened efficiently to ameliorate the adverse effects of industrialisation, however, as we have seen with the case of Hamburg, the leadership established in the city declined to deal with the consequences of rapid industrialisation upon the population of the city.

The positive effect of local governance can be illustrated through the example of Munich as public health in Munich was far superior to many towns and cities across Europe. H Meller argues that Munich enjoyed stable, efficient and far-sighted governance throughout the nineteenth century; this allowed the local government to exert effective controls upon the city to try and limit the adverse effects of rapid industrialisation. A number of public health advances were implemented to improve the conditions and to sustain the traditional life style. For example, Max Joseph von Pettenkoffer, who was a pioneering chemist and hygienist, set up the first hygienic institute in Germany in 1879. He was a great exponent of fresh air, pure water and adequate sewage disposal. Through Max Joseph von Pettenkoffer’s efforts Munich became one the healthiest cities in Europe by the last quarter of the nineteenth century, according to H. E. Meller. Therefore, the local government within Munich took great care in trying to create the best conditions for the population of the city and shows that if local government focused on improving the conditions for people in towns and cities that local government could be successful in dealing with the problems that were created by rapid industrialisation. Moreover, the Munich city council tried to encourage the people to be clean and invested in a large number of bath houses. This is further evidence to demonstrate that the Munich city council was trying to the best of their abilities reduce the harsh realities of day to day life in the growing urban area of Munich that resulted due to the urbanisation of the area in the nineteenth century. However, the case of Munich emphasises the extent to which some local governing bodies were able to deal with the problems of industrialisation upon the populations of towns and cities effectively. The example of Munich also highlights the sheer lack of willingness of the local government within Hamburg to try and ameliorate some of the worst effects of industrialisation in towns and cities. Therefore, this strengthens the case that we must deal with the effectiveness of different local government’s ability to deal with the consequences of industrialisation on a case by case basis.

Manchester is an example of a city whereby the local government tried to deal with the problems of industrialisation but ultimately failed in its attempts to ameliorate the adverse effects of industrialisation on the population of the city. The major problem that Manchester faced was the problem of smoke pollution and S. Mosley claims that Manchester’s image as one of the most smoke-polluted cities in Britain by the 1880s was assured. The council within Manchester decided to set up public parks, any available open spaces were planted with trees and these open spaces were ‘envisioned as health-giving lungs of the city’ and the council believed that these open spaces of greenery would provide the population with areas to breathe purer air. Therefore, the local government within Manchester was quite clearly trying to deal with the problem of smoke pollution by creating public parks for the people to use; however, such was the extent of the smoke pollution these measures taken by local government ultimately failed. This is can be seen through the high number of the population in Manchester, which died from respiratory diseases which were caused by the smoke pollution. For example, in the whole of England and Wales the years 1868-1873, 3.54 deaths per 1000 were caused by respiratory diseases, however, in Manchester 7.7 deaths per 1000 were caused by respiratory diseases. This is quite clear evidence to show that the local government’s attempts to combat the effects of smoke pollution and the adverse effects of industrialisation had failed quite dramatically, despite the best intentions of the local government within Manchester. S. Mosley argues that Manchester’s smoke problem was not resolved before the First World War and wasn’t dealt with until the 1950s when smokeless zones were developed. Therefore, this illustrates that Manchester’s local government structure tried to deal with the smoke problem that came about due to the rapid industrialisation and the effects that this had on the urban population, however, ultimately failed. In addition, Manchester can be used as a further example to show the broad spectrum of effectiveness that local government was able to deal with the problems created for the population of towns and cities during this process of industrialisation in the nineteenth century.

In conclusion, the effectiveness of local government’s intervention to ameliorate the adverse effects of industrialisation can be seen to be both efficient and inefficient at dealing with problems with which they faced during this period, Munich dealt with the consequences of industrialisation impressively, while Hamburg in contrast neglected to take any responsibility for the city’s population. Glasgow was largely effective in dealing with the consequences of rapid industrialisation as the officials employed by the Glasgow Corporation were effective in running the supply of utilities within the city. Therefore, this shows that the local government structure set up in response to the problems of rapid industrialisation in Glasgow was effective as it did not lead to the terrible conditions which affected the population of Hamburg. This once again shows that when discussing whether local government was efficient in dealing with the consequences of industrialisation in towns and cities we must take into account the experiences of different towns and cities. Moreover, Munich is also an example of a city that proved competent in dealing with the problems created as they encouraged the population to keep the highest standards of cleanliness. This is in sharp contrast to the local government in Hamburg where the council neglected the city’s population and fundamentally caused the death of many people through refusing to provide sufficient sanitation facilities in the country. This demonstrates that we must take into account the effectiveness with which different towns and cities dealt with the problems of industrialisation as some cities were far more effective than others. Manchester despite the city council’s best efforts, which included providing as much open spaces for the people to breathe clean air as possible, ultimately failed to deal with the problem of smoke pollution within the city and this had a significant impact on the health of the city’s population. This is in contrast to Glasgow where the council was largely effective in providing for the needs of the city’s population. Therefore, local government can be seen to be effective in dealing with the problems of industrialisation, but can also be seen to be ineffective and this is precisely why we must take into account the contrasting ways in which local governments dealt with the problems of industrialisation on the populations of towns and cities.

Bibliography
Fraser, H. The Victorian City: 1820-1914, Edited by R. J. Morris and R. Rodger (London, 1993)
Lees, A. And Lees, L.H. Cities and the Making of Modern Europe: 1715-1914, (Cambridge, 2007)
Maver, I. Urban Governance: Britain and beyond since 1750, Edited by R. J. Morris and R. H. Trainor, (Aldershot, 2007)
Meller, H. European Cities 1890-1930s: History, Culture and the Built Environment, (London, 2001)
Mosley, S. The Chimney of the World: A History of Smoke Pollution in Victorian and Edwardian Manchester, (Cambridge, 2001)

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[ 1 ]. I. Maver, Urban Governance: Britain and Beyond since 1750, R. J. Morris and R. H. Trainor (eds.), (Aldershot, 2000), p73
[ 2 ]. A. Lees and L. H. Lees, Cities and the making of Modern Europe: 1750-1914, (Cambridge, 2007), p145
[ 3 ]. H. Fraser, The Victorian City: 1820-1914, R. J. Morris and R. Rodger (eds.), (London, 1993), p262
[ 4 ]. Ibid
[ 5 ]. I. Maver, Urban Governance, R. J. Morris and R. H. Trainor (eds.), p73
[ 6 ]. Ibid
[ 7 ]. A. Lees and L. H. Lees, Cities and the making of Modern Europe, p145
[ 8 ]. Ibid
[ 9 ]. Ibid
[ 10 ]. H. Meller, European Cities 1890-1930s: History, Culture and the Built Environment, (London, 2001), p36
[ 11 ]. Ibid, p37
[ 12 ]. Ibid
[ 13 ]. Ibid
[ 14 ]. S. Mosley, The Chimney of the World: A History of Smoke Pollution in Victorian and Edwardian Manchester, (Cambridge, 2001), p15
[ 15 ]. Ibid, p37
[ 16 ]. Ibid, p61
[ 17 ]. Ibid, p82

Bibliography: Fraser, H. The Victorian City: 1820-1914, Edited by R. J. Morris and R. Rodger (London, 1993) Lees, A Maver, I. Urban Governance: Britain and beyond since 1750, Edited by R. J. Morris and R. H. Trainor, (Aldershot, 2007) Meller, H Mosley, S. The Chimney of the World: A History of Smoke Pollution in Victorian and Edwardian Manchester, (Cambridge, 2001) -------------------------------------------- [ 1 ]. I. Maver, Urban Governance: Britain and Beyond since 1750, R. J. Morris and R. H. Trainor (eds.), (Aldershot, 2000), p73 [ 2 ] [ 3 ]. H. Fraser, The Victorian City: 1820-1914, R. J. Morris and R. Rodger (eds.), (London, 1993), p262 [ 4 ]