The Influence of Resource Quality on Technological Persistence: Charcoal Iron in Quebec

Technological advances in the steel industry during the nineteenth century led to the dis-placement of charcoal, a vegetable fuel, by coke, a mineral fuel. Aspects of the technology developed to utilize coke, however, were also applicable to charcoal blast furnaces. The province of Quebec was the centre of the Canadian iron-making industry during the nineteenth century, but the technological advances introduced into processes for smelting iron with charcoal were not accepted in that province as they were elsewhere. The author looks to characteristics of the ore used in Quebec and the type of charcoal available locally to explain the persistence of old charcoal technology in Quebec iron smelters. The retention of old technology by Quebec iron-makers was a sensible response to local conditions. Moreover the small Canadian domestic market provided little incentive to adopt large-scale technologies during most of the nineteenth century. The Quebec experience with charcoal iron manufacture illustrates the subtle blend of factors that are involved in the assessment of technological change by potential beneficiaries. Résumé Les progrès techniques survenus dans l'indus-trie de l'acier au cours du XIXe siècle ont mené au remplacement du charbon de bois, com-bustible végétal, par le coke, combustible minéral. Les aspects de la technologie mise au point pour utiliser le coke, cependant, étaient aussi applicables aux fourneaux à charbon de bois. Le Québec était le centre de l'industrie canadienne de la sidérurgie au XIXe siècle mais les progrès techniques introduits dans le processus de fonte du fer par le charbon de bois n'y étaient pas acceptés comme ils l'étaient ailleurs. L'auteur voit dans les caractéristiques du minerai utilisé au Québec et dans le type de charbon de bois disponible localement l'explication de la persistance de la vieille technique au charbon de bois dans les fonderies du Québec. Cette conservation de la vieille technique constituait une réponse raisonnable des maîtres des forges aux conditions locales. En outre, au Canada, pendant la plus grande partie du XIXe siècle, l'étroitesse du marché national n 'incitait guère à adopter des technologies à grande échelle. L'expérience québécoise touchant l'utilisation du charbon de bois pour produire de la fonte illustre la subtile combinaison de facteurs qui intervient dans l'évaluation des changements techniques par leurs éventuels bénéficiaires

Local Control, Resources and the Nova Scotia Steel and Coal Company

Financial market activity indicates that Maritime interests lost control of the Nova Scotia Steel and Coal Company in 1915 and 1916. Production and financial records of the firm suggest that poor profitability contributed to the change of ownership. The firm's weakness is traced to its resource base and the resulting high costs of production. The causation implicit in conventional accounts is reversed: control and ownership changes were a result of, rather than a cause of, production difficulties and weak profitability.L'examen de l'activité boursière indique que les financiers des Maritimes ont perdu le contrôle de la compagnie Nova Scotia Steel and Coal pendant les années 1915 et 1916. Les états de comptes de la compagnie démontrent que les petits profits ont contribué à ce changement de contrôle. L'auteur suggère que la faiblesse économique de la compagnie était le résultat des ressources principales et de l'augmentation des coûts de la production du fer. L'explication traditionnelle est mise en doute : les changements de propriétaires étaient le résultat, et non la cause, des difficultés de production et des petits profits

Atmospheric Pollution and Child Health in Late Nineteenth Century Britain

Atmospheric pollution was an important side effect of coal-fired industrialisation in the nineteenth century. In Britain emissions of black smoke were on the order of fifty times as high as they were a century later. In this paper we examine the effects of these emissions on child development by analysing the heights on enlistment during the First World War of men born in England and Wales in the 1890s. We use the occupational structure to measure the coal intensity of the districts in which these men were observed as children in the 1901 census. We find strong negative effects of coal intensity on height, which amounts to difference of almost an inch between the most and least polluted localities. These results are robust to a variety of specification tests and they are consistent with the notion that the key channel of influence on height was via respiratory infection. The subsequent reduction of emissions from coal combustion is one factor contributing to the improvement in health (and the increase in height) during the twentieth century

Atmospheric Pollution, Health and Height in Late Nineteenth Century Britain

Atmospheric pollution was an important side effect of coal-fired industrialisation in the nineteenth century. In Britain emissions of black smoke were on the order of fifty times as high as they were a century later. In this paper we examine the effects of these emissions on child development by analysing the heights on enlistment during the First World War of men born in England and Wales in the 1890s. We use the occupational structure to measure the coal intensity of the districts in which these men were observed as children in the 1901 census. We find strong negative effects of coal intensity on height, which amounts to difference of almost an inch between the most and least polluted localities. These results are robust to a variety of specification tests and they are consistent with the notion that the key channel of influence on height was via respiratory infection. The subsequent reduction of emissions from coal combustion is one factor contributing to the improvement in health (and the increase in height) during the twentieth century

The seeds of divergence: the economy of French North America, 1688 to 1760

Generally, Canada has been ignored in the literature on the colonial origins of divergence with most of the attention going to the United States. Late nineteenth century estimates of income per capita show that Canada was relatively poorer than the United States and that within Canada, the French and Catholic population of Quebec was considerably poorer. Was this gap long standing? Some evidence has been advanced for earlier periods, but it is quite limited and not well-suited for comparison with other societies. This thesis aims to contribute both to Canadian economic history and to comparative work on inequality across nations during the early modern period. With the use of novel prices and wages from Quebec—which was then the largest settlement in Canada and under French rule—a price index, a series of real wages and a measurement of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) are constructed. They are used to shed light both on the course of economic development until the French were defeated by the British in 1760 and on standards of living in that colony relative to the mother country, France, as well as the American colonies. The work is divided into three components. The first component relates to the construction of a price index. The absence of such an index has been a thorn in the side of Canadian historians as it has limited the ability of historians to obtain real values of wages, output and living standards. This index shows that prices did not follow any trend and remained at a stable level. However, there were episodes of wide swings—mostly due to wars and the monetary experiment of playing card money. The creation of this index lays the foundation of the next component. The second component constructs a standardized real wage series in the form of welfare ratios (a consumption basket divided by nominal wage rate multiplied by length of work year) to compare Canada with France, England and Colonial America. Two measures are derived. The first relies on a “bare bones” definition of consumption with a large share of land-intensive goods. This measure indicates that Canada was poorer than England and Colonial America and not appreciably richer than France. However, this measure overestimates the relative position of Canada to the Old World because of the strong presence of land-intensive goods. A second measure is created using a “respectable” definition of consumption in which the basket includes a larger share of manufactured goods and capital-intensive goods. This second basket better reflects differences in living standards since the abundance of land in Canada (and Colonial America) made it easy to achieve bare subsistence, but the scarcity of capital and skilled labor made the consumption of luxuries and manufactured goods (clothing, lighting, imported goods) highly expensive. With this measure, the advantage of New France over France evaporates and turns slightly negative. In comparison with Britain and Colonial America, the gap widens appreciably. This element is the most important for future research. By showing a reversal because of a shift to a different type of basket, it shows that Old World and New World comparisons are very sensitive to how we measure the cost of living. Furthermore, there are no sustained improvements in living standards over the period regardless of the measure used. Gaps in living standards observed later in the nineteenth century existed as far back as the seventeenth century. In a wider American perspective that includes the Spanish colonies, Canada fares better. The third component computes a new series for Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This is to avoid problems associated with using real wages in the form of welfare ratios which assume a constant labor supply. This assumption is hard to defend in the case of Colonial Canada as there were many signs of increasing industriousness during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The GDP series suggest no long-run trend in living standards (from 1688 to circa 1765). The long peace era of 1713 to 1740 was marked by modest economic growth which offset a steady decline that had started in 1688, but by 1760 (as a result of constant warfare) living standards had sunk below their 1688 levels. These developments are accompanied by observations that suggest that other indicators of living standard declined. The flat-lining of incomes is accompanied by substantial increases in the amount of time worked, rising mortality and rising infant mortality. In addition, comparisons of incomes with the American colonies confirm the results obtained with wages— Canada was considerably poorer. At the end, a long conclusion is provides an exploratory discussion of why Canada would have diverged early on. In structural terms, it is argued that the French colony was plagued by the problem of a small population which prohibited the existence of scale effects. In combination with the fact that it was dispersed throughout the territory, the small population of New France limited the scope for specialization and economies of scale. However, this problem was in part created, and in part aggravated, by institutional factors like seigneurial tenure. The colonial origins of French America’s divergence from the rest of North America are thus partly institutional

Health, Height and the Household at the Turn of the 20th Century

This article examines the health and height of men born in England and Wales in the 1890s who enlisted in the army at the time of the First World War, using a sample of recruits from the army service records. These are linked to their childhood circumstances as observed in the 1901 census. Econometric results indicate that height on enlistment was positively related to socio-economic class, and negatively to the number of children in the household in 1901 and the proportion of household members who were earners, as well as to the degree of crowding. Adding the characteristics of the locality has little effect on the household-level effects. However local conditions were important; in particular the industrial character of the district, local housing conditions, and the female illiteracy rate. These are interpreted as representing the negative effect on height of the local disease environment. The results suggest that changing conditions at both household and locality levels contributed to the increase in height and health in the following decades