STS 3700 Lecture * - Technology and the Industrial Revolution V Colonialism and Nationalism

STS 3700 – Lecture * - Technology and the Industrial Revolution V – Colonialism and Nationalism

- Indian and Canadian railways, both former colonies, make good comparative cases with the US - UK and US, key differences in materials, power, infrastructure and business - Railways early examples of large, “modern” corporation - Traditional economies outside of the Western world did not pass through a industrial revolution (with the exception of Japan), why was this? - Technological diffusion, the transfer of technology from one society to another - Colonialism and technological advantage: conquer, control and exploit - Headrick, technological changes, not political, led to colonialism and imperialism - Technologies that gave Europeans advantage (technological determinism?): o Application of steam and iron to boats o Improvement in weapons (e.g. machine guns) o Quinine to combat malaria o Steam ships, railways and telegraphs (for control of colonies) - Colonies: raw materials, increased production, lower costs o Economies were not diversified o Per capita incomes were not raised - Nationalism and capitalism, indigenous industries (aniline dyes) - Technology transfer: geographic relocation and cultural diffusion - Railways modernization, progress and economic development - Railways: lower costs, greater speed, and greater productivity (capacity) - Expectations and planning - Railways network of technologies and institutions: o High fixed costs, long development times, large capital investments o Banks and capital markets o Governments to exert right of eminent domain o Technical education for engineers and workers o Equipment and fuel at the industrial level - India, railways and industrialization - Goods transport, passengers - Military and commercial advantages to rail - Government guarantee and supervision, private railroads - High cost of Indian railways: wide rivers and steep mountains, double width bridges, wider, heavier rails and “technical overbuilding” - Government rail expansion, addition of cheaper narrower gauge rails o “Of course the new lines, being narrower, had a lower carrying capacity than the standard 1.676-meter gauge. Despite their lower initial cost, the state lines lost money because the companies had already taken up the most profitable routes between the major cities, while the government’s lines into frontier areas or into regions of frequent famines had a social or strategic, rather than a commercial purpose.” 72 - Privatization - private and state lines: state late entry, social goals, carrying capacity, private sector performance - Two gauge system: goods transfer, inefficiencies, technical duplication - Coordination costs and standardization, inefficient technology - American railways and standardization, cost, speed, Indian bridges - Political costs of technical decisions o Guaranteed profits, government capital expenditure control, long range planning, innovation, competition, improvement - 99 percent of Indian railway capital British, profits and control - Creation and maintenance of steam engines, local industry, standardization (maintenance, stock, costs), competition,

Training and Skills in Comparable Industries - Engineering, job restrictions, foreign competition - Indian cotton industry, machinery and people - Iron and shipbuilding, steel, training, local education - Physical capital rather that human capital, innovation, entrepreneurship and diversification, growth not development

Canadian Railways - “Technological revolution” late 19th and early 20th century: standard gauges and steel rails, third and fourth pair of driving wheels, increase in freight car capacity (10 to 30 tons), strengthening of rails, roadbed and bridges - More freight, increased range, decreased cost, reduced handling, specific shipping - Railways in Canada: From 900 to 20,000 miles of track between 1856 and 1905, from 1875-1885 total hauled mileage increased by 33% and 300% more freight was carried, no increase in transportation cost - Technological progress and competition: duplication of rail lines, demand for the latest technologies, local areas and external competition, new opportunities and larger markets - Conservative bond market, interest and profits, high capital costs and partnerships - Continuity, customers, foreign competition, rate concessions - This is a technology specific restriction, as rail is capital intensive - Rate concessions: lower rates and competitive markets, 2/3 of the operating costs for shipment did not vary by freight - Revenue per ton mile, distributed reductions - How did rail companies know where to set rate concessions? o Costs complex, "instinct, precedent and experience", “They liked to say that their skill lay not in fixing rates but in understanding how competitive forces set the rates for them” o “speculative questions”: freight type, activity, competition, critics o Local knowledge, familiar options, “railway rates were the result of a decision-making process that could be criticized for favouring established, influential merchants, manufacturers, sectors and communities.”: o Crowe’s Nest Pass: 1893 depression, capital, American competition, mountain pass subsidy, rate adjustment Monopoly and Competition - Railways as “natural monopolies” o A natural monopoly occurs in industries like railways where fixed costs make up a large proportion of total costs. Fixed costs can be minimized through economies of scale, so natural monopolies tend to be big. o Technology and economies of scale, water, electricity, gas - The Canadian railways do not fit all of these criteria: o Competitive and monopoly components o Competition from other forms of technology