1601-1/1

THE STATE AND RAILWAY IN THE STATE AND A PRIVATE RAILWAY IN PRUSSIA

Tetsuo Yamada

Atomigakuen Women’s University

This paper will make clear how and in what extent the railway policy of the Prussian government exercised its influence on private railways in Rhine-Westphalia. The Berg-Mark Railway with some local lines, founded by bankers and manufacturers in Wuppertal, expanded its network of lines to be one of the greatest railways in Germany within a half century. It was so closely linked with the State that the Minister of Commerce, August v. d. Heydt, initiating the policy of railway nationalization, had been a main member of the board of directors. In 1850 when the Berg-Mark Railway could not raise the capital to build a new line, the State made a financial support with a conditional contract that the former should hand its administration over to the latter. Though this measure robbed private shareholders of control over the running of the company, they were rather willing to accept it, because they were of opinion that skillful managers and engineers were merely obtainable under the name of officials.

This type of railway enterprise, owned by shareholders and managed by the State, might be, in a sense, a suitable form in Germany. The State intervention was made, in some extent, by military needs to facilitate the defense of the West but also in view of the economic significance of the Ruhr with coalfields and the Western industries. Both the State and the Western had the common interest that their economic activities were hampered by economic-geographic standing-points of the Rhine-Westphalia, which was in closer touch with Holland and Belgium than Berlin.

1602-1/2

THE CHARACTER OF FUND RAISING IN THE SUMITOMO ZAIBATSU

Shoichi Asajima

Senshu University

The historical side of the Sumitomo Zaibatsu has yet to be studied deeper. The writer has attempted to get the whole perspective of the Group, based on his 5 previous theses.

The object of this study is to analyse the fund raising mechanism of the Group, in the 1921-1943 period. This is because the analysis of the flow of funds inside the Group is a short cut to grasping the Structure of the Zaibatsu.

In this study, the writer utilized documentary materials from the Honsha (the holding company of the Group named Sumitomo Goshi-kaisha) and annual reports from its member companies, some notable results of the analysis follow;

(1) Within the Sumitomo Zaibatsu the Honsha functioned as the financial control organ for the companies of the Group. Whenever the Honsha was short of funds, the necessary amounts were furnished to it by the Sumitomo Bank. There were no example of fund raising from outside the Group. Even when an enterprise directly managed by the Honsha became an independent affiliated company, the financial control by the Honsha over the company was strictly maintained.

(2) In substance the fund raising of the Group depended largely on its own accumulated capital and comparatively on little on bank loans.

Thus, the Sumitomo Bank had rather little business within the Group both in loans and in deposits. This is partly because the Group had not such giant enterprises as Mitsui & Co., Ltd. or Mitsui Mining Co., Ltd. of the Mitsui Zaibatsu.

(3) During World War II, however, the scale of manufacturing companies of the Group expanded rapidly and they were forced to raise necessary funds outside the Group also. As a result the fund raising function of the Honsha weakened. In turn, the role of the Sumitomo Bank increased and the share of funds from outside the Group became more important.

1602-2/2

THE ACCEPTANCE CONDITION OF MASS PRODUCTION SYSTEM—IN COMPARISON WITH ANGLO-AMERICAN MACHINE TOOL INDUSTRY

Kinsaburo Sunaga

Kokugakuin University

Mass production system is the predominant production method of the present age. The Core of mass production system is the interchangeable parts system. The interchangeable parts system made by the specialized machines have been known as American System of Manufactures since the latter half of the 19th century. In my paper, I inquiry into the trace of development of American System, comparing with Anglo-American machine tool industry. ‘The main points are as follows. First, I follow the trace of the development of the interchangeable parts system in U.S.A. Second, with making clear the reason why that system had diffused in many durable consumer-goods industries during the 19th century, I investigate the peculiarity in transfer of technology in U.S.A. Third, I make clear the British response to American System. In Britain, the systematic production method of machine-initiative type was not introduced during the 19th century, although American-made machine was introduced. And I pursue the reason why the interchangeable parts system did not develop in U.K. that was the most industrialized country in the 19th century. Last, I make clear the acceptance condition. The Important factors are the simultaneous growth of several industries, market factor, propensity of manufactures, labor practice, etc.

1603-1/3

JAPAN PAPER ASSOCIATION BEFORE WORLD WAR I

Toshiyuki Shinomiya

Hirosaki University

Japan Paper Association was established in 1880, as a trade association by the Japanese paper-manufacturing companies, for the purpose of controlling price. However, in a short time, it found the price cartel difficult to maintain in the period, and transformed the purpose to promote friendship among members.

But with the tariff reforms in 1899, 1906, and 1910, the Japanese paper-manufacturing industry fell into a difficult situation owing to the tax reduction of imported paper. So the association strived to reinforce its organization and operations by degrees. As a result, it laid a foundation that was able to manage cartels for the limitation of output after World War I.

The object of this article is to trace the development of Japan Paper Association and analyze its organization and operations before World War I.

1603-2/3

DIDN’T LATE VICTORIAN BRITAIN FAIL: CHOICE OF STEEL-MAKING PROCESSES IN THE BOLCKOW VAUGHAN & CO., LTD.

Etsuo Abe

Meiji University

Admittedly, there are two sharply contrasted views on the late Victorian entrepreneurial performance at the present time. One traditional opinion, for instance, maintained by D. L. Burn (1939) is that the British entrepreneurs performed badly from the 1870’s and if they had done better, the decline of the British steel industry compared with the German and American steel industry could have been avoided.

Another opinion, recently asserted by D. N. McCloskey (1973) is that the relative decline was inevitable and from whatever perspective they are viewed, the British steel makers did well and their behavior was rational. According to him, the relative decline, i.e., slowing down of British steel production growth, was merely caused by maturity of the British economy.

By taking a biggest iron and steel company in Britain over that period, that is, the Bolckow Vaughan & Co., this study tries to give an important example to this controversy.

Bolckow Vaughan’s were formed as a partnership in 1839 at Middlesbrough in the North-East of England and in 1865 they were transformed into a limited company. Throughout the late Victorian and Edwardian age they were a largest pig-iron producer. As a steelmaking company, they had four steel-making processes’ acid converter, basic converter, acid open-hearth furnace, and basic open-hearth furnace. Although they were willing to adopt acid converter and basic converter processes in the I870’s and early 1880’s respectively, they did not show a prompt response to basic open-hearth furnace process in the late 1880’s and for the next 20 years. The basic open-hearth furnace process, from the technical point of view, became the most important steel-making process from that time on. Consequently, they lagged in adoption of basic open-hearth for the reason that they were not innovative in research and development of technology by contemporary standards. Primary sources such as Directors Minutes, Annual Reports and so on of the company bear out the above conclusion. In spite of the fact that this is only one case, considering the influential position of Bolckow Vaughan’s, this study throws doubt on the view of, so to speak, “rational school” regarding the British entrepreneurial performance during the late Victorian and Edwardian Age.

1603-3/3

THE CONSTITUTION OF GOODS OF AN IRON WORKS IN THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION IN ENGLAND

Tatsuko Takeuchi

Aichi Prefectural University

A principal problem in the management of an industrial enterprise is the judgement in the combination between possible technologies and goods. In iron industry, the amount of pig iron produced in Britain in the industrial revolution was almost doubled in decade, and more than half of the goods were castings for various uses.

In the present paper, the goods of Newton Chambers, iron works specialized to foundry, were analyzed based upon Day Books between 1793-1833 at an interval of ten years. The goods were classified into seven groups: (1) goods sold to merchants, mainly domestic uses, (2) tools and machine components, (3) rails and wheels for mines, (4) pig iron, (5) ballasts, (6) water pipes, and (7) gas pipes and components of gas works plants. The company did not produce guns and components of steam engines. The constitution of goods and its variation over the period revealed the trace of the activity of entrepreneur.

The goods which characterize Newton Chambers were cast-iron pipes. Their high quality and low price stimulated new social needs. The great demands for iron pipes had started from 1807 in Londonｷfor water works and for gas light companies after 1814. The percentage of pipes in the annual sale in 1813 was 20%, in 1823 30%, and 1833 49%. Newton Chambers could survive in serious depress-ions after Napoleonic War by the great demands for iron pipes.

It is concluded that the success of Newton Chambers is the judgement of adoption and improvement of the production technology for mass production of standardized castings, which combined successfully with the newly developed public works for the improvement of city environments.

1604-1/1

BUSINESS ACTIVITIES OF SOGO SHOSHA. IN THE UNITED STATES BEFORE WORLD WAR II- THE CASE OF MITSUBISHI SHOJI KAISHA, THE SAN FRANCISCO AND SEATTLE BRANCHES

Nobuo Kawabe

Recently Japanese sogo shosha has begun attracting the interest of scholars. Sogo Shosha is a very unique economic organization which has developed fully only in Japan.. It handles wide variety of product lines, operate all over the world, and performs various kinds of functions.

So far a lot of studies of sogo shosha has been done, and they have stressed the importance of its overseas operations. In spite of the importance of its worldwide operations based upon branch activities, there is no systematic study of activities of foreign branches. There appear several questions, related with activities of overseas branches of sogo shosha. Why and how does headquarters open a particular branch? What is the relationship between the opening of overseas branches and the other strategies of sogo shosha including diversification of product lines and integration of functions? How are they controlled? What kinds of managerial problems does they have, and how are these’ problems solved? These questions have remained unanswered.

This study aims to answer these questions on sogo shosha’s overseas operations, as well as its development as a whole. For this objective this study traced the development and activities of the San Francisco and Seattle Branches of Mitsubishi Shoji Kaisha in the period between 1918 when the Seattle branch opened and the outbreak of World War II, which ended the operations of both branches, using the company’s original records, which were confiscated by the United States government just after Pearl Harbor.