This article examines the relationship between Britain's central administration and voluntary associations for children's allowance in the 1930s. The main issue is how the partnership was born to place Liverpool as a pioneer in the context of the evolution of the welfare state. The paper focuses on different phases of the Unemployment Assistance Board's relationship with non-government organisations for children's allowances. Attention is paid to a campaign for children's allowance by the Children's Minimum Council, a voluntary association in Liverpool, and also to a feedback survey taken by Violet MARKHAM, a member of the UAB, both of which led the UAB to recognise the importance of a state-financed scheme for children's allowance and, hence, to resolve conflicts stemming from differences in the perception of poverty. This was followed by a new phase in which, under MARKHAM's coordination, a better division of tasks was reached between the state and voluntary sectors. This Liverpool-born model of coordination and partnership between the two sectors was eventually disseminated by the UAB to other cities, exerting a significant influence across the country. Thus, Liverpool should be regarded as a pioneer in the formation of the welfare state.

View full abstract

During the first half of the 19th century, the international price of raw cotton increased dramatically due to the cotton crisis. Great Britain sought alternative cotton sources, such as the Ottoman Empire, to replace the United States. Turkey also encouraged the spread of cotton cultivation, which expanded to the Southern Anatolia and Aegean regions. At the end of the 19th century, cotton became one of the most important exports and in the meanwhile import of cotton manufactures were on the increase in Turkey. But due to the establishment of the Republic of Turkey in 1923 and the Great Depression in the 1930s, the new government introduced an import substitution policy for textiles by seeking domestic industrialization. However, the low quality of Turkish cotton was a problem as the industrial sector required high-quality cotton, which meant American cotton. This paper discusses the issues in the import substitution policy and the cotton improvement project in Turkey. It focuses on the differences between Turkish (Yerli) and American (Acala) cottons to explain the increase in supplies, and estimates the resulting rise in demand for agricultural labour to pick the cotton. It stresses in particular the deregulation of the contract labour system. The growth of American cotton ultimately spread in Turkey in the latter half of the 1940s and contributed to the success of the Turkish textile industry in the 1950s.

View full abstract

Nizhegorod Fair, as the biggest fair in Russia and following in the tradition of the 1817 Makarievskaya Fair, not only organized the network of all internal Russian fairs, but also played an intermediary role as the hub of trade between Asia and Europe in the mid-19th century. It also made use of the geographical advantage of its location on the Volga River. The commercial sphere of Nizhegorod Fair stretched across the Eurasian continent, from Western Europe, including England, Holland, and France, to Asia, including Persia, Central Asia, and China. With the first industrialization of Russia and the revision of Russian customs policy on exports to Persia, the focus of Nizhegorod Fair was transformed from foreign trade to internal trade in orientation.

View full abstract

This paper studies the process and meaning of the enactment of exhaust emission control in Japan. In the 1960s, the health hazards caused by exhaust emission became a serious social problem. The existing controls implemented by the Transport Ministry had been based on insufficient research, and emissions were not regulated by numeric values. The Ministry therefore underwent another study and surveyed the effect of exhaust emission on air pollution. It also weighed the opinions of automobile companies in drafting new regulations. But the resulting regulations proved to be only transitional. Because the study of exhaust emission was not thorough enough, controls were made only on CO, in effect reflecting the technical capabilities of the automobile companies and having only a limited effect on decreasing air pollution. But it did have some significance as it served as the foundation for exhaust emission control thereafter and reduced CO of individual cars. The regulation led automobile companies to question air pollution in Japan and improve their products. This was a typical case in which national opinion on regulation influenced the Ministry into taking the initiative to control exhaust emission.

View full abstract