Cultural Histories & Theories Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Cultural Histories & Theories - Essay Example (Musson, 159) Britain, the centre ÃŽ ¿f a world-wide empire, the greatest free-trade market, drawing on the whole globe for foodstuffs and raw materials and still also the largest exporter ÃŽ ¿f manufactures, was the hub ÃŽ ¿f world sea-borne trade: in the period before 1913 about 40 per cent ÃŽ ¿f that trade was with the UK, and over half ÃŽ ¿f it was carried in British ship. Thus British shipyards had huge home and overseas markets. Expansion ÃŽ ¿f production and trade was accompanied by changing industrial organization. Though many combined firms existed, were generally much bigger than woollen mills. The traditional small West Riding clothiers and the associated cloth-halls were declining, with the development ÃŽ ¿f larger-scale factory and mercantile organization and more direct trading relationships, though small firms and mills still abounded. However, the real problem, in fact, was that ÃŽ ¿f developing new industries alongside the old, while the latter still continued to grow profitably. It appears, however, that there were plenty ÃŽ ¿f savings and capital resources that might have been used for new industrial developments. British overseas investments or capital exports continued to grow prodigiously. Cotton is still the biggest manufacture in textile industry. (Sykas 2007) In the 1907 Census ÃŽ ¿f Production, the labour force in spinning and weaving factories increased from 331000 in 1850 to 577000 in 1907, while production and trade rose much more, as indicated by the figures ÃŽ ¿f raw cotton consumption and exports. Mechanization was carried further, not only with more mules, spindles and power-looms but larger, faster-running and more efficient machines, driven by more powerful and economical steam-engines. Fixed capital therefore grew more rapidly than the number ÃŽ ¿f worker, and productivity increased, especially in the first half ÃŽ ¿f this period.