Some Locational Problems in British Industry

Abstract

Some Locational Problems ?? British Industry By ELIOT G. MEARS Lehiiid Stanford Jr. University The following observations on British industry were based upon my year abroad in 1937-38 and may prove of interest not only in considering the problems there but also their meaning to other countries. The measures taken by the government and private interests are indeed striking, but they do not represent what we might construe as radical changes in the geographical principles of factory location . The practices, however, in view of the fear of possible military attack , may not appear as primarily geographic in their concept; yet, in my opinion, none of them can be divorced from the broad question of land use. Where are manufacturing plants located ? The normal list of factors includes those of sources of supply, power, labor, markets, capital, and other pertinent features wisely stressed by engineers and private firms. These components are active and dynamic. But we cannot keep abreast of the times if our thinking stops with the foregoing economic and efficiency gauges. There are other considerations of vital consequence which are often heavily discounted or altogether omitted from discussions. Onerous taxation burdens levied by national, state, and local authorities are tending to overweight the financial administration of industry within the management sphere, as exemplified by the incidence of taxes based on tthe factory buildings or on earnings , the legislation regarding wages, and interregional competition. Most of these forces, likewise, operate directly or indirectly within the scope of social and public activity. In addition to the more strictly economic and engineering aspects, we are becoming clearly aware of the implications which derive their influence from a new viewpoint toward financial and social questions, particularly housing, health, transport, and labor. In the United Kigdom, for example , the regional contrasts are clearly recognized. That the situation is regarded as a distinct menace, from several points of view, is evident in the following Resolution of the House of Commons (November 18, 1936), appended to the official questionnaire for foreign persons desirous of setting up manufacturing establishments: That, owing to the serious decline in the recognized industrial areas of many major exporting industries upon which the preeminent commercial position of this country was built, this House is of the opinion that steps should at once be taken to prevent further industrial concentration around London and in the South by diverting new undertakings to those areas where unemployment and under-employment have for long caused hardship and distress among industrial populations. In the past, the prime locational factors have been raw materials, power, labor, capital, and markets, with an increasing tendency toward markets as the main motivation. In any study, however, the part played by transport is usually of first rank, despite its submergence and the apparent disappearance under some of the factors which I have enumerated, If the future location of workshops were to be governed 'entirely by considerations of private economy, untrammeled by any other, the problem of determining a satisfactory location would be relatively easy. The realistic aspect of our problem, however, makes political bodies consider other than purely economic motives. Thus, conscious effort has been made in Great Britain to encourage firms with foreign capital to locate in the Special Areas and in the other depressed industrial districts , Furthermore, there is a clash of national interests, for the London Metropolitan Area offers probably the best business opportunity for numerous kinds of new enterprises ; yet (30) that region is exceedingly vulnerable from a military standpoint. Then there is the question of state socialism. Should Government permit industry to locate when and where it will? More than ever before this question is being raised. In Germany, for sometime, the strategic as well as the economic phases have been receiving the most careful consideration. The student of history might conclude that England and the English would be the last stronghold against an ordered plan and program, such as the adoption of a system of licenses; yet the present conservative Prime Minister , formerly the Chancellor of the Exchequer, has stated that he saw nothing revolutionary in prohibiting enterprises from functioning in certain areas, since this was merely an extension of the established practice of zoning in...