Page 386 - Panjek, Aleksander, Jesper Larsson and Luca Mocarelli, eds. 2017. Integrated Peasant Economy in a Comparative Perspective: Alps, Scandinavia and Beyond. Koper: University of Primorska Press
P. 386
integr ated peasant economy in a compar ative perspective
other hand, the Alpine manufactures, mines and sawmills meanwhile pro-
gressively became less competitive because of the technological innova-
tions and new fiscal rules. For the first half of the 19th century the reduction
of earnings was in any case tolerable even if some laws (e.g. those establish-
ing the sale of the common land) created some relevant problems for the
poorest families (as the public subsidies they received did not compensate
the loss of the privileged access to the fruits of the common land). The cri-
sis grew worse from the 1850s when the arrival and diffusion of some rele-
vant technological innovations progressively eliminated all the reasons for
the success of a lot of manufactures located in the Alpine valleys, and at the
same time strongly reduced the incomes related to some other activities
such as those of the charcoal burners and the miners.
It is possible to distinguish some main reasons which explain why the
crisis became so big and broke forever the existing equilibrium, as follows.
Firstly, at a time when the communication system was difficult and ex-
pensive, the presence of water and iron constituted a considerable advan-
tage for the Alpine villages and allowed them to carry out a variety of spe-
cialised activities and to produce hand manufactured goods from iron or
brass or paper etc. The improvement of the railway connections dimin-
ished the price of raw materials arriving from better foreign mines and for-
ests, which had also taken profit by the strong reduction of the tariffs pro-
tecting the Lombard Alpine productions. A lot of Alpine mines had a small
dimension and they were closed in the early 19th century: they were in fact
exhausted or their exploitation had become too expensive and difficult for
people who did not have much money to invest. For these the competition
of foreign iron provoked the definitive closing, while those which remained
active occupied very few people (often two to four miners). Only where the
iron was easily extracted the mines remained in function. As far as the for-
ests are concerned, a reduction of available wood caused by overexploita-
tion started with their privatisation and the successive limits decided by the
government in order to save the remaining forests. These changes increased
the cost of raw materials for the Alpine sawmills, which also had to suffer
the negative effects of the reduction of local demand (because of the crisis
of local manufactures), while only a part of them could find new markets in
the hills and on the plain where the competition was very strong.11
Secondly, the birth of new modern enterprises on the plain which
could use new plants (and realised some important economies of scale) re-
11 About the evolution of the iron mining in the Lombard Alpine valleys see: Predali
1980; Piardi and Simoni 1982; Trezzi 1992; Calegari and Simoni 1994; Mocarelli 1997.
384
other hand, the Alpine manufactures, mines and sawmills meanwhile pro-
gressively became less competitive because of the technological innova-
tions and new fiscal rules. For the first half of the 19th century the reduction
of earnings was in any case tolerable even if some laws (e.g. those establish-
ing the sale of the common land) created some relevant problems for the
poorest families (as the public subsidies they received did not compensate
the loss of the privileged access to the fruits of the common land). The cri-
sis grew worse from the 1850s when the arrival and diffusion of some rele-
vant technological innovations progressively eliminated all the reasons for
the success of a lot of manufactures located in the Alpine valleys, and at the
same time strongly reduced the incomes related to some other activities
such as those of the charcoal burners and the miners.
It is possible to distinguish some main reasons which explain why the
crisis became so big and broke forever the existing equilibrium, as follows.
Firstly, at a time when the communication system was difficult and ex-
pensive, the presence of water and iron constituted a considerable advan-
tage for the Alpine villages and allowed them to carry out a variety of spe-
cialised activities and to produce hand manufactured goods from iron or
brass or paper etc. The improvement of the railway connections dimin-
ished the price of raw materials arriving from better foreign mines and for-
ests, which had also taken profit by the strong reduction of the tariffs pro-
tecting the Lombard Alpine productions. A lot of Alpine mines had a small
dimension and they were closed in the early 19th century: they were in fact
exhausted or their exploitation had become too expensive and difficult for
people who did not have much money to invest. For these the competition
of foreign iron provoked the definitive closing, while those which remained
active occupied very few people (often two to four miners). Only where the
iron was easily extracted the mines remained in function. As far as the for-
ests are concerned, a reduction of available wood caused by overexploita-
tion started with their privatisation and the successive limits decided by the
government in order to save the remaining forests. These changes increased
the cost of raw materials for the Alpine sawmills, which also had to suffer
the negative effects of the reduction of local demand (because of the crisis
of local manufactures), while only a part of them could find new markets in
the hills and on the plain where the competition was very strong.11
Secondly, the birth of new modern enterprises on the plain which
could use new plants (and realised some important economies of scale) re-
11 About the evolution of the iron mining in the Lombard Alpine valleys see: Predali
1980; Piardi and Simoni 1982; Trezzi 1992; Calegari and Simoni 1994; Mocarelli 1997.
384
