APE

 

I.            Big Picture

A.    1850 on…there was a general improvement working conditions and real wages.

B.   Thus, the standard of living generally improved too.

II.           City Life

A.    old cities before industrialism – they were centers of commerce & gov’t; congested and dirty; they were “walking cities” in size

B.   steam engine moves factories to cities; British numbers shoot up; 100% land use in cities: unsanitary conditions resulted; worse, they didn’t know what to do to fix problems

III.          Changes

A.    Clean up

1.    Edwin Chadwick was a health reformer. He figured disease/death caused poverty because sick workers were poor workers…the solution was to clean things up.

2.   Benthamite – Chadwick was a follower of Jeremy Bentham, an economist, who argued action for the greater common good—helping as many people as possible in the greatest possible way.

3.   Chadwick collected data that correlated dirtiness with sickness.

4.   He argued for pipes to haul away sewage.

5.   Britain thus passed its 1st health law; they started a national health board.

B.    Causes of disease

1.    old view – “miasmatic theory”—disease from bad odors of decay etc.

2.   new view – “germ theory” thanks to Louis Pasteur…heat would kill or stifle the germs

3.   Robert Koch – identified germ after germ

4.   Joseph Lister – was a proponent of antiseptics (Listerine); diseases wane such as diptheria, typhoid, typhus, cholera, yellow fever (see graph p.791)

C.    Urban Planning

1.   France was first led by Georges Haussman who wanted to fix old France with its narrow streets, few parks, stifling atmosphere.

2.   He made broad boulevards, was a slum buster, improved sewers and water.

3.   Others follow with the same, town halls, theaters, opera houses, museums, zoning boards

4.   Horse-drawn carriages expand walking city.

5.   The electric streetcar really expands the city, offers weekend getaways