Vol. 68, No. 1

Fusao KATO
The urbanization of Berlin and the self government of suburban country villages

The aim of this article is to investigate the urbanization of the Berlin region and the self government of the 'suburban country villages' (Vorortgemeinde) in the Prussian district of Teltow (Kreis Teltow) at the end of the nineteenth century. The first part gives an outline of suburban traffic networks with reference to two railway lines, the Berlin-Anhalt and the Berlin-Dresden, which crossed the Teltow district from north to south. This part also contains a survey of 'commuters' (Pendler) in the Berlin area.

The second part surveys the remarkable progress of self government in the 'suburban country villages', since the urbanization of Berlin was accompanied by the development of self government in the towns and villages around it. This involves an analysis of the primary materials in the Potsdam Archive (Brandenburgisches Landeshauptarchiv Potsdam). The article ends with some critical suggestions with regard to Japanese research into Prussian history.

Susumu HIRAI
Settlement and marriage regulations and the rural social order during the period of Vormärz (1815~47) in northwest Germany: a case study of the Osnabruck region

This article focuses on the laws of 1827 regulating settlement and marriage in the Kingdom of Hannover, with particular reference to the province of Osnabruck, in order to explore the rural social order and the situation of rural autonomy during the period of Vormärz. In the rural areas of the province, the lower classes, especially landless cottagers (Heuerlinge), formed the majority of the population during the period, but their economic base gradually decreased. It was against this background that the legislation of 1827 introduced a regulatory system. This required those landless people who wished to marry or settle in an area to obtain the consent of the village communities, whose members were landholders (Hofbesitzer), and the final permission of the state.

The village communities often refused to give landless people their consent, imposing severe and even illegal requirements, in order to restrict an increase in the number of poor people. On the other hand, the state prevented the communities from exercising excessive restraints, although its legal criteria for permission were inadequate. For their part, the communities were unable to limit the renting of cottages and land by their members. This situation often enabled landless people to form households, albeit poor ones. Consequently, village communities did not have complete control over the lower classes.

Kentaro SAITO
Skills, apprenticeship and the labour market for skilled workers: toolmakers and the engineering industry in interwar Britain

This article explores the supply of skills through apprenticeships and the mobility of skilled workers in the interwar period through a case study of toolmakers in the engineering industry.

Toolmakers' skills lay at the base of the mass-production system of new industries and their importance grew over the period. Their rise was a result of changes in the British economy, particularly of structural shifts between industries in the interwar period. These changes were accompanied by changes in the characteristics of toolmakers' skills. Nonetheless, the industry as a whole, including both employers and trade unions, was not fully prepared for these changes. In particular, there was a failure to address the issue of training or reskilling toolmakers. There was no systematic and organized institutional framework for training toolmakers, while the supply of skilled labour through apprenticeships decreased. The article concludes that the supply of skilled workers was at the mercy of traditional attitudes, and of the free market in labour. Industrial training was not reformed until the postwar period.

Chaisung LIM
The wartime reinforcement of the Korean National Railways' transport capacity and its reorganization after the 1945 Liberation

With the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War in 1937, the Korean National Railways (KNR) was confronted by a serious dilemma. Wartime mobilization required an increase in its transport capacity reinforcement, but the necessary material resources were lacking. To solve this dilemma, KNR reorganized its procurement process and established a labor-intensive railroad operation by means of increasing its operation frequency and train units. However, after the outbreak of the Pacific War, these measures ceased to be effective since KNR suffered from an extreme scarcity of management resources. Ultimately, this led to a transport crisis.

After Korea was liberated from colonial Japanese rule in 1945, the Korean staff had to take complete responsibility for the operation of the railway network. But this led to a systemic crisis on top of the product-factor crisis because the Japanese staff who had been in charge of the upper strata of the internal organization had been dismissed and the railway network was divided into north and south. KNR had to develop new strata of Korean executives and set up a new procurement network under the command of the U.S. occupation forces. In conclusion, the operation of KNR by Koreans themselves began with the transition-period experiences which followed the 1945 Liberation.