Assessing the Scale of Industrial Re-Tooling
Imagine an established industry is forced to adapt to a new primary raw material. This adaptation requires a massive, industry-wide investment in new processing machinery. One historian claims the scale of this capital investment was so significant it was 'equivalent to the formation of a new industry.'
Critique this claim. Was this comparison likely an insightful assessment or a dramatic overstatement? Justify your position by discussing both the factors that would support the comparison and the factors that would weaken it.
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Assessing the Scale of Industrial Re-Tooling
Historian Douglas Farnie characterized the widespread capital investment in new cotton processing machinery during a specific historical period as being "equivalent to the formation of a new industry." What is the most accurate implication of this characterization?
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