Contenu de l'article

Titre Le scandale du gaz à Salford en 1887
Auteur John Garrard
Mir@bel Revue Flux
Numéro no 10, octobre-décembre 1992
Page 8-24
Résumé anglais John GARRARD, The Salford gas scandal of 1887. This article recounts what was basically a very simple event. At the end of the 19th century, the director of the Salford gasworks, judging himself the victim of libel, brought suit against a coal manufacturer, who in turn accused him of taking bribes. The affair ricocheted several times, and revealed corrupt practices not only for the city of Salford, but for the entire gas industry and in numerous other economic activities, and in the end extended to a national level. In order to understand this event, the author provides the following explanations: 1) the increasing importance of urban technical networks; were made clear by the affair; 2) labor relations in local administrations functioned primarily in terms of individual principles; 3) the affair was not limited to the gas industry, and perhaps only reflected standard business practices of the times; 4) the whole thing was made possible in the first place because the distinction between speculative industrial activities and service activities - in particular public service - had not yet been clearly defined.
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