Safety valve theory
Encyclopedia
The safety valve theory was a theory about how to deal with unemployment
which gave rise to the Homestead Act
of 1862 in the United States. Given the concentration of immigrants (and population) on the Eastern coast, it was hypothesized that making free land available in the West, would relieve the pressure for employment in the East. By analogy with steam pressure (= the need for work), the enactment of a free land law, it was believed, would act as a safety valve.
A distinction has to be made between (1) the safety valve theory as an ideal and (2) the safety valve theory as embodied in the Homestead Act
of 1862.
There is a dispute whether and to what extent the Homestead Act did or did not succeed as a safety valve in ameliorating the problem of unemployment in the East.
Opposition to giving away free land came from employers, who anticipated either a shortage of employees or conditions favorable to employees.
Unemployment
Unemployment , as defined by the International Labour Organization, occurs when people are without jobs and they have actively sought work within the past four weeks...
which gave rise to the Homestead Act
Homestead Act
A homestead act is one of three United States federal laws that gave an applicant freehold title to an area called a "homestead" – typically 160 acres of undeveloped federal land west of the Mississippi River....
of 1862 in the United States. Given the concentration of immigrants (and population) on the Eastern coast, it was hypothesized that making free land available in the West, would relieve the pressure for employment in the East. By analogy with steam pressure (= the need for work), the enactment of a free land law, it was believed, would act as a safety valve.
A distinction has to be made between (1) the safety valve theory as an ideal and (2) the safety valve theory as embodied in the Homestead Act
Homestead Act
A homestead act is one of three United States federal laws that gave an applicant freehold title to an area called a "homestead" – typically 160 acres of undeveloped federal land west of the Mississippi River....
of 1862.
There is a dispute whether and to what extent the Homestead Act did or did not succeed as a safety valve in ameliorating the problem of unemployment in the East.
Opposition to giving away free land came from employers, who anticipated either a shortage of employees or conditions favorable to employees.
External Reference
- Goodrich, Carter, and Sol Davison, "The Wage-Earner in the Westward Movement. I. The Statement of the Problem," Political Science Quarterly, L (June, 1935): 179-180.
- Goodrich, Carter, and Sol Davison, "The Wage-Earner in the Westward Movement. II. The Question and the Sources," Political Science Quarterly, LI (March, 1936): 61-116.
- Robbins, Roy M., "Horace Greeley: Land Reform and Unemployment, 1837-1862," Agricultural History, VII, 18 (January, 1933).
- Robbins, Roy M., Our Landed Heritage: The Public Domain, 1776-1936 (1942).
- Shannon, Fred A., A Post Mortem of the Labor-Safety Valve Theory, Agricultural History, XIX (January, 1945): 31-37.
- Smith, Henry Nash, Virgin Land: The American West as Symbol and Myth (1950). Chapter XX: The Garden as Safety Valve