Beyond the Homefront

A locomotive on the Central London Railway.

In order to fully understand smoke control efforts in the United States, it is important to acknowledge the Anti-Smoke Movement that was occurring in Britain at the time. It is clear that there are significant similarities in Britian's and the U.S.'s responses to smoke. Both nations faced human health impacts, especially respiratory diseases. Common law in both the U.S. and Britain allowed for those negatively affected by pollution to sue perpetrators of smoke nuisances, but they could only expect relief if they were able to identify the polluter. This made it hard for victims to see justice in almost every case. Similar to activists in Baltimore, Brits considered smoke as a part of a web of problems that threated Britain's social, economic, and imperial future. In 1821, the British Parliament passed an act that prohibited smoke emissions from steam engines in London. The U.S. echoed this action with an ordinance forbidding the burning of dirty coal in locomotives in Pittsburgh and an anti-smoke ordinance in Cincinnati. All three went unenforced. In 1898, Lord Reginald Brabazon, the twelfth Earl of Meath, created the Coal Smoke Abatement Society to create more emphasis on the enforcement of anti-smoke laws. The U.S. followed with the creation of the U.S. Smoke Abatement League created in 1906 by Dr. Chareles Reed of Cincinnati and several members of the city’s Women’s Club. [1]