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Difficulty: EasyDirect Factual Retrieval

In the mid-nineteenth century, the rapid growth of manufacturing centers in Northern England triggered unprecedented municipal challenges regarding public hygiene and urban infrastructure. Traditional historiography long asserted that local civic authorities prioritized industrial output above all administrative concerns, leaving urban sanitation and worker housing strictly to private philanthropic initiatives. However, recent archival research into mid-Victorian municipal records reveals a far more complex regulatory landscape. Beginning in the late 1840s, several industrial boroughs established local health boards authorized to monitor drainage facilities and regulate housing density in expanding working-class districts. Although these early administrative bodies lacked robust legal mechanisms to impose financial penalties on violators, they nevertheless established key legislative precedents for state-sanctioned urban oversight.

Furthermore, historical evidence refutes the long-held assumption that factory owners uniformly opposed municipal interventions. Records from prominent textile manufacturing towns show that a significant cohort of factory owners actively petitioned local councils for centralized water supply systems. These industrialists recognized that rampant waterborne epidemics, particularly cholera and typhoid, caused severe absenteeism and diminished workplace productivity. Nevertheless, civic investment in public infrastructure remained fragmented until the national Public Health Act of 1875 established mandatory sanitary standards across all municipal districts.

According to the passage, some factory owners supported municipal investment in centralized water supply systems because they:

  1. believed that curbing waterborne illnesses would mitigate worker absenteeism and sustain factory output.Answer
  2. B
    were attempting to fulfill mandatory national sanitary regulations established in the late 1840s.
  3. C
    wished to preserve the traditional reliance on private philanthropic initiatives rather than public infrastructure.
  4. D
    hoped to avoid the severe financial penalties regularly levied against non-compliant factory operations.
  5. E
    sought to improve overall urban living conditions as part of a broad movement for environmental reform.

Answer

Some factory owners supported centralized water supply systems because they recognized that reducing waterborne epidemics would prevent absenteeism and protect workplace productivity.
The passage explicitly states in the second paragraph that industrialists supported centralized water systems because they recognized that waterborne epidemics caused severe absenteeism and diminished workplace productivity. The correct answer accurately paraphrases this direct factual detail.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Locate the target detail in the text
Identified the second paragraph, which discusses why factory owners petitioned local councils for centralized water supply systems.
Direct factual retrieval requires finding the exact sentence addressing the entity/concept specified in the prompt.
2
Analyze the explicit reason provided by the author
The text states: 'These industrialists recognized that rampant waterborne epidemics, particularly cholera and typhoid, caused severe absenteeism and diminished workplace productivity.'
Understanding the precise factual link between epidemics and productivity is necessary to evaluate paraphrased options.
3
Match explicit evidence with semantic equivalents
The correct response paraphrases 'caused severe absenteeism and diminished workplace productivity' as 'mitigate worker absenteeism and sustain factory output.'
GMAT correct answers restate passage evidence using equivalent vocabulary without changing the original meaning.

Key Concept

Direct Factual Retrieval
Estimated Time:1m 30s
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Direct Factual Retrieval

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