Cosmopolitan Networks in Commerce and Society 1660–1914

MONIKA POETTINGER
in the Fonderia in ferro ed altri analoghi opifici, the first mechanical
manu factory in Milan, also called Elvetica. Recent studies have rehabilitated
the reputation of this historical Milanese enterprise, pointing
to its innovating role and profitability. 112 The confusing and continuing
changes in its direction and name were typical of the limited
partnership scheme and not, as has been often thought, a sign of failure.
Most silent partners remained faithful to the firm, while directors
and general partners changed along with its name.
Up to 1879 all the general partners or directors of Elvetica were
foreign immigrants, representing human and entrepreneurial capital
from France, Switzerland, and Germany. They used the partnership
in Elvetica to gather knowledge of the local market and weave networks
of trusts with the local business elite; then they usually left the
firm to found a venture of their own. This was the case, for example,
with the German engineer Bauer and the Swiss engineer Schlegel.
Con trary to what happened with Mylius’s participation in the insurance
sector, which he used to direct foreign capital to Milan and
export high yields, his participation in Elvetica served instead to funnel
foreign human and entrepreneurial capital into the city. Both of
these effects intensified with the passing of time. Through international
networks of merchant origin, foreign capital acquired access to
the best investment opportunities, while a foreign workforce, whose
migration was fostered by the same networks, occupied the specialized
positions created by growing mechanization in all sectors and
firms. So pervasive was this foreign intervention that Stefano Iacini
wrote in 1856: ‘Foreign capitalists have taken possession of our railways,
the navigation of the River Po, and, what is more important, of
part of our most important source of trade and industry, silk.’ 113
In fact, there were enough German entrepreneurs in Milan in the
last decades of the nineteenth century 114 to justify the establishment
in 1871 of the Deutscher Hilfsverein Mailand. This association was
founded by Federico Mylius, a descendant of Heinrich, with two
principal aims: to help immigrant labourers who ran into problems;
112 On this see Stefania Licini, ‘Dall’Elvetica alla Breda: Alle origini di una
grande impresa milanese (1846–1918)’, Società e Storia, 63 (1994).
113 Stefano Iacini, La proprietà fondiaria in Lombardia (Milan, 1856), 273.
114 Anne Schreiber von Oswald, ‘Le iniziative economiche degli imprenditori
tedeschi a Milano (1882–1914)’, Annali di storia dell’impresa, 5/6 (1989–90),
269–97.
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