In 1856 Le Play founded La Société d’Économie sociale, which since 1881 has been responsible for the publication of La Réforme sociale. He organised the Universal Exhibition in 1867, and was one of the first to arrange exhibitions of social work. For a résumé of his life and work see Frédéric Le Play d’après lui-même, by Auburtin (Paris, 1906).
[1033] Programme des Unions de la Paix sociale, chap. 1.
[1034] “The gravest and most dangerous error of all, and one that has been the parent of all our revolutions, is the false principle which the innovators of 1789 would put into practice and which affirms the original perfection of mankind. It also encourages the belief that a society composed of ‘natural’ men would enjoy peace and happiness without any effort at all, and that these desiderata are just the spontaneous outcome of every free society.”
[1035] “It is the great misfortune of France that the family should be immersed in the commune, the commune in the department, the department in the State.” (La Réforme sociale, vol. iii, Book VII.)
[1036] “It [the patriarchal régime] in all matters relating to economic action or to social life shows greater attachment to the past than concern for the future. Obedience is the keynote rather than initiation. The family group tends to arrest the enterprise which would characterise the action of the more independent members of the family in a somewhat freer atmosphere.” (La Réforme sociale, Book III.)
[1037] “In short, I have never met with a social organisation which to the same extent vitiates the laws both of nature and morality.”
[1038] Le Play, who had some influence over Napoleon III, tried to get him to consent to some such modification of the Civil Code. But the Emperor, though favourably inclined, and despot as he was, dared not alienate public sympathy in the matter. And really fathers seldom exercise the full authority which the law gives them even now. The evil, then, if it is an evil, is deeper than Le Play imagined, and seems to be moral rather than legal.
[1039] “Human societies should aim not so much at the creation of wealth as such, but rather at increasing the well-being of mankind. Well-being includes daily bread, but it does not exclude social peace.” (Claudio Jannet in a lecture on Les Quatre Écoles d’Économie sociale.)
[1040] We must remember that these were the orthodox views then. Villermé, writing in 1840 in his celebrated Tableau de l’État moral et physique des Ouvriers, thought it was the employers really who could best improve the circumstances and character of the workers.
[1041] We get some idea of the importance which he attributed to the permanence of engagements when we realise that he contemplated the abolition of slavery with a measure of regret. (La Réforme sociale.)