Note 1032 — Chapter IV · : DOCTRINES THAT OWE THEIR INSPIRATION TO CHRISTIANITY

Frédéric Le Play (1806-82) was a mining engineer, and was educated at the École Polytechnique. He subsequently became a professor at the École des Mines and a Counseiller d’État. In 1855 he published a collection of monographs dealing with working-class families under the title of Les Ouvriers européens, in one volume (the second edition, which appeared in 1877, consisted of six volumes). In 1864 he published an exposition of his social creed in La Réforme sociale, a book that Montalembert declared to be “the most original, the most courageous, the most useful, and altogether the most powerful book of the century.” It hardly deserves such extravagant praise, perhaps, but it is true that many of its more pessimistic prophecies concerning the future of France have been very curiously verified.

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).