ABSTRACT
This chapter talks about coal and steel industries, which were important motors of industrial development, and production increased over in nineteenth-century. Wages in nineteenth-century France depended on one's trade, qualification, gender, age, region and the season and were generally higher in the cities. Wages were freely set but remained low, although they doubled during the nineteenth century. As wages were higher in industry than in agriculture, labour was attracted to factories and mines and this was the main driving force behind peasant migration. Towards the end of the century, French mining legislation was used as a model for legislation in other industries. Henri Fayol specialized the forge in the production of nickel steels and it made comfortable profits that nonetheless fluctuated depending on the specific orders that were mainly received from the military. The Commentry-Fourchambault et Decazeville Company was of a modest size and was exposed to competition from all other mining, iron and steel concerns of the time.
