ABSTRACT
By 1830 higher technical education system was producing at least sufficient engineers to make a considerable mark on French industry. In La Reforme sociale Pierre Guillaume Frederic le Play advocated the setting up of a miniature system of hautes ecoles in each Province. During the nineteenth century, industrial employment gradually became the normal form of employment in Europe. In 1851 England had the highest proportion of industrial workers of any country in Europe, but still agriculture claimed half the labour force. Many traditional forms of employment policy existed at the beginning of the nineteenth century, which had become obsolete by the end. A feature of the paternalistic system is that the employer is 'hard to replace'. Individual proprietors and companies of any size or type could be paternalistic. Le Play's technical writings, published in Les Annales des Mines, show his concern that the technologist should not overlook the human factor.
