own for almost a century, though the British government after 1875 was the principal stockholder

Large corporations made their appearance, in railroads and banking first of all. In 1863 the law granted
the right of "limited liability," by which a stockholder could not lose more than the par value of the
stock, however insolvent or debt-burdened the corporation might become. This encouraged investment
by persons of small means, and by capitalists large and small in enterprises of which they knew very
little; thus the wealth and savings of the country were more effectively mobilized and put to work.
Stocks and shares became more numerous and diversified. The Stock Exchange boomed. Financiers-
those whose business was to handle money, credit, and securities-assumed a new eminence in the cap
italistic world. A good many people became very rich, richer perhaps than anyone had ever been in
France before. Napoleon was a massive presence in the history of France and Europe in general. It is odd
to consider, based on our history in the US, but Napoleon came after the French Revolution, which had
as its intent casting off the monarchy and establishing a republic. Somehow, the French went thru that
exercise and ultimately ended up with an enlightened dictator. His period of rule was broken up, but
seems to have been from the late 1790’s to around 1810 or so. Napoleon had very clearly formed ideas
about how society should be run. This included labor relations, since crafts and associated guilds were
just beginning to coalesce in the cities of France during this time. Napoleon instituted passbooks,
identification papers that limited people’s movements. He also banned trade unions.

The emperor aspired also to do something for the working class, within the limits of the existing system.
Jobs were plentiful and wages were good, by the ideas of the day, least until the temporary depression
of 1857. The emperor had a plan, as did some of the Saint-Simonians, for organizing forces of workers in
military fashion and setting them to clear and develop uncultivated land. Not much was done in this
direction More was accomplished in the humanitarian relief of suffering. Hospitals and asylums were
established, and free medicines were distributed. The outlines of a social-welfare state began somewhat
vaguely to appear. Mean while the workers were building up unions. All combinations of workers had
been prohibited during the French Revolution, a prohibition that was deemed to be still in force until the
ambiguous legal position of labor unions began to change. In 1864 it even became legal for organized
workers to go on strike. Large labor units, or unions, and large business units, or corporations, were thus
legalized at the same time. Napoleon III hardly did enough for labor to rank as a working-class hero, but
he did enough to be su pected as "socialistic" by many middle-class people of the day.

Later authoritarian regimes, bent like the Second Empire on a program of economic development, were
usually highly protectionist, unwilling to face open competition with the rest of the world. Napoleon III
believed in freedom of international trade. He had a project for a tariff union with Belgium, which some
Belgians also supported. Belgium was already well industrialized, and a Franco-Belgium union, especially
since Belgium had the coal that France lacked, would have formed a trading area of very great strength.
But the plan was blocked by private interests in both countries and strongly opposed by both Great
Britain and the German Zollverein. The emperor then turned to an all-around reduction of import duties.
Since the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846 the free traders were in power in England. They were eager to
abolish trade barriers between Britain and France. Napoleon III, overriding unusual opposition in his
Legislative Body, concluded a free trade treaty with Great Britain in 1860. He set aside 40 million francs
of government funds to assist this sum was never spent in full, which suggests that French industry was
generally able French manufacturers in making adiustments to British competition; but to compete
successfully with the more intensively mechanized industry of Britain. The Anglo-French treaty was
accompanied by lesser trade agreements