A Word to the Working Classes on Their Improvement and Elevation: With Other Pieces

A Word To The Working Classes On Their Improvement And Elevation: With Other Pieces by J. Russom. This 1850 reform pamphlet surveys the deep social gulf between wealth and poverty and argues that true national wealth lies in the education, temperance, and moral improvement of the common people. It contends that the masses suffer from ignorance, poverty, and drink-driven crime, and it presents a program of self-improvement designed to raise character, health, and happiness. The author advocates mental culture, regular exercise of the mind, and practical schooling through observation, reading, conversation, study, and publicly funded lectures; he urges better ventilation, cleanliness, and abstinence from intoxicants, and calls for shorter work hours to allow time for education. The work also includes exhortations on religion as the core of reform, illustrated by biographical sketches of working men who rose from humble origins, discussions of war and peace, and arguments for female moral influence in temperance. It seeks to knit personal virtue to national well-being.