Not many of those whom Mr. Queckett thus
laboured to serve were amongst the church-going class; but by helping
them to be frugal, and improving their physical condition, he was
enabled gradually to elevate their social tastes, and to awaken in them
a religious life to which the greater number of them had before been
strangers.
A powerful influence was next given to the movement by Mr. Charles W.
Sikes, cashier of the Huddersfield Banking Company, who advocated their
establishment in connection with the extensive organization of
mechanics' institutes. It appeared to him that to train working people
when young in habits of economy, was of more practical value to
themselves, and of greater importance to society, than to fill their
minds with the contents of many books. He pointed to the perverted use
of money by the working class as one of the greatest practical evils of
the time. "In many cases," he said, "the higher the workmen's wages, the
poorer are their families; and these are they who really form the
discontented and the dangerous classes. How _can_ such persons take any
interest in pure and elevating knowledge?"
To show the thriftlessness of the people, Mr. Sikes mentioned the
following instance. "An eminent employer in the West Riding," he said,
"whose mills for a quarter of a century have scarcely run short time for
a single week, has within a few days examined the rate of wages now paid
to his men, and compared it with that of a few years ago.
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