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Subject: Excerpt Of History
Date: Mon, 6 Sep 2004 15:01:23 EDT
The History of Labor/Labour Day
Labor Day: How it Came About; What it Means
"Labor Day differs in every essential way from the other holidays of the
year in any country," said Samuel Gompers, founder and longtime president of the
American Federation of Labor. "All other holidays are in a more or less
degree connected with conflicts and battles of man's prowess over man, of strife
and discord for greed and power, of glories achieved by one nation over
another. Labor Day...is devoted to no man, living or dead, to no sect, race, or
nation."
Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor
movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American
workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have
made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.
Founder of Labor Day
More than 100 years after the first Labor/Labour Day observance, there is
still some doubt as to who first proposed the holiday for workers.
Some records show that Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the
Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a cofounder of the American Federation of
Labor, was first in suggesting a day to honor those "who from rude nature have
delved and carved all the grandeur we behold."
But Peter McGuire's place in Labor Day history has not gone unchallenged.
Many believe that Matthew Maguire, a machinist, not Peter McGuire, founded the
holiday. Recent research seems to support the contention that Matthew
Maguire, later the secretary of Local 344 of the International Association of
Machinists in Paterson, N.J., proposed the holiday in 1882 while serving as
secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York. What is clear is that the Central
Labor Union adopted a Labor Day proposal and appointed a committee to plan a
demonstration and picnic.
The First Labor Day
The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in
New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. The
Central Labor Union held its second Labor Day holiday just a year later, on
September 5, 1883.
In 1884 the first Monday in September was selected as the holiday, as
originally proposed, and the Central Labor Union urged similar organizations in
other cities to follow the example of New York and celebrate a "workingmen's
holiday" on that date. The idea spread with the growth of labor organizations,
and in 1885 Labor Day was celebrated in many industrial centers of the country.
Labor Day Legislation
Through the years the nation gave increasing emphasis to Labor Day. The
first governmental recognition came through municipal ordinances passed during
1885 and 1886. From them developed the movement to secure state legislation.
The first state bill was introduced into the New York legislature, but the
first to become law was passed by Oregon on February 21, 1887. During the year
four more states — Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York — created
the Labor Day holiday by legislative enactment. By the end of the decade
Connecticut, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania had followed suit. By 1894, 23 other
states had adopted the holiday in honor of workers, and on June 28 of that year,
Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of each year a
legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories.
A Nationwide Holiday
The form that the observance and celebration of Labor Day should take were
outlined in the first proposal of the holiday — a street parade to exhibit to
the public "the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor
organizations" of the community, followed by a festival for the recreation and
amusement of the workers and their families. This became the pattern for the
celebrations of Labor Day. Speeches by prominent men and women were introduced
later, as more emphasis was placed upon the economic and civic significance of the
holiday. Still later, by a resolution of the American Federation of Labor
convention of 1909, the Sunday preceding Labor Day was adopted as Labor Sunday
and dedicated to the spiritual and educational aspects of the labor movement.
The character of the Labor Day celebration has undergone a change in recent
years, especially in large industrial centers where mass displays and huge
parades have proved a problem. This change, however, is more a shift in
emphasis and medium of expression. Labor Day addresses by leading union officials,
industrialists, educators, clerics and government officials are given wide
coverage in newspapers, radio, and television.
The vital force of labor added materially to the highest standard of living
and the greatest production the world has ever known and has brought us
closer to the realization of our traditional ideals of economic and political
democracy. It is appropriate, therefore, that the nation pay tribute on Labor Day
to the creator of so much of the nation's strength, freedom, and leadership —
the American worker.
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