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
More than 100 years after the first Labor 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
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.
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.
(Text
from the U.S. Department Of Labor) |
