Labor Day: Have A Relaxing Weekend

 Labor Day: How it Came About & What it Means

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.

 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 was 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 i

n 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.

Have a relaxing Labor Day Weekend.