The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1889-09-03

the other organizations came the Carpenters
Union, followed by the Lasters' Union, Shoe
Workers Union, Cigar Makers Union,
Plasterers' Union, Knights Of Labor, stone
cutters, Ibarbers, furniture men and unor-
ganized trades. There were upwards of 600
in line, all marching well and making fine
appearance. All wore blue and white badges
Several of the unions carried banners, and
there were a number of transparencies
bearing such notices as "The Secret Ballot
is the Honest Ballot" Labor Day Should
be Legalized," ''We Prosper I'M
der Eight Heurs," etc. The
cigar makers had big canvas banner in
wagon drawn by two horses; painted on the
banner was the Union cigar makers label
and an inscription warned everybody to see
that that label is on the cigars they may buy.
At CityHall the procession halted, removed
hats and faced towards a platform which
had been erected at one side Of the steps.
On the platform stood Mayor Melchcr, W.
Il. Looney, Esq, Hon. S. w. Matthews, II.
Abrams, Esq, and Messrs. Courant and
Kelly.
After short pause the line moved on and
the Mayor and other gentlemen were taken
III CdlAldkCo db bhC iOdA Va tuO pAOCooolous
At the Lake.
After the parade. the various organiza-
| tions and their friends took the Maine Gen.
| trail trains for Sebago Lake, where the re-
mainder of the programme was carried out.
The morning trains carried % car loads of
people. and the Ito train had IA cars more,
| all loaded to bursting On the arrival of the
first trains, a game of ball was played be
tween the Brotherhood of Carpenters aud
| Joiners and the Lasters' Protective Union,
resulting in victory for the Lasters by
score of 20 to l. At about O'clock, the
| speech-making in the grove began. Mr..
Mark Courant president of the Central La
Dor Union, called the assemblage to order
| and briefly explained the meaning of Labor
Day. He then introduced Mayor Melcher
as the presiding officer. Mayor Melcher
| said that in his official petition he had both
| pleasant and unpleasant duties to perform.
| Among the most. pleasant that he had had,
| thus far, was his part in the Labor Day cele-
| bratiOn, to review the parade in the morn
ing, and to preside at the meeting in the az
ternoon. He introduced as the first speaker,
Mr.. Henry Abrams of Massachusetts, the
president of the Massachusetts Branch of
the American Federation of Labor. Mr..
Abrams said that there was no use denying
the fact that the laboring classes are restless
and discontented. and, he. said. they have
right to be. He drew a dark picture Of the
| outlook for the laboring man II things were
| allowed to go on as they are going. The cry
that ''the rich are growing richer and the
| poor poorer is no idle talk. But, he said,
remedy is an eight-hour day. The dullest
man can see the benefit If he gives 1t a mo-
ment's thought. Here is a man. whose bust
ness requires forty hours of labor, daily.
Running on a ten.hour basis, four men do
and what happens? Five times eight is for
| ~. Another of the army of the unemployed
| has found employment. Apply this on
large scale, and you find the labor problem
| solved.
Hon. S. w. Matthews, the State labor sta
| tistician followed Mr.. Abrams in an inter-
| esting address. He appologized on starting
| for the pile Of manuscript which he held in
his hand, but before he had gone far in his
remarks the use of it had became apparent.
Mr.. Matthews. gave some interesting figures
| showing how the good old times of hand la
| Dor would be an utter impossibility with the
| present population of the country and with
| Its development 1t was melancholy fact,
Mr.. Matthews said, that the great mass of
| the wealth of the nation is converging into
| few hands, but that was no reason why riot
and bloodshed should be brought in in the at
tempt to regulate the matter. The working
men have, and the workingwomen will soon
l
invaded, and Of protection in any event, the
ballot. A free ballot, intelligently directed
is the salvation Of the workingman and the
solution Of the labor question. A few hot
tion of all law and order and call for reign
of misrule, but they have no place in Amer
can life and politics and very few years
| will suffice to show this to the world.
Mr.. Matthews was followed by w. III.
Looney, ESQ, who said that as the result OF
1 aancidQrQbltA pqrQfu1 study of thu lahor
question he had reached the conclusion that
| three things ought to benefit the laboring
| classes. The first thing was the labor
| law passed by the Legislature of 1887 (Which
orally called the Looney law, from the man
who framed 1t and championed it before the
Legislature.) This law, and especially the
| parts Of 1t relating to the employment Of
women and children, ought to be amended,
making them yet more stringent. The sec
| ond benefit would be ballot reform law
| that would make Mr. Matthews's pure bal
| lot possibility. Mr.. looney gave at some
| length humorous picture Of the corruption
and the expense to candidates of the present
| possible for representative laboring man to
| secure position where he could make him
| self heard in favor of his cause. The third
| benefit, in Mr.. Looney's. trio was annual
For, he said, it is by trying to compress two
| years business into one, that they get such
| crude laws on the statute books as can be
| seen there now. Their annual elections be-
| come annual discussions, AMI discussion and
| agitation are the soul of the labor question.
Until its wants are known it cannot be rem
edied.
The Mayor here stated that owing to ILL.,
ness ex-May0r McGillicuddy of Lewiston
and Mr.. Rollins of Gardiner, who were to-
have been present, were unable to attend,
and he introduced Labor Commissioner
Campbell as the last speaker. Mr.. Campbell
made ringing speech with child labor" for
text. He said that the law forbade the
employment Of children under IL years of
age in factories. and Of those between II and
IS years of age who did not attend school at
least 16 weeks in every year. When,
he said, we take the children out of the
shops, what becomes of them2 Do they go
to schools? Do they play truant upon the
streets. The law bars them out of factories.
1t also compels them to go to school, only
this law is not enforced. SWhat answer
shall Make" asked Mr.. Campbell, when
manufacturers say to me. You take the
them to SCHOOL," Continuing he said that
there was not manufacturer In the State of
Maine who did not cheerfully comply with
tne law when requested to do SO. The
parents were the ones to blame. They sent
th he children into the mills ALMOST as soon as
long as they could. Mr.. Campbell also ex-
planned some of the difficulties of the bureau
OF labor statistics in overcoming the indiffer-
ence or the fear of those from whom it
sought information.
The Races.
After the speaking, or rather while it was
yet in progress, the boat race started. There
were seven starters, but three of them
claimed foul before reaching the first turn.
and dropped out. The race was won by
Randall, Of the Dirigo Boat Club, with Mer-
rill second, Morgan third and McDermott
fourth, all of the Cumberlands. Time IA
minutes, II seconds. Referee Fred Plaisted.
The prizes were gold and silver watches.
After the sculling match came the 100
yards dash for amateurs. In this contest,
the first prize, gold medal, was won by
w. Fl. OBrien. The 100 yards dash for
members of labor organizations only resulted
in little unpleasantness which the commit
tee on sports will settle today. Mr.. t. Don
ovan who entered as member of the Boot