The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1893-09-06
LABOR DAY!
was Generally Observed
Throughout the Country.

The Demonstration Eclipsed All
Previous efforts of Organ.
lied Labor.
1t is estimated that a million and
a half wOrkingmen marched in line
Monday in honor of Labor Day.
There were demonstrations in al
most every considerable city. 1t
would be interesting and profitable
to review the speeches which were
everywhere a feature of the occasion.
One of the most important results
that will follow the observance Of
Labor Day as natural holiday is the
discussion of important questions
and the consequent education of the
public. Two distinguished speakers,
both in Chicago, got at the heart Of
the labor problem; and each suggest
ed the true remedy. One was from
the moral, the other from the prac-
tical point of view. Bishop Ireland,
in his address at the Worlds Fair to
the labor congress among other
things said:
Labor is not and cannot be an
article of commerce, a commercial
commodity, as bread or meat, entire
ly subject to the laws of demand and
supply. Labor differs essentially
from merchandise, because it is in
separable from the man producing it.
Labor is an act; it is the personal
output Of the energies of man; it is
man in action. The plenary con-
crete object of a labor contract is the
workingman, and hence labor pos
sesses the dignity and the rights
which are inherent in the human
person, and has before God and So
ciety the responsibility of the hui
man being. Modern industrialism
perceives nothing beyond the market
in which it buys labor. The very
term, labor market, indicates the
degradation to which greed of power
and pelf has sunk the workman.
Spacious words are spoken to hide
away hideOuS crimes against human
ity. Free labor free competition, ,
freedom of contract" Such the
maxims that it sought to make pre-
vail, with the result that men are
driven to work at starvation wages,
and however low these are, the work.
man is hidden to step aside the mo-
ment another human being is found
to give at yet cheaper rates the sweat
of his brow. Freedom Of contract |!
The words speak bitterest irony.
There is no freedom when the altern-
alive is to work at nominal price or
be hungry and listen to the cries Of
furnishing children. Is there free
dom of contract for the pale faced
girl singing 1.-The Song of the Shirt ?"
X \ The worst blight which unre-
strained industrial greed puts upon
men is that it not seldom makes the
family impossible, or despoils it of it's
sacrednesS and bloom"
Gov. Altgeld of Illinois addressed
the 10000 working men who partici-
pated in the parade in Chicago, and,
among other things, said to them:
"You are not responsible for this
condition. Men here and in Europe,
who call themselves statesmen, have
inaugurated policies of which this is
the natural result. Considering the
increase in population, the increase
in the industries and commercial
activity of the world, as we'll as the
increased area over which business
was done, there has in recent years
been a practical reduction in the
volume of the worlds money from
80 to 30 per cent. and there had of
necessity to follow a shrinkage in
the value of property to CORES
pOnding extent. If for some years
to come there should not be suffi-
Gent money in the industrial and
commercial world to make affairs
healthy, you must console yourselves
with the thought that our country,
with all the other great nations,
has been placed on a narrow gold
basis, and you will not be troubled
with any of those cheap dollars that
it is claimed you did not want.
Combination and concentration are
the masters of the age. Let the la
bOrers learn from this and act &C
cOrdingly."
The organized workers of St. Paul
and Minneapolis made Labor Day an
event long to be remembered in the
Twin Cities. The parades were thor
oughly representative, almost every
branch of organized labor that enters
into our industrial life being repre-
sented. The St. Paul men spent the
day at Wildwood with their families,
where the principal feature of their
program was the thoughtful and elo-
Quent address delivered by w. W..
Erwin. Minneapolis men after the
demonstration in town put in day
Of solid enjoyment at Minnehaha.
The Form Without the Spirit.
Politics has hacnma q mnrcana nv