Pawtucket tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 1890-189?, 1893-09-05
LABOR DAY.


occurred In this State yesterday, and the
celebration, while not obligatory, was
quite general, and augurs well for the
success OF the day In future.
The Philadelphia Record has the fol-
lowing on the significance OF Labor Day,
It's history and future, AZ well as its Idea
and usefulness:
at was but twelve years ago that the
suggestion was first made by the humble
secretary of trade union that a day be
annually set apart for observance as Labor
Day. The man who made the suggestion
was p. J. Mcclure of the United Brother.
hood of Carpenters and Joiners OF Ameri-
ca. The proposition was sanctioned by
that body in 1882, and parade and dem
onstration wac held. The idea met with
general favor, and its acceptance all over
the country was rapid. In many states
laws were enacted, setting apart day-in
the majority OF instances the first Mon
day in Septembsr--as a legal holiday, to
be known as Labor day. In the present
year the day will be observed by the
wage earners In nearly every state of the
Union, and In twenty six of them It has
been made holiday by legal enactment.
"Institutions are but reflex Of the age
in which they exist. When imperial
Caesar hailed his captives home the greasy
mechanic threw up his cap and made
holiday In the Roman streets. The be-
draggled multitude formed but back
ground for the soldiers triumph as he
rolled by in his chariot along the Appian
Way. The age of chivalry witnessed
many regal festival, and from the Field
of the Cloth of Gold, from Camelot's
meadow where great Pendragon ruled, we
catch the glimmer Of lance, the fash OF
shield and hear the brazen trumpet's cry;
but in all of these glories the worker bore
but an humble part. Those were the
triumphs and pageantry of the destruc-
tive forces In society. The professions OF
Labor Day represent the constructive
forces.
"rhe whirligig OF Time has invested
these latter with a new dignity, and the
marching hosts OF labor, with the honor
able insignia of their crafts, with ban
ners flying, bearing notices expressive
of their hopes and aspirations, are as
significant as were, in their time, the
pomp and pageantry of mail-clad knights
and triumphant conquerers. 1t is emil
nently fitting that In this great republic
the toilers should have day consecrated
to their own glorification, significant OF
the triumph OF Democracy and OF the
recognition OF the dignity of labor.
"The utilitarian may ask, oui bonof
What is the goodf True, these celebra-
tions are not means whereby to increase
the number Of yards of cotton cloth pro-
duced. They viii not add pound to the
output of the mines. But men do not
live by bread alone. Not our Logical,
mensurative faculty. saws Herr Teufels-
sdrockh, 'our imaginative faculty Is king
over usi' We are ruled by symbols as
much as by hard facts. Sentiment has as
much to do with our lives as reason. II
the annual celebration OF the day when
freedom was rung In by the peal Of the
Liberty bell In Independence Hall shall
make us better patriots; II among the
mournful associations OF Memorial Day
and remembering what IT cost to preserve
our Union, we shall be moved to deeper
love of country, why, then, may not the
celebration OF this day help to awaken
and broaden the consciousness In the toll
ing million OF the dignity, the true manli.
ness Of honest iaborf"
The Rev. Father Fitzgerald should b,