The age-herald., 1898-09-06
HOW LABOR DAY :. WAS CELEBRATED LabOring Men With Their Wives and :. ..e'1 e'.s.. s-'s' q. Y Families CAME TN GREAT THR0NGS Parades Through Principal Streets in - the Morning. EXERCISES FOLLOWED AT LAKE p9s4 Welcome Address Delivered By Mayor . Evans-Dilcher Said the Unions s .:l. Should be Ashamed of Not
 Having Better Parade.
EXERCISES FOLLOWED AT LAKE

Labor Day was fittingly celebrated in
 Birmingham The toiling masses took ad-
 vantage, of the one day in the year set I apart for their recreation and enjoyment
 sand turned out in large numbers. I The cares and monotontes of every day
 existance were temporarily laid aside and
 forgotten and mirth and merriment were
 the ruling spirits of the day. ! People began to pour into the city at an lsearly hour. Incoming cars on all the street railway lines were heavily -ladened
 and by g o'clock the streets wore much
 I the appearance of circus day or Mardi
 l Gras.s agt
 | The regular trains brought in large II crowds from the surrounding towns al- I most every mining town in the district be-
 Ing represented by delegation of men,
 women and children decked out in holiday
 l attire. .
 I Bessemer, Pratt City, Wylam. Wood
 lawn, East Lake, Avondale, Elyton and
 | other suburban towns helped to swell the | crowd
 Forming the Parade I At 1O.S0 o'clock Grand Marshal Frank l Fornier began to form the parade at the | head of North Twentieth street, assisted l by his aides, Allen Stewart, Mike MCCOY
 ern, James H. Leath. Mike Cushing, Geo. 1 Diggins, w. H. Chichester and Dick Ar
 thur all mounted on prancing chargers. Owing to the extreme heat many of the l labor organizations did not turn out. but | quite creditable representation was got | ten in line.
 l A platoon of mounted officers from the l Birmingham police department headed the
 procession and made quite an imposing ap- pearance. The following officers composed | the platoon
 Chief of Police T. e. Mcdonald, Night | Captain Will Weir, and Officers Mcdonald,
 Call, Culpepper, Patton, Hagood, NIX,
 Hamilton, Reese and Dishroon. | At l1:15 o'clock the order to move was
 given and the procession moved off in the following order:
 | Platoon of mounted police. | Chase's City band.
 | Mayor and members of the board of | aldermen in carriages. Members of the board of police com- | mission in carriages. Speakers of the day in carriages. officers of the Trades Council in car riages.
 Miners and other members of labor or ganizations on foot.
 Curey Model band. Members of various labor organizations. Pratt City band
 Members of various labor organizations. The line of march was as folows Twen- tieth street to Sixteh avenue, Sixth avenue to Eighteenth street. Eighteenth street to Second avenue, Second avenue to Twenty first street, Twenty y-first street to First ave- nue. First avenue to Eighteenth street, counter-marching back to Twenty-first street. | , Crowds App1auded The streets along the line of march were lined with people who gave hearty ap-
 plause as the "horny handed sons of toil' passed by. At Twenty y-first street and | First avenue the parade disbanded and the | Electric cars were boarded for East Lake, where the principal exercises were to take place 1 | Until 2 o'clock the Birmingham Railway and Electric Company was taxed to its ut- l most capacity handlig the crowds, notwith-
 standing the fact that they had ten trains on the East Lake line. Besides the electric cars every available dummy and car was pressed into service. Promptly at clock the exercises at the Lake began, and an immense crowd was in attendance.
 Mayor welcomed Them Mayor Frank " Evans welcomed the trades unions in very appropriate ad-
 dress. He was followed by President W. c. Cunningham of the Trades Council.
 President Fairley of the Alabama District United Mine workers of America was next Introduced, and made a strong speech. The oratien of the day was delivered by Frederick Dfcher, member of the nation al executive board of the United Mine Workers of America MT. Dilcher is very forcible speaker, and was enthusiastically received. He talked very plainly to the laborfng men, and first proceeded to roast them for not better keeping up the unions He censured them for the manner in which they had turned out in the parade in the morning. and said it was a shame and a great surprise to him. MT Dflcher spoke on trades unionism, and pointed out to his large crowd of hearers how they could petter their own cohoi1ons and organizations by supporting unionism. He paid beautiful. tribute to Birming- ham, and said that he thought that this city would within the next fifteen years become the New York of the south, and gave some illustrations of its wealth to support his belief. h F The speaker was accorded an attentive hearing and his speech will no doubt be the cause of more closely drawing together the labor organizations of the district. After MT. Dilcher's address the people strolled about the park land the refreshment stands were well patronized. Shooting gal-
 leries. booths of all descriptions, sea wave and other amusements which had been pro- vided gave the park the appearance of a miniature Coney Island, the ripping waters