The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1900-09-04
LABOR DAY.

The Labor Day exercises and gen.
eral holiday were a genuine success.
There was nothing to mar the harmony
of the proceedings. There was the
most perfect weather, which Hawaii
gives in September. If there is a show
er it is only one of those which merely
cool the upper air and fall in gentlest
spray upon the earth, with not strength
enough to fold a leaf of the sensitive
plant of our hills. The setting for the
show was admirable. Probably no
scene on earth could the sons of labor
find more fair than that which framed
their demonstration yesterday.
The display made showed that there
is a larger field of trade industry on
the Islands than is usually considered,
and the amount shown is not nearly as
large as the total trade work of the
city is. On this matter the statistics
which will in time be furnished by the
Census Bureau in Washington will be
revelation one way and another there
are a very large number of trades car
ried on here, and even yesterdays dis
play did not come any where near the
full amount.
The dignity of labor is a thing that
we all understand here The skill of
labor is what all must admire. Or
ganized labor and organized capital
working together get the most splendid
of results, as has been shown over and
over again in the history of the earth.
There have been years and centuries
when the laborer was disregarded but
after all it was the mere unskilled lab
or. The skilled laborer has ever main
tanned his own. His power in all states
stretches back into the dim past, and
may be recognized even in Tubal Cain
of the Hebrew legend, and again in the
estimation he was held in the political
system of Severus.
The type of the dignified laborer is
the blacksmith He forms the aris-
tocracy of labor, if there can be an
aristOcracy in republicanism. And vet
we borrow our word aristocracy from
the true republican root the Republics
of Greece, All that aristocracy means
in its original is but the government
by the best. Aristoi. They were the
best the most honored in the State. And
in the hard days when every man had
to defend his head with his own hand.
there was nothing like having good
iron welded and hammered easy to his
palm.
And thus it is that the blacksmith
and his sturdy arm has become the
synonym for labor, and moreover for
national and patriotic labor When the
Jews were in sore straits, being OPP
pressed by their foes, in the history of
Samuel comes the wall over many CEN
turtles There was no smith found in
the land of Israel" And when Nebu-
chadnezzar wanted to clip the claws of
the Jewish lion, he carried away all
the princes, the craftsmen, and the
smith" the latter being specially men
toned The mere fact that the name
smith" is such a common one in our
family nomenclature shows how pop
ular the trade was, how much it was
honored and how proud a large section
of the population was to bear the name.
From the primitive blacksmith has
sprung the most magnificent conquests
of labor. At the blacksmiths forge have
been born the locomotive, the steam
hammer, the boiler, and all the work of
iron and steel which has harnessed the
forces of steam to the uses of mankind.
And then labor went further It
gained it's skill in one direction and
then sought conquests in another.
Steam having been conquered, it took
up electricity and worked so that it has
practically chained the lightning, and
brought it to be the servant of man.
How far the work in this direction can
go, who can tell. We are only on the
very threshold.
All these things belong to labor. The
man who makes great discoveries in
mechanics must be laborer. Stephen
son was a laborer. Edison of the pres
ent time was laborer. Both worked
with their hands and were skilled in
the use of their hands. They added
to their mechanical skill the attribute of
brains. Join labor and brains together
and the world is before you.
Labor day calls forth certainly many
thoughts, many ideas which cannot be
comprised in a short article but it af-
fords The Star the opportunity Of say
ing that it is distinctly a worthy day
in the year and should be celebrated.