The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1901-09-02
LABOR DAY.

out. The plans formulated are broad
and satisfactory in their scope. The
various trades will display their num-
bers and strength, and Will symbolic
their work in some cases. Then there
are to addresses during the day,
which will define the scope and the ex-
tent of the Labor Day movement. The
and festivity and a ball in the evening
concludes the program
Though to many the Labor Day cele-
bration seems a new thing, it is only
an old custom, fallen into disuetude,
revived once more. Every medieval
city in Europe used to have it's Labor
Day and most elaborate were tn func-
tons which were organized and carried
out. The Lord, Mayors show in Lon
don, which has now dwindled down in
20 practically a farce was at one time
a medium for the display of the oower
OF the organized trades, and these Or
ganizations h5 d a political as well as
commercial power. Like everything
else upon this earth, they had their
period of budding and growing, they
had their period of full growth, and
they had their period of decay. Now
the London city companies do not mean
what they used to mean.
But these companies in their time
represented fully what their names
imply, and the origin of some of them
is very venerable. The weavers formed
themselves into organization in 1lS4,
the port s in 1854, the parish clerks in
1928, and the saddlers in 1912. These
are the oldest organizations u !. trade
character in England. On the CONT
nent of Europe, especially in the cities
of what were known as the Low Coun-
tries, now Holland and Belgium there
are trade organizations which stretch
still further back, and have -reat his
tOrical interest.
The full list of London companies to-
tails up ninety-one, but some of the
trades of those medieval days have dis
appeared entirely and some have been
absorbed in other trades, while of
course many new ones have grown up
under the influence of steam and cleo
tricity. But looking through The list
of trades to be represented today in our
labor procession, one can find the
counterparts of some. The plumbers
union had it's. counterpart in the Com
pany of Plumbers founded in 1911; the
brotherhood of Carpenters finds it's
affiliation in the Company of Carpen-
tiers founded in 1477; the Bricklayers
Union descends from the Tilers and
Bricklayers of 1868; the Plasterers
Union had predecessors in London who
organized in 1901; the Painters Union
called themselves the Painter Stainers'
Company in 1881 the Iron Moulders'
Union was represented by the Foun-
ders' Company of 1914, and in some sort
by the Blacksmiths' Company of 1871.
and the Armourers and Braziers of
1853
The electrical Workers Union could
not have a counterpart among the list
of old London companies, for no one
knew anything about the application
of electricity in those days, nor could
the Boiler Makers and Iron Ship
builders. In the same way the Post
office clerks and letter carriers had no
existence. Letters were in those days
sent by special messenger or by priv
ate hand
Looking through the list one does not
md anything that assimilates with the
Sailors Union, and this is extraordn-
airy, as London was, during the CEN
turtles that the guilds or companies
We're being formed, one of the most |
prominent and safe of seaports, and |
there must have been. very large sea-
faring population. There were allied
trades represented among the COM
panies as Shipwrights in 1905, Fisher |
men in 1887 and Watermen in 1856. |
These latter were the men who piled in !
wineries across the river. They are
celebrated in Dibdin's verse and were
quite an important organization, but !
the ferry steamboat of the last century,
has knocked them completely on the
head, and it is very doubtful if any
wherry man, or, waterman as he used
to be called, can now be found to row
for Dogget's coat and badge.
All of which little scraps of informa-
ton go to show that we are only walk
ing in the footsteps of our ancestors,
and that it is questionable whether we
have in our modern organizations
reached the full power and dignity of
the past. But the labor organizations
have to meet present needs, and pres
emit thought. The details may be differ
emit but the essential spirit is the same,
It is to form a united front and to help i
the unfortunate of their company, guild
Dr. union.