Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-09-08
IT WAS LABOR'S DAY.
Many Men and Capable Musi. clans In Line Yesterday.

The Largest and Best Demonstration
 Ever Given in the City-Nearly 5000
 Men. Marched for Almost Two Hours
 Afternoon and Evening Festivities
 Were Largely Attended.
 Labor day had its first reai observ- ance in Waterbury yesterday. All the factories, stores and other places where large numbers of people work honored the day by closing, and the hands were on the streets looking up good spots from which to view the great parade they had been reading so much about in the papers. Many were wondering if the parade would be as big an affair as they had been led to believe, but after the last man in the parade had passed by nearly everybody declared that once at least for won- der the reports published relative to public entertainment had not been ex- aggerated. It was a sight well worth witnessing and one who likes to be fair about things would find 1t hard to tell which Is entitled to the most credit for it, the committee of arrangements, the men who did the marching or the mu- sicians whose. clarion notes woke up the whole town and attracted young and old from the most remote corners of the town into the streets through which the parade had been billed to pass. The decorations were a com plete triumph and after looking them over and seeing that nearly everybody had contributed something to the gen. era1 effect in the way of flags or punt ing, the notion that there Is anything but the best of feeling existing among the neoDle of this town looked rather | far fetched Everybody appeared to be happy. even the devil himself, who cut such a swath in the procession, was wreathed in smiles, and as he nur- ried along folks remarked that aftes all perhaps he was not half as bad as | they say. and crowds of girls rushed from one street to another in the hope | of being rewarded bv a bow from his majesty. The men on horseback made q stunning. appearance and considering l the provocatfon. very few of the ani l ma1s showed any disposition to relieve themselves of their load. Usually in big street parade somebody who has been chosen to act as marshal comes to | 1 ception. every man who mounted charger remaining Tn the saddle until dismissed by the grand marshal. The weather was favorable for outdoor ex- ercises and no doubt this had some thing to do in bringing out the crowds, many of whom spent the day sight-see- l ing about the town after taking in the. parade. l& a
 l Almost everyone you talk with has I an idea of his own as to the number of men in line. Some say between l. TOO and 1,sOO, while others claian that counting the musicians, men in car- riages and on horseback and those on foot there could not have been less l than 5000 persons in the procession. But what matters about that; 1t Is ad- mitted on all sides that the parade was a great success both from spectacular I standpoint as well as strength of num- bers. It showed that Waterbury is very strong union town and that the I different trades are not composed of any particular class or set of men, but are made up of share of all the ele- ments that enter into the makeup of l Waterbury's cosmopolitan population. Probably this is why organized labor has made such strides in this city. No mans race or color Is a barrier be- tween him and the craft he wishes to become affiliated with, and once he en- I ters the portals of the organizations I and satisfies himself that its aim Is right, something which 1t does not take | him long to find out, he not only de- cides to remain there, but uses every possible effort to bring others in. And so organized labor in Waterbury grew \ in a few years from a handful of men to a body embracing practically the skilled and much of the unskilled labor in the market. The line of march and l general arrangements were substan- tially the same as announced in Sat urday's Democrat and everything went through without a hitch.
 Owing to some misunderstanding tho vaudeville performance which was to have been given in the auditorium in the afternoon did not come off, but the evening performance went on and was we'll attended. The dance at the City hall attracted a crowded house and turned out to be one of the great social 1 events of the season. The grand march was led by President John T. Daly of l the Central Labor union and wife, fol- lowed by over POO couples.
 A feature of the day was the distri- button of 5000 canes by the Hellmann Brewing Go. The canes were of the bamboo variety and all we'll selected sticks Each bore broad ribbon with the company's ad, and the efforts of many women. and especially children. to secure one eof these souvenirs resulted in some of the funniest scrimmages ever seen in Waterbury in broad day light. The distribution was in charge of George Robarts, and he was ably assisted by IT. J. Austin, the well known fourth warden, and August Neschke. Jr.
 The Lithuanian Buffers and Polishers' | r1nion was ol1f in full force yesterday.