The labor argus. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1906-1915, 1909-09-02

in the haven of our hopes and the sun of
our lives hangs eternally in the zenith.
The chief glory of Labor Day consists
| in the hope it holds out of ultimate sue
cess, or at least of continuous progress in
the struggle of the workers to achieve
their rightful place in the world If we
may judge the future by the past each
succeeding Labor Day may be regarded
/ as marking the entrance upon new con-
quests. Other days of equal, and it may
be of greater Importance in the eyes of
the world, mark events the full potential
ity of which has already been largely
achieved These days are therefore in
| their nature memorials of the past. La
Dor Day, on the other hand, marks not
only the victories of the past but inspires
the hope of the future. Labor Day is es-
sentially an inspiration rather than a
memory, a summons to the field rather
than invitation to the altar On La
Dor Day sound the rcvellie of a new
day, not the taps of day that is done.
The vital interest of Labor Day is as
sured if only by the fact that each year
presents some new phase of the problem
confronting the labor movement. Wheth-
er it be in some new step achieved or in
some danger arisen, the man who
addresses the assembled workers and
their friends is certain to find at his hand
a theme with which to hold the attention
or arouse the enthusiasm of his hearers.
Labor Day, 1909, is exception to this
rule. On the contrary, the present occa-
sion finds the labor movement Of the
country confronted by a situation the
gravity of which can not be exaggerated.
has been attacked in a manner that
threatens is practical annihilation. Con
sdering all things, and particularly the
manner and source of the attack in ques-
ton, it is reasonably safe to say that
never in it's long history has the labor
movement confronted danger even ap-
preaching in it's possibilities, and indeed
probabilities, the menace that now threat
ems it.
From time immemorial the path of la
Dor has been strewn with thorns rather
than with roses. The forces of greed, of
prejudice, of passion and of pride, all
the historical opponents of labor in the
industrial world, have attacked the labor
movement in turn, and sometimes in unit
cd form. These attacks have been met
and overcome, it may be with much loss
and suffering, but nevertheless with the
final result of Strengthening the ranks of
organized labor and advancing its cause
Opposition of this kind is natural and
the field in which it is encountered is
comparatively speaking, a fair one. The
progress made by organized labor is it
self proof that this opposition need not
be feared, that it is a stimulant rather
than 4 menace to the growth of the labor
movement.
Today new and unexpected form OF
opposition to labor manifests itself. The
courts of the land, those tribunals of jus
tice in which, of all places, there shoulc
be least disposition to take sides agalns
: the workers, are now arrayed against the
, labor movement. From the highest cour
in the Nation the word has gone forti
that the labor movement is conspiracy
{ and subject to penalties designed for it
, determination as such. The sword o.
justice has been cast into the scale will
the contentious of capital, and labor ha
/ been challenged to outweigh these force
with its simple plea for constitutions
: right.
' We have said that the gravity of th'
=. situation thus presented can not be exag
5 gerated Never since the right of labo
= to organize for its protection was lie
s gally recognized, has a blow been strucl
= that equals even approaches in slgn1n
b canoe the decision of the United State
i Supreme Court in the Hatters case. AM
p that decision is but one of many of sim