The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-09-02

SLTSeLSp Wn1l0 the QI1V6TS Cd1l6d .OuLs
 Bring out your dead! Bring out your deadv' The corpses were piled into the carts like so much cord-wood by people who had grown callouS to death. Great trenches were dug and into these the bodies were thrown.
 The fire began in a bakers house in Pudding lane, and in the course of four days 1t destroyed 13,200 houses. eighty-nine churches, the city gates, the Royal Exchange, GuildhaH and the Custom House. About 100000 homeless people encamped in IeIington and Highgate fields Coming after the
 desolation of the plague, the distress
 was extreme.
 A year passed before London recov-
 cred from the shock, and realized that the conhagration had been a blessing The city was much improved in re- building, particularly by the use of stone and brick in place of wood as building materials.
 Five years after the fire the Monu-
 ment of London was commenced by Sir Christopher Wren. An inscription, placing the responsibility for the fire on the ''popish faction" was cut in | 1881, obliterated by James IT,. recut in | the reign of William III, and finally
 erased in 1881. It was this inscription, l asserting that the fire was part of a ''horrid plot for extirpating ye Prot estant religion and old English liberty, anu y0 4AIIO0OC4A5 POPCAJ c~AAo oAe~N- ery,'' that produced Pope's indignant lines:
 where London's column, pointing at the skies,
 Like tall bully, lifts the head. and 1ies.''
 | Organized workmen of America bring | considerable enthusiasm to the cele-
 bration of their great annual holiday. | Since the last observance of Labor Day the American Federation of La | bcr, which includes the great mass of the organized workers of both the United States and Canada, has accom-
 pIished many of the reforms for which | it stands. Public sentiment is aroused as never before against such evils as 1 child labor and the sweating system.
 The protection of the workers in
 mines mills and shops against condi- | tions that menace health, life and 1 limb has become a public question.
 Human life is not so cheap as it was ! a year ago.
 The organized labor movement in
 America has passed safely and un-
 scathed through a crisis. The McNa-
 mara exposures. 1t was predicted by many people to whom the wish was l father of the thought, would result | in the destruction of the labor unions
 The prediction has failed of fulfill
 ment and the American Federation and its affiliated unions, and the great
 railway organizations well, are ap-
 parent1y stronger today than ever be- | fore.
 Since Labor Day was last observed | the workTnen of the United States have | gained representation in the Pres1- 1 dents cabinet. The new Secretary of 1 Labor. William B. Wilson, knows from | hard experience the needs and necessf-
 ties of the workers. At the age of
 nine he became a coal miner, and his
 whole youth was spent as Q toiler in
 the Pennsylvania mines
 | Americas Labor Day ushers in a
 month of activity for the workers all | over the world. The British Trades
 Union congress will be held this month 1 in England, and many matters of great | moment will be discussed. There will also be important gath herings of French l and German labor interests during the
 month, and the German Social Democ-
 racy will hold it's congress in Jena.
 The death of August Rebel has been | a great blow to German socialism, fol lowing a year in which the party has , made little progress. The increase in
 mem bership has been the smallest in
 years, and most of the new members
 have been women. The circulation
 of the party press has fallen off.
 In Europe Labor Day is celebrated
 on the first of May, and that was the
 date originally adopted by the Ameri- l can Federation of Labor, but a change
 was soon made to the first Monday in | September. The first celebration and
 parade of this character in America
 was held on Sept. 5, 1882, by the Cen | traI Labor Union of New York Oregon
 was the first state to make Labor Day a legal holiday. The Oregon law
 was passed early in 18S7 and before
 the close of that year similar acts had
 been adopted by Colorado, New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts. 1 September has many virtues, not 1 the least of which is the fact that it has an 'sr'' in it's name. It marks the