The labor standard., 1918-09-01
MAKE READY FOR THE BIRTH OF
 A NEW DAY.
**Labor Day Thia Year is the Occasion For the Expression by the Toilers of Patriotism in the Highest Degree
By JAMES M. LYNCH
 New York State 1l4-s1 ~

Industrial Commissioner
 On this Labor Day, when for more than four years millions of men have been graphing in the most tremen- dous and momentous struggle that the world has known, other millions on this continent are evidencing love of country as we'll as observing and ce1e- brating the victories of peace. It is meet, therefore, that we should take stock of ourselves and the conditions that confront us.
 First, let us reiterate = and it is proper and essential so etc do-that we are firm in our determination to win the war
 No Peace by Compromise
 There must not be peace by com promise. We demand that there shall be decision that will spell the per- petuation of liberty, equality and jus tlce. That the peace treaty shall not be so framed as to make certain an other war.
 Toward that end, that unequivocal decision, we pledge our lives, our labor and our substance.
 How About Social Program?
 So much for the war. Now, how about the preservation and growth of those ideals for which our fathers strove and suffered, and for which they founded the organizations of labor :? Are these organizations to continue, to function, to gain in strength and ser vice? In the field of legislation, are the beneficent statutes enacted for the protection and well-being of the toilers to be maintained and strengthened :? Is the social programme to be extend ed and broadened?
 Foreign Wage Farmers Alert
 Wage earners in other allied bel- ligerent countries are not only asking these questions, but now, firm and active in their support of the war, are taking measures that will guarantee affirmative answers.
 Not alone do they propose that the conditions under which men and wo- men labor shall be made better, but, and this is the great and important point, these wage earners propose that they shall accomplish these ends through the unions of labor and through their own representatives in the law-making bodies. They propose that their ballots shall be made to count in their unions and on elec- tion day. They propose to function  cal organization, and then translate their demands into legislation through the representatives elected by their own party organization.
 Toilers in This Country
 Even now we can sense the desire of the toilers in this country for direct method of expression of their ideals, both political and economic. There is a growing feeling of solidarity and strength, and of conviction that mass action may not with the greatest degree of possible benefit be confined to the economic field; in other words, that the future welfare and progress of labor must be achieved through a combination of both economic and po- litical activities.
 Birth of New Day
 In this connection, I can do no bet ter than to quote the President of the United States. There can be no clearer expression of what I am at tempting to convey than these views of the man who is leading the world today in the great struggle for the preservation of democracy:
 "Every sign of these terrible days of war and revolutionary change, when economic and social forces are being upon the world whose effect no political seer dare venture to con- lecture, bids us search our hearts through and through and make them ready for the birth of a new day a day, we hope and believe, of greater opportunity and greater prosperity for the average mass of struggling men and women, and of greater safety and opportunity for children.
 "The old party slogans have lost their significance and will mean noth- ing to the voter of the future, for the war is certain to change the mind of Europe as well as the mind of America. Men everywhere are searching democratic principles to their hearts in order to determine their soundness, their sincerity, their to the real needs of their life, and every man with any vision must see that the real test of justice and right action is presently to come as it never came before.
 s'The men in the trenches, who have been freed from the economic serf- dom to which some of them have been accustomed, will, it is likely, return to their homes with a new view and a new impatience of all mere political phrases, and will demand real think ing and sincere action.
 ssThe days of political and economic