The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-09-06
ALL ENJOYED IT
Labor Day Celebrated With
Appropriate Ceremonies.
Parade, Program at Park, and
Many Athletic Events.

Topeka's laboring classes celebrated
Labor day with appropriate cere-
monies. starting with a parade at 1
o'clock on Kansas avenue, and wind
ing up with a program of speaking,
athletic events and a general good
time at Gage park which lasted well
into the night. Business as a whole
was suspended during the day, and
hundreds of people who did not take
part in the regular festivities took ad-
vantage of the opportunity for day
off and INDUCED in stunts of their own
particular liking. Ball games and pic
mics, aided by the cool weather, were
popular and the railroads report
heavy business from short trippers.
The labor parade compared favor
ably with that of other years despite
the fact that out of a union MEM
bership of between 1000 and 5000 in
the, city, only about 1000 appeared in
line, and union bands were conspicu-
Dus by their absence, not only in the
parade but in the other ceremonies as
well. The only music of the day was
furnished by the boys band from the
State Industrial school, which Is a
non-union organization. The boys
led the parade. leaving the boiler
makers to break the funeral silence
of the main line of march with their
hammers on the sides of a miniature
locomotive, with an electric riveter
First Prize to BoiIermakers.
Members of the Boilermakers' union
marched after their ingenious parade
entry and won first prize offered for
the best float. There were eleven
floats in all, including the motor car
which escorted Miss Regina Schmidt,
the labor queen. Miss Schmidt, who
Is member of the bookbinders' union,
was properly crowned for the occasion
and held a bouquet of red roses. The
city fireman won the first prize for
being the best uniformed formation
In the parade. The prize was SIS in
cash
The entire student body of the State
Industrial school marched in the pa
rade and followed their band. The
first decorated float was that of the
Topeka Industrial Council and repre-
scented the open shop plan. On the
sides of the float 1t was announced
that the burial of the open shop would
soon be in order. ]. o. Stevic rode in
this float armed with shovel. The
carpenters showed a small house by
which it was attempted to contrast the
difference of the open and closed
shop. Among the plumbers display
was a bathtub in which two small
boys were having a splash under the
hot sun. The Brotherhood of Railway
Carmen had as their entry miniature
box car with an inscription in favor
"closed" shop conditions were also
contrasted by the railway clerks The
'open shop" conditions were depicted
by a washerwoman busily engaged IN
her work while the CLOSED shop" was
represented by a we'll groomed family
sitting in an deliberately furnished
room. Blacksmiths. bakers and car
renters marched in the parade garbed
in solid white.
Program at Gage Park.
After countermarching on Kansas
avenue to Eighth avenue. the parade
broke up and the crowd moved to
Gage park, where a diversified pro-
gram was held. consisting of public
speaking. a ball game, and other ath-
lotic events including several boxing
matches. The principal speaker in the
afternoon was Mrs. Kate Richards
O'Hare, prominent labor leader and
Socialist. \ Several local labor leaders
spoke to the evening crowd
Before the next election. the Non
partisan league will have organized
the farmers of Kansas; Governor AL
len and his industrial court will have
forced the city workers to organize.
Then get together with the farmers
and come here to Topeka and take
over the government of the state. with
the purpose of securing to the workers
the products of their toll. This is the
labor Day message that bring you"
Mrs. O'Hare told the labor unions of
Topeka at Gage park Monday after
noon.
Refers to Nonpartisan League.
Mrs. O'Hares frequent references
to the Nonpartisan league were greet
cd with spasmodic cheers from the
working men assembled.
They told us that they took our
boys into the army, away from their
homes and their jobs. to make the
world cafe for democracy" she de-
clared. I'VE made Germany safe for
democracy, and the boys came home
to find that they had made their jobs
here safe for autocracy.
They say that the lives of the
thousands of American boys who did
not come back from France, the boys
in hospitals and insane asylums today,
and the billions upon billions of dollars
wasted and wealth destroyed, were the