Newark leader. ([Newark, Ohio]) 1917-1946, 1922-09-01
LABOR DAY MESSAGES
LABOR DAY
By Frank Morrison
Secretary, A. F. of l..

Labor Day, 1922, is the most signi-
fcant in the history of the American
Trade Union Movement, for at tlis
time the workers are confronted by
more adverse court decisions, and by
stronger combinations of capitalists
than at any other time. This situa-
ton, however, is logical. 1t is the
only answer to labor's demands for a
better day that greed and autocracy
know. This demand is backed By in
creasing intelligence, solidarity and
will. Arrayed against this develop
ment of labor, hostile codrt decisions
and frenzied edicts of anti-union or
ganizations are nothing, they but
remind us that history is a record CT
selfish minorities that would ihwart
the high and strong desires of millions
CT people.
On the anvil of resistance are given
life and form to the hopes and as
oirations of labor. Ideals flourish
under opposition. 1t seems but yester-
day that courts held as conspiratcrs
even three workmcn when found con-
versing on the public highway. Then
were organized workers considered
social outlaws. They had no stantine
in the public mind; they had 10 press
and were without voice to plead thei1
cause. Through agitation and educa-
tlor these workers changed public
opinion and by winning the right to
organize, forced the courts to bow to
new social viewpoint. it was az
epoch-making event. The new ideal
this actual brotherhood fired the
workers with zeal for higher man
hocd. They began ag:'liing for free
nublic schools, to abolish child labor
t. secure the secret ballot at publii
elections, and for every other socia
law now on our Federal and State
statutes.
On this Labor Day trade unionists
do not forget the trials and triumphs
of the men who pioneered the organ
lied labor movement. To say that the
militant, intelligent and resourcefu
organized workers of today are dis
couraged because of present-day op
position to their movement is to say
that they have forgotten industria
history, and the resistance of every
autocracy to any force that woulo
challenge it's power. | do not mini
mize the days of trial before organ
lied labor, but l do insist that these
barriers are nothing compared with
obstructions that the men of even two
generations ago were compelled tt
remove. Trade unionists of today
have experience; they have a back
ground; vast educational institutions
are at their disposal; they are devel
oping their own educational facilities
they have press that is increasing
in power and worth, and they have
the support of earnest men anc
women outside their ranks who cor
rectly appraise the trade union move
ment. There is no rose-strewn roao
to the land of freedom and social
justice. This asniration of the work
ers can be approximated only through
knowledge and contest, the price
exacted for all progress.
The daily progress of our move
ment can not be estimated. Neither
can we produce a counting-room
balance on the cost of strikes, and the
expense of our unions against the in
tellectual and physical development OF
the workers, which has only been pos
sible through organized labor.
Labor will continue it's upward
journey. It's rebuffs but remind us
of the law of life that advancement
comes only through resistance.