The Connecticut labor news., 1922-09-01
LABOR DAY, 1922, MOST SIGNIFICANT
 IN LABOR ANNALS
of Workers Can Only Be Fulfilled By Resisting Opposi-
 ton, Says Morrison.
By FRANK MORRISON, Secretary, American Federation of Labor.

Labor Day, 1922, is the most signi6- cant in the history of the American Trade Union Movement, for at this more adverse court decisions, and by stronger combinations of capitalists than at any other time This situa- toin, however, is logical. It 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 court decisions and frenzied edicts of anti-union or ganizations are nothing-they but remind us that history IS record of selfish minorities that would thwart the high and strong desires of mill lions of people.
 On the anvil of resistance are given life and form to the hopes and aspira- tions of labor Ideals flourish under opposition. It seems but yesterday that courts held as conspirators even three workmen when found convers- ing on the public highway. Then were organized workers considered social outlaws They had no stand ing in the public mind; they had no press, and were without voice to plead their cause Through agitation and education these workers changed public opinion and by winning the right to organize, forced the courts to bow to a new social viewpoint. It was an epochmaking event. The new ideal-this actual brotherhood-hred ed the workers with zeal for a higher manhood. They began agitatings for free public schools, to abolish child labor, to secure the secret ballot at public elections, and for every other social 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 ized labor movement To say that the militant, intelligent and resource ful organized workers of today are discouraged because of present-day opposition to their movement IS to say that they have forgotten indus trial history, and the resistance of every autocarcy to any force that would challenge its power. 1 do not minimize the days of trial before or ganized labor, but I do insist that these barriers are nothing compared with Instructions that the men ot even two generations, ago were com pelled to remove. Trade unionists of today have experience; they have background vast educational institu tions are at their disposal; they are developing their own educational facilities; they have a press that IS increasing in power and worth, and they have the support of earnest men and women outside their ranks who correctly appraise the trade union movement There is no rose-strewn road to the land of freedom and soc ial justice This aspiration of the workers 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 countingroom bal ance 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 possible through organized labor.
 Labor will continue its upward journey It's rebuffs but remind us of the law of life. that advancement comes only through resistance