The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1922-09-02
4 Thought For Labor Day

act Of congress and the legislatures of nearly all
the states in the union. 1t is distinctively' an
American holiday dedicated to the American
workers of Drawn and brain.
Labor Day is not alone for Union Labor. 1t
is day that has been set apart in honor of all
persons who perform useful service in shops and
stores in factories and mills, in Offices farms,
in mines and railroads. 1t is intended to be a
day for rest ami recreation for study and reflec-
ton, a day for planning and doing.
Labor Day celebrations conducted largely
by Union Labor, which has the machinery for
orgariz iug such, but they attended by persons
from all walks in life who as welcome as it
they were members Of organized labor. Indeed,
Union Labor prefers to have non-members attend
Labor Day gatherings that they may hear
the union side of the great labor problem, and
hearing it they may understand and have SYM
pathy
This Labor Day should furnish an excellent op-
portnity to impress upon all people the fact that
the American worker is not destroyer. He is a
builder His mind works constructivcly with the
sound of his hamemr and the buzz of his He
would not fcolishly tear down the great structure
Of civilization which has taken many years in the
building and attempt to erect another in its place
over night. He knows it can It be DONE Men may
fancy and possibly hope such things, but they are
merely r;lstimes. The worker may have his dreams
ard his IDEALS but he is balanced by the logic
of his reasoning and the constructive training Of
his occupation, the blending Of which has made
the labor movement of this country what it is
today.
The American workers not chained to
conservatism anchored to precedent and based on
habit fear, they be urcd to its oppo
site extreme by speculation adventure. The
typical union is one who is facing the
morning and always ready to step forward, but
never to release one foot until he is quite certain
there is solid ground ahead upon which he can be
secure. One may tread daringly and sometimes
successfully over a treacherous bog, but it is cx-
eee4nglX 4angsrans t9 mahah an army over it.
That's WHY Unions ID; hot move as fast as many
inpatient members would have them do.
See what happened in Russia where the workers
aimed to go from Czarsm to Communism, from
the bondage of their Egypt to the freedom Of their
Canaan, to the land of "promise, flowing with
milk and honcy,'' in single day and by blow
Of their potico economic hammer, forgetting
ignoring the lesson history teaches, that civilian
tion is growth, not convulson. It took 40 years
in ''the wdcrness' for the slaves of Egypt to
prepare themselves for the communism Of
Canaan.
Revolutions may, and they have, regeneratcd
governments, but they invariably leave the great
of the people in the same economic state if
not worse. The process of industry, matter
if it is privately or collectively owned, is slow
1t is growth. 1t not be otherwise. Govern
ments may be founded over night but industry
work, long patient work, from the tilng Of
the soil to the serving in the home; from discovery
Of minerals to finished construction; from land,
through labor to wealth. It can thrive through
transition, but revolution is death to it, That is
why there is so much suffering in Russia. The
government has little trouble in functioning, but
it is different with industry.
The lesson this Labor Day teaches is that the
workers in every land have made their greatest
progress through the evolutionary, educational
process 1t has brought them greater happiness
than they enjoyed before at less cost and sacri-
flee 1t may be trifle slow we measure time,
but it is and certain, and there is rarely a
back-tral necessary to take.
just now we are passing through period of I'M
certainly. 1t is time that tries the souls of all.
The workers arc being hard -drven in their heroic
effort to hold that which they have gained in the
past. The opposition to them is united and pow
ing and gives nothing. It challenges labor to a
fight to finish.
That is what makes the situation trying and
serious So, let the workers take counsel on Mon
day next on how best to meet it. Stronger organ.
zation closer federation, more education and con-
certed political action; all will play important
part in The final determination of the present
issue.
This is not the time to introduce into the move
ment controversial subjects that will tend to Iii.
vide the workers. What is needed most is unity
Without it against such a powerful an,
united opposition will be difficult to attain The
sage slogan of the American colonists, "United
Stand, Divided We Fall,'' is as applicable to
the cause Of industrial freedom as it was to that
of free government. All must adhere to it.
Public opinion is to be safeguarded by
trying to prevent it by law from coming into con
tact with heresy. There is no surer way to give
heresy hold than to prescribe it. 49,.
Possibly Ienin and LlOyi George on holding