The Connecticut labor news., 1923-09-15

out organization labor would still be enslaved In the language of the Knights of Labor let me say:
 Labor is noble and holy. To de- fend it from degradation, to divest 1t | of the evils to body, mind, and estate i, which ignorance and greed have inn ! posed, and to rescue the toiler from the grasp of the selfish is a work worthy of the noblest and best of the race"
 For that exalted purpose men and women have banded themselves to- gether and through their combined
 effort labor has been rescued from
 "the grasp of the selfish"
 It is charged against organized la
 Dor that it's members make mistakes and that some of us barter away the gifts of freedom. That is true. Even God himself made the Judas who be- trayen His own son. We are learn ing to do better every day: Could 1 presume to send Labor Day message to those who think as they work l would say:
 "Direct your attention to the ellm- ination ofthe middleman who doubles the price of anthracite between the mine and the coal bin of the con- sumner. The miner invests his labor, the operator invests his dollar, the railroad company invests it's capital in transportation of the joint product 1 of miner and operator. All ot these charges are, or may be, known. When the consumer stores his coal 1t costs about twice as much as miner, opet- ator, and railroad receive for their joint effort in production and trans portation. Who gets the other half? "Let the intelligent inquiry into that question take the place of the useless grumbling we have heretofore Iindulged in, and perhaps more good may follow than if we expand our
 lungs in discussing the beauties of sovietism in far-aWay Russia.
 When we do that, and do it right, we shall have qualified to attempt the solution of other problems. That is the most vital question before us now. If you don't believe me let your thoughts go back to last winter when you were trying to extract heat from hreproof stuff that rascals sent to us instead of anthracite. Properly understood Labor Day is a day on which all that is noble, lofty, ambitious, and progressive Tn the worker should be appealed to. Those who discuss. the questions ot the hour before ndustrians on that day should
 be educators; they should be teach
 CTS of the gospel of humanity and its
 neds not mammon and its greeds. From Darkness Into the Light. l Those who address meetings on that day are burdened with welghty
 responsibility. It is their duty to lteach independence of thought and
 action to the industrian. The right ot
 man to the earth and its products the l hic ates, and the duty of the lndustrlan las a self-reliant citizen, should occupy lthe thought of the speaker and be the theme of his discourse.
 In olden times workmen were forced into the arena to cease from
 toll while killing each other for the
 amusement of their owners and
 masters. In later times workmen
 Iwere obliged to continue at work
 unceasing work-which killed the best
 lin man-the mental-through hard
 lunceasing toll while adding to the
 profits of the employer.
 When holidays were observed in ancient times they were Tn commem- 7 toration of some notable event IT which the laborer was not consider.
 ed; in honor of some image ot Wooo
 or stone, or else to celebrate the an niversary of some sage warrior, sam or hero, who had been called to his : eternal home.
 Labor Day is to be day of rest
 of recreation and education. The physical in man is to rest while th' mental is to be improved. The day |, lis to be celebrated not in honor O any man living or dead, but in homo , of. and by, living, throbbing, intelli :, gent humanity, the needs of whicf f stand higher than respect for thu !, memory of the dead or a regard to
 their wishes.
 Proclaim the Gospel of Humanity. e Today, tomorrow, the future are al V lbefore us on Labor Day; of these w r think. talk, and for these we work ;. That which will best serve the llvin' f women and men of today, and tn r future, should receive the careful at I ltention of all who take part in hon :" bring that greatest of all factors I r ministering to the good of the "ori
 I-LABOR.
 From servitude in which h
 lcould, without question, be killed 10 f lth'e entertainment of a master, tn ,,i worker has emerged and now stand :; free from every thrall save hls oW Il tiealousies and prejudices- If Labo ~ lDay is observed as it ought to be tn ,e gospel of humanity will be understoo lbv all women and men; there will b ,- no slaves to employer, party, boss, C # creed.
 te That which alone can change eN ,7 erything between the grass and tn ,1 stars from natures original to tn [u useful and the beautiful will be hor 1- lored. if 70 "Love your neighbor as yourself -e though he bow not before the sam >o altar with you. Do unto your ne1gf s1 Dor as. you would have him do unt T. you" will have meanlng not no, II Understood as it should be this sid ~ of the portals where eternity begin