Evening star., 1933-09-04
Thousands Scurry for Shell
ter as Heavy Storm
Breaks Over City.
MOTHERS WITH CHILDREN
IN ARMS ARE DRENCHED
Paraders Continue March While
Judges Take Refuge in Bus
to View Pageant.

A heavy downpour, coming about
midway of the annual Labor day fire.
mems parade along Pennsylvania and
Constitution avenues this afternoon
broke up in confusion the thousands Of
spectators who lined the parade line Of
march.
Parents herding knots of children
and thousands of local and visiting
spectators who had purchased seats in
the open stands along Pennsylvania
avenue and others who had edged to
points of vantage along the .curbs on
both sides of Pennsylvania avenue, were
sent scurrying for cover, drenched to
the skin.
Scores of mothers carrying small
children were in the crowds that broke
and scattered before the downpour.
Parade Goes on Amid Din.
However. the parade went on amid
the din or fire sirens, the changing Of
bells and the strains of martial music
The elaborate floats, most of them
made of flimsy material not designed
for such weather, gave a bedraggled
appearance, but the firemen and other
marchers took their bad break on the
weather philoSophically and all of them
drenched to the skin marched along,
waving gaily to the few remaining spec-
tators who could find shelter in door
ways and under awnings along the
Avenue.
The judges OF the parade, forced
from their quarters by the downpour.
were put into bus and continued to
w from,
All of them we're drenched
While Washington was witnessing its
annual Labor day celebration under
such adverse conditions, labor through
out the country was hailing the dawn
of a new era for the American worker,
with work promised for all under the
outspread wings Of the Blue Eagle of
the N. R. A.
A gray day, with occasional light falls
Of rain, greeted the local and visiting
firemen who gathered for the eleventh
annual Labor day parade here and who
passed in review before Secretary of
War Dern, foreign diplomats. District
officials and reviewing committee OF
prominent District citizens.
Throngs lined the Capitals HISTORIC
with sirens shrieking and bells changing
On apparatus lovingly polished for the
greatest Of all days for the f1refighters.
They passed along Pennsylvania avenue
in stately array. with here and there
along the line of march the severity of
the show broken with gay band music,
comic floats and wholesome buffoonery.
Capital in Full Dress"
Washington was in full dress" for
the occasion, with flags and bunting
displayed everywhere, store fronts gayly
decorated and the parade route cleared
and policed for the show.
In a message to the firemen. broad
cast over coast-to-coast network of
the National Broadcasting Co., Secre-
tary Dern paid tribute to the N. R. A.
program to restore prosperity through
helping the status of the workers of
the country.
He spoke from a reviewing stand on
Pennsylvania avenue in front of the
District Building, as the vanguard Ct
the firemen's parade passed in review.
He recalled that the first Labor day
was celebrated in the United States
about SO years ago, with a parade by
the knights of Labor in New York City,
and told how, in 1894, Labor day be-
came set American celebration when
Congress set aside the first Monday in
September as legal holiday.
"Since then," he said Labor day
has been observed each year through
out the United States in some fitting
manner. The dignity of labor has
thereby been raised, and the public has
been made conscious of the funda-
mental fact that the welfare of the
N. A. Seeks Restoration.
"The great N. R. A. drive which is
now in progress recognizes this prln-
ciple and aims to restore prosperity to
the country by putting men back to
work at decent wages. Men out OF
work have no purchasing power. Men
working for starvation wages have
scant purchasing power. 1t Is only
when labor is employed at good wages
that there is market for the products
of our mills, factories, mines and farms.
Labor day ought to teach us that we
can only be prosperous when the
laboring man is prosperous. He passes
his prosperity around and We all get
a share of it.
"I wish to thank the District of
Columbia firemen for the privilege of
reviewing this wonderful parade and
making a few remarks over the radio
on this day dedicated to labor"
AS the day marked the close of the
first six months of the new deal'' Of
President Roosevelt, most of Washing
ton officialdom was taking its last
fling at Summer vacationing, but from
high places came pleas for labor to
Join fully into a partnership with en-
pioyers for the success of the admin
istration's recovery drive.
Secretary of Labor Perkins, who is
speaking today in Boston, recounted
before she left the Capital the objec-
tives of the N. R. A. and declared that
if advantage of its strength were taken,
I'VE should all come out of this strug-
gle in the good, old fashioned Ameri-
can way of victory"
Green Appeals to Labor.
William Green, president of the
American Federation of Labor, in his
annual Labor day message to the work.
ers of the country, today urged them to
concentrate on unioniZation and organ
ization to gain the full benefits Of the
N. r. A. campaign.
without the cooperation of labor"
he said, "the National Recovery Admin
istration would be fatally handicapped.
Never did the union have more vital
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