The
History of Labor Day
How it Came About - What it Means
"Labor
Day differs in every essential way from the other holidays
of the year in any country. All other holidays are in a more
or less degree connected with conflicts and battles of man's
prowess over man, of strife and discord for greed and power,
of glories achieved by one nation over another. Labor
Day...is devoted to no man, living or dead, to no sect,
race, or nation."
Labor Day,
the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor
movement and is dedicated to the social and economic
achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly
national tribute to the contributions workers have made to
the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.
Founder
of Labor Day
More than
100 years after the first Labor Day observance, there is
still some doubt as to who first proposed the holiday for
workers.
Some
records show that Peter J. Mcguire, general secretary of the
Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a cofounder of the
American Federation of Labor, was first in suggesting a day
to honor those "who from rude nature have delved and
carved all the grandeur we behold."
But
Peter McGuire's place in Labor Day history has not gone
unchallenged. Many believe that Matthew Maguire, a
machinist, not Peter McGuire, founded the holiday. Recent
research seems to support the contention that Matthew
Maguire, later the secretary of Local 344 of the
International Association of Machinists in Paterson, N.J.,
proposed the holiday in 1882 while serving as secretary of
the Central Labor Union in New York. What is clear is that
the Central Labor Union adopted a Labor Day proposal and
appointed a committee to plan a demonstration and picnic.
The
First Labor Day
The first
Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5,
1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the
Central Labor Union. The Central Labor Union held its second
Labor Day holiday just a year later, on September 5, 1883.
In 1884
the first Monday in September was selected as the holiday,
as originally proposed, and the Central Labor Union urged
similar organizations in other cities to follow the example
of New York and celebrate a "workingmen's holiday"
on that date. The idea spread with the growth of labor
organizations, and in 1885 Labor Day was celebrated in many
industrial centers of the country.
Labor
Day Legislation
Through
the years the nation gave increasing emphasis to Labor Day.
The first governmental recognition came through municipal
ordinances passed during 1885 and 1886. From them developed
the movement to secure state legislation. The first state
bill was introduced into the New York legislature, but the
first to become law was passed by Oregon on February 21,
1887. During the year four more states — Colorado,
Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York — created the
Labor Day holiday by legislative enactment. By the end of
the decade Connecticut, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania had
followed suit. By 1894, 23 other states had adopted the
holiday in honor of workers, and on June 28 of that year,
Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September
of each year a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and
the territories.
A
Nationwide Holiday
The form
that the observance and celebration of Labor Day should take
were outlined in the first proposal of the holiday — a
street parade to exhibit to the public "the strength
and esprit de corps of the trade and labor
organizations" of the community, followed by a festival
for the recreation and amusement of the workers and their
families. This became the pattern for the celebrations of
Labor Day. Speeches by prominent men and women were
introduced later, as more emphasis was placed upon the
economic and civic significance of the holiday. Still later,
by a resolution of the American Federation of Labor
convention of 1909, the Sunday preceding Labor Day was
adopted as Labor Sunday and dedicated to the spiritual and
educational aspects of the labor movement.
The
character of the Labor Day celebration has undergone a
change in recent years, especially in large industrial
centers where mass displays and huge parades have proved a
problem. This change, however, is more a shift in emphasis
and medium of expression. Labor Day addresses by leading
union officials, industrialists, educators, clerics and
government officials are given wide coverage in newspapers,
radio, and television.
The vital
force of labor added materially to the highest standard of
living and the greatest production the world has ever known
and has brought us closer to the realization of our
traditional ideals of economic and political democracy. It
is appropriate, therefore, that the nation pay tribute on
Labor Day to the creator of so much of the nation's
strength, freedom, and leadership — the American worker.