Fw: [express] Happy Labor Day

Got this in my email this morning and thought it very interesting.

 

Happy Labor Day everyone!

 

Capri

 

----- Original Message -----

From: Jennifer Thomas

To: ftp-express@googlegroups.com

Sent: Monday, September 01, 2008 8:42 AM

Subject: [express] Happy Labor Day

Hi folks,

Happy Labor day!

I had a great time at our eighth birthday party Saturday, and from
all I  heard, so did those of you who attended. I will be sending
another Express message this evening regarding door prizes and Nick
Name Auctions, but right now I want to pass on an explanation of
America's Labor day, which I came by courtesy of my British friend.
Most of you know him as LR, but I call him the Robinhood Cutie.
Smiles. Thank you Steve for this informative post.


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.

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 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.

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.

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.

Happy Labor Day!


--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
Do your FTP friends a favor, and make sure they are on this Express List!
Do yourself a favor and make sure you are on the FTP Entertainment List! Send a blank message to,
ftp-ent-subscribe@googlegroups.com
Don't miss out on all the fun on FTP Radio, FTP Theater and much more!

To unsubscribe from this group, send email to ftp-express-unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/ftp-express?hl=en
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---