“Labor was the first price, the original purchase money that was paid for
all things. It was not by gold or silver, but by labor, that all the wealth of
the world was originally purchased.”
Adam Smith
Labor Day is the last major
holiday of summer and falls on the first Monday in September. Labor Day was created in the late 19th century and
became a Federal holiday in 1894. We celebrate the day as a tribute to the
contributions and achievements of American workers.
Today, most of us enjoy
the three day weekend, and celebrate by going on vacation, picnicking, and
watching parades.
Let’s not forget that in the late 1800’s, during the height
of the industrial revolution in the United States, the average American worked
12 hours a day, 7 days a week, for very low wages. Children, as young as 5 or 6, worked in unsafe mills, factories and
mines across the country.
One of the worst examples of this was the Triangle Shirtwaist
Factory fire in New York City on March 25, 1911. The fire caused the death of
146 garment workers, mostly young immigrant women and some children. They were
working on the 8th, 9th and 10th floors of the
building and were trapped in the fire. The doors to the stairway were locked to
keep them from stealing.
Let us take a moment to
remember these workers, and be thankful that children today do not have to work
in factories.
“Without labor nothing prospers.”
Sophocles
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