Brendan I. Koerner Quotes
According to Ted Watt's 'The First Labor Day Parade,' the September date was chosen because it coincided with a Knights of Labor conference in New York, thus guaranteeing a sizable turnout for the festivities.
Koerner, Brendan I. "Why Do We Get Labor Day Off?" Slate, 1 Sept. 2003.
Some historians believe the line was drafted for Lewis by labor lawyer Jett Lauck
This was a great victory for the Victor Berger wing of the party. They purged the violence advocates and communists from the party. Despite this, a few right wingers call any socialist a communist and a revolutionary.
The left has always been ambivalent about automation. Many object to it on the grounds that it puts men out of work. However, others such as Lafage, argued that automation was the only economic way to reform the working hours and conditions of labor. The problem at the time was that as long as labor was so cheap, there was no motivation for the manufacturer to invest in better machinery. He and many others argued that minimum wages and their increases increase productivity because it would force manufacturers to invest in more productive equipment to reduce their labor costs.
Labor reform was a burning issue in most of the industrialized countries of the world. The two areas that legislation was under consideration all over were working hours and child labor. There were no overtime provisions, employers were free to require workers to work 7 days for as many hours as they wanted. There were no limitations on the use of child labor. This is one of the classic conservative oppositions to these reforms. Ironically to us today, those against reform argued that it was disrespectful of the working man to take away his freedom to work whatever hours he so chose, and it was disrespectful of the workers role as a head of family to decide for him when and under what conditions his children could work. Germany at the time was a very dramatic example of the struggle as the Chancellor was opposed to all labor reform and Kaiser Wilhelm II felt that reforms were needed. The two most powerful Germans were split on this issue as were people in most countries.
He had squads of thugs that he would “rent” out to other gangsters for their enforcement activities and to unions to protect themselves from goons and intimidate non union workers. However, he would not let his men work as goons and strike busters or for companies—despite huge pay offers—to keep their workers in line, a common practice at the time.
These were the same issues that were being fought over in every industrialized nation at the time.
While Ray was very sympathetic towards the strike, his father’s attitude was typical of that of business men across the nation. A picket line or demonstration was a “mob” and mobs should be broken up before they do physical damage to people or property. “Grape” and “canister” were types of ammunition for cannon that was used against personnel in war. One shell could kill 20-30 men in a crowd.
Bear was the classic icon of the wealthy, insensitive, powerful, prejudiced snob. He even made other capitalists somewhat sympathetic to the complaints about corporations. See {593878} and {593879}.
Brendan Ian Koerner is an American author who has been a contributing editor and columnist for Wired magazine, The New York Times, Slate magazine, and others. His books include Now the Hell Will Start (2008) and The Skies Belong to Us (2013).
