Labor Day Proclamation
Historical reproductions by Dick Perue
By Gov. Nellie Tayloe Ross; 1925-1927.
All the works of civilization teach the dignity of labor. It is the foundation of all progress, the cornerstone of every achievement. Only through labor can man realize his highest destiny.
Whether in the home or the field or the shop, whether in the dark caverns underground whence is drawn the fuel for industry and for the hearth or on broad acres under the beating rays of the sun, whether in the factory or in the office, man must earn his living and climb upward by labor.
Not his physical well-being alone, but the spiritual also depends upon labor. For without labor, both soul and body would perish. He who seeks luxury and avoids labor gains that which serves neither him nor his neighbor, but he who foregoes luxury and embraces labor is builder of homes and nations.
There is no excellence without great labor, and all the enduring contributions, which have been made throughout the ages to the development and glory of the human race have been the product of toil.
It is fitting then that one day should be set aside every year for the contemplation of the essential and all embracing importance of labor in human affairs.
Therefore, I, Nellie Tayloe Ross, governor of the state of Wyoming, do designate Monday, the sixth day of September, A.D. 1926, Labor Day. I ask all citizens of the state close their places of business and participate in the parades, meetings and festivities, which may be arranged in celebration of that day.
In witness whereof, have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of Wyoming to be affixed.
Done at the office of the Executive this 24th day of August, A. D. 1926.
The above proclamation appeared on the front page of the Sept. 3, 1926 issue of the Wyoming Labor Journal, along with this picture of the nation’s first woman governor, Nellie Tayloe Ross, and the following headline and news article.
Wyoming should lead the nation in labor legislation, says Gov. Nellie Tayloe Ross
When President William Green of the American Federation of Labor visited Wyoming this year for the annual Convention of the State Federation at Casper, he was graciously greeted by the first woman governor, Nellie Tayloe Ross, in a speech of welcome which deserves to be characterized as one of the most comprehensive and sympathetic, from the point of view of labor, ever delivered by any public official in this state.
But then, that’s for the next time we go to work.
