Labor Day Inaugurated by Knights of Labor in 1882
An article, under the above headline, appeared in the Sept. 3, 1926 issue of the “Wyoming Weekly Labor Journal” and reads, “Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a legal holiday in all the states and possessions of the United States.”
“It was inaugurated in 1882, when the Knights of Labor held a parade in New York. They again paraded in 1884 and a resolution by George R. Lloyd, one of their number, was passed to hold all labor parades on this day.”
“Workingmen of all organizations then began agitation to have the day made a legal holiday, and on March 15, 1887, the first law to this effect was passed in Colorado. New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts soon followed this example.”
Appearing on the same page as this news item was the following poem.
Labor Day
By E. Richard Shipp, Casper
With joyful shouts and playing bands
The sons of toil parade today,
The Flag, high-held in sturdy hands,
Swings proudly as it leads the way.
This is no warlike regiment
Marching to the drum’s rattling beat,
But Labor’s host of Peace intent,
Quick-stepping down the city street.
Patriotic the blood that flows
In the veins of these stalwart men,
A nation’s safeguard from its foes –
Cheer them! Cheer them! Then cheer again!
And as they march from coast to coast
This Labor Day, say a prayer –
Thank God for Labor’s steadfast host
Whose shoulders the Nation’s burdens bear.
With joyful shouts and playing bands
The sons of toil parade today,
The Flag, high-held in sturdy hands,
Swings proudly as it leads the way.
