September 3: The day of tribute to labor

There’s no better way to honor labor than by not doing any.

At least that was the idea of Peter McGuire, a labor organizer and leader who came up with the idea for a national holiday in 1882. A day of rest from labor was a good idea, McGuire said, because laborers spend a lifetime pushing their bodies to the limit. He told a convention of carpenters in 1902, “A man wears out like a piece of machinery. . . . I am not lost entirely in this world but I have had enough to wreck me physically, destroy me mentally.”

Although McGuire retired after a long, and sometimes checkered career, his idea of a labor holiday has outlived him by 136 years.

Today, half the labor force is tired of typing and developing algorithms rather than digging ditches. But a day of rest is nonetheless welcome.
Labor Day has become the official end of summer, with pools closing, kids in school, leaves falling and the last of the summer family picnics.
But it remains what McGuire wanted: A rest for bodies and minds. A time for family and friends. A three-day weekend before the start of holiday activities in October, November and December.