Labor's Days Past

America's Labor Day may be summer's last hurrah, but labor's days past were no picnic. A few generations ago, American working men and women (and often children, too) struggled just to get weekends off--let alone a long one. A few generations ago, people died when labor struggled. Example: the Pullman railway strike of 1894.

Just south of Chicago, the town of Pullman was literally owned by George M. Pullman, manufacturer of the Pullman sleeping car used by railroads. One worker said, "We are born in a Pullman house, fed from the Pullman shop, taught in the Pullman school, catechized in the Pullman church, and when we die we shall be buried in the Pullman cemetery and go to the Pullman hell."

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